Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals MUST Rediscover Explosiveness On Offense

Starting point is 00:00:01 conventional wisdom and the sights and sounds of the combine suggested Bengals aren't going to add a ton on the offensive side of the ball. So how do they get better there? Maybe the answer is explosive flights. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What up Bengals fans. And welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, part of the lockdown podcast network, your team every day and the number one sports podcast network.

Starting point is 00:00:37 in the land. He's James Rapien. I'm Jake. Let's go. We've got you covered here on lockdown Bengals every day of the week. And we have since 2016, your best one-stop shop for all things. Bengals bringing you another day of Combine coverage here on this podcast. Every day has heard us talking about some of the Duke Tobin comments on the podium and off the podium in the last couple of days to give us some insight into the Bengals off-season approach and largely aligning with what you would expect the Bengals to be doing this off-season. We talked about the reluctance from, from the front offices to take a big swing. We talked about some of the other ideas for the Bengals this off season

Starting point is 00:01:12 where their priorities obviously are and the affirmation of those priorities over the last couple of days. And today, well, one of the clear non-priorities for the Bengals in terms of talent acquisition. And this is probably part of the conversation unto itself is it doesn't sound like there's a huge plan to add a whole lot on the offensive side of the ball. Zach Taylor sounding pretty happy with the personnel on that side

Starting point is 00:01:37 the ball and you talked a couple of days ago, James, I think about a Duke Tobin quote from his Cincinnati media availability in January suggesting that, well, maybe Dalton Reisner is certainly a priority, something they are expecting to get done perhaps in some regard. But if they're not considering heavily adding offensive personnel and we've talked a little bit about running back, we've talked a little bit about wide receiver three, we've talked a little bit about tight end. Well, they have these really good players, right? Chase Brown, potential extension candidate,

Starting point is 00:02:10 but Joe Burrow, T. Higgins, Jermar Chase leading the way for this offense, and they're still not very explosive, right? And they haven't been explosive for several years now. And so there's this whole conversation, and Dan Pitcher talked about it a little bit on Wednesday about how they get better on offense. And obviously, turnovers is a topic for Zach Taylor and Dan Pitcher. But another part of this is finding ways to continue to

Starting point is 00:02:33 push the envelope with the talent they do have on that side of the ball. Yeah, I think it's twofold. I think one, they have a lot of talent and that talent commands a lot of attention. And schematically, they should look at that. I also think they do need to look at personnel. And I'll give my two cents. And I think that that is important that they continue to upgrade in those areas. And we'll see.

Starting point is 00:02:54 We'll see if they do. We'll see if this is as simple as, oh, yeah, we don't need to do that. And how close that is to what they actually do in the draft. I don't think they're going to spend a lot of, use a lot of their Duke Tobin voice resources, their offseason resources in free agency on offensive skill talent. But this idea that it's a complete picture or that they couldn't use this or that, and there's plenty of time to discuss those, but it's pretty obvious what they could use. You mentioned it.

Starting point is 00:03:26 Wide receiver three, running back potentially. And now, is that scenario really low? Sure. Tight End is something Dan Pitcher mentioned to me. When I asked about just the versatility that they would want alongside Jamm R&T, and I think that's part of it. They need to be looking at that. And as an organization, I know they will.

Starting point is 00:03:48 That's the other element. I thought it was interesting. Dan Horde asked Dan Pitcher. So Dan squared about, oh, well, you just go in defense at 10? Like, do you even need to, and he didn't say it this way, but it's like, hey, do you even need to be making the offensive push? And Dan was like, well, you just never know. You always have to be prepared. And so do I think that Dan is expecting to get a first round offensive weapon this year?

Starting point is 00:04:20 No, but that doesn't mean that they're not going to add something. And they should. But to your point, I think right now they're really looking at their offense and saying, How can we get more out of our guys? How can we do a little bit more schematically to make life maybe easier on Joe Burrow, but also make us more explosive? Get Jamar open downfield, get T open downfield, put these guys in a position to win. And I think that's a huge part of what they're looking at coaching staff-wise right now on offense.

