Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - BENGALS SQUAD SHOW: Is JEREMIYAH LOVE still IN PLAY at No. 10? Andrew Whitworth COULD BE an ASSET

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

While the majority of Bengals fans are screaming for a defensive player to be the player selected at No. 10 in the NFL Draft, there's a strong case to be made that Jeremiyah Love could actually be the best option for the Bengals.  Alex Frank, Jake Liscow, and Coach Valero discuss the benefits of the Bengals drafting Jeremiyah Love, even if there are more major needs on defense.  The Cincinnati Enquirer did a Q&A with Andrew Whitworth with the Spring Meetings happening this wee in Phoenix. Whitworth talked about his interest in joining the Bengals' front office in a consultant role. Could Whitworth be the asset for the Bengals' front office that helps them modernize in more key areas.  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!  Robinhood You’re no longer just a spectator. Play by play. You decide. Trade Every Play with Robinhood. Now available across the U.S. Download the Robinhood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC., a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm.  FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. During the tournament FanDuel is offering $300 back in Bonus Bets every day for ten days. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.  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) Everydayer Club Link: https://lockedonbengals.supercast.com   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Alex Frank. Back in 1997, Shania Twain released a song called Still the One I Love. The last word of the title of that song is the last name of a running back, Jake Liska, who's a very intriguing prospect when it comes to the Bengals picking at number 10, Jeremiah Love. Very good football player. It's going to be really hard for me to be convinced that he's the best option for the Bengals at 10. But if he is the pick, he's really good. Because sometimes your best defense may be an offensive player. Is that true? That could be. Could possibly be. I think that Jeremiah loves kind of in that situation like Saquan Barclay was a few years back when they had a chance, the Giants had a chance to take Justin Herbert or him. Wow. Jeremiah loved to Saquan Barclay. We're off and running. This is Bengals Squad on Lockedown Bengals in the Locktown Podcast Network.

Today, it's the Bengals Squad. Everything, Cincinnati Bengals, every week. Breaking down. all the big hits and game-changing plays from the Queen City, the way only the Locked-on Podcast Network can. From the jungle to the playoffs, the Bengals Squad Show starts now. Final day of March, happy March 31st to all of you. Welcome to the Bengals Squad Show on this Tuesday, March 31st. I'm Alex Frank, joined by Jake Lisco and Coach Arifalera. We got so much to get to today.

Coach, I want to first congratulate you and the Orlando storm on your season opening win Sunday night down in Orlando, 23 to 6. over the Columbus Aviators 1 and O to start the season. So congratulations to you, Anthony Beck, the head coach, and the entire Orlando Storm team. As for the Bengals, we got a lot to get to today. Jeremiah Love, I'm going to tell you why he's still the one I love in number 10, to quote Shania Twain.

And then we're going to talk about Joe Flacco and some details about his contract that emerged this week. Plus why I think Katie Blackburn not speaking this week at the spring meetings is actually a smart thing. And could Andrew Whitworth be an asset to the Bengals for an office? A tremendous Q&A that explains why he really could be just that. Jake, let's go. Talk me out of the Bengals or me wanting the Bengals to draft Jeremiah Love.

Well, what are the other options? Let's start there. Before you just say, well, why not Jeremiah Love? Because, of course, you can make a case for Jeremiah Love if every single defensive player is picked. But who else is available? Who are we picking Jeremiah Love instead of picking? Well, we've got Caleb Downs. We got Ruben Bain.

We've got Sonny Stiles. I would pick any of those three players ahead of Jeremiah Love. Would you take Mansour Delane over Jeremiah Love? Probably. That one gets a little bit closer because the cornerback thing, I think the Bengals approach there should be keep the two guys they have. And my assumption would be if they were to draft Mansour Delane, another really good player, potentially the best corner in the draft.

and Lance Zerline, for example, top three player overall for Lance Zerlain. For Dane Brugler, I think he's number seven overall. And I think for Dane at least, there's a higher ranking for Jeremiah Love. But the quality of player at premium position, if it's close, I'm going toward the premium position. If it's not close, and maybe it's not, maybe the Bengals or you listening to this show right now think Jeremiah Love is head and shoulders, better football player. than these other guys. Then it's a harder argument to make. But if it is close, and I think it is

for all of these guys, I'm going to a premium position. And based on what the Bengals did in free agency and based on the way the Bengals are set up as a football team on offense, yeah, Jeremiah Love presents some value to you, but the marginal difference between Jeremiah Love on the team and Chase Brown and Somaget, Pryan being your primary running backs, especially this year, versus the marginal difference between Sunny Stiles and the next linebacker or Rubin Bain and the next guy that would be playing those edge snaps and Caleb Downs or the next guy that we would be playing nickel snaps for you is more significant. And like I said, it's different when you talk about Mansour Delane because I think the Bengals have

two really good players there that I would like to see them sign to contract extension. So less of a path to serious playing time for Delane unless you're moving Dax Hill, which isn't something that I'm necessarily in support of. So I think that it depends very much on who's available, but what makes it really hard, and my Lockdown Bengals co-host, James Rapine would make a case for Jeremiah Love. What makes it really hard is you're in an offense in Cincinnati

that is so dominated by the way Joe Burrow plays football and the way Joe Burrough passes a football. And Jeremiah Love could absolutely be a weapon as a receiver as well. Don't get me wrong. But the offense in Cincinnati is different from the offense in Detroit, where you add a Jamir Gibbs and they can make the most of his tool set. It's different from the offense in San Francisco,

where Christian McCaffrey has the kind of impact that he had. Now, could Jeremiah Love change things? He could. But the way this offense has been run with Joe Burrow has been very catered to Joe Burrow for his entire tenure in Cincinnati. And I wouldn't want to change that too much because Burrow is the engine that makes this offense go. It's good injury insurance for Joe Burrow, right? In that sense, it gives you an option to keep the offense going if you lose Joe Burrow for a couple of weeks here or there.

