Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals Saturday Night Stadium Practice Takeaways & Injury Updates!

Episode Date: August 3, 2025

Fans piled into Paycor Stadium's lower bowl on Saturday to take in a Bengals practice in person. Jake Liscow and James Rapien break down the trench one-on-one battles that favored Myles Murphy, Shemar Stewart, and TJ Slaton, while 11-on-11 protection and run blocking held up for plenty of success for the offense. Plus, we're keeping an eye on Amarius Mims, Cam Taylor-Britt, and Mike Gesicki as they battle what appear to be minor ailments with preseason game 1 around the corner.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!5-Hour ENERGYGo to 5hourenergy.com today and use promo code LOCKEDONGOLF to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Yahoo FantasyPresented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Play Now at https://yahoofantasy.com/lockedonnfl.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get $150 in BONUS BETS when your first $5 BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.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.

Saturday night in the stadium in the books. We've got injury updates, practice takeaways coming your way now. 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 Locked On Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake Liscoe. He's your host, James Rapine. We're getting ready to head over to the Holy Grail.

those of you that see us there will have seen us there probably by the time you watch this episode. We're wrapping up the Saturday night practice in the stadium on the Lockdown Bengals podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast network, your team every day. And if you're a new listener, well, you can hit that subscribe button. Make sure you don't miss an episode. Join all the everydayers out there. Join everyone who makes Lockdown Bengals their first listen. And if you already have those good listening habits, we appreciate you very much.

Today we dive into a practice in the stadium. We're watching from the press box today. A little bit of a different vantage point for practice, James. Looked a little bit more like real football, but the Bengals notably, we're missing some guys from this practice and one injury in particular that we're watching coming out of this practice. Jake Liscoe, that's the injury.

We're watching, no. By the way, that's your first practice from the press box, I think. That's true. Yes. It's pretty cool. It's a good view. Hopefully we maintain that view when they renovate the stadium. Anyway, this isn't about that.

You were referencing Mike Gisicki, Mike Gisicki, caught a ball up the seam and he's going, boom. He's running upfield. And, well, it appeared to tweak his right hamstring. And it's one of those things where you watch him afterward. He didn't go back in on team drills. I was pointing at his hamstring a couple of times. Hopefully it's just a tweak.

Hopefully it's just some tightness. Hopefully it's nothing. but it is noteworthy, and the unfortunate part of his locker room isn't open. Right now, it was open earlier today, so we're not going to be able to get any insight or clarity on Mike until Sunday. Obviously, we'll bring that to you. But that would be ironic. It would be significant. It would stink if Mike went down and had to miss any time, especially because Noah fan made his debut today

and wasn't doing team drills or anything like that, but cut his first passes from Joe Burrow on Saturday. Yep. Did the lineup with the tight ends, caught some passes from Joe Burrow. Got a picture of him walking across the B at midfield, and that's about all Noah Fampton. So he's still easing in, still figuring out, getting his bearings, didn't see him in any team work at all. But like you said, Mike Keseki, not participating in any of the team drills after he came up pointing at that hamstring. We did see him walking into the locker room. Don't want to judge too much right after the practice. Adrenaline still going all those things.

He didn't leave the field, though. We didn't see him get stretched out on the field. So hopefully it's just cramping in tightness. That would be the hope didn't have a significantly perceptible limp as he was walking into the locker room. But all speculative. We'll see what's going on on Sunday with Mike as the Bengals do practice for two straight days here. Other injury notes as far as non-participants go, BJ Hill, got an off day. Marco Wilson was working rehab in the.

end zone early in practice, Camp Taylor Britt, easing into rehab a little bit. I think that we might not see Cam Taylor Britt practice for a few more days at least. Didn't see any significant rehab work for Cam Taylor Britt before practice. And Amarius Mims still not practicing. Didn't have anything on his hands. Believe it was a hand injury, but he's still not out there with the team. So that means Jalen Rivers, right, tackle reps with the ones. it also means with the return of Lucas Patrick in this practice,

a guy that's no longer missing time, the Wright Guard battle is back on, Lucas Patrick taking reps with the ones of right guard. Yeah, it leads to, there's a bunch of things there real quick, just a reminder, whether it's Mike. Let's say Mike Gisicki isn't out there on Sunday. Not going to shock me. Zach Taylor's not going to push Mike Kiske.