Starting point is 00:04:48 Yeah, they have to figure out what they do well and the things that are working. And Dan Pitcher talked about this. They're going to do the things that work well. What Joe Burrough is really good at, well, they should do those things. what T. Higgins and Jbar Chase are really good at, they should do those things. And it just so happens that some of that stuff aligns and it's not very sexy or in vogue in the NFL. I think I talked about it this week or maybe it was last week. Time is a flat circle that blurs together.

Starting point is 00:05:13 But we talked about the parts of the list that ranks teams that are doing the most motion, the most under center, the most play action. And those teams in 2025 were the most explosive teams, generally, the most successful offensive teams in the NFL. Not everyone that did it was explosive, but there were more explosive teams near the top of that list and the bottom of that list. The Bengals were near the bottom of that list. They were surrounded by a bunch of offenses that were not good at anything, quite frankly, not just being explosive, but also being efficient. And the Bengals did find some significant efficiencies, especially when Joe Burrow returned in the second half of the season when the run game found its footing, the run game became one of the

Starting point is 00:05:59 most efficient run games in the NFL. And when this offense is going well, part of what is going well is that their run game is really efficient. But the way the NFL is going and the way teams treat the Bengals who get the most double double, meaning two double teams on the good outside receivers or wherever Jamar Chase is lined up on a given play, they probably see more of that than any team in the NFL. They probably see more two high shells from any team in the NFL where they're just trying to keep the safeties over their explosive deep threats because everybody saw what happened in 2021. Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase just went over everyone's head and almost did it to win a Super Bowl if they had anything resembling an offensive line for the final play

Starting point is 00:06:41 of that game. It could have been a game winning play, right? So they don't really get those opportunities as much anymore. So they need to find other ways to be explosive. And a big way that teams are doing that is one in the running game they're finding explosive runs to punish those two high shells and two with play action and all these play action crossers we talk about them all the time that the bengals don't really get to and so i wonder how much they look to make those changes how how far do they go along that spectrum because it's been something we've been talking about for years james is the idea of more of an under center focus joe burrow's comfort with play under center. Joe Burroughs comfort with turning his back to the defense and all these things.

Starting point is 00:07:26 It's something that they have to be looking at because it's such a trend around the NFL. They're not blind. They see it. They see the way Seattle's generating explosives, the way the rams are generating explosives, right? It's just a question of how far down that path they're really willing to go along with the conversation, I think, that you mentioned, that I neglected to continue and would like to circle back to about adding talent. But the discussion around the schematic, evolution of this offense, I think, remains very interesting to me to see if there's more there that they can get to. There's a narrative about Joe Burrow that I've, I've addressed, I'm definitely on the pod multiple times. And so I asked Dan about it on Wednesday. And I love this answer.

Starting point is 00:08:10 I'll read part of his answer and we'll dive into that because you're right, the undercenter Joe. And then you hear, oh, this offense is set up because this is what Joe wants. We actually know what Joe really wants and we'll dive into that coming up next. Today's show is brought to by Fandul. I want to go to the NBA Finals. You, I would say at least the majority of our audience would love to go to the NBA Finals.

Starting point is 00:08:36 Fandall's going to give you that chance. Fandall's going to give you that chance, Jake. And if you want to see the NBA Finals live and in person, Fandle is all you got to do, go there. Fandle.com and use your profit boost on any NBA future. It could be MVP, could be a conference title, could be NBA finals, whatever it is, and you'll automatically be entered for a shot to win an NBA finals trip for two.

Starting point is 00:08:58 That's it. Use your profit boost on an NBA future and you're automatically entered to win. Flights, tickets, the whole experience. Futures are awesome because you can pick a team to win the championship. The conference title, it adds an extra layer of excitement. I think it's pretty open. There are a lot of different teams that are thinking NBA finals. And right now, you dive into those NBA futures with Fandle,

Starting point is 00:09:19 and they are going to send you to at least potentially to them, finals if you win the contest. So visit fandal.com to get started. That's fandal.com to get started. Use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. Play your game with Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Jake, I asked Dan about Joe because there's this narrative.