And obviously, hopefully that doesn't happen. But I think it is still really hard to make a compelling argument no matter who the running back is to pick him in the top 10. You bring him a lot of great points. But the point that I go back to that you make is that he's good injuries. insurance for Joe Burrow. And that stuff, coach, as we talked about on Friday, it absolutely matters when you think that Joe Burrell has been injured in three of the six seasons. But I also think this, along with the fact that there are so many enticing reasons why I can't tear myself away from Jeremiah Love. And I go to this. And Jake, you mentioned that the Bengals'

offense has catered to Joe Burrow. Absolutely. That's 100% true. But what if coached the Bengals, I'm not going to say reinvent their offense, but what? What if they add another layer to it and become unpredictable because they have a running back that can tote the rock 25 to 30 times? That right there is enticing enough to pick a player in number 10 and send a message to the AFC North and the AFC that, hey, we're not going to be able to run the football. Come and stop us now. Well, you know, very intriguing. But you know what? I go back to it.

I say, Jeremiah loves a very good football player. And I'm sure somebody is going to need a running back of that quality in their office, like New Orleans, like those teams that that are established already. I think this is Joe Burroughs football team. And I said, even though you get a Jeremiah Love and a great insurance policy, it's still, to me, the insurance policy, if you want your office to continue to great. grow and to continue to be good. That's great. But the other side's got to be handled first. I think that makes Joe Burrow that much better.

And I think Chase Brown is a quality running back that fits this offense. I think, Jeremiah Love, you're going to have to give him 25 touches a game. And is he the one other than Joe Burrow with the ball in his hands that you want to get through other than Chase Brown and T. Higgins and, you know, the other, the other guys. I don't know. I think that if he got to you, somebody else is going to want him, you can move down. You could trade up. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of people that are going to really value him, but I don't think you necessarily need him at this point. Interesting points there.

And I think, look, I forget I was going to ask you, but I go to the fact that you have a better chance of nailing a draft pick, particularly number 10, when you draft the guy like Jeremiah Love, then you do with any defensive player. That's just me, because this franchise over the last three seasons. They have some hits, DJ Turner, Dax Hill, but Jordan Bally could even say is, but the last two seasons, particularly this past season,

there's just so many question marks that if you take a player and a playmaker, I think you've a better chance of nailing that than you do any defensive player to need you may have. I'm just trying to find an example of where this has worked for anyone. Typically the teams drafting in the top 10 are not very good teams that don't have a Joe Burrow on the team, but you go back 10 years.

It's like Bajon Robinson, his team, hasn't done anything since they drafted him. Sequin Barclay, who had to go to his second team before he won anything, the Giants didn't make good on drafting Sequin Barclay in the top 10. Christian McCaffrey, again, had to go to a different team, but did have some success with Cam Newton in Carolina because of the way that offense was built, I think. But there aren't a whole lot of teams who draft are running back in the top 10, and suddenly that's what pushes them over the hump.

That doesn't really have a recent precedent. That's another reason that it gives me pause. You guys have also talked about giving Jeremiah Love all these touches, and I agree he would need to be part of the offense in a pretty significant way. I think that the Bengals would find ways to get that done in the passing game as well. But over the last two years in Notre Dame for Jeremiah Love, he went to 25 plus carries just twice. And both of those were in 2025.

He had a 25 carry game against Pittsburgh and a 29 carry game against USC, where he went for 100. 47 and 228 yards rushing, respectively. So obviously was really good in those games where he was a high volume player as well. But a lot of his games, he's right around 19 touches or 19 carries, 20 carries on average. I think 18 carries in 2025 per game in 2024. 2024, that number would have been even lower, I think, per game where he only had more than 20 carries in one, two, three games.

other than that, and the teens are even lower. And then I think about how many touches are available to you in a Bengals offense. Because Chase Brown is still going to get some touches, at least next year. Probably gets fewer, right? But at least you're probably throwing the ball 30 times a game, most games, probably at least 30 dropbacks most games. You probably get about 60 plays a game, 70 plays a game. You're definitely taking touches from someone to give them to Jeremiah Love.

And so that's where, for me, it comes back to that. that marginal improvement. You're always comparing not to nothing, right? You're not adding Jeremiah Love or you're barren at running back and barren at skill positions. You're adding Jeremiah Love to a room that has a lot of guys, Ram Chase D. Higgins, Chase Brown, who are really good with the ball in their hands right now. And obviously, Chase Brown is in a different world than Jamar Chase. But as coach said, he's still a good football player.

He's a good NFL running back. A guy the damn pitcher has described as a top 10 running back in the NFL. And while he's may or may not be. either. I think that's up for debate. He's probably close. So if you're drafting Jeremiah Love and committing the draft pick resource, the financial resource, and the roster spot, and that's the touches to Jeremiah Love, I do think that I wonder how that would look in a Joe Burrow dominated offense. And one of the big reasons I'm so hesitant about spending a premier pick on a running back and have been for years is because of how Joe Burrow dominant this offense is, especially when it's had its best. And so finding

exactly how much that kind of premium talent at running back would improve the offense remains a nebulous concept to me. Coach, when you say that Chase Brown needs to have 25 touches a game, are you talking about 25 carries? Or are you saying that some of those touches could come as a receiver out of the backfield? Well, I think that any time, and we're still on Jeremiah Love, correct? And so. like Chase Brown. I'd love to see Chase Brown, you know, either running back. I think that you need to make sure, and when I talk about touches, it's not just runs. That's balls out of the backfields, that's screens, that's, you know, multiple things that kind of all, he needs to put his hands on the ball

25 times. And I think if you, when you do that, you have to take away from somebody. And you've basically are changing your offense to suit him. And I can remember back what was in 2005, there were three running backs that were coming out. They were the top three people. There was, you know, the guy that we took in Cornell Williams, there was Brown. They were both Auburn kids and then Senator Benson.

