Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals Should Move on From Germaine Pratt Following Trade Request + Listener Mailbag!

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt officially requested a trade this week. James Rapien reacts to the request, discusses Pratt's trade value and makes a prediction about the veteran's future. He also answers your questions about the 2025 NFL Draft, the Bengals' offseason strategy, the front office and more! Join the Locked on Bengals Subtext Community: joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengals Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBengals?sid=YouTube Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More 🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL For your next listen, check out the Locked On Fantasy Football podcast. Get daily insight to the best Fantasy draft strategies so you can win your league this season. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Support 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.

Jermaine Pratt wants a trade. He wants out. He requested a trade on Wednesday. What does it mean for him? What does it mean for the Bengals? That and so much more right now on Locked on Bengals. You are Locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Hi again, everyone, and welcome in to the Locked on Bengals podcast. I'm James Irpene. No Jake Liscoe today. He's a little under the weather, but that's all right. Get well soon, Jake. He will be back, probably on our next show. That would certainly be the expectation. Germain Pratt might not be back.

More on him in just a second. Today's show is brought to by Fandall. Make every moment more with Fandall. And right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. And let's dive into Jermaine Pratt. But before we do, thanks to all of the everydayers. If you're new to the show, I'm James Rupin.

I've been covering the Bengals for a really, really long time. Locked on Bengals has been around since 2016. Me and Jake Liscoe, I've been doing the podcast together since 2020. So it's been quite a run, quite a ride, and it's going to be quite a ride this offseason because just when you thought it was just going to be the T. Prey Hendrickson show and obviously the Jamar Chase, what happens with him, Jermaine Pratt says, oh, hey, hey, by the way, I'm requesting a trade. And we had just interviewed Elise Jesse yesterday, getting her radio road takeaways.

Make sure you check that out as well. She was in New Orleans, basically, all of last week, interviewing people across the league, talking with people about the Bengals. And no, Jermaine Pratt didn't come up. And so we talked a lot about Jammar and T. So if you're looking for that, certainly check out our previous show. But that's what's so interesting here is the Jermaine Pratt, when he's been brought up on this podcast, whether it's Jake or myself, it's been, he's probably a cut candidate.

They're probably going to cut him. They can save $5.6 million against the cap. He's got a $7.9 hit this year, $7.9 million. Probably a cut candidate. Probably someone you move on from. Probably someone you're like, okay, let's find a new home for him by way of cutting him, not trading him. And in this situation, it surprised me initially, and I've had some time, of course, to digest it.

It's eerily similar to the Joe Mixen situation last year. Now, Joe didn't request a trade, and it took the Bengals a while to get there from a cutting Mixon standpoint. But if you remember a year ago, me and Jake and pretty much anyone else that was around the team covering the Bengals, said, yeah, this is probably going to happen. And we thought it was going to happen. And you looked at the numbers and you looked at the cap hit. looked at all of those things, and it did happen. I think Jermaine, why he's doing this,

it's self-preservation. Similar to Joe Bixen, who, when he found out he was getting released, his agent called around the league, and his agent was able to find him a landing spot, and you get compensation for it. Well, you get to keep that contract, and then they were able to negotiate a long-term deal. Instead of rip it up, Houston said, no, I'd rather trade for you in and make sure that you're coming to Houston instead of going elsewhere. In this situation with Germain, I think Germain's trying to secure that $5.6 million that he's due this year. And if that means demanding a trade,

if that means forcing his way out, do that to get that final year of his deal. If you remember, he signed a $3.25 million extension after the 2022 season. And that was the Jesse Bates. Oh, my goodness, is there any way they could find a way to keep Jesse Bates? obviously that didn't happen. Von Bell, Germain Pratt. And it felt like they would keep Vaughn, let Germain walk, and let Jesse walk. And it was the other way. They tried to keep

