Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals Radio Row Takeaways: Insights and outlandish takes from New Orleans with Elise Jesse

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

As the national media portrays the Cincinnati Bengals' salary cap situation as "difficult", they were the talk of the town among non-Super Bowl teams in New Orleans last week. Jake and James are joined by Elise Jessie of BengalsTalk.com to discuss what she heard on Radio Row about Joe Burrow's clear agenda for the offseason, focused on managing the salary cap to keep their stars and field the best team they can in 2025.Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLFanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Elise, Jesse, was a Super Bowl radio row last week. Let's find out what people were saying from national reporters to outrageous takes about what's coming for the Bengals this off season. 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. I'm Jake. Let's go along with James Rapine, your host of Lockdown Bengals, joined today by Ali. Jesse, reporter for bengals talk.com, has her own podcast. The sick podcast was down in

New Orleans at Radio Row talking to all sorts of people about what's going on with the Bengals, what we can expect for the Cincinnati Bengals this off season. And we're going to talk to her today about what she took away from her time in New Orleans where there are a lot of interesting rumors talked about, a lot of information, a lot of crazy takes shared by people that normally we don't pay a ton of attention to, but at least talk to them. And it's fun to hear some of these stories. For those of you that are new to the show, we're on YouTube, or everywhere you get your podcast.

We're covering the Bengals Every Day here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, and you can subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode. Shout out to the everydayers that stick with us every day. And I've heard some of these topics, assuredly, before, but always interesting to hear them from people on the ground because James and I were at Radio Row, obviously, a few years ago, for the everydayers that have been with us since then. It's a very interesting place.

You hear a lot of things. Let's start with the biggest themes, Elise, that you took away from your many conversations at Radio Row as you're talking to various folks about what's coming for the Bengals this year. Yeah, I think I did 20 interviews and average like 15,000 steps a day at Radio Road in my few days there. One thing I will say is that the Bengals were absolutely the most interesting team outside of the two teams that were playing in the Super Bowl. like they were just constantly being spoken about. And wow, there were a lot of wild takes. Sometimes I was just, I was listening to some of the people and I'm just thinking in my head, like, are you saying this to get a reaction from me or maybe the listeners that might hear this interview?

Because I was, I was taken aback by some of the takes. Like one of them, Evan Cohen, who said that maybe the Bengal should trade Jamar. That's a non-negotiable. That's not going to happen. And then obviously speaking to Ted Caris, Orlando Brown Jr. I thought it was really interesting hearing Orlando Brown Jr. talk about how he's tired of the slow starts. We've heard that before, but he seemed to have a sense of urgency in his voice. Like he seemed like he was really sick of it. And he hasn't even been here as long as some of the other guys who are used to multiple years of slow starts. So I think that they really are going to have an emphasis on starting faster. How they do that in the Zach Taylor era will be interesting to see. in 2025, you guys. Yeah, the craziest thing that happened, first off, least surprising thing,

Elise Jesse somehow gets 15,000 steps in during Super Bowl Week in New Orleans. Like, least surprising thing ever is you find a way to get the steps in. Yeah, always. Always. I had to offset the Benets. Yeah, that's right.

See, so complete balance, even during Super Bowl week, away from the kids, it doesn't matter. Elise is getting it done. The most surprising thing, how could anyone, anyone.

Literally, outside of maybe the AFC North or Andy Reid himself suggests that trading Jamar Chase and building the defense would be the smartest thing.

Like we've talked a lot about T. Higgins and I can see the other side of the argument for that of why you would take those resources and put them elsewhere and we'll talk about T today. But Jamar is like,

you might as well just call him like one A to Joe Burroughs one. Like Joe Burrow is the non-negotiable. Jamar is the other one. I did think, and I tried to follow all of your interviews. They had you doing a lot of interviews for sure. That was the craziest thing, because I don't even know what the Bengals would listen to. Like, I think they plan on paying Jamar.