Yeah. And none of those teams had put none of them over the top. And there were other needs on other places. The reason we could do that is because we had a dominant defense. And we needed a running back in the backfield who could kind of do it all. And so there was a bit of a belcow too, wasn't he? Cadillac was a bit of a bell cow too, right? So stylistically with a defensive dominated team,

the guy that can close out the games for you on offense that can fit what you're doing a little bit. Also a different air football. Lack was that guy, but he needed to touch the ball. He needed the ball in his hands. And, you know, we had Michael Clayton outside as well as Joey Galloway. So we still have some speed on the field, but we were trying to look to close out the game and keep it close. And then Mike Allscik could finish the game. And that was, but that's how the team was built, was built in order to draft a very good run-aback.

And I just don't see the need or really to get Jeremiah Love as good football player as he is. He's going to make somebody a really good player for a long time. But I just don't see it because of the lack of the things that they have done in free agency and in their past drafts to get to the point where they got a draft team. Yeah, there may not be a need, like you say, Coach, for the Beckles of the draft year, I think about the Bengals offense and Jake you mentioned when it's at its best. It's a Joe Borough dominant offense and that's absolutely true. But I go back to something that ESPN Bengals reporter Ben Baby, who's at the spring meetings in Phoenix this week,

wrote earlier in the offseason about how the Bengals have not been as explosive in terms of downfield plays as they were in 2021 since. And I just wonder if having a guy like Jeremiah Love that can run the football and that brings the safeties down in the box, If being able to stop the run, if that's going to reopen your downfield shots for Jamar Chasing T. Higgins, because the last time you were that explosive, Chase was still a rookie, Higgins was still in the second season, they both have now earned huge contracts because they both are so much better. I just cannot get past what Jeremiah Love could do in that sense. Yeah, I think that he could help in that sense. You go back to the last time the Bengals were an explosive offense. They're getting verticals to Jamar Chase and T. Higgins all day because nobody's staying over the top. And then teams change the way they defend the Bengals and you get a lot of double double on the outside. And so the thing that we discussed in our most recent mock draft on Lockdown Bengals, because we drafted Jeremiah Love in Lockdown Bengals Moks.

We got to a point last week, this week, a couple days ago, that all the defensive guys were got. The top players available in the mock draft were offensive Wyman and wide receivers, maybe Kenyon Sadiq and maybe McCoy from. Tennessee, whose pro day is maybe as we speak. I know it's today in Tennessee, and it's a big one for him to see how he works out if he does any testing, that sort of thing. But if I'm picking an offensive player

and definitely thinking about offensive line, but I'm also thinking strongly about wide receiver because when you go back to the last time this team was explosive, Tyler Boyd was on the team. And you go back and watch when the Bengals played the Chiefs in 2021, in 2022, Tyler Boyd was still a big part of the offense. And that's like relatively late Bengals career, Tyler Boyd, right? That's toward the end of his time in Cincinnati.

But the fact that Joe Burrow had a trustworthy slot player that could punish teams for spending all of those resources defending the Bengals really good outside receivers. Think about the 22 AFC championship game where Tyler Boyd looks like he's going to kill the Chiefs. And Steve Spagnola does not have a plan for Tyler Boyd in that game. He has a plan for those outside. receivers, but Tyler Boyd is gashing the Chiefs early in that game. Then he gets hurt. And then the Bengals' offense kind of goes off the rails. And there were other issues, obviously, for the

Bengals in that game. But when Tyler Boyd was playing in that game and he was healthy, he made a huge difference. So that's where if we're talking about a skill player in the first round, I'm draft a receiver. I'm looking at Mackay Lemon really seriously there for the impact that he can make, given the strength the Bengals have at receiver already. So I do think that you can make. You can make a case for Jeremiah Love, I don't think it's like entirely cut and dry because he's so explosive as a runner. He's really good as a receiver already, very polished in that part of his game. It's just the whole marginal difference thing that I keep coming back to. How much better does he make you than what you already have on offense and that, as I said, remains a really nebulous

thing to define. Save that conversation for Friday. That coach, you and I will talk about that with Mike Santagina. But coach, I want to ask you, you mentioned this in the open. I asked you this. Jeremiah Love as a running back, can a running back solve a defense's problems just by simply playing complimentary football, which is a big part of the game? Well, you know what? When you do have a very good running back and you're committed to running the ball, now you're talking about lengthy drives and winning time of possession because you're keeping the other side off the field. if the other side, if the defense is not up to speed, then you're always playing from behind and you really never get a chance to use that weapon because you are playing from behind. And now it turns into a passing contest because you're trying to score, keep up with the other side.

And I think that's a problem that you really don't want to be in. You'd like to keep games close where you can run your full complement of offense. But if you're playing from behind, it makes it hard. It makes it hard because you can't do that anymore. You've got to keep up with the Joneses, so to speak. And it's a difficult goal. I think the kid is a great player. I think it'd be a tremendous asset.

But at this point in the team's development, where does he fit? I mean, it would be great to have him. I'd love to have him. But how does he fit for the team? And right now they haven't addressed the team's issues, in my opinion, enough to where one draft is going to make it go. Are you going to win a lot of games on defense with, you know, threes and fours, round picks, five fifth round picks? I don't think so.

It's a fair point to be made that they haven't done enough to be in a position where they can go. Best Player Available if Jeremiah Love is at number 10. That conversation continuing on Friday. But up next, Joe Flacco, details about his contract emerged this week. We'll get into that and what it means for the Bengals. And if they could potentially take advantage by adding more players in free agency. We'll get into it next right here on the Bengals Squad Show. This episode of Bengals Squad is brought to you by Robin Hood.

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So when the momentum shifts, you can move with it. I always knew the game, but I never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge. Now I can actually take part live in a market. market power by people. You're no longer just a spectator. Play by play you decide. Trade every play with Robin Hood. Now available across the United States, download the Robin Hood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives LLC, a register futures commission merchant and swap firm. Coach, I got to ask you before we get to our conversation on Joe Flacko, you being a coach. When you saw what Dan Hurley and the Yukon Huskies did and that miracle comeback this past Sunday, what are your overall thoughts on Dan Hurley and the program he's built up in Stores, Connecticut? You know what?