Vaughn. They didn't want to give him more than two years, probably smart. And instead, they pay Jermaine because his market wasn't what he thought it was going to be. But man, oh man. I mean, it's just since then, he has just not been the same guy. Now, he's made some plays. There's no doubt. He's made some big plays. I think back in to really the 22 season, and then obviously the main play that everyone thinks about, is the interception on Derek Carr. The first playoff win for the Bengals in my lifetime

was that 2021 playoff game where he intercepts Derek Carr and preserves the win. And so that moment is going to be the biggest moment that people remember. I'm going to get to my, a key moment of Jermaine Pratt's tenure coming up in just a few minutes. But before we do that, the other moment, I think it's really underrated. They were down 24-20 early in the fourth quarter to Kansas City in 2022. And this is when the Bengals are going on their run and they're winning all of these games

and showing everyone that, yeah, we're still very much here after a slow start. And Pratt forces Travis Kelsey to fumble. And that really turned that game around and gave the Bengals a shot to win it. Because the Chiefs were driving could have been down by two scores in the fourth quarter. and instead they flipped it on him. So Jermaine has made big plays. And at the same time, let's be honest here, he's not what he once was. He's had those mistackles that a lot of people have seen that we're going to reference

in a minute or two. And I think plenty of you are curious about the moment I'm going to get to. I'm so excited to get to it. But before we do, what could they get for a minute trade? And today's a mailbag day, by the way. I'm going to get to a bunch of your questions. coming up in a bit. But before I do that, a lot of you had a question, what could Germain Pratt get back? What could you get back for Germain Pratt? What's he going to bring

back? And the answer is a late day three pick. That's why I related it to Joe Mixen earlier is that's the other element here. I think the world knows you're probably moving on from Germain Pratt. Why they would trade for him is they want to bring him in probably renegotiate that deal. And they think he can still play. They don't want to fiddle around with linebackers, And, you know, I think it's one of those things where you might get a sixth rounder. You might get lucky and get a fifth for your sixth. That would be the other thing is maybe you take your sixth and call a team that wants the Colts, right? And if they have a fifth and I haven't looked at the Colts draft picks, that's a natural landing spot with Louanarumo there and James Betra there.

It's like, all right, well, how about we get your fifth, you get our sixth? and you can have Dremaine, take him off our hands. Like it might get to that point where you're just moving up 20 picks in the draft, but you might get a seventh like he did with Mixen or a sixth if the team really thinks Dremaine Pratt that they can get more out of him. I think pretty telling, though, that Al Golden, who coached him 2020 and 2021, I don't think that they, that Pratt was really ever in the fold. And they had to evaluate him, of course.

But I think they knew, and I think they knew dating back to this clip. So, spoiler alert, Luan Arumo's fate was probably sealed when the Bengal season essentially ended on December 1st at Paycor Stadium. Russell Wilson comes in, throws for 414 yards, I believe it was. The Steelers score 38 points on offense, 37 points on offense or whatever it was. They dropped 40 plus at Paycor and end the Bengals' playoff chances. Did they? Technically, they did, because the Bengals won out and they still didn't make the playoffs. If they win that game, they get in the playoffs.

And afterward, so Lou Anirmo can't solve this Russell Wilson-led offense, which is just insane because the Steelers stunk the rest of the year. So there's one. And then afterward, Germain Pratt was asked by multiple people about the mistackles, about the Steelers offense, about the issues on defense. And this is when I knew it was the end for Jermaine Pratt in Cincinnati. Mistacles? No. Did you feel like there were a lot of mistackles today? Not that much.

I don't think. I just think that it was just getting the ball out quick. It's a quick game in the screens. Could it be a matter of not being in the right position? I'm just saying like it was just screen. It was quick games. They weren't really, they weren't doing too much. Does it get a ball out quick?

It's only hard to swallow a loss when you give up more than 500 yards of total offense? Oh, I said like it was just screens. And then if we went zero, he just threw like a quick, quick. It was balls quick. It wasn't that much. Why was it difficult to defend those screens and say it had so much success on it? Why did they have so much success? The ball was out quick.

That's the only words. Quick those. Is that an adjustment that could have been made mid-game to change the way they were having so much success? I mean, you're throwing quick. What about the effort level? Ever million. Yeah, I think everybody got effort. We didn't quit.

I didn't see nobody quit, so it won no effort level. There you go. That's Jermaine Pratt. Quick game. Quick game. Miss tackles? What miss tackles? And for our everydayers, I reference that multiple times.