But let's say the Eagles, right? The Eagles, everyone's praising the Eagles and rightfully so, offered A.J. Brown and two ones for Jamar. I still don't think the Bengals would do it to give you an idea. I think that's how highly they value Jamar. And so that suggestion was kind of wild to me. Well, it's not just about paying Jamar. I think it's also about making the face of their franchise happy. Joe Burrow wants Jamar Chase in Cincinnati.

So obviously pleasing Joe Burrow is a very high priority for the front office, in my opinion. Yeah, that was definitely the craziest take because, and his point was that, you know, you pay a quarterback to make your, he said, your C receiver into a B receiver, your B receiver into an A receiver. But Jamar Chase is unlike any other receiver that we have seen. He's a triple crown winner for a reason. He is a lead in his job. And you've seen, you watched it just like I did, where Joe Burrow is throwing a pass. The ball is not even in the vicinity of Jamar Chase yet. And the second he turns his head, catches the ball, knows it's coming at him.

Like, they just have this unspoken bond that I don't think that we will see replicated. I don't even know if it's going to be replicated in my lifetime. Hopefully so. But it's pretty special bond they have. It's a wild take in the first place. and it I assume comes from someone who looks at the Kansas City model and is like, yeah, do what Kansas City did. And then they get thumped by a team that has paid everybody. And when you talk about making Joe Burrow happy, I think that is a fascinating angle to dive into a little bit because Burrow on this media tour in New Orleans, talking to everybody, talking about we have the resources to make it happen.

Everybody wants to stay here. Guys just want to get paid what they deserve. All the lines that we heard from him over. and over last week. And then the PFT interview comes out, which also happened before the Super Bowl, but released as far as I understand it today as we're recording this on February 12th. And there he kind of shows off a little bit of his understanding of the salary cap. He downplayed it.

He's like, I don't really, I know a little bit about it. It's kind of, I don't know everything. I know a little bit. But he's talking about the Eagles seem to pay everybody. Whatever they're doing, it seems like what people should be doing. And explains what a restructure is, which I also did on this podcast last week, fun to see Joe Burrow explaining it as well. But when Joe is talking about the Eagles paying everybody and figuring out how to pay everybody,

the cap doesn't seem real for some teams, things that Joe Burrough said last week, in addition to everything else we heard on all the other shows he did, where do you think that is between him and the front office right now as far as the track record for the front office doing what they think is right, not really giving into pressure generally, historically. But then they did kind of set things up for Joe Burroughs rookie con. And is Joe Burrow different, do you think, for this front office? I think that Joe Burrow is different.

I think what Joe Burrow is doing is something so much bigger than what we've been paying attention to these last few weeks. James, I know you were in the locker room just like I was when last season in July, when the deal did not get done with Jamar case in the front office and how that fell through, there was a sentiment among the other players thinking, wow, if a guy like Jamar Chase cannot get paid, why would I put my body on the line? Like, are they going to pay me? Are they going to take care of me and my family? And I think what Joe Burrow is not only is he fighting in the media for his top guys,

but he's also going to bat for Trey Hendrickson, Mike Kosicki. So I think that Joe Burrow is kind of taking over and, you know, sending the message like, hey, guys, if you prove to me that you're valuable, if you prove to me that you want to win a Super Bowl and you want to win the AFC North title, I will go to bat for you and for your paycheck and for your next contract. I think that's part of this as well. Because there was definitely, definitely vibes in there where players were like, best receiver in the league, can't get a deal done. What does that say about me? So I think he's doing a lot more than what we're initially talking about. No doubt. There were definitely those

vibes. And I think even with tea. Like I remember one veteran, one veteran telling me, and this was going on two years ago, like, they better pay that dude and pointed right at tea. And it's just those guys, they watch that. And then you go watch Mar Triple Crown the league. And now, now it's even more interesting. And it lets, this is going to be the T's. I have a question for you about what Joe is saying and how it relates to all this, including the veterans on the roster. We'll get to that coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by LinkedIn.