They were amazing how they came back. And he's got those kids motivated, juiced up, playing very fundamental basketball and then allowing their athleticism to go. I think he's done a fabulous job. You know, he's like, you know, they're the Yukon of old. They look like that type of player or that kind of team. And I think that, hey, you know, who knows? Coming down the stretcher, it's going to suit them well.

Eight Final Four appearance that, of course, Saturday against Illinois, 609, Eastern Time on TBS. But back to the conversation at hand. By the way, I didn't mention this in the first segment. Bengals Chiefs, 2021, Week 17, re-air to 9-9 Eastern. on NFL network. Joe Flacco has two void years in his contract. Jake, Lisco, for those who haven't listened to Lockdown Bengals yet this week, you and James talking about that, for our audience here on the Bengals Squad show, what does this mean for

Joe Flacco and for the Bengals? Yeah, let's start with what exactly is a void year because a lot of people don't necessarily know the cap machinations and all these things, especially Bengals fans because the Bengals rarely do this. And they've got void years and Joe Burroughs contract and Jamar Chase's contracts. And obviously those contracts are very different from the Joe Flacco contract. But they also did this with Riley Reef when they signed him to a one-year deal a few years ago. And so the void year exists simply as an accounting mechanism. Joe Flacco is getting paid $6 million this year. Four million of those dollars are being paid as what's effectively a signing bonus, even though officially it's a roster bonus. But signing bonuses and roster bonuses for the

Bengals and other teams when they're paid out at the time of signing are effectively proratable for accounting purposes. And so you have the cash flow and you have the cap flow, the cap accounting for Flacco's contract. And what this does for the Bengals is it takes $4 million, with that $6 million and it spreads out the cap hit over three years, which means the cap hit for Flacco in 2026 instead of being $6 million is about $3.3 million. And the cost, to that then is that if flaco isn't on the team in 2027 if this is just a one-year deal when flaco retires or flacco has an opportunity to start somewhere else in 2027 and he signs a deal elsewhere the bengals will be looking at a dead cap hit of 2.67 million dollars so a small dead cap hit

in the future to save 2.7 million or so in cap space this year and the bengals might not do anything with that cap space. They didn't really do anything with that cap space when they put the void year in Riley Reefs deal a few years ago. It might also mean that they are looking beyond veteran minimum deals for potential post-draft additions. And I think that we talked about this on Locked on Bengals, like many teams, the Bengals are kind of waiting

until after the draft at this point because the Monday after the draft, players that are signed that are free agents, no longer count in the compensatory pick formula. And so they want to get through the draft, assess where their holes are, potentially make some additions there. And if they do, when I thought this was a $6 million cap hit for Joe Flacco in 2026, I thought that meant that they were pretty much out of cap space.

Now, with that extra $2.6 million in Wiggle Room, that does give you a little bit more space to do the NOAA-sized deal that they did last year, those two to three million dollar deals. They have the wiggle room to execute those sorts of deals now instead of just a veteran minimum contracts, which are essentially free because that's pushing someone else off the roster that's making a million dollars anyway. So you can sign as many veteran minimum guys as you want,

and it's not going to impact your cap bottom line. When you start to go over that number, you get to $2 million, and those cap hits do start to add up. You start to eat into that cap space that you have available to you. Now, of course, the Bengals always have that restructure Joe Burrow option in their back pocket. if they so choose, and it doesn't look like they're going to choose that at this point. But the bottom line to me is that it gives them a little bit more flexibility.

Whether or not they use that flexibility remains to be seen. But it does open them up, I think, a little bit more realistically to those NOAA-Fant style-sized deals instead of just the veteran minimum deals if they look to fill some holes after the draft. So it's good what they have done to Joe Flacco's contract is what I'm getting at, from what the details you're sharing. Yeah, I think that it gives them a little bit of flexibility. I like to see them use void years because it's something that they typically don't do. It's a mechanism to save cap space this year and not in future years.

They're giving up cap space in 2027 to have more this year. Now, if they don't spend that cap space, it just rolls over. And so it'll effectively pay for that cap hit next year if they don't use that space this year. But it's just a $2.6 million cap hit next year. So it's not like it's a huge issue. I would love to see them do this with the full bonuses for players. like Boye-Maffey and Brian Cook that they signed last off-season. I don't understand why they're willing to do this with Flacco on a one-year deal,

and they're not willing to do it with these guys that they gave three-year deals to and just pro-rate all of the money. I'm not asking them to do void years there. I'm not asking them to do anything crazy there. I'm asking them to be, like, slightly less conservative. They're already the most conservative cap team in the NFL by a pretty large margin. When you look at their year one cap hits for their free agents, I'm asking them to be a little bit less extreme in that regard.

guard because they clearly are willing to do it for guys like flaco and reef. I don't understand what the difference is with those guys versus the three-year second year contract second contracts that they gave out to external free agents this off season. Coach, go ahead. I know you. I'll tell you what. The segment was awesome because that would Jake just hit really kind of summed it up and

educated all of the people that are listening. right now that don't understand how the cap works and what you're paying people. And to be able to do that and to basically kick the can down the road in terms of money is huge because it allows you to go out and get those players that come in that are basically, and I've used the term before, they're putty, they're filling holes. and you need those things. So the more that your common football guy is out there, it's like usually contracts,

you can look at a $50 million contract. Well, there's a great chance. The only money he's guaranteed is what they pay him up front. It's that bonus. Everything else is kind of prorated and, you know, you may sign a $150 million contract. The money you get up front is the money you get. your contract for the first year may be a million.