I cannot get that for all of the good, the Raiders interception, all of those things. Obviously, this was far more recent. But now any time I think of Remain Pratt, I think a quick game. And what mistackles? Miss tackles. Like the whole world. Ray Charles saw that there were mistackles. And so that's an issue.

And so we'll see. We'll see if they could trade him. We'll not be shocked. If they end up having to release him, he did have 143 tackles. Ian Rappaport does say that there's a market. form. If there is, I would expect the Bengals to make a deal and make a trade involving Germain Pratt. Up next, your questions. That's right. It is a mailbag here on the Locked-on Bengals podcast. We'll answer your questions about the Bengals front office and much, much more coming up next.

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Let's get to some of your questions. And as always, you can follow on X at Locked on Bengals. We're also on Facebook and you can get us on YouTube and certainly wherever you get your podcast. Take us with you on the go. I know we have a lot of YouTube viewers that might not listen while you can listen. It's kind of wild. We started as a podcast for years and years and years. And now on YouTube, I think a lot of you might not realize that, yeah, we are also on all of your favorite audio platforms as well.

But let's get into the mailbag here. And I have a bunch of questions to get to that you've submitted. And what I did try to do, full disclosure, is strategically get to the ones that I should answer solo. Because some of the bigger topics, because you had a lot of great questions, I want to tackle with Jake, because they might be full-blown topics that we discuss. So I tried to strategically do this where they are important and you are curious about them at the same time. some of the bigger landscape questions I didn't want to tackle today because we didn't have Jake here. And if I do it and then you want to hear what Jake thinks, and then we're doing it twice. So I tried to balance it there.

So let's dive in here and let's start with at Johnny Bengal. With Eric all out for the rest of 2025, will we see the Bengals attempt to try and draft slash sign another wide tight end to run more 12 personnel? Or are we abandoning that idea and going strictly to strictly run 10 and 11 personnel? Obviously, the Bengals just love the 13 personnel, you know, where they're playing three tight ends, right? That's just something that they love. Oh, wait. No, they don't.

You're right. It is really, it's so funny because it unlocked this piece of the offense that I think they knew they had in them. Like, if you talk to the coaches, it's not like they added a bunch of new wrinkles playbook-wise. I just think they could confidently run that 12-personnel stuff where you had Eric All on the field with Mike Gaseki, or you had Eric Al and Drew Sample on the field. And so, yeah, with Eric All out, and that is a major loss. And not major just in the short term, but long term, you really can't bank on him. Like going into this offseason, you can't say, oh, well, yeah, Eric Hall next offseason is going to be ready to go.

You just don't know that. And I like Eric a lot. And I was convinced Eric Al was going to be really, really good when he got into it. He got into a practice fight with the Colts. And I always come back to that. I told him that. I was like, oh, that's when I realized you had some bleepity bleep to you. And he just smiled.

And so, yeah, they need to find another tight end. And I think that they would love to find someone that can block and catch, that they can trust in those situations. Because otherwise, and you saw it last year, When Eric all went down, they went right back to 11 personnel. They went to three wide receivers, which I think they're comfortable with. Of course they're comfortable with it. But they're fine being that, and that's who they are deep down.

But it was really nice to have this other thing that was evolving and developing. And if they can, like, I'm not willing to rule out tie down in round one. I know the kid from Michigan has gotten a ton of praise. Tyler Warren is another one. The combine's in a few weeks. I'll be at the combine. I'm going to be really excited to look at these tight ends because I think it's a good draft class. The Bengals have six picks.

I would be surprised at this point if they didn't take a tight end given the talent level, not just in the first round, but the first couple of rounds at tight end. And I know that they've evaluated it well. That's the other element. We've talked a lot about how they evaluate, right? Over the past few years, I know they love Sam Leporta. There were people in that building that love Sam Leporta. they really liked a Dalton Kincaid,

who doesn't give you a lot of what Johnny is asking about here. He'd be more of a receiver. But LaPorta does, right? Tucker Kraft does. Brock Bowers would have given you a decent amount of that, even though he's not as much of a blocker. They loved him, and what was he, a record breaker, a titan? The point is, they're pretty darn good at evaluating these guys, I think.