He knows what Mike Kiske is going to bring. BJ Hill, same thing, right? Cam Taylor Britt, I, honestly, I think that's the same thing. They know it's August 2nd, and they're not going to push it. Amarius Mim, same thing. So expect some of these guys to be managed. Now, maybe one or more of these guys ends up being more serious and misses time, but it does feel like Zach Taylor always airs on the side of caution this time of year,

which makes sense to me. Lucas Patrick is another example of that. He missed a couple of practices with that calf issue back today, and this is the first time in training camp, I believe. that we've seen him first team, right guard, getting those reps. For my money, he was the favorite to start at right guard. I still feel that way. It was a little weird there for the first week and a half or so of camp, but we saw him today. With him returning today, I think that battle is back to where it was when we entered training camp. Previously on this show, I expressed

some concern for Patrick in terms of that battle overall, because if that did linger longer, If that would have gone, you know, a couple weeks past the first game, up to the second game, if it was one of those calf injuries that lingered, then you're missing a ton of reps at that point. Cody Ford has taken all those reps instead of you. So nice to see Patrick get back out there for a battle that is needed and a battle that now bears watching as we get to preseason game number one. And as training camp continues. It's huge. I mean, it's the big concern that everybody's thinking about and talking about when they sign no offense.

it's like, man, another piece, what are they going to do at guard? Yep. What are they going to do at guard? And we'll have more on the guards when it comes to these one-on-one reps. I think that was the most eventful part of it, at least for us, in the press box for this practice, was the one-on-ones between the offensive line and the defensive line. I think there's a lot of notes there. Because they've done them when we haven't been able to see it.

Correct. We got to see all of them, and then you could look and watch Joe Burrow and the offense, go up against the defense for a play, and then you'd be able to watch the one-on-one. breath and go back and forth because you were the eye in the sky. It was really nice. So practice in the stadium all the time. It would be, no, it was a special practice. I did think it was cool that fans came out.

And so hopefully you enjoyed it if you came out. And hopefully you're meeting us at Holy Grail. But plenty of practice notes to get to. Let's dive into all things one-on-ones and much, much more coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by five-hour energy. It's time to fuel up with five-hour energy. And Jake Liscoe is running on that West. Coast time. He's been running on five-hour energy. I think I'm going to have to have one before we go to

the Holy Grail. And let's be honest here, whether it's getting through football and training camp, or maybe you're trying to play nine holes, 18 holes, 36 holes with your buddies. It's been really good weather over the past few days. So that might be the time. Five-hour energy is going to help you get through that and get everything that you need. And if you go to five-hourenergy.com today, that is the number five hour energy.com. You can use promo code locked on golf to get 20% off your order. This offers only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Whether you're meeting up with friends, trying to turn 18 holes into 36, or just trying to get an energizing boost. Get it with five

hour energy today. All right, Jake, let's get to the one-on-ones. And like I said, the most eventful element of practice, the clip that has a chance to go viral, thanks to me. is Dylan Fairchild going up against undrafted so it's rookie versus rookie undrafted rookie Howard Cross the third and cross trips yeah cross trips and fair child the wrestler says eat the turf and made him eat the turf it was a really aggressive move and yet you go back you're like oh my gosh and then you go back and it's because cross-tripped yeah good highlight play but you watch the replay and james has it out there on social he did trip.

The interesting thing about this is we're going to talk about the one-on-ones is that protection for Joe was mostly fine in the team drills that I watched. So bear in mind that one-on-ones, I think, do favor the defensive players here. But as we talk through these, there's a few things that stood out pretty consistently. Miles Murphy got the best of Jalen Rivers, I think, three times between team drills and these one-on-ones. Once just ran around them in the one-on-ones, once got them with an inside move in the one-on-ons, It's got him with an inside move and team drills. So where to me, every time I've watched Jalen Rivers throughout this training camp,

I've thought he's held up pretty well. The one-on-ones didn't really have that effect on me when I was watching him. He won a couple, I want to say. He did. He also got beat by Miles Murphy a few times. So that was one that stood out. I like that matchup because Rivers, he got beat right away by Miles. Did get beat by Miles in the team drill, too.