Second year, eight million. And then it just keeps jumping up. And by then they know you're gone and they're going to cut you before you got, your contract really sits in. And so the whole contract situation is you can manipulate it and a lot of very good teams manipulated all the time. When I look into this and the stuff that I've read and listen to you, Jake and James talk about this on Lock,

on Bengals and the conversation we're having now. My thinking about it is that the Bengals, I get what they're doing. And I think the void years here, I agree with you, Jake, is a good thing. But it comes across when they pay so much money in that year one for guys like Boy Amafi or Brian Cook. It comes across as if they're just trying to focus on the next season as opposed to the long term. And then when they get to the void years for certain players or when they get to players that are at the end of their contracts, they don't know the decisions to make

and then sometimes they let them go when they don't have to if they had done better originally. I want to read you both this quote that Sean Payton, the Broncos head coach, said today at the spring meetings in Phoenix. This is from Peter Schragher's Twitter account. Peter Schreger, very, very good reporter for ESPN. and coach you're going to really like this says quote the mistake the teams in this league make is trying to win the day the draft day the free agency day the coaching cycle day and i read that quote and i just thought to myself that applies the cincinnati bengals wholeheartedly

i think the bengals would argue that they're trying to maintain long-term flexibility what they're trying to avoid is the future dead cap hit They like to brag about how little dead money they have. There are stats that are being peddled about how much dead money teams have that are winning games and not winning games. What I think about when I hear people talking about dead money just to get this off my chest, which is not necessarily directly related to your quote, but because of something the Bengals really seem to pride themselves in is avoiding dead cap hits, you end up with dead cap hits when you do a bad job of acquiring good players. When you overpay players that should not be getting paid, what they get paid,

when you go out and give big money to a player who isn't a good fit for your team and you need to cut those players, that's when you end up with dead money. It's going to happen to every team at some point. Players will decline, players won't fit in, it should fit in. It's impossible to be perfect in this regard. But the teams that end up with a lot of dead money are teams that have unexpected retirements. And that's something you can't control as a team, right? like Frank Ragnow is in the news today.

When he retires unexpectedly for the Lions, he leaves a big dead cap hit because that pro-rated bonus that would have been paid over years that he's playing for the Lions, he's now retired, and now they have to eat all of that cap hit in one year. But more often it's because these teams that are often heralded as winners of free agency, teams like the Titans this year and the Raiders this year, signed 20 guys to contracts or whatever it is, and half of them work out and they have to cut half.

you're going to end up with a lot of dead money when you have to cut guys. And so that's really what it is. The issue for me, it's nothing to do with how the Bengals are paying players. I think the Bengals are good at cash flow for players. And that's why they end up being able to sign guys. It just has to do with how they account for the money and not pro rating as many cap dollars as they could. The cash flow, like I said, bottom line for the player remains the same. These are all bonuses that are getting paid up front.

The Bengals are just choosing not to pro rate some of those. And so where they could still have, you know, an extra $7 million in cap space this year, they've just decided unto themselves that they're not going to have that extra cap space this year. And so that's where the criticism has come from for us. And could that have been a Leo Chanel type of player, a Logan Hall type of player? Maybe the Bengals weren't interested in those players. And that's why they chose to structure contracts the way they did. But that's kind of the summary of the criticisms of the way that they've structured contracts.

contracts this off season that we've had this year. Coach, when you hear that, what goes through your mind? I know, I feel like we've been beating this dead horse for so long, but it can't be stated enough that Bengals are handicapping themselves. Are they doing a good job of building a talented roster? I would argue, yes, but not good enough. Very slowly. And the way that they handle it and the way that they don't want the dead money,

You have to take risks at times in order, you have to spend money to make money. And I think they take risks at times and a lot of guys just haven't panned out. So that goes back on the scouting department is you're paying people money, a lot of money, a lot of players, and they're going to take it at this point. They're going to take as much as they can get because they know their windows are very, very short. But you have to evaluate every player, not just the top players, every player that finds out what fits. And on defense, you don't know what fits. You just know you need quality players. And on offense, you've already got quality players that you have paid.

And now it's finding how to put that whole thing together. And I think they look long term in terms of how. they're going to pay money, but they look very short term and how they're going to win. And that's a little bit contradictory, that I'm not quite certain exactly what they're trying to do. Yeah, I mean, they've, look, they've already wasted three years of Joe Burroughs pride. Now granted, Joe Burroughs been heard in two of those three seasons, but still, that's the fact that we all cannot get past that. One of those years was last season, and I'm going to go back to a day where the dark cloud over the 2025 season was cast and why I think it's smart that Katie Blackburn is not speaking at the

spring meetings this week. We do that next coming up on the Bengals Squad Show. I want to take you back to mid-April last year. And I remember exactly where I was when this happened. I was in Kroger. And someone sent me a message of Katie Blackburn talking about the stadium lease negotiations. Remember how much those dragged out last off-season? Yeah, we don't have to talk about that this offseason. But when I read that quote, I was like, I forget exactly what's to talk about the Bengals could, I mean, I think she said, I mean, you could always go anywhere. And I was like, uh-oh. Perhaps maybe it's good she's now at the spring meetings to say stuff like that, this offseason. Coach, would you agree with that? Yeah. Yeah. You know what that, I mean,

it's a lot of and those are the ones that come back and those little sound bites you know come back and bite you later and whether it's her whether it's duke tobin take take it out of context or whatever you know be very very hilarious about how you're going to you know talk to the media because hey they don't forget it's you know it's on paper it's on video it's a lot of things so uh you know uh you have to have a plan in mind when you're going to talk to them, talk to the media, and, you know, don't take the emotion out of it. Yeah, I think last year with what Katie Blackburn said about the stadium lease negotiations, I think what she said about Trey Hendrickson, with the fact that he should be happy with some of the things that they were offering him, I think that just caused

so much distraction in an offseason that they really needed to clean up all that one wrong in 2024, if it was bad luck as they made you think it was. This offseason, I think they're being a little more purposeful in how they handle their media obligations. Duke Tobin did speak after the season. It does normally do that, but it was intentional. I liked it. He spoke at the combine.

Zach Taylor spoke at the combine. That's fine. But being intentional with what they're doing when having Katie Blackburn talk or Duke Tobin talk, I just think at the very least, and this may be a small thing, but in the grand scheme of things, limiting to. and not been able to say anything you shouldn't say or that's going to stir headlines, I think it's a very smart move by the Bengals. I know a lot of Bengals fans weren't happy last week when that was announced.