Starting point is 00:09:48 And I asked Joe about this in January. But there's this narrative that, oh, well, Joe, this is how he wants it. That's it. And I just, I've never straight up came out and been like, hey, Joe, are you willing to do this or that? Because I just know. I know it's my job to know him to a certain degree. Covered him for a long time. I think he would hand the ball off 50 times a game if it meant they were going to win.

Starting point is 00:10:11 And I think he would go under center if he felt like it put them in the best position to win. If he felt like he could trust the offensive line, if he felt like it was going to get the juice that they needed to get. And so I asked Dan about that. And he said, quote, Joe wants to win. Joe is going to tell you he can do anything. He's not going to tell you he can't do anything. And he's the ultimate competitor. He's also a guy that watches a lot of football and his research and is cognizant of the trends and all of those things.

Starting point is 00:10:41 And I go back to what I asked Joe. I was like, hey, how comfortable are you under center? He's like, totally fun. And so even if that's not fully true or wasn't fully true earlier in his career, what do you think Joe would rather do? be under center all the time, run the ball, do all of those things, and win or miss the playoffs three straight years. I think it's very clear that if they can get more out of their inner center game, open up the play action, Joe Burrow would certainly be willing to do it. Yeah, I think Burrow very obviously is a guy that puts a lot of thought into how the offense should work,

Starting point is 00:11:13 what he's good at, what his receivers are good at. He's so detail-oriented when you hear the way the wide receivers that he's worked with, talk to him, talk to how he talks to them about the way they run routes. and where he wants them against certain coverages, certain looks, certain leverages, and the detail orientation he has in that regard, it's impossible to think that wouldn't extend to the way to get the most out of the offense. But it's also hard for me to imagine James that he's not frustrated with how in explosive they have been because they really have lacked too often the explosive, consistent element of offense

Starting point is 00:11:49 that the best offenses in the league have. Part of that is a running game, right? So part of this is not a criticism of the passing scheme whatsoever because Joe processes at such a high level. He's really good at getting the ball where it needs to be on time. There's probably some nitpicking you could have about some times where he could push the ball down field a little bit more in the passing game. A big way for them to get more explosive, though, is to be more viable and multiple under center.

Starting point is 00:12:18 So that's why I keep coming back to that. and pitcher was asked directly about that, is it easier to be more explosive under center on first and second down? Because you're under center, you can do more from those spots. And part of the response there was that they're not going to wholesale become something they haven't been in the past, but they do have to maybe push the envelope in some areas that might have made them a little uncomfortable.

Starting point is 00:12:40 And so I think we did start to see some of that. And despite starting to see some of that, the bengal still ranked near the bottom of the list of under center play action motion at the snap. place. And if that's the trend that they can build on and find ways to do more of that, hopefully they can build the running game alongside that and access more explosives in that direction. Now, this is where I want to circle back to the talent acquisition part of this conversation that you got to at the start. Because Chase Brown, really good receiving back.

Starting point is 00:13:12 Don't get me wrong. I know you're ready to talk about Jeremiah Love and dedicate an episode of Jeremiah Love one of these days. Today isn't that day. But Jeremiah, Jeremiah Love is a different level of receiving prospect of running back than Chase Brought. For all the word. Different level of running. Different level of runner, too. I was going to get there. But yeah, he's a different level of prospect at running back than Chase Brown.

Starting point is 00:13:34 And the way he runs routes is part of that. That's, I guess, the better way to frame it. He's also a better route runner receiver, I think, than Chase Browner, at least at the point he's coming out. And obviously, he'll continue to refine that. But he's beating slot corners in college, right? So thinking about that as a potential option, but I think more than running back, because I do, I hear everyone that says, man, it's hard to justify the idea of picking a running back at 10, even if it's Jeremiah love.