But they have to be willing to pull the trigger. And I think that's what's interesting is, is there going to be a titan in this class that they're comfortable with? at 17. I wonder. Are they just no way will they go that route there? And then, all right, well, then are you going to be comfortable with it at 49 it is? I believe they're picking it. 48. You're comfortable with it there. And that would be, it would be 49. And that's the question. And I don't know the answer to it, but that would be the question because they really like Tucker Kraft and they pick DJ Turner over him. They really like Sam LaPorte and they pick Miles Murphy over him.

so when when is it okay to pick a tight end eric all fell to round four because of his injury history i know they really believed in him and rightfully so i mean we saw it i mean eric all would have been the dominant tight end in this on this team on this roster from a position playing time standpoint he would have gotten more snaps than any of these other tight ends i would say by the end of the year by a long shot if he hadn't gotten hurt so we'll see but yes joddy answer your question, I do think that they will be in the market and look to add, even with a micasic, look to add someone that can do a lot of what Eric Al did last season. Next question, another draft one, and then we'll get to, I have a question about the Bengals front office

that we'll get to coming up in a few minutes. How often do the Bengals sign a guy at a position and draft a guy to develop at the same spot? I feel like they need to at interior offensive line defensive tackle and edge cody uh okorsky a core uh akorski i'll say is uh is the one asking this question cody underscore oko okaroski that's what it is it just took me a second cody okaroski all right yeah i think this is what they did at tackle last year they brought him a kai back in didn't work out with him they signed trent brown but they knew they knew they were lying offensive tackle in that draft early. And it worked out.

They get Amorius Mims. And so I think they want to do that again. In fact, Duke, everyone says Duke doesn't say anything. Duke laid out that exact scenario at the Comlai. Who knows? Maybe you take a guy that's kind of been a cast off from another team and then you draft one and then you feel pretty good about that room and you have them compete. He said something like that.

I'm paraphrasing. It literally laid out the Mackay Bechtin slash Trent Brown with an Amorius Mims tandem at the combo. So they definitely have done that in the past. And I would like that. I think that that's something especially at edge, you can use help wherever you can get it. At defensive tackle, same thing. You're going to have to address at least defensive tackle in free agency, probably both

in free agency, assuming you lose Joseph Osai. If Joseph Osai isn't resigned, you're definitely addressing both in free agency. You just have to because you just don't have enough guys. And then interior offensive line, I think that that is the blueprint. The blueprint for this offseason is don't roll out the kid from Alabama, Booker at Pick 17. I think he could certainly be in the mix there. But that doesn't mean that you're not calling Kevin Zitler. That doesn't mean that you don't say, hey, Brandon Scherfe, come here and pass Blackford Joe Burrow and help us get a Super Bowl.

Of course you do. Of course that's what you do. So, yeah, some of these veterans, and I know people won't like that approach because it'll be a Band-Aid approach, who cares? You won't the best team in 2025. And adding those pieces, that doesn't mean they won't go after a Trace Smith or one of these higher-end guys. But Zaitland and Shurf at right guard, certainly going to give you way more than you got last year at that spot. So you do that, and then you draft a guard. And then who knows, if that guard hits the ground running, good job.

to go. And if that guard doesn't, then, well, you have a veteran that is ready to go that that has that experience. So I think they might do that at all three of those positions. Would not shock me one bit. I think of the three, the one least likely to address in free agency would be edge, but because they could just sign Joseph Osai potentially. But yeah, interior offensive line, defensive tackle. I think you have to go veterans in free agency and then also go with rookies as well in the draft. It just depends on when. You take those guys. Up next, I have a question about the front office.

We have three more mailbag questions to get to overall. Can't wait to get to all three right here on Locked-on Bengals. Today's show is brought to you by prize picks. Prize picks is daily fantasy the way it should be. Football season may be over, but basketball is in full swing. And there's no better way to stay in the game than with prize picks. The best place for daily fantasy sports. With price picks, you just pick more or less on at least two player projections.

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lineup and get $50 instantly with code locked on NFL. Prize picks. Run your game. All right. Let's get to three more of your mailbag questions. And let's start with Bengals Watch Party at Bengals Party on X. What is your best guess on the hierarchy in the front office?