I was. Jake, what are your thoughts? Yeah, I don't see how this could be spun as a good thing. I think Katie Blackburn isn't very good at speaking, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't do it. I think that it's always good for fans to know what ownership thinks about the things that they're asked about. Could Katie Blackburn do a better job of not being caught in soundbite quotes? Yeah, she could. But that isn't a reason for her not to speak. I think that celebrating ownership, not speaking to media, and thus the fans isn't a position that I personally find myself agreeing with,

even if she's stepping in it when she does speak to the media at these meetings. The other thing here is that she is going to talk to the media. Reportedly, she will be talking to the media sometime in the future. It's just not going to be this week. And perhaps that's a strategy to wait for the honed attention of all of the media in the world that is in Arizona this week to shy away. But when an owner speaks, the NFL world will listen. When Mike Florio from pro football talk sees a quote from Katie Blackburn,

whether it's at the owner's meetings in Arizona or whether it's in Paycor Stadium in three weeks from now, Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk, if she says something crazy is going to pick it up. It doesn't matter when she says it. So I don't know what the reason is. To me, it's bad optics at best, and there hasn't been an explanation put forth from the team

as to why they're choosing not to make Katie available. And if it's not Katie, then it should probably be someone else from the ownership group. I think this is an opportunity for, the owners of the NFL, those that are the power brokers in the NFL to directly address their fans via the media in a world where they don't have many, they don't take many chances to do so. They have, they could whenever they want, obviously, put out a statement and address their fans. This is one of those contact points for the Bengals ownership, of which

there are not many. There's mock turtle soup right before training camp, and previously there were the owner meetings this week in Arizona. And so I'm curious to see what the reschedule is for Katie, when or if she will be made available between now and mock turtle soup before training camp, and we'll see what that looks like. I think that more than anything, she needs to be a little bit more conscientious in some of her quotes, but I think it's important to hear from The other thing is, I think media could be more responsible in reporting the quotes and putting things in context. I don't think anything she said last year when taken in context, when understanding her intent, is actually that crazy. But when you take it out of context and you hear the sound bite, it does sound crazy.

And that's what a lot of people end up hearing. And so there's two sides of it, I think, that like you have the media responsibility to represent what was said as it was said. and in context and have intent represented. And then there's also Katie needs to be a little bit more aware of some of the sentences she said. You mentioned the bad optics. Coach, when you were in Tampa Bay and when you were in Seattle, what was the, when it came to the front office, guys like Malcolm Glazer, guys like John Schneider, Paul Allen,

what were they like when it came to speaking to the media and how much did they value? value that. I think in terms of growing your brand, I think very, very good. I think it was it was that. I think the other thing is when they spoke, and mainly it's the general manager who comes out and he's regularly available to speak on not necessarily what you're doing, but hey, the state of the state of the union as we go, they went through each of the processes, whether be the draft, they spoke out to that, whether it be free agency before the draft. And they kind of let everybody know. And that was important. And I don't think that necessarily they waited for the spring owners meeting to make their pitch to their fans. They were available, you know, like Jake was saying, after free agency, hey, come out and speak.

Give people, let them know what, not necessarily what you're trying to do. but let them know, hey, we've got a plan. And the plan is this, and this is what we're doing, and without giving away any trade secrets. And I think that that's important that the people that are keeping you alive understand what's going on. And I think that it is important. So, you know, you still hold everything close to the vest,

know that in today's modern day, if you don't explain people take things out of context. And I think that's the important part. That making a statement is one thing, but make a statement that everybody can understand what you're trying to get to. They know the Bengals front office knows that they have never been under more national scrutiny

and local scrutiny than they have been over the last several. years because of how great Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and the team have been, or were, I should say, in 21 and 22. And Jake, you brought this up. The Bengals, James mentioned this on lockdown Bengals earlier this week. The Bengals are 24 and 27 over the last three seasons. That's a far fall from where they were in 21 and 22 when they went 22 and 11 in those

two regular seasons plus five and two in the playoffs. So they haven't won over the last three years. There's been a lot of drama and distractions. And that's why fans get so up in arms when a quote from Katie Blackburn, like we mentioned, comes out. So the Bengals, I still think, are smart by not making her available to speak at spring meetings this week. But I just wonder two things. When is she going to talk this offseason? And if there is going to be more of a value,

amongst the front office and speaking to the media because fans want to know because they care so much about this team and the players and seeing them win which they to use something that they've said have done it before yeah we'll see what the bengal's plans are for katy i don't have any idea right now and it'll be interesting to see how that develops that it will and speaking to the front office. Could a very valuable asset be right in front of their nose? We'll get into that conversation next right here on the Bengals Squad show. Before we continue, want to take this minute to remind you to not forget to check out the Everydayer Club for ad-free episodes and access to a group chat with me, Jake Liscoe, James Rapine, and other listeners of this show, tap the link

in the show notes or go to lockdown bangles.supercast.com. Banglesquad, the twice a week, law-informed conversational supplement to the daily lockdown mengles podcast with jake lisco and coach art valero today i'm alex frank we are with you today we're with you a friday later this week so there was an article that uh was written in the cincinnati inquirer q and a with kelsey conway who was in phoenix for the owners meetings and with a with andrew whitworth who you now see of course on the prime video pre-game halftime and post game show and i want to read this because it made so much sense to me when I read this yesterday and when I read it again this morning. Kelsey asked how would Andrew, he asked, she asked Andrew how he would feel about

joining the Bengals Ring of Honor, that's one thing, and then if he would be open to coming in as a consultant or any capacity if the Bengals were to do that. And here is what he said that I just instantly gravitated towards. He said, quote, I'm not interested in coaching. But I would love to be in a front office. I would love to be a part of helping set the culture and identity and process for how we do engineering and the way we go about things, creating those standards, and then be able to communicate that down throughout the building. I think that's something you need. It's definitely a passion of mine, end quote. Coach, when you hear that, what do you think?

here's a guy who played great football for that organization and they let him go they let him walk and he continued to have great seasons and won and here I think he gets it he's been through this with the same organization the same higher ups and I think that where he feels he can go in there and kind of help get the relationship between players and ownership to be a little bit better, as well as he can guide in terms of free agencies and be that guy that would go out and work people out and be able to see it because he has lived it. And I think that that's one thing. They're not so, the front office isn't so isolated from the team itself.