Starting point is 00:14:03 I hear that. So let's go beyond that and talk about tight end, where James Casey was just promoted to the run game coordinator, right? And the tight ends are obviously a big role in that. And we've seen the difference that it makes for this team when they have a player like Eric Hall who can do both of the tight end role. roles that are prominent in the Bengals offense. He can do enough as a receiver and enough as a blocker to do both of those roles in

Starting point is 00:14:25 this offense. And right now they don't have those guys on the team. They have guys that can block and they have guys that can catch. They have guys that can run. And those aren't the same guys. Right? The guys who can catch and run are not the same guys who can block. And so that is a position that is really interesting.

Starting point is 00:14:41 And you said it came up with pitch, James. There are some good tight ends in this draft class. There are some good tight ends available in free agency. see if there's one position where I think they could stand to allocate some resources to a versatile piece. And I don't know what's going on with Eric All's recovery. So that's probably an element, a variable here. But if they could get that piece at tight end, that could make a huge difference for what

Starting point is 00:15:05 they're comfortable doing on offense. Sure. Dallas got it. You know, you could go do something like that if you're thinking free agents. And that would probably be the free agent skill player that you would look at or skill position you would look at his tight end to get that complete guy you can't bank on eric all and and zac did give it an update on that said he's progressing well but wasn't going to say anything for sure and that would be great right if you sign a tight end and then suddenly eric all emerges too

Starting point is 00:15:32 great it's a great problem to have uh i would love for the bengals to have it until they have it though you can't really worry about it and you certainly can't bank on eric so i agree with you i think tight end is really interesting i wish the bengals were picking 10th last year, you know, or there were tight ends, the tight ends last year were in it this year, because you better believe I was on the Coastal-Levelin train last year. You better believe Colston-Levelin and especially Tyler Warren when you're talking about that complete piece. Like, yeah, that can help them in a big, big, big, big way.

Starting point is 00:16:06 And so, yeah, I'm not sure. You know, I think people are going to look at the kid from Oregon and we'll see how he tests and how it goes. but yeah, I'm not sure if Sadiq is going to be in the running for 10. Maybe he is. We'll see there's there's weeks before that. But to your point, like that is a whole. And can they address that?

Starting point is 00:16:30 That is a way for this. And we saw a little bit of it with Eric Al, who's, I'd say a fine past catcher. He's not as refined as some of the guys that we just named. And is a willing blocker has the desire to block. But it's not like he's George Kittle. but can do both, and that helped the Bengals offense a lot. So can they find that? I would love it.

Starting point is 00:16:54 And there's a reason why you've heard me talk about tied in the past couple of years, because that is an element that they could potentially bolster in an element of their offense they could add. Maybe it isn't free agency. Maybe that's something we're sleeping on. I've been thinking about Charlie Kohler, just to throw a name out there that isn't a huge name, but a guy that can do both things. I've been thinking about every time I've gone through the there's what what's that website there's a one like offseason simulator that lets you do everything I've gone

Starting point is 00:17:23 through a couple of times and sorry that I don't remember the name I would love to shout it out but but I've ended up signing Charlie Kohler in a lot of those scenarios just as a piece that I think if you're looking for an offensive player who's not Dalton riser for this team to go after that's one that you know not breaking the bank kind of thing but beyond that we've talked about tight end the last few years in the draft because there have been some pretty good tight-end draft classes with some star power in them, right? A couple years in a row, there's been some serious star power at tight-end in the draft in the first round. I think that the depth of tight-end in this class is really interesting.

Starting point is 00:18:00 There's a number of guys day-to, day three that I think are interesting tight-end prospects, even beyond Kenyon Sadiq and the Ohio State kid, Max Clare, is going to be one of them that we'll get into as we get much closer to the draft and we start talking about some of these guys. But a number of guys that have stood out to me at least so far, thinking about tight ends up and down this draft class that maybe the Bengals go that way this year. We know they've wanted to in the past and they've only managed to spend one draft pick on a tight end despite having some interest in the position for what feels like forever. Tanner McLaughlin, don't forget about him.