Who has the most say out of the following? Troy Blackburn, Duke Tobin, Katie Blackburn, Mike Brown. It's interesting. Because it very much is a collaboration. And so it depends on what you're talking about. When you're talking about the biggest decisions, Mike Brown's still signing off, right?

Like I don't think Joe Mixen, for example, I just keep bringing him up today. I don't think Joe Mixen is cut if Mike Brown doesn't give the thumbs up. I don't think that they signed Joe Burrow to the deal that they signed him to if Mike Brown isn't comfortable with the numbers. But, but Katie and Troy are the ones negotiating those numbers. Katie is the one leading the show when it comes to agent interaction and back and forth in negotiations. It's not like Mike Brown is in there hammering out these deals with the guaranteed numbers and all of those things anymore. So there's a hierarchy.

Duke Tobin is the personnel guy. And so he's going to handle that element of it. So if it's like draft who's in charge, and again, it's really tough for me because when I say Duke, which it is Duke, people are going to say, oh, my God, I can't believe he picked this guy and this guy and this guy. But it might not have just been Duke's pick that. So just to be very, very clear, there's a hierarchy, but it is very much a collaboration. And the way I would look at it is Mike Brown oversees everything, but a lot of days he's pretty hands off most days out of the year. So if there's 365 days out of the year, like 360 of them, he's probably hands off.

Just to give you an idea. Not that he's not present. Of course, he's there meeting with Zach, talking, all of those things. But it's not like he's super strict and overseeing everything still. When it comes to negotiations, Katie and Troy, one, two, or one. 1-1-A, however you want to look at it. When it comes to personnel, it will be Duke. But then you have Steve or Dissavitch and Mike Potts, your head scouts,

both pro and college respectively. And then after that, you know, you obviously have Trey Brown, who, by the way, I don't know if we mentioned it. He interviewed for the Jacksonville Jaguars job, the general manager job. So we'll see. We'll keep you up to date on that. But he's very much in the mix there with the scouts as well. And the right-hand man to Duke, helping Duke out and all of those things with day-to-day.

And then I'm trying to think of who I'm. Oh, and then you have the coaches. I was going to say the coaches running the question, but it's not like Zach doesn't have some input here. Of course he does. And I do think, like a lot of people are critical of the way the Bengals are structured from that standpoint. I actually think it's good that the coaches have input.

A lot of these NFL teams have scouts and then coaches and then they're on completely different wavelengths. That doesn't mean that I'm defending the Bengals for not having more scouts. I'm not saying that. But I do. think that coaches should be like, well, yeah, I think this guy fits. This guy doesn't fit.

And that should, they usually should lead to success, right? Like if Zach Taylor and Brian Callahan were like, hey, man, Jamar doesn't fit. Now, Jamar fits everywhere. He fits on Mars. He fits everywhere. But if they're like, hey, Jamar doesn't fit our offense, let's not pick him. Well, that does carry some weight here. And obviously, they love Jamar and it worked out.

And I used a good player that's been awesome versus the many, many bad draft picks as well. But that gives you an idea. So it's very much a collaboration, but that gives you an idea of what it looks like, I would say, behind closed doors. At Hunt 20201, do you think the defense can be fixed in one off season, or will this be a two-year endeavor? I was having this discussion with Andrew Russell, pro football focus. He does graphics for pro football focus. is a big listener to the pod and support Cincinnati Bengals talk. And so we talk pretty regularly.

And we're going back and forth exchanging messages. And he's like, man, this is, it's going to take time. And I'm like, no, that's not, that cannot be the mindset. Cannot be the mindset of this team or this front office of anyone. Joe Burrell doesn't have that mindset. And they sure is how better not have that mindset for anybody that I just listed from the front office. That cannot be the mindset.

The mindset for this Cincinnati Bengals team needs to be very simple. How do we get back into contention right now? Elite quarterback, elite weapons. We have the NFL sack leader. It should really be not adding around the fringes. It isn't that simple. But it isn't rocket science. It isn't this thing where you need 18 new pieces.