And so I, you know, I think he would be of great value. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be. Because here's a, I mean, you mentioned what he was for this organization for so many years. And I think one of the more underrated storylines of last season was when the Bengals played Pittsburgh in week seven on Thursday night football. And Andrew Whitworth was the ruler of the jungle. I think you saw the relationship between him and the fan base. If not completely mend, about 95% mend. Jake, how do you read into that?

Do you agree with that sentiment? I don't know that the relationship between wit and the fans was ever fractured, at least from my perspective. It was not like a I want out scenario. It was that I would like to stay here and Mike Brown didn't pay me. And so I'm going to go where I'm wanted. Then you just happened to be the Bengals opponent at the Super Bowl. And that's kind of the poetic justice you get, I think.

I don't know that you can really blame Witt for that. So as far as the value of Andrew Whitworth to a front office, I don't see the harm in having the conversation, but who knows, man? I have no idea if Andrew Whitworth would be a value add to a front office. He's a former offensive tackle who is a Hall of Fame level player. Shouldn't shock anyone if he gets into the Hall of Fame in the near future. But does that mean he's a good personnel guy?

I don't know. Does that mean he knows how to run a football? football team. I'm sure he has ideas about culture and these sorts of things. I'd be very interested in having Whitworth be like a culture coach on my team, you know, the guy who can help set the standard for my team. He doesn't want to be involved with coaching. That's fine. That's his prerogative. I don't know how much you can do that from the front office. And I don't think that there would be a terribly warm reception if Andrew Whitworth's suggestions to Mike Brown is going to be like, hey, yeah, go trade for Max Crosby.

Like, is Andrew Whitworth going to be the voice that moves Mike Brown to trade draft picks for a good player, to trade premium asset, something that they haven't done? And apparently they have called about Crosby. And we'll see, maybe they shock us. Maybe all these defensive players they like are gone at 10. And instead of talking about Drummond McCoy, who just ran a 4-440 or better at his pro day and jumped well and got through some of the testing, maybe instead of of going with a downboard defensive player,

they say, you know what, let's call the Raiders again. And let's see about Max Cross. Maybe they shock us, right? But I like the idea. I don't see any harm. And like I said, exploring it. But it's really hard for me to sit here and say, yeah, that'd be a great move for any front office.

I don't know. Who knows how Whitwood would do in that role. I love Andrew Whitworth. I've had some good conversations with him in the past. I think he's an awesome player. and I don't say any of this to take away from him. It's just one of those things where you don't know. He could be awesome at it or maybe it's not a good fit for him.

No reason not to at least explore it. I think the thing that he would bring is he knows the culture of what the front office and the team and the separation of that is. And then he went to an organization. who gave him what he wanted and he learned that culture and now can you bring that now great Zach Taylor was on that but he didn't bring the same culture or he brought it to one side of the ball but not the whole team and I think that Andrew Whitworth in whatever capacity he could be added could bring it a hey you're a winning culture and here's the culture that in his mind still exist and I can help you out with that. And I think it would be good. Well, Webworth played on

seven playoff teams. I think it was seven playoff teams from what I know. It was six playoffs teams. He was not on the 05 team. My bad. But I think that that's a great point there, Coach, because he understands when the Bengals are making the playoffs consistently, what's working. And when you have a former player in the building. And to clarify, I'm not saying the relationship between what I should have said was between Whitworth and the organization because I think coming into that week I'm like well is Whitworth still salty about how things ended is he still upset and Mike Brown in the front office I didn't get any of that when he was here back in October and he even said that he was really happy to see the Bengals go out and trade for Joe Flacko

that just the week before so you have a guy and Andrew Whitworth who I mean was a tremendous player for this organization for 11 years absolutely. tremendous. Star work leader, locker room leader, captain on the field, everything you could want. So when he comes in and if he were to, I look coach and Jake what the Atlanta Falcons day back in January. They went out and got Matt Ryan to be their president of football operations. Former player who knows that organization in that city as well as anybody in Atlanta. And I'm like, okay, we don't know if that's going to work, but look at the risk they're taking. It's a big swing, but it's like, wait a second, I know who Matt Ryan is.

I know what he can bring. He took us to a Super Bowl. That's what people in Atlanta might think. If you bring a guy like Andrew Whitworth in Cincinnati. And I just think about, and you mention this too, Coach, what Whitworth said. When it comes to setting the culture an identity, this franchise does not have an identity. They have a lot of characteristics. I mean, they do have an identity.

It's Joe Burge, Mark Chase, and T. Higgins. I don't know that I agree that they don't have an identity. That's fair. Okay, those three are carrying their team. I agree with you that that's how you identify their franchise. But like, is there an identity on the field? Like when it comes to setting the standard defensively or on the offensive line, is there an identity in what you need to have an identity in when it comes to winning a championship?

Which I think why are defense and offensive line, only places we can have an identity. Doesn't defense want championships? Sometimes. The greatest show on turf also won a championship. So, you know, the trend last year is a defense won. There's a defensive Super Bowl after we had years of bespoke defensive game plans for otherwise good, not great defense.

It's been a while since it was, you know, the Baltimore Ravens and the Giants and now the Seahawks that were the dominant teams of the NFL. And it's important, obviously, to have a, a football team that is good and is well-rounded, but I don't know that we can consolidate identity into the trenches and defense and say that quarterbacks are not an identity. Patrick Mahomes is the identity of the Kansas City Chiefs.

And it goes beyond just those couple of spots. It's still a very team-driven sport where you can have identity for many number of spots. So maybe the Bengals have an identity coach, but what about a winning identity? That's what We're worth can help bring, I think. I think it's kind of, I think everybody's talking the same thing. I think that the Bengals, their identity is Joe Burrell, one.

