Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - BENGALS SQUAD SHOW: Is Zac Taylor being SCAPEGOATED? Pass rush is PRIORITY, Trey Hendrickson FUTURE, Wild Card TAKEAWAYS

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, no question, has his flaws. However, he has gotten the Bengals to two AFC Championships and a Super Bowl. That proves he can coach when he has a full deck of cards. That begs the question: Is Zac Taylor being scapegoated by the Bengals' front office? Alex Frank, Jake Liscow and Art Valero discuss that topic. This past weekend in the Wild Card round of the Playoffs, we saw teams like the Patriots and Texans win with their ferocious pass rushes. It coincides with Bengals' Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin saying the Bengals need to beef up the pass rush and the defensive line. How do the Bengals do that? Who are the players the Bengals should be targeting in free agency? Trey Hendrickson's time with the Bengals is up... right? The guys discuss his legacy in Cincinnati and who could be his replacement. Finally, Alex, Jake, and Art discuss what else they saw this weekend in the Playoffs and how they relate to the Bengals. Are they in the best shape of any team in the AFC North? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rocket Money Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at http://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON Betterhelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist. Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON. DripDrop Right now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order. Go to http://dripdrop.com and use promo code lockedonnfl. Ultimate QB Ultimate QB is totally free to play, has no ads, and works 100% offline — perfect for when you want to sneak in a quick game or two on the go. Just head over to http://ULTIMATE-QB.COM. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. So before tip-off, check the FanDuel app and see what’s dropping during NBA Happy Hour — every Friday from 6 to 7:30 PM Eastern. A little basketball, a little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy. PrizePicks Download the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LO... Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. Zocdoc Stop putting off your doctor’s appointments and get the care you need. Go to http://Zocdoc.com/lockedonnfl to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. 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.

I'm Alex Frank and let's be honest, Bengals head coach, Zach Taylor has his flaws. But is the Bengals front office hindering him from overcoming those flaws? Jake Luscom can ask you the question. Is the Bengals front office scapegoating, Zach Taylor? I don't know about scapegoating. That's not exactly the word I would use, but I do think you could say that Zach is in a relatively tough situation given the front office. On the hot seat going into 2026, coach, another thing that would help. We've talked about a lot on this show.

Organizational alignment, can the Bengals finally modernize in that? Well, you know what? Right now, it sounds like they're not. It sounds like they're staying status quo. And the collaborative effort that was mentioned the other day is going to take precedence. And that's what's going to lead them into the future. Now, on the other hand, they're talking about why we as fans, can expect it is because they've done it before.

Well, they did before a long time ago, but they haven't done it lately. And in the last three years, prove that. Unfortunately, the last three years have. The Bengals are remaining status quo in a division that's not. 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. And from the jungle to the playoffs, the Bengals Squad show starts now. Well, we got a lot of news to get to today, a lot of great conversations to get to. Welcome to Bengals Squad on this Tuesday afternoon, January 13th, 2026. We are in week two of the offseason and we are in offseason show number three on the Bengals Squad show. I'm Alex Frank. He's Jake Liscoe. He's coach Art Valero. We are the Bengals Squad, the twice a week, long form conversational supplement to the daily lockdown Bengals podcast. by Jake and James Rapine.

Just before we came on the show today, the Pittsburgh Steelers will have a new head coach in 2026. Mike Toblin is stepping down after 19 seasons. As the Steelers head coach, this of course less than 24 hours after his Pittsburgh Steelers were pummeled by the Houston Texans last night, 20 or excuse me, 30 to 6. Gentlemen, so this just got a little more interesting with the Bengals remaining status quo coach. You talked about it in the open. Three of the four teams in the

AFC North, including the team that won the division, the Steelers, they're changing head coaches. The Bengals are changing, well, nothing in terms of key personnel within their organization. You know what? It makes it tough when you see that. Now, with John Harbaugh, even, you know, you really question who's pulling the strings there. But they're moving. forward. And they've already got a very, I mean, a pretty good football team that just need some pieces. You look at Pittsburgh, you know, Mike's run was, I mean, how do you go that long without a losing season when the Bengals are looking at three straight? You know what? That's impressive. But yet, they're going to move forward. And where do, you know, you've only had three head coaches

in your history, where does Pittsburgh find the next one? And that is, it's a big question. And it's a wonder of the other seven teams that are out there. Where are you going to find them? So that's, it's questionable. There are nine teams with head coach openings in the NFL. It's truly, it's surreal almost. Now, Jake, again, with the Bengals, they're choosing to remain status quo. after three straight seasons without making the playoffs. And there's all the other AFC North teams. Browns had a bad year, they're changing head coaches. The Ravens underachieved again, they're changing head coaches.