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Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFL. That's LinkedIn.com slash lockdown NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply. All right, at least. So if you know the veterans are watching, everyone's seeing Joe Burrow go on this tour, whether it's at Super Bowl 59 and Radio Row. And I'm sure he was enjoying getting asked over and over and over and over again, the same questions, right? But we know the answer.

Let's say the Bengals don't get it done with T and tag and trade him or they don't get it done with T and it's kind of messy. I think we all assume they'll get it done with Jamar because of his value, because of his importance. But let's say it's one of those guys. What do you think the ripple effect would be if we're going into camp and say Trey Hendrickson is still going into the final year of his contract from a locker room standpoint, a distraction standpoint? Well, Trey Hendrickson obviously said that he did not want to be a distraction. So he doesn't want that. So that's basically sending the message also that if this does become a distraction, it is the front office's fault.

They are allowing this to continue. They are allowing this to become a distraction. I don't think it's going to be very pretty if Trey Hendrickson is going into training camp without a new deal, without an extension. And there's not some resolve to his contract situation. I don't think it's going to be pretty. I think it's going to be pretty ugly and it's not going to come from Trey. It is going to be at the fault of the front office in Cincinnati. Do you think that they feel that pressure?

Do you think that this front office that's known for letting Carson Palmer just sit out until they got two first round picks in an offer for him before they were willing to make a trade? This front office that is so stubborn historically, whether it's their valuations of players, whether it's on guaranteed money, whether it's on trade requests. Do you think they're feeling that this year? Do you think that that is changing the way they're planning to do business this offseason? I think so, but to what extent, like they might feel a little bit of that pressure, but are they going to deviate from their ways of how they've been doing things for decades? I don't know how much that's going to swing the way that they behave with these contracts and whether or not they are going to give, you know, these guys exactly what they want

as far as guarantees and number of years and things like that. I do think that they have been stubborn. They've been in this business for a long time, and they, do things the way that they like to do it, no matter what anyone says. Of course, they want to make Joe Burrow happy, but at the same time, if they can't figure out a way to make him happy, they will probably look at him and be like, we're paying you a lot of money. Get the job done. And I think if they pay Jamar, chase a lot of money and they end up not getting something done with tea. They would look at Jamar and say, hey, we are paying you a lot of money. Find a way to get

open. Do your job. Yeah. I, I, I don't think you're wrong. That's just such a nightmare. It is. But that's reality. It's the nightmare scenario. Yeah. That nightmare scenario where Joe clearly, and Jake mentioned the podcast that he did, pardon my take, PMT.

It's like, he's clearly aware of the cap and it has enough knowledge. And wherever he's getting it, whoever he's talking to it, might be his agent. He might just be doing the research. I mean, this is the guy that in college was YouTubeing. can fish drown. Doesn't he have a finance background? Wouldn't he have been a finance bro if you couldn't play football? He would be a finance bro.

He might be YouTubeing it, right? And like looking at cap stuff, and I could totally see that. Yeah. So if you want to keep going down this route, like Joe isn't going to be like, oh, yeah, it's the Joe and Jamar show for the next five years and no one else.

Like that's not how it works. And we've covered this a few times. There's no other free agent in this class like T. It's not like the Bengals can say, oh, well, we're not paying tea because we're going to go get this guy. You could kind of do that with Trey, but it would still be a hard sell because there aren't many past rushers like Tray. He just led the NFL in Sacks. So that's, it's a really tough threading the needle. If they go down that road, it can be successful.