He is the guy. The white outs, they're spectacular players, and that's what they are. So it goes back to the Jeremiah Love conversation. Do you need to add one more to that? Does that help their offensive identity? it can only help, but he probably won't be there. You've got other things. You know, when the greatest show on turf won it offensively,

it was great, but they were sound defensively as well. So there wasn't a discrepancy as far as that's concern. I think when you bring in a guy who understands he talks in terms of making the identity, has to start from the top. And I think it works out as far as the organization's identity, they've got one, and the team has another set of identities.

And usually you don't figure out your identity as a football team until probably the third or the fourth game of the year. You found out what drives you. And you look back at Philadelphia two years ago when they won it. Their thought process was going in and they were going to throw the ball.

well all of a sudden it didn't quite work and all of a sudden they started to hand it to Saquan and their identities shifted to they were hey they were run the ball first instead of 60 40 they were 60 run and 40 pass where right now if you looked at the Bengals and you're saying hey there's 60 pass and 40% run because of their identity and I think that you on defense you don't know they don't have an identity so you're team doesn't have an identity. And I think the, well, it's still a team sport, right? And that's where, is there a defensive identity?

No. Is there a identity to the football team? Yeah. But like when you think about the Bengals offense, you think very clearly about each player and their leadership abilities and what they can do on the football field. When you think about the defense, it's like, well, they got Dax and DJ. And they hopefully sign some guys that can help. And then it's a bunch of, well, we'll see what these other guys do.

We'll see what stuff they say to, you know, Jonathan Allen, great. leader historically. What can he do for them in terms of leadership on defense? Are you relying on a two-year-old for a 31-year-old to be your leader on defense? Can you grow some leaders on that side of the ball? So the thing that I like about the idea for Witt, like I said, like culture consultant, sign me up. I think Andrew Whitworth knows about culture, knows about setting the standard, knows about leadership, finding a way for him to do that as he's no longer a player. You got to get creative. And if you can find a way to do that,

I think it's an interesting idea. But I just was like making it clear that nobody knows how any personnel guy is going to work out. Whether it's Andrew Whitworth or the assistant GM from the Eagles going to another team or the assistant GM from the Seahawks going to another team, those things are always rolls of the dice. Yeah, but if you don't roll the dice, you'll never know. I agree. I'm always in favor of the Bengals adding people to their personnel. Yes.

Yeah. Yes. That's the one thing they won't do is they don't seem to be out there trying to fix the front office. Yeah. They're constantly trying to fix the team, but they don't fix the front office. To be fair, they did add two new scouts last year. They did. There is that.

They lost one scout. He's now the general manager at Northwestern. And so Christian Sharkeesian, and they did add two scouts last year. So they were net plus one in the personnel. department, which is like a 20% growth of their personnel department. So I think it is clear, and I may have been way out of whack when I said they don't have an identity. They do with Burrow Chase and Higgins. But in terms of growing the winning identity, in terms of defense, the offensive line remains to be seen if they're going to be good again

this season. I think they will. It just does make me think, what if they brought in a guy like Andrew Whitworth, who was seen, who saw the Bengals play for the Bengals at a time where, yes, they were good. They made the playoffs six times in seven years, but they also had a lot of, a lot of issues that came back to seriously haunt them in 16, 17, 18, 19, especially when Whitworth left, and they bottomed out at 2 and 14 in Zach Taylor's first season. He went to Los Angeles. He saw what Les Sneets, Dan Crocky, and then Sean McBay as the head coach, what that organization did. So clearly he knows what works and what allows teams to win and win consistently. Coming up on Friday show, go ahead, Coach.

No, I said absolutely. Yeah. Coach, real quick, since you coached the Buccaneers, give me one word that describes Levanti, David, who announced his retirement last week. You know what? I wasn't there with Levanti, but I tell you what, his longevity there and his just constant, consistent play, they never had a hole. You know, and he was outstanding.

His body of work is, but he wouldn't flashy. And I think that's the thing that keeps him, it kept him out of the media. And unfortunately, probably keep him out of five years from now, whether he gets a serious look at the whole thing. But I think he's a quality player, quality person. And his consistency, shoot, they did not have a need for a long, long, long time. And that's a big hole to fill. I always think of the Vante, David.

You knew, you didn't know he was there, but you also did know he was there because he was just so good and making the play. Jake, what do you and James have working for lockdown bangles this week? Give us a tease for what you got coming up later this week. Well, we got the owner's meetings, and that'll be certainly something that we're paying attention to this week in the immediate future. And then it's April, which is a month of the draft. And that's the direction we're going as we are getting up for that late April date for the Bengals to add some talent. Yes. No question about that. April 2030. It is three weeks from this Thursday, the NFL draft in Pittsburgh, which of course we will have a Bengals squad

show that week. So much to get to coming up on Friday, coach, you and I are back with Mike Santagana. as we look into Chase Brown, and if, if he's good enough to the Bengals, A, give him a contract extension, and B, this Jeremiah love conversation is no more after this week. So we'll expand on that on Friday's show. Reds have won three straight. Check out Lockdown Reds. Jeff Carr's Stephen Offen Baker. Bearcats Avenue men's basketball head coach, Jared Calhoun. Check Jeff Carr out on Lockdown Bearcats.

And of course, Jake Liscoe and James Rupin. on lockdown bangles the daily podcast on the cincinnati bangles here at the lockdown podcast network your team every day the number one sports podcast number in america and the world and for more on how to be a member of the every day or club is locked on podcast dot combs slash every day or bangles wash other twice a week long form conversational supplement to the daily lockdown banglos podcast for jac lisco by jake lisco for coach arthur farro 45 year coaching veteran and super bowl 37 champion with the 2002 tampa bay buccaneers and now the running box coach of the UFL's Orlando Storm. I'm Alex Frank and Frankie underscore Natty.

Have a great rest of your week. We'll talk to you Friday afternoon on the Bengals Squad show, part of lockdown Bengals and the lockdown podcast number, your team every day.