Mike Tomlin is stepping down. But still, the Pittsburgh Steelers who have not won a playoff game since January of 2017, they're moving on from their head coach. So it just puts more pressure on the Bengals front office and Zach Taylor to be right in the decisions they have made so far this off season. Yeah, I think that's true to some degree. One point of clarification, one small point of order is that apparently Mike Tomlin has moved on from the Steelers, but the Steelers didn't necessarily move on from Tomlin,

meaning this is like the Sean Payton situation in New Orleans, where if he does choose to return to coaching and takes a year off or something like that, the Steelers could potentially trade Tomlin if he wants to go to another team in the future by choosing not to fire him. Just an interesting tidbit there. The other interesting tidbit that I have that I was, interested in sharing is the Cincinnati Bengals won six games this year. They defeated the Cleveland Browns in week one. Kevin Siffansky is no longer coaching the Cleveland Browns. They defeated

the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mike Tomlin is no longer coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers. They defeated the Baltimore Ravens. John Harbaugh is no longer coaching the Baltimore Ravens. They defeated the Miami Dolphins. Mike McDaniel no longer coaching the Miami Dolphins. They defeated the Arizona Cardinals. Jonathan Gannon no longer coaching the Arizona Cardinals. They also defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars. where Liam Cohen really put things together and well remain in place in Jackson but with a bright future there. The one

head coach they beat that looks like he has a bright future this year. A little bit staggering to consider that five of the six coaches that lost to Zach Taylor this year. That is a great analysis right there that

I don't think a lot of people have looked at you know, and then when they build you know, they beat Jacksonville. It was once upon a time. That's crazy. You're not wrong, Coach. You're not because, like, I was thinking today,

the Bengals finished 6 and 11. They were 2-0. So they lost 11 of their last 15 games, and yet the teams they beat, like Jake, to your point, after they were 2-0, the four teams they beat, Pittsburgh, changing head coaches, Baltimore, changing head coaches,

Baltimore, changing head. coaches. Miami changing head coaches. Arizona changing head coaches. I can't even explain that. Yeah, it's a bit of a coincidence in many ways. It's not because these teams lost to the Bengals that they're moving off from their head coaches, but it really puts under a microscope the standards across the NFL and a head coaching cycle that going into this offseason, it didn't feel like there were a ton of extremely attractive head coaching candidates. there and then John Harbaugh got fired and then Mike McDaniel got fired and so where we were only looking at coordinators before the list of coaches due to the fires Kevin Sopansky is a good coach

Mike Tomlin apparently will not be coaching in 2026 but like Tomlin also a good coach that will be available in the future that the list of available coaches gets much more interesting I think now that some of these firings have occurred across the league and another thing that we're going to see Philly is going to make changes to their coaching staff. We saw that immediately after their wildcard loss, the Chargers made changes to their coaching staff. These other NFL teams just operate at a different speed for better and for worse, because there are two sides to that coin, right? You can go too fast and shake things up too often.

This is going to be Justin Herbert's sixth offensive coordinator, or sorry, fifth offensive coordinator in his sixth NFL season. That's amazing. So there are two ways that this goes, right? There are two extremes here, and the Bengals certainly extreme in the patient category, the patient side of that scale. Different set of standards, different way of operating, whatever it is. It can be frustrating to see the Bengals hold on too long.

And I think that the same could be said of Pittsburgh, where it's probably right for Mike Tomlin to go in a different direction than the Pittsburgh Steelers. That thing has looked stagnant and looks very much like. late era Marvin Lewis Bengals in Pittsburgh right now, the way that they've won seasons and then failed when they get to the postseason, just haven't had competitive enough teams overall. But it's just, it's interesting to think about what's happening around the league and compared to how the Bengals are operating. You may have hit on something very interesting there, Jake, the fact that other franchises

operates at different speeds for better or worse. So maybe it's not that the Bengals, that Bengals fans, including us, want change. Maybe it's more so they do want change. I'm not going to say they don't. Maybe it's that they just want them to operate at a speed that is comparable with other NFL franchises. Coach, you and I were talking before we came on this show today. It's like you look at the Houston, Texas. They have completely changed their defense.

Because what they were doing in the three seasons, and Jake, you were pulling up NFL Next Gen stats about the Texas impressive performance last night, which we'll get to later on in this show. But the Houston Texans won 10 combined games in the three seasons before Damika Ryan Scott to Houston as the head coach. They have won 34, no, I'm sorry, 32 games in three seasons with Tamika Ryan's as their head coach. Oh, by the way, they've won a playoff game in three straight seasons.