But the margin is so thin and it's a huge, huge risk versus, like, I don't think anyone's going to get mad if they spent about. money this offseason pay their guys, add some other free agents, and it doesn't work out. I think it's the other way. If you don't do that, you better get it right or people are going to, and those people like Joe Burrow and company are going to be pretty frustrated. But I could totally see them tagging tea and then drafting a tight end and seeing how he works out, seeing how a potential replacement would work out if Andre Yoshibos would work at, out down the line. So that way they do not. Because honestly, if T hits free agency, if he is courted by other teams, he will find out that maybe the Bengals are not in the tax bracket to be

able to afford him or unwilling to go up in a tax bracket to afford him. So he might find that out. Like he might realize, wow, these other teams really value me. And the way players understand their value from another team is whether or not they're willing to pay him. Oh, yeah. I mean, I think if he hits free agency, he's gone. Totally. Yeah. Like, that's a guarantee in my mind.

You cannot let him hit free agency. I don't think the Bengals plan to for what it's worth. I think they understand that they have this bargaining chip going into free agency this year. They understand that they have the most valuable free agent and this sought-after thing in T. Higgins in terms of an asset. And the worst case, I would have to imagine, is that they tag and trade him. Like, I don't think they're just going to say, you know what, we did the tag last year, where we're not getting an extension done, CET, maybe we'll get a third round cop pick, but probably not because we're going to have to sign a bunch of guys anyway.

Like, I don't think that's, you know, for all the craft we give the Bengals front office about some of their decision making. I don't think that that is a likely outcome here. I don't think they would trade him. I don't think they would tag and trade. I don't think that's even something that they would consider. I think they would have to be very creative in that venture. I don't think that they are, not to be mean, but I don't think that they like to flex the creative muscle as much as maybe one would like.

So I don't even see that as a route that they would go to tag him and then trade him. I don't see it. And also, I think they look at T like if they're going to tag him, they would attempt to work out a deal with him. They already know what T is. know what he brings. They know how well he works within their system and how well he works with Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow. And I think that's that does hold value for the front office in my opinion. Yeah. I think this the table is kind of set for him to sign an extension and to get something

worked out. And that's why I think that's why Joe is is so outspoken about it. It's like, all right, well, he changed his agents. He wants to be here. We want him here. It works. let's make it work. And it's to the point where if it doesn't work, everyone's going to look at the front office and be like, what? And I think everyone involved, not necessarily the front office,

but everybody else is like, okay, let's see if they can get this done. Because I don't even know what they would get in a train, but like, good luck selling Joe on that. It's one thing for it to be right, but they're supposed to be contenders now. not in 26 or 20s. Contenders in 2025. It's just tough. It's tough when you give up a player of that magnitude, whether it's T or Trey, to be better from it right away. Well, I think the one person, I say this all

the time, like the one person who probably wants all these deals to get done more than anybody else is Zach Taylor because he would like to know probably what he's working with, what he has to overcome, what he has to deal with. Like that whole thing with Jamar last year in training camp, and then they go up against the Patriots and Jamar was virtually non-existent in the stat sheet. And then against the Chiefs, it was not the greatest game for him or Joe. I think

that his availability in training camp does play a part at the start of the season, which has been their Achilles heel for multiple years. Starting fast, you have to have these deals done. You have to have these guys in place to go out and practice in training camp, put the pads on, get out there

and sweat in the brutal humidity of Cincinnati on that practice field and be ready for game one. And Joe has said numerous times in the last week as well that he's pro playing in the preseason. And you need to be practicing in training camp in order to play in the preseason. And it's something that it sounds like the players are going to continue to push to do more of. We'll continue the conversation with a topic that is particularly frustrating to me because it continues this week, the understanding of the Bengals resources and this perceived difficulty from a financial perspective and getting things done.