Starting point is 00:18:37 Come on now. Don't forget about Tanner. Oh, my gosh. You forget about Tanner. I mean, pretty easy to do. It was. It was a dumb pick at the time and looks even worse now. But we'll continue with explosive plays.

Starting point is 00:18:54 This Bengals offense should be explosive, Jake. They should be explosive. It annoys me that we have this conversation. Oh, the offense is set. And then it's like, yeah, well, can we be more explosive? Well, they should be more explosive. We'll continue the conversation coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by five-hour energy.

Starting point is 00:19:17 It's Combine Week, which means, well, there's not time for much sleep. I've got to be honest, well, five-hour energy is helping me this week at the NFL Combine. And it's draft time for five-hour energy. The five-hour energy flavor japped with over 18 different flavors to choose from. Everyone knows if you listen that I love cherry, but there's something for everyone. Fruitie Rainbow, Grape, berry, strawberry, banana, Hawaiian breeze, sour apple, so many different flavors, five-hour energy shots, give you a boost with zero sugar.

Starting point is 00:19:50 And they have a lot of different innovations plan when it comes to their flavors. So check out one of them today. I can't wait to, the next one I'm trying, Jake, is the sour apple. I love sour stuff. Can't wait to try it. Find your new favorite flavor of five-hour energy shots available online right now at five-hour energy.com or Amazon. I got a stat for you, James.

Starting point is 00:20:14 explosive play margin. This is an article from the athletic. This is Jacob Robinson, January 30th, 2026. If you want to go read the article, the top teams in the NFL, an explosive play margin in 2025. I'm sure you can guess who they are. The Seattle Seahawks,

Starting point is 00:20:39 the New England Patriots, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Denver Broncos. the top teams in the NFL, an explosive play margin. Two of those among the top in the NFL in offensive, I think three of those actually, in offensive explosive plays per game. Even the Broncos, I think we're up there in explosive plays per game

Starting point is 00:21:00 with Bo Nix playing quarterback. And obviously they took a step back in the playoffs without Bo Nix. So not to besmirch the name of Bo Nix too much. But the Patriots, Rams, Seahawks, and the Packers who were also up there on this list, really good in terms of generating explosive plays. And on the other side, in a conversation for Al Golden's comments at the combine, the Bengals do have to be better at stopping explosive plays as well.

Starting point is 00:21:23 But I mean, the final four teams are all the teams that are the best in the NFL at generating explosive plays and having more explosive plays than their opponent makes it easy to talk about explosive plays for this Bengals offense that seems to be largely, I would say, in recent years more interested an efficiency than explosiveness. Yeah. Yeah. I, goodness gracious. When you say those teams, it really irks me. Because if you said, oh, well, Joe Burrow and Jem, and I know Joe was hurt.

Starting point is 00:21:58 I get it. But you say the Bengal star power, and then you look at those other teams. Like, who did the Patriots even have? And yet they're leading in that. Like, who did they have that? And so that's what's tough, is when you look at it from that lens, obviously JSN and Seattle it's a big part of it. They had explosive

Starting point is 00:22:17 runs and the way they were built. It was pretty darn good. But man, it, as you were saying that I'm like, that's ridiculous. Like the competitor in me is like, what the hell are you guys doing? Look at what you have. And so you

Starting point is 00:22:33 have to find a way to be on that list. And the other thing, explosive plays do. And we saw it in 2020. They hide your flaws. You could be a flawed team. They were a flawed offense. That offensive line, they couldn't run the ball when they needed to. They weren't great, but guess what?