So coach, again, it's, yeah. Yes, they are having long-term success, but having long-term success does mean you make some changes and you don't stay status quo. Absolutely, whether it's personnel like they've done on defense. We were talking about it earlier. There are only two players left. And I thought this was interesting last night when they mentioned it.

Two players left on the defense from when Demarkal, or DeMarco Rhyans got. the head coaching job. So that was transformed. That entire defense, and now they are unbelievable. And it unbelievable to the point where if they could score some points, the defense is going to, you know, does a great job of getting the ball back. You know, shoot, they've got a chance. And that's all you want is a chance when you get to the playoffs. Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, they took care of business last night. They got a great chance now. it remains to be seeing Nico Collins will play on Sunday against the Patriots.

But when it comes, when it goes back to the topic of conversation that I mentioned in the open, and Jake, I know you're not willing to go that far, and that's fine. But if the front office is scapegoating Zach Taylor, Zach Taylor, no questions on the hot seat going into 2026, especially now when you look at all three other teams in the AFC North, the toughest division in football historically, changing head coaches. Now, Zach Taylor in the last three seasons has not taken his team, to the playoffs. We all know that. That should not be the case. At the very least, you should have made

the playoffs last year, probably should have been 23. I know the rationale or the ration point is that Joe Borough missed the last seven games of that regular season. I'll counter with, well, then you shouldn't have started one and three. You shouldn't have started to at the time, the middling Houston Texans in the AFC the week before Joe Borough got injured in Baltimore. So yes, you can kind of rationalize 2023. Last year is inexcusable. This past season is inexcusable. Three straight seasons are missing the playoffs.

Two playoff appearances in seven seasons. You should be on the hot seat. But at the same time, the front office, the last three seasons really has not done a good job of putting a championship caliber roster on the field for Zach Taylor to work with. When he has that full deck of cards, as we saw in 21 and 22, we've seen he can be a really good head coach.

We have seen that. leadership and culture building, he's really good at it. I'm not going to deny that. But when it comes to elevating what you have on the field, especially when Joe Borough was out, which we did not see in the first three weeks of the regular season. And you, again, can say, well, Jake Browning's play fell off a cliff. That wasn't expected.

If you watched the free season, it actually kind of was. You can go to, well, they had Joe Flacco. But again, if Zach Taylor weren't the play caller, or maybe he could have overseen the defense better, and then he could have won some games against the Jets, the Bears, the Packers, heck, maybe even the Patriots, definitely the bills. That's five wins right there. That's 11 and 6.

You win the division. Yeah, I don't know that, I mean, we talked about it last week, I guess. I don't know how much of a difference that Taylor's making to this defense. To your point, though, I don't know if scapegoating is a word that I would use, like I said, at the open. But I do think that Zach is not getting top-tier front office assistance, right? That I think is a fundamental point. I think that Zach Taylor is in the middle of the coaching pack. He's not a Mike Rable or Mike McDonald,

the guys that are in the front running for coach of the year. He's not a Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVeigh. He's not one of those guys right now. But he's not necessarily one of the worst coaches in the NFL either because we've seen what that looks like. We know what that looks like. A lot of the coaches that got fired this year aren't among the worst head coaches in the NFL. A lot of the head coaches that got fired were fired because it was time for a change.

You end up in the NFL as a head coach in a job as long as it works. And most of these guys that get fired from their jobs are good coaches. It just sometimes doesn't work out in these cities. And very, very rarely do we see a coach just finish his career with the team and then retire? That almost never happens. Typically, just like with Aaron Rogers last night. We see these guys try to extend their careers. And at some point, it doesn't work anymore.

And then they move on or then that's it for them as head coaches in the NFL. And that's just kind of the vicious cycle that we see sometimes. So I do think that Zach is a middle of the road coach. And he needs a front office to be executing at a higher level than we've seen from him. Because there are things that does really well. And I think we've talked about that as well. The adjustments that they find on offense over the course of the year. and they've done this pretty much every year that Zach's been running this team are commendable.

And I think pretty impressive the way that he's able to keep the offense moving and find new ways to adapt and continue to execute at a high level on offense, especially with Joe Burrow. But the head coach, as we've talked about, goes beyond that too, right? You've got to put the whole team at his feet at some point. and the whole team has been disappointing for the last three seasons. We've had this conversation, and coach you coached for guys like Rich McKay and John Schneider, who were great general managers that gave you really, really good rosters in Tampa Bay in Seattle. Put yourself in Zach Taylor's shoes. Do you think there is alignment between him and the Bengals run office right now in the divisions they both share?

Absolutely not. I think that Zach's a good football coach. He is. And he's a good offensive football coach. And I think if you look at Zach, you look like Jonathan Gannon, you look at those guys, very good on their particular side of the ball. Got hot. People hired him. But were they ready to take over the entire team?