We'll continue the conversation there with Elise coming up next. Today's show is brought to by Fandall. They're America's number one sportsbook for a reason. And yeah, football season is over, even though there's plenty of NFL futures that you can get on Fandall. But NBA action is just getting started. College Hoops, just getting started,

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Make every moment more on with Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Let's talk about this salary cap situation a little bit. And, Elise, you're right. Joe Burrow was a consumer and family financial services major at Ohio State before he He was a finance pro. So definitely did that work when he was at Ohio State trying to get a job. unable to win a job at Ohio State. So probably, you know, doing it, doing a schooling, you know, paying attention, obviously,

to the way money works. And I don't know that the most prominent reporters in the national media sphere around the NFL are doing their homework about how the finances work in the NFL. Because I keep hearing a lease and something that you mentioned, you heard when you were in New Orleans, is this idea that it's going to be really difficult for the Bengals from a salary cap perspective. And maybe they're talking about cash flow as well. but I've looked at both how much money I expect the Bengals is spending cash,

and I've looked at the cap picture, and I just don't get it. Like I've even been able to fit in extensions from Mike Kosicki, T. Hedrickson, T. Higgins, and Jamar Chase without cutting anybody. And I still have $22 million left. And that's not with doing deals in a way the Eagles do deals. That's sticking with a pretty Bengals-like structure for all of those deals. So can you tell me where this is coming from, where this idea that the Bengals cap is so, big of an obstacle for them in getting these deals done?

So here's the thing. I, whoever, if you are a person who is listening to this podcast right now, you are doing the right thing if you want to know everything about the Bengals. Because what I tell people, fans that I come across, I'm like,

listen to Lockdown Bengals, listen to Joe Goodberry, listen to the guys who've been covering this team for a decade plus, because they dive in, they actually know the history of this team, they know how the Bengals front office works, they know what is to come, or what you can at least expect from this team.

They're in the locker room. It's not to say that the network guys are poor their jobs or anything, but I spoke to you about this before, Jake. There's no way that these guys can fully understand what all 32 teams are going to do, what to expect from them, their complete history, everything, whereas you are able to dig into the salary cap, and you are able to look at how these different contracts would affect the bottom line, for the Cincinnati Bengals. I think that the national level people look at the Bengals.

They have a broad idea about Cincinnati's front office that they're cheap. That's what has been the thing about Cincinnati's front office. Mike Brown's cheap. Mike Brown's cheap. I've been hearing that since I was like five. I know you've been hearing it your whole life. So that's just the general consensus that it's not that they can't get it done, but that they won't do it. They will not move forward. But then you got guys like you who can figure out exactly how they could and then you base it off of what they've done in the past. That is truly valuable. So for me, I'm like, don't even listen. Don't even listen to the national media, no offense national media. Listen to locked on Bengals if you actually want to know what could potentially happen with your team.

I think there's this difference between, thank you. It's true. There's this difference between what the Bengals are willing to do versus what they can do. And so when I hear that the cap is going to be so hard for them to deal with, like, can they get it? Like, that's what you hear. And I think the question should be is, instead, are they going to be willing to negotiate and find a common ground with some of these guys? Are they going to be willing to move off of their, now, Jesse, you know, you haven't been to a pro bowl, so we're not going to pay you more than $12 million and you're going to go get a great deal and free, you know, whatever it is. We're not going to guarantee you the money.

Those are the questions that we still have for the Bengals front office. Will they change the way they're doing structures at all? Will they do more Orlando Brown-style deals? Will they do more Joe Burrough-style deals for other players in the future? Will they move off of their very stubborn valuations for players? Those are the questions that we're asking that I think we don't know the answers to as much. Versus like, can they make it work with a cap? Man, if they can't, I really think that they need someone new in that front office

to help them manage the cap. Yeah, for sure. And I think that some of the questions that we still have are valid. You know, but at the end of the day, if we don't have a complete understanding of what or expectation of what they can do, we can always look at their past because they, they do have a tiger does not like to change his stripes necessarily. I've never seen so much change. James, I don't know if you have either, but I've never seen so much change from the front

office than I have in the Joe Borough, Mira. For sure. And that's why I've said it multiple times. I expect them to get deals done with all three of these guys because that's the standard for any other team. And so I don't care about it. Like the history matters. It does when you evaluate.