The Bengals don't need to be a perfect roster to win the Super Bowl next year. They need to be better in certain areas and still elite in the areas that they were elite. That's how I view it. And I think that's how the Bengals view it. I hope that's how the Bengals view it. Because if you keep your guys and then you make the right additions in free agency and you draft some impact players early on, you're going to be right there. Flaws in all, there have been most Super Bowl champions are flawed.

The Chiefs have never really been perfect in any of their Super Bowl runs, ever. Now, you could argue the Eagles, they feel pretty darn good, don't they? All right, fine. So there was one team that just felt so stacked. Fine. You only have to worry about them if you get to the Super Bowl anyway. So to me, no, I think if you can bolster your pass rush, let's say you add two guys. Miles Murphy takes a half step forward.

You add another linebacker that isn't Jermaine Pratt, that is a quality tackler, and you draft a safety. By the way, our guy, Bengals, Sands, wrote a really good breakdown of Xavier Watts. If you think, if you're wondering if Xavier Watts is good or not, he wrote a really good breakdown of the Notre Dame safety at banglestalk.com. He tweeted it out as well at Bengals underscore Sands. So no, I do not think it has to be a two-year window

where it takes two years to rebuild this defense. But will they be perfect? No, they also don't need to be perfect on defense. They need to be 13th in the NFL and opportunistic. They need to have some dogs, some playmakers, that tackle, do what they're told from a scheme in reading standpoint, right, where it's like, oh, well, this play's happening here. These are my keys.

Read them. That's what I mean by what they're told. What the keys are telling them to do. Boom, let's do it. That's simple. So that's where I'm out on the defense, is if they, if they're a disciplined defense, that would be the word to use. Discipline defense can read the defense, read the opposing offense well, tackle, athletic,

making some plays. Like, that's what you need. You don't need to be perfect. And so I do think that they can get there this offseason. And then Akila the goat. How exhausted are you talking about obvious moves that any other team would have made years ago? I assume this is like the T. Higgins-Gramar Chase.

Look, it's twofold. They should have gotten the Jamar deal done last year. At the same time, no wide receiver has gotten the deal done before after their rookie deal is up, after those four years. Justin Jefferson had to wait another year. Now, the Vikings were idiots for doing that. But I don't think that that criticism was as loud.

And I do think the Bengals plan on paying Jamar, and as long as they do, that's fine. But what they can't do is let Jamar get in the way of these other guys. And I think that's the fear. I think that's where the fan angst comes from. And rightfully so. The T. Higgins deal, I don't know if I've said this on the pot or not, but might as well. I told him last year, last year at the end of the year, yeah, because that was my number one thing. I said, signed T. I said I wasn't worried about tomorrow yet. Get T down. I was like, I told him the number I would sign him for.

And I might have set that number on the pot or not, but I was like, oh, I'd sign him for this. And I think it would have got it done then. I really do. Now, it's going to be higher now. It's going to be higher now. That number is not the same, put it that way. Because now what I would, would offer him is certainly higher and I'm not sure it would get it done. And I think that last number that I mentioned to him last year, it would have. But the wide receiver market's changed. He's played better. He's had 10 touchdowns this year. He's just done things that are different. And so, yeah, I think it's going to be one of those things with T where it did cost them a little bit. Now, with Trey, I don't blame the Bengals with Trey at all, at all. I would not have given

Trey and extension last off-season. I wouldn't have. Maybe a year, but he's the one who took that last year, and he had two years left on his deal, and he's going into his age 30. It was just, it was one of those things that it was like, you have two years left on your deal. Like how many more years now? Now you could argue, man, if you had added two more years onto it less, but the market hasn't really changed. He's still under contract. I don't blame them with T. Jemar, yes. T, definitely yes. T is the big one. But not sick about it. It's my job.

I love it. I love each and every one of you for listening, watching, supporting the podcast. Which wish Jake well as he continues to recover. This has been fun. I haven't done a solo Locked on Bengals episode in a while. It's been a while. Regardless, I appreciate each and every one of you for listening, watching, and supporting the podcasts. And until next time, I'm James Rupin, and Jake Lisk.

We'll be back next time as well. Thank you so much for listening and watching to the Lockdown Bengals podcast.