Because that's what Mike Tomlin did in Pittsburgh 19 years ago. Mike came in and he ran the team. Bruce Ariens already was running the offense and Dick LeBoe was running the defense. So Mike ran the team. And I think that that's what is needed. And then slowly he started to spin it his way while they were winning. And so I think the last probably 14 years, Mike was doing it his way. And you look at Zach on the other hand.

hand right now as a as a coach, and I think that Zach does a great job offensively. But I think he's a mouthpiece for the front office. He is. And whatever they tell him to say, he is going to say. That's why his press conferences are so coaches talk. He's never going to throw anybody under the bus. But deep down inside, he's needing, I need guys. I need, I have no say or very little say.

because I'm a part of that effort on my final 53. You know, and in the immortal words of Bill Parcellus, hey, if I'm going to cook, at least let me go shop. You know? Yes. And I think that that is, I mean, and that's coming from a Hall of Famer, but I'm telling you, in coaching in general, you need to pick your guys.

You look at Kurt Signetti. he's picking his guys. Look what that's gotten them to. And yeah. I mean, I know that's on a different level, but it's the same thing. And now college football is much like the NFL. You can pay guys as long as you are able to pick who your players are. And if you have no say in your players, you're dealing with the house of money,

hoping that that bet comes through. Yeah, I agree, Jake, with the adjustment. that this offensive coaching staff has made over the years, that particularly led by Zach Taylor, that's fine. But I want this team, excuse me, in particular, going into 2026, to be ready to go from day one of training camp. Heck, day one of OTAs, if you want to go back even further before the season starts. That's what I want to see.

Zach Taylor, when he has a full deck of cards, can be a really good head coach. But for some reason, this front office has completely gotten away from what got them to back-to-back AFC championships in 21 and 22. They decided to build their team through the draft the last three years. It has not worked. When Duke Tobin, and I believe he actually was right on a lot of things that he said last week, even though there were some things he didn't say that I wish he had, or better yet, more directly answered questions that he was asked instead of danced around some of them,

But Duke Tobin is right on a few things. Number one, when he was asked what needs to change, he said our record. Well, you're darn right, your record needs to change. You were 6 and 11 last year. In a season that fans came into, even after the disappointment of 24, because you sold to them that you were unlucky that year. Fans came into last year with such high expectations, and then you win four of your last 15 games.

Woof, okay? So he's right on that year record, that their record needs to change. Number two, and this isn't just an issue related to last year's Bengals team. This is also an issue that has plagued this franchise since 1988. Why? Because in Super Bowl 23, they could not get a stop on the final position. Jerry Rice basically was doing whatever he wanted on that possession. And then they couldn't get the interception. And then John Taylor scores a game when a touchdown.

That just pain me like you would not believe to say that. So this team does not have the ability right now, at least, and definitely throughout their history. to finish games, get a stop when it matters, you know, salt the game away on offense when it matters, make a play on special teams. They need to be better at that. He is right. And that's not just last year. It's been a theme, even in the Joe Borough era, the Super Bowl, the AFC championship, whatever other painful loss you want to bring up. And then number three, which we're going to get to in segment two, the pass rush must improve. If you have a pass rush and coach, you know this.

when you have a pass rush, A, you have a closer on defense, and B, you can bait the offense into causing and creating turnovers, which are huge momentum changing plays in games. You know what it does is when you have that pass rush to close the game out, it makes it so much easier for your secondary. And where you're a little bit deficient in the secondary part of it, you know what? you need all the heat you can get to put a clock on the quarterback to get the ball out of his hands. And when he's got a clock on him and he's got to get rid of the ball, who knows where the ball can go? Not just bat it down or on RPO's get picked. You're forcing things down the field that now the ball gets turned over. And there's so many things. You know what? And I don't, I hate to keep because I'm a coach, I'm a, I'm a coach. And I hate to blame other coaches, but you know what?

I can think of some other guys. Maybe it just isn't sitting well what the defense has done. And I'm not not necessarily talking about Al Golden and his staff. I'm talking about the staff before. I'm talking about how do you close games? What kind of people are they? I can think of Jonathan Gannon, Rahim Morris. Those are two guys that would be very, with head coaching experience that you can bring in as your defensive coordinator, perhaps, and help Zach with the whole team. And I think that that can lend itself to something exciting as well. Yeah. Jake, it's all about again, and it doesn't sound like this is going to happen, at least this offseason, this front office, you know, bringing guys from the outside to help.