This is different. They have the best quarterback they've ever had, ever. Best receiver they've ever had. Literally best in team history. That's what both of them are. I'll crown them right now. And that's what they're on pace to do. And so they have this window.

And so all of that should be thrown aside of how they like to run things. they don't like to move money a certain way or structure things a certain way. They should be willing to do all these unprecedented things. And they've done some of them, to your point, in the Joe Burrow era. There shouldn't be a stone that they're not willing to turn to win now, because this isn't the Andy Dalton era

where you never really felt like, you never really felt like they were going to, even in 15, I never thought, a lot of listeners probably did. Never really thought they were winning the Super Bowl, even before Andy got hurt. Thought they were really good. I wasn't sure that was happening. You know with Joe, you're going to have a shot every year.

Even this year, you could have argued, like, man, if they beat the Patriots, they get in, no one wants to see them. And they're super flawed and a ton of issues. So they, yeah, tigers don't change their stripes, but damn it, they better modify them a bit because it's the Joe Bro, Mar Chase era. And so they've done it some. That has to continue. I think that's why Joe is doing this. He shouldn't have to, but why Joe is really putting pressure on him, because he wants to see who they really are.

Are they going to be the same cheap Bengals? And by cheap, it isn't necessarily not spending money. Lack of creativity Bengals. Or are they going to modernize, take that next step into the process and the goal of winning a Lombardi or multiple Lombardis, which should be that anytime you have a Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, etc. and that should be your goal. Yeah, I think they realize the talent that they have in Joe Burrow

and they realize that he is the quarterback who could take them, get them over the hump and finally win a Lombardi trophy. I think that they know that he is the guy that they could rely on to do that. They do have to change their stripes a little bit in order to get all of these things done in which they need to accomplish to make it there. You saw Jemar Chase, T. Higgins, Borough, Mike is sticky, on the offensive side of the ball. You saw Dr. Hendrickson, balling out all year.

They still have a lot of work to do. They still have a lot of holes to fill. They're very porous on defense, as we know. They've got a lot of work to do. And I think I personally, James and Jake, I think that this might be the most important offseason in the Zach Taylor, Joe Burrow era. Because as you know, I think that Zach Taylor is feeling some pressure to win. I think Joe Burrow understands that there's a lot of pressure on his head coach to win now.

And it's going to have to be something that we have not seen yet from this franchise in order to make everything work for this team to move forward in 2025 as a real Super Bowl contender. If not now, when is kind of where I'm at. Like if you're not going to do it in Joe Burrough's sixth year, he's going to turn 29 during the season. season next year. If you're not going to do it now when you have Jamar Chase in his prime, Joe Burrow in his prime coming off his best year, having a fully healthy off season for what feels like the first time in his life. Like if you're not going to make the moves, to target a three year window. Just next three years. Do everything you can to win for three years. And if it doesn't work for three years, all right, you tried your best. Maybe you have to go a different direction

in that. Maybe you have to eat a rough year in four years. and figure it out and reset. But at least try. And if you're not going to do it now, I really don't know when you would. I don't know what other set of circumstances will present themselves to this front office to give them the impetus to actually do the things

that you see some of these other teams do, right? If not now, when? That's kind of my question for this offseason. I think that's a great question. I think Joe Burrow is noticing, hey, the Philadelphia Eagles pay everybody. They can get it done. They pay their stars.

Look where they are. are hoisting up the Lombardi trophy. I feel like Joe Burroughs essentially saying, you've been saying you want to win a Super Bowl. For how long? Many, many years. Make it happen. Walk the walk.

Stop talking. Walk the walk. Show me that you want to win it. That's what I think he's saying. We'll find out what happens soon enough when Rubber Meets Road, Elise, Jesse, bengels talk.com, the sick podcast, and an Emmy-winning sports podcast. master gracing us with her presence here on lockdown Bengals.

That's going to do it for this episode. Elise, appreciate it. And until next time, thanks for listening. Hoor Day and have a good one.