You pulled that or pointed that out. out in the moment. And so it's like, oh, well, does Miles have his number? And then I have a clip of him taking Miles around the, ring around the Rosie Baby. And he was just like, oh, I'm going to protect the quarterback and keep the firm pocket. And so he did hold up, but Miles did get him as well. And this is the example. I mean, it's kind of the theme of camp of the back and forth. And you got a guy in Miles Murphy, former first rounder, third year, needs to make the leap. He should be beating up on Jaylon Rivers. And he was. And that's good. But Rivers also got a couple of nice reps, and that's good, too, because that's showing that

he's getting better in learning from going up against Miles. So that was a fun, a fun matchup and a fun back and forth. Miles gets the win for sure overall, but good to see Rivers respond. Also impressive in these drills, Shamar Stewart from a number of different alignments, left side, three tech, right side. Shamar Stewart had wins in this drill. Somewhere you'd expect, to shine, I think, in one-on-ones, but did well in those one-on-ones, in my opinion. And a beautiful rep for T.J. Slayton, a highlight rep for T.J. Slayton, quick win. I think working against Ted Karras. Yes. And Ted's a solid pass blocker now. And T.J. Slayton, not a guy you're thinking, that's going to be pass rush juice for us.

But throughout this camp, he stood out to me for a little bit more in that department than you would expect. And on this particular one-on-one, it was a very clean, when nose tackle direct pass for the quarterback against the Senate. It was like a receiver release against the corner, like one of those clean releases. It looked like a swim move. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like just, and he's a big man. So when he's moving like that and able to do that, I was like, I jokingly, DJ Reader,

I'm joking. But I was like, DJ who? Because he's wearing that. He's wearing the 98 and he did that. And I'm like, man, DJ, you mean T.J. because T.J. Slayton's on the case. I think he's going to matter a lot. In talking with veterans on this team, even before today, they really respect him his approach and they think that it's going to make an impact on that defensive front. And they need him to.

Obviously, we know that. But if he can give you any pass rush juice, I feel like that's all bonus. I don't think anyone really expected it and yet showed it at times. I mean, Ted Karris isn't Andrew Rame. No disrespect, Andrew Rame. But he's, he, he, What? Nothing. Go on. You think he is? No, no.

I was talking about the no disrespect. Oh, I see. I was being mean. I got you. I thought you were. I just mean he's an established player that played really well last year. I look forward to Matt Lee returning to practice. There you go.

Your backup center update brought to you by five-hour energy shots. That's right. Other standouts in the one-on-ones. I think Orlando Brown was Orlando Brown. was Orlando Brown, looked good. Dylan Fairchild had issues, had some wins. Cordell Bolson had some issues. A few times.

Oh, come on. He did. And this is, again, one-on-ones favored the defense. I said that at the top, repeating it here, protection for the ones, and run blocking for the twos in 11-on-11 work was pretty good. But Cordell did have some issues in the one-on-ones. So when we're talking about depth for this offensive line, it's going to be a recurring topic from now until the regular season because we're talking about guard battles. We're talking about the need for them to go get a veteran guard and nothing I've seen has dissuaded me from that notion, James.

No, no, not at all. I mean, that's the biggest concern for me. It isn't Trey Hendrickson, which, by the way, was at practice today in his. Same outfit. his normal practice uniform that isn't the actual practice uniform and uh black pants black shirt white hat hey he liked he's got the same outfit just in the closet it's real easy you get dressed if that's it right no choices but i i'm more concerned about the guard play and and they get lucas patrick out there maybe that's it maybe they're going to give it through that preseason game

against the eagles i do wonder if they know though They've got an idea for sure. They must. But the preseason games, I think, well matter. And that's it. Do they know or not? I do wonder, like, we think we know that they need a guard. Do they know they need a guard?