to help this team, but it doesn't sound like that's going to happen. I think that's why a lot of fans are frustrated. Yeah, I think the only change that is even in the air at this point is if Dan pitcher is hired elsewhere, that they might need to make a move along the offensive staff. Again, we talked about this before. I'm still interested in seeing if they add any coaches on the defensive side of the ball, an assistant here or there. We talked about a pass-rush specialist on the defensive line,

although you like Miles Murphy's development this year, just adding a guy with a little bit more experience working with the guys on the edge than Jerry Montgomery has. And again, I don't want to take anything away from Jerry Montgomery here. It's just his time in Green Bay was mostly focused on the interior. And that was more of like an odd front, three-four front where he's working with, you know, the three-four ends that are not traditional past rushing defense events. So that's something you'd like to see. You'd like to still see Zach Taylor improve on some of the game management.

aspects of things, the kick decisions, the timeouts that are needlessly used. But even there, he's like, he's bottom half of the league in some of that stuff, but not bottom five is some of that stuff. It's very frustrating to watch every week. Don't get me wrong, but it's not a unique problem to the Bengals either. And to your point, Alex, they've got to figure some things out on defense. They've got to find these playmakers that are going to help them close games. They didn't have Trey Henderson this year, but we talked about it on a lockdown Bengals episode

this week. You have to go all the way back to the Trey Hendrickson, DJ Reeder, Jesse Bates combination. And then you can talk to role players that went along with those guys, but those guys were the playmakers that drove your defense when you were successful in the playoffs. And since then, they just haven't had enough

on that side of the ball. And while you might really like their corners right now, maybe Jordan Battle showed you that he can make some plays at times. And sounds like that's the guy that Duke Tobin is excited about in terms of his future in turning the corner and showing that he can be an NFL starter, you still need those alpha players on defense for lack of a better word that can

do what Trey Hendrickson did for you or do what Jesse Bates did for you and put the team on their back at times and go make plays. And they just don't have enough of that right now. And that's the task this off season. I'll throw another name out there, Sam Hubbard, because he made so many plays with games on the line and so many big, memorable plays throughout this franchise's history. But going back to Duke Tobin's point, this pass rush and this defense. line, it must improve. So where and how can the Bengals improve it? We'll get into that conversation coming up next right here on the Bengal Squad Show. Today's edition of the Bengals Squad Show is brought to you by

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Plus get 25 or 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash locked on NFL. That's QUO.com slash locked on NFL. Quo, no missed calls, no missed customers. Back here on the Bengals, we are part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. the number one sports podcast network in America in the world, your team every day for more on how to become a member of the Everydayer Club. Visit Lockdown Podcast.com slash everydayer. Pass rush is something that Bengals have needed for, well, I mean,

they thought they had it last year in Trey Hendrickson. Man, that didn't really pan out. They have an emerging presence in Miles Murphy, but this team is lacking depth at this position. I think more than anything, gentlemen, that's my biggest concern right now when it comes to the Bengals' ability to get after the quarterback. I don't really know where the solution is either, but the defense often would find that, yeah, DJ Turner Dax Hill, these corners are doing their job. You know, maybe even the linebackers are doing their job on a particular play, but the quarterback has like five seconds or 10 seconds. Aaron Rogers is running around on them this year buying time.

And if he can't speed up the quarterback at all, it's a problem. And I don't think that despite what Miles did down the stretch, and I like what he did down the stretch, like, did we see anything that makes us think he's going to be the dominant pass rusher? He showed that he can be a piece as a pass rusher and certainly a good run defender, but there's nobody on this team that even approximates the win rates that you got from Trey Hendrickson and the past rush, or Gino Ackins in the past rush, or even going all the way back to Carlos Dunlap.

in his prime. They don't really have those guys right now. And what was challenging about it is, man, is it hard to find interior defensive linemen that can really be game wreckers in the NFL these days. And the free agent class on the interior defensive line and at edge, there's some guys out there that can help you, but there's no Trey Hendricksons that you're going to have a really hard time replicating that signing. Coach, I want to ask you, as you watch Miles Murphy's development along the course of the year, where do you think his ceiling is as a pass rush? Do you think that there's a good chance that he develops and starts landing his hands a little bit more and can be a more consistent pass rusher given his athletic traits?

What are your thoughts there? Well, you know what? And I love Miles's effort. He's got great effort. And he's pretty good against a run. He'll run sideline to sideline and try to make plays. I think his biggest drawback at this point in time is his ability to use his hands. So I think if you, I mean, you got to look at it too this way that for the last three years,

anywhere, or four years, they've gone after defensive end type of guys, edge players. Meanwhile, they still had Trey Hendrickson. So they went after Osai, who was a third. They went after Stewart, who was a one, Miles, which was a one. they really haven't panned out to be that guy in their years going on right now. And it's a good chance that two of them, two of their core defensive edge rushers are going to leave. You know, you got Osai who's going to enter free agency.