Starting point is 00:22:49 They generated explosive plays, generated big plays, and it helped them get through. You could think of all the big plays to Jamar, especially at the end of the first half it felt like. And then late in games where it was just straight game-changing type plays where they're down by 11. The offense is struggling and boom, Jamar makes a play. They're down in Detroit earlier. Their offense is struggling. And boom. and Jemar makes a play deep downfield.

Starting point is 00:23:14 Like those, you just have to find a way to generate those. It doesn't have to be Jemar necessarily, even though he's your best guy. But you need to find a way to generate more of those because then if you have a mishap, but then it's followed up by an explosive play, it's going to help hide some of those flaws. And they're going to be fun. They're not going to be a perfect roster when they take the field week one. But it should be much better than they've been.

Starting point is 00:23:38 And explosive plays is going to help hide any flaws that they have. It makes it way easier to score, right? You pick up 50 yards in one play. It's a whole lot. I mean, not that it's easy to pick up 50 yards in one play, but it's a whole lot easier to score after you go 50 yards on one play than it is to string together,

Starting point is 00:23:55 you know, seven plays to go 50 yards. That requires you to be good on seven plays instead of being great on one play. The other thing that stands out when you look at these teams on this list and you're talking about the personnel comparison is, well, you don't necessarily need the best skill players in the world to be explosive.

Starting point is 00:24:10 and not to take anything away from the skill players here. Jackson Smith and Jigmo is just the offensive player of the year. He's really good. And the Rams, Pooka, Daua, DeVante Adams, like they've put together some skill guys there. Their tight ends are viable pass catchers as well. The Packers are getting by with Jordan Love. You know, there's not a whole bunch of real elite skill players doing it for the Packers,

Starting point is 00:24:34 especially after Tucker Craft went down. Obviously, the same is true for the Patriots. Everyone loves to talk about how Drake May had no one to throw. to. And I would say that the Broncos have good, not great skill players, right? So that takes you back to scheme. And that's why it comes back to digging into Dan Pitcher's comments about finding ways to tweak the offense and figuring out how to balance the things that they know they do well, that they've been doing well and marrying those with the concepts that can make them more explosive. Because I do really think that that is such a big challenge for this coaching staff and this

Starting point is 00:25:10 this off season. I like the offensive personnel. I like the offensive coaching staff. But that's the challenge, right? On defense, the challenge is very obvious. On offense, it's not only stay healthy, but it's also like, let's figure out to kick this thing up a notch and not just be efficient.

Starting point is 00:25:27 Let's be explosive too. And then see where that lands you because that will cause your team to take strides in ways that we haven't seen from them in too long. It will. Yeah. It will in a big way. I hope they had talent. Need some talent.

Starting point is 00:25:47 Need a little more talent there. Talent doesn't hurt. And at the same time, the scheme needs to improve. I think it's big that they kept Dan pitcher, by the way, part of our conversation with him, which is already out.

Starting point is 00:25:58 I posted it everywhere on my channel in Cincinnati Bengals talking everywhere. Him not getting a head coaching job, him not leaving for an offensive coordinator job. Like there's nuggets there that I think we'll get into, but he's really focused after a few questions, he was like, no, let's focus on the Bengals now. That's what I'm focused on.

Starting point is 00:26:15 It was a weird month, but let's roll. And yeah, I think it's big that they kept them. And I think he makes them better. And hopefully they can find that extra page, extra two pages, extra five pages for this offense to take it to another level. You know how you've been sick of talking about, like, the offensive line for years or like whatever the thing is? I'm sick of talking about explosive place. I think you probably are too. They should be good at it.

Starting point is 00:26:40 They have the guys to be good at it. Let's just see this team figure it out. That's a challenge for this offseason on the offensive side of the ball. And getting Dalton riser back. I think that's another one that shouldn't be too challenging. Should take care of that one early. That should be an easy one to check off the list. But that's going to do it here for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast.

Starting point is 00:27:00 Until next time, thanks for listening, Ho-Day. And have a good.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals MUST Rediscover Explosiveness On Offense

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.