I don't know. I really, I don't. We've seen them be very confident in their guys year after year. So they might not know, right? And so if they don't know, the path for them to know or find out is what? Is Lucas Patrick comes back, gets reps at right guard, and they realize, all right, well, this isn't going to fix it. Speaking of Cody Ford, I forget who he lost to,

but got owned in a one-on-one. I forget which one. Might have been Howard Cross. It was, I think it was Howard Cross. It was right before Delon Fairchild had the trip get throwdown. Then it might have been someone else. No. Telvin Agam had a couple of wins in those one-on-ones, too,

and that's a guy that I don't think. It might have been Aga. To make the roster. I think it was Agam-R-Cross. It was one of those guys. So we'll see. Howard Cross did have a couple of nice reps there. Howard Cross has flashed a few times.

They need to get Matt Lee back. They need to get, you know, Seth McLaughlin or McLaughlin. You say McLaughlin, I say, I'm not sure, working in those. McLaughlin. Working in those drills as well. Because Matt Lee, he's participating in practice, but wasn't in there for one-on-ones, wasn't in there for team drills. That's still all Andrew Rame.

Is they're managing whatever's going on with him? And as Seth works back without Achilles, not on a first-name basis with him. as the Ohio State on Draftier Pre-Agent Center. They're excited about as dealing with that injury still. Let's get to the rest of our notes here, James. I've got some notes from 11-on-11s, some notes from some 7-on-7s as well as we wrap up Saturday in the stadium coming up next. Have you ever decided last minute, hey, I want to go to this game.

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At a couple of 11-on-11 periods, I thought the thing that stood out to me the most, in the 11 on 11s today was, I think the Bengals offense won a vast majority of the running play reps I saw. Wow. In my book. And I have pluses next to number 25 twice. That's Taj Brooks.

I noted, I believe it was Tanner Hudson in the Eric all role as Mike Keseki obviously wasn't in at that point, not that they're asking him to make that block. I think it was, Mike, I think it was Tanner Hudson on that play, coming across making a nice block on another running play. So good day for. Chase Brown, good day for Tyler Brooks. That means that it was blocked up well. I mean, these are pretty clean looking holes for five plus yard runs. Some of them more explosive. Some of them will get bottled up at the second level, which is what happens, right? That's a successful

run if you get a five-yard run on situations that aren't third and six plus. But good day for the running game, I thought, and that means good day for the run blocking on those plays. And I thought, like I said earlier, I thought protection for the most part held up pretty well, especially when Joe Burrow was on the field with that first team offensive line. That again, be sure Jalen Rivers at right tackle and Lucas Patrick at right guard. I didn't notice anything that looked horrible for Joe in those 11 on 11s as far as protection one. There was one very awkward looking play.

It was a bootleg where Joe Burrow rolls out to his right, almost makes a jump pass. A Drew Sample thinks better if it pulls it down, then flips it out of bounds. That one looked pretty weird. But outside of that, it was a mostly successful. day for Burrow and the ones. Not so much for Jake Browning and the twos, but I thought the ones, for the most part, the offense came out on top.

They did. And even the play Micah Sikkii tweaked his am steering on, it's a big play. There was a really big play. Yeah. Jamar Chase had a really nice catch on the sideline. But overall, this was... There was one big shot on T that I thought was a little bit of a big hit for a practice.

Geno Stone hits Tee. The ball bounces out as T hits the ground. Fairly hard. It hit the ground. It looked a little bit like an interception at first, in complete past. Geno Stone with the big hit on T coming across the middle, but he also had another catch, I believe.