You got Henderson who's probably going to, I mean, my estimation, he's going to free agency. And somebody needs his wares. And you keep trying and you miss. you need to find that guy, just like you were talking about, that pass rush specialist that works with the ends, both run and pass, and get them to develop into what you saw when you drafted them. And I don't think that right now they haven't serviced those guys themselves to the point where a lot of those guys end up when they're not feeling it. I guarantee you this off season, Miles Murphy, will grab somebody and pay them on the side to work with them and give him what he needs.

And that's what NFL guys are doing right now. They're going outside the box, outside the organization, because they love the livelihood, right? So they're trying to get themselves better, especially when you're coming up on a contract, situation. So I think that I think my love his effort. His effort is awesome. Now teach him, teach him what it is he should do body position wise. He's a good enough athlete and get him to where you want to bring. So if you bring Sony on staff that can work with him, shoot great.

If not, he's going to go elsewhere to try to find somebody to help him out. You know what's interesting about that is the fact that Miles Murphy could go out and work with somebody independent of the Bengals organization. And going back to our conversation in the first segment about Zach Taylor, and the fact that he has his flaws, he wasn't experienced when he got here. So you can make the argument that he's in over his head being the head coach of this team. And you can also make the argument that a lot of fans will, that Mike Brown is in over his head running this front office. So you have your two most important parts of an organization, arguably head coach and ownership, being in over their heads. So that's where it comes down to the players making sure that they hold themselves accountable.

And they did that in 21 and 22, particularly on defense, so Trey Hendrickson, Sam Hubbard, Jesse Bates, as Jake you mentioned, and DJ Reader. But more than anything, I think it goes back to the fact that championship organizations, and coach you won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, you had so many guys, on that defense that could close out a game. Simeon Rice, Warren Sapp, Derek Brooks, John Lynch, Ronday Barber, Dexter Jackson, Super Bowl 37 MVP.

So it comes down to do you have the playmakers that when the game is on the line, that can step up and make the play. What Mike Brown says in that statement last week, we're taking a hard look at everything we have done as an organization. I'm going to choose to believe that because I think situational football does come into play here. So on spot track, transitioning here to where the Bengals can find,

potentially from outside help, better players to help with their pass rush. You can look at interior defensive linemen because I think it's interesting. The fact that we talk at coach, you mentioned the Bengals have gone after edge rusher-like type players, Shamar Stewart, and then Miles Murphy and 23.

So they have done that. They basically have been preparing for life after Trey Hendrickson. And yet we still don't completely know if he's gone. So it's like you want to address it for when this player leaves. But if you end up signing, resigning Trey Henderson, it's like, what exactly are you doing? It's not that the Bengals, yes, they value continuity, but they're also inconsistent with their messaging to the fan base. That's a big issue for me. But the unrestricted free agents, release some of them.

You know, going through them right now looking at young players, DJ Vaughnham on Carolina, Tierra Tart on the Chargers. These are guys set to be unrestricted free agents. Levi on Wuzerike from Detroit, Jalen Phillips in Philadelphia, Greg Gaines in Tampa Bay, just naming a bunch of players that the Bengals could potentially target on the interior defensive line. Benito Jones on Miami, he's a good player. So you have these options for you in free agency,

but you also have to be, and I think the other thing too for me, Jake, is if the Bengals do well in free agency, then you can do BPA best player available in the draft. And I think you'll have a better chance of hitting on draft picks than if you were drafting for needs. Yeah, one of our big criticisms on this show with James and I every day on Locked Out Bengals has been that the last couple of years, they get themselves in these spots where they get to a draft and they still have these dire needs. And last year it was linebacker. It wasn't a good linebacker class. And two years ago, it was defensive tackle. And it wasn't a good defensive tackle class.

And in those years, they go in the second and third and second and fourth rounds, picking these spots where the draft is relatively weak at those spots. And Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter were the picks in 2025. And in 2024, it was McKinley Jackson and Chris Jenkins. And McKinley Jackson in particular felt like a pick that was a couple of rounds early, according to our impression of consensus and where he should have been drafted and nothing against McKinley Jackson. I hope he develops and can be a piece for this team going forward.

And they need Chris Jenkins to be so much better than he's been as a second round pick a defensive tackle. But as coach said, they've invested these assets in the draft, but they keep getting to the draft where they end up forcing themselves to pick for need throughout the draft. And Miles Murphy and Samar Stewart are other examples of this where they're trying to pick for the future, which isn't, in theory, a bad process. You know that in the future, you will need guys, you'll need cost control guys. And if they can contribute early, that's awesome.

And you need guys to contribute early right now. And Duke Tobin talked about that in his press around Friday as well. And finding the balance to do those things is made much harder when you go into the draft with those pressing needs. And you don't feel like you have, okay, here are our top on defense, say 15 guys. And on offense, at least we've got our 11 starters and a couple of pieces of depth. that you feel good about. You know, we have at least one of our swing spots. Ideally, both of the swing linemen.

You have your interior flex guy, your swing tackle. You have those guys. You have your wide receiver four. You feel reasonable about wide receivers three and four. You feel reasonable about your tight end depth. You're running back depth. So you get to the draft and you don't say, oh, man, you know what? We really need a guard.

And it's the third round because we picked a linebacker in the second round, because you really needed a linebacker. And I like how Dylan Fairtot and played this. year. I'm excited about his future. But the process to get there wasn't great. And so if you can fix that and find ways to plug these holes in free agency, and it's going to be hard to do everything. I don't think you can do everything. I think this playoff field shows you that these teams are still flawed. But when you can have strengths to offset those flaws, then you can overcome it. So maybe they can't get a defensive tackle this year. Because some of those guys you named

Jaylon Phillips in particular, I mean, that's an edge player. The defensive tackle class, you're rolling the dice. Levi-O-Zerrique in Detroit, it's coming off an ACL or an Achilles. He didn't play this year as far as I remember. Maybe he played a little bit, but he was definitely hurt either way. And the list of players at defensive tackle, like, you're talking about Shelter-Mankans. He's not coming back. DJ Reader. I don't think that there's a reunion coming there. We'll see if they kick the tires there. The Bengals explored Tierra Tart previously. They had him in for a visit. They didn't sign him. Calais Campbell doesn't seem to want to play anywhere where you can't grow oranges in the sun like you see behind Coach Valero right now. He doesn't want to play where it's snowing at this time of year, apparently.

And then you're rolling the dice. Like, I don't think the Bengals are in on John Franklin Myers. He's going to be the wrong side of 30. He's going to be the bell of the ball at defensive tackle. And it's a clear cut above some of these other guys. So maybe they can't do everything, right? But if you can't do everything, you better find some very, clear strengths somewhere.

Is that it safety and corner? Can you bolster your lineback room? Can you get bold? And if Devin Lloyd makes it to a free agency, go make a splash and get a real difference maker at the second level, potentially, if you think that that's going to be a guy that can do that. You got to find a way to make some parts of this defense stronger to overcome some of the holes they will inevitably have because you just given the way this offseason looks

and given how long it takes some of these guys to come along as rookies, even when you're picking in the top 10, you're probably not going to be able to do everything. So you dang well better make sure you do something. So you're coming out of this offseason feeling like part of your offense or part of your defense rather, sorry, can play at a high level and make some place. Have your strengths mask your flaws and have an identity like your 21 team and 22 team did. That's what this organization needs.

And when you talk about the speed at which they operate, it took them 10 years up and this season to fix the offensive line. And they prioritize that so much that the defense got neglected. Can you just focus on the entire team, please? Because as we've seen, and it's so cliche. Well, I think we know the answer to that. As we've seen, football is a team game. Coach, I'm going to go, I don't know for this for sure, but I'm going to guess.

Very educated guess here. I like to think I'm smart. I'm willing to bet that my. Bonnie Kippen woke up every single morning with the palm trees outside his house in Tampa, Florida. And he thought to himself, I know exactly what my defense is. I know exactly what our identity is. Am I accurate? Absolutely. You know what?

And there was a time that nobody else wanted those types of players. The shorter Warren Saps, the shorter Booger McFarlans, you know, the great spiders of the world. At linebacker, Shelton Quarles, who could run down the middle in Tampa, too, Al Singleton. And then, of course, you had Derek. But they were looking for the right kind of person. And when Monty started to slip a little bit, was nobody else was looking for those particular type of players. And then all of a sudden, Mike Tomlin leaves, Rod Marinelli leaves, Herm Edwards leaves, Lovey Smith leaves, and they're trying to attract the same kinds of guys.

So those guys kind of felt, you know, had other choices instead of just going to Tampa. And that's where they kind of slipped a little bit to the point where John wanted to get bigger. He wanted to go with a lot of those guys they had with the Raiders who in that Florida, he could not have made it. you know, Coach Dungy always went for he wanted very few times they'd go north of the Mason Dixon to find an offensive lineman. But other than that, defensively, they stayed south of the Mason Dixon because those kids grew up in that heat. And it worked to perfection. Yeah, it did.

And that again, Zach Taylor early on in his head coaching career here, went after high character guys. leaders, captains, winners. That's fine. Go back to that. You'll probably hit on draft picks and free agency. But again, it goes back to the fact that when you have a small of a scouting department as the Bengals do, you only have so many voices and so many people and so much help that maybe if you brought in some outside sources, you'd have more of it.

And unfortunately, they're not doing that this offseason. Coach, you look like you. You know what? The other thing is this. There's an awful lot of free agents. And at this point in time, whether you've identified them or not, one of those three assistant general managers ought to be, it's not illegal to contact agents.

They do it all the time. Contact them who these guys' agents are and plant the seed. So to bring them in, and then when they, when free agency actually opens, and you've made a definitive choice on who you want, you've already laid the groundwork, and it's a lot easier to bring him in and assign them and say, hey, this is where I see, you know,

he can sit down with Al and say, hey, this is exactly where we see you plan and what you can do for us and then work it from there. But again, with a limited amount of people in the office, you know, it's kind of hard to work the phones. each and every day because your entire time has spent either on the phone or in the film room and not negotiating or planting the seed for those extra guys that you would like to possibly bring in because they fit your system. And that's what they need. You're exactly right. Plans some seeds

and you can grow some oranges like are right behind you, Coach. All right. So one guy that the Bengals have had who was a free agency signing, unfortunately his time in Cincinnati is probably up. We'll get into Troy Hendrickson coming up next right here on the Mangal Squad Show. All right, let's be real for a minute here. No one starts a business for the joy of calculating tax withholdings or managing payroll spreadsheets. Say that five times fast. That's where Gusto comes in to take the stress out of payroll benefits and HR so you can focus on running your business and supporting your team.

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Three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash locked on NFL. One more time, that's gusto, gusto.com slash locked on NFL. Tonight at 8 o'clock on Cincinnati Bengals talk on YouTube, catch Enter the Jungle with James Rupin and Andrew Fox Miller. They are going weekly throughout the offseason, enter the jungle. Tuesday nights, 8 o'clock on Cincinnati Bengals talk back here on Bengals Squad, the twice a week long form conversational supplement to the daily lockdown Bengals podcast. I'm Alex Frankies, Jake Liscoe, he is coach R. Fulero.

So, Trey Hendrickson, unfortunately, I mean, it's not a foregone conclusion, but it's also inevitable that he is not going to be on the Bengals in 2026. Is that accurate to say right now, Jake? Yeah, I don't see the relationship being repaired. I don't see Trey returning. I think the only question is, do the Bengals do something besides just let him walk? Which I don't think the answer is affirmative.

I think they will just let him walk. But do they manage a tag and trade? I hope that would at least get them something. I don't know how much at this point. I do think that the value is diminished. A tag and trade for Trey Hendrickson could look like a third round pick. You would certainly take that if you could get it. But I don't think there's necessarily,

a ton of value. And it's hard to determine. NFL trades are weird. But wrong side of 30 missed much of the year. And coming off a franchise tag means that receiving team has to negotiate the full deal anyway. I think teams just watched J.J. Watt, who had a solid year. But, you know, no showed in the playoffs again.

And also on the wrong side of 30 has all that guaranteed money coming. And that cautionary tale is fresh in people. minds as well. So I don't know if a tag and trade is remotely reasonable to expect of the Bengals to do. I think ideally you would see them get something for him because if they let him walk, given the work they have to do in free agency, I don't even think there's a compensatory pit coming, but I don't see that that relationship being repaired. Now, the only thing I could imagine is that the bangles are heard the other day, and I don't know if this is true or not, that he would warrant a third round compensatory pick. Now, I don't know if that's true or not.

Yeah, and that's, that's only if they don't sign enough qualifying free agents. So compensatory formula, we'll talk about it on lockdown bangles, if you guys are curious to, to learn more in the audience out there about how compensatory picks works. But yeah, I mean, if trade goes out there and signs a $30 million contract or whatever it is, that should certainly qualify for a third round cop pick. The problem would be then if the Bengal signed enough unrestricted free agents themselves, and we expect them to, they need to, then that will offset losing tray, then they wouldn't get the third round pick, which is why you would try to potentially do a tag and trade, both to accelerate the arrival of that third round pick hypothetically to this

season and because then you can go play in free agency and do what you have to do to make the moves you need to for 26. So it does sound like I agree with you that he is, not going to be on the team next year. I just, again, to your point, the relationship between him and the Bengals front office is so fractured that I just don't see how they bridge it. And look, he is well over 30 years old now in terms of an NFL career. But his legacy in Cincinnati for me, he is, if he's not the greatest free agent signing in Bengals history, he's certainly the most impactful. And I go to the play he made against Derek Carr in the first quarter of the playoff game in 21. His forced fumble changed that entire game.

That play went against the Bengals so many times in their seven playoff games with Marvin Lewis. That when Trey Hendrickson