It was a big PBU. Like, T had it, caught, was going to the ground, boom, and the ball popped up, but it did hit the ground. Jalen Davis appeared intercepted initially. But, like, that's the edginess the secondary has played with. Like all the Jordan Battle trash talk. Overall, though, I would say this,

this practice was a little lighter than we're used to. Saturday night they weren't doing as much so if you're if you watch practice and you're like this is what they're doing like no this was this was Saturday light it was shorter than normal Saturday night light few fewer team periods than normal Saturday light night Saturday night night night night night night night night light or light night night light because that's like the yeah okay I don't I'm just Saturday night light instead of live yeah the other standout for me because this The best throw of the day, I mentioned T. T. had a catch. The best throw of the day was to T. Higgins on a crosser.

Really tight coverage where only Tee could get it. That was a really good throw from Joe Burrow. Had a number of good plays. But standing out to me, incidentally, after the arrival of Mike Askeke, or after the noted injury, sorry, potential injury to Mike Kassacki, and the arrival of Noah Fant. Tanner Hudson, big practice. Mentioned the block earlier, a lot of catches as well,

and working with, I believe, primarily Joe Borough at quarterback in teamwork on Saturday. So Tanner Hudson, fighting for that roster spot. No doubt. And that's what you want. That's the whole point. You want guys that are going to be productive and be able to push. And that's the whole point why you add no offense is to add to your depth, add to your talent. And maybe it gets a little more out of Tanner Hudson, especially if Mike is sick,

he has to miss a little time. Hopefully he doesn't, obviously. But if he does, I'm trying to think of other standouts. You mentioned the second unit. Jake Browning had two picks. He had two picks. One of them was... The Dejohn one...

One of them was like a... It was a Popsie. It was a 500 ball, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was only worth a hundred points. It wasn't a hard play, you know, because you make them harder when it's worth... I know. I remember 500.

I love 500. Yeah. It was a 100 ball. Not much of an issue for Dejohn to come down with that one. But the second one was a really nice play from Josh Newton undercutting a Charlie Jones crosser. That was actually a really impressive pick for... I believe it was.

was Josh Newton there. And Browning's best throw was to Mitchell Tinsley. Yeah. Deep ball, Tinsley. What really did look like Marvin Jones here. No, they had the number 82 goes out, makes a nice play, contested catch. Double covered. There were two guys in his area.

Yes. So we will call it double coverage of Mitchell Tinsley making a play. Other than that, oh, Evan McPherson went five for seven, missed his last two kicks. What was that? Yeah, those were 55. 55. He missed 255. There's your long snapper drop.

who was long snap I think it was 46 oh it was Wagner yeah so Wagner was long snapping the last five but they were longer they were longer so it's so it's tough

one of the snaps looked a little bit difficult to handle for Ryan Rico both kicks miss well right to the right the last two kicks so don't know if it was something

in the operation but worth keeping an eye on Evan McPherson has generally been really solid throughout camp but in the stadium today. A couple of misses. Five of seven. Yeah, he finished five of seven.

And the Ryan Rico thing, obviously he's going to be their partner. Yeah. Needs to be a better holder. Let's throw that out there. Needs to up that a little bit. We're talking about the long snappers. There's the long snapper battle, no doubt. But maybe Ryan can be a little better in that department as well.

Anything else stand out to you, James? I think so. I'm just thinking about this event now that we have. It's about time to make a walk. And if you don't make it, we really appreciate it. Yeah, that's true. No time. Yes. Thank you so much for watching, listening and supporting us.

Even if you can't make, I know we have a ton of out-of-towners that have reached out, whether it's on Lockdown Bengals, Insiders at Joinsubtext.com slash Lockdown Bengals, or on social media. Like, there's been a lot of people like, I wish. It's no big deal. There will be more. There will be more events. But we appreciate all. We're catching all of you who told us you would be here if you were in town as here with us in spirit. as I told many of you, join self-text.com slash lockdown bengals,

the lockdown bengals insider group. Wow. We'll be back with one more show with me in Cincinnati, James, before I depart and return to the Great White North on Monday. We've got Sunday's practice. Canada? You don't, never heard that one? No.

Anyway, I was just messing. That's going to do it for this episode of the Locktown Bengels podcast until we're back after Sunday's practice. Thanks for listening. Who day? And have a good one. You weren't supposed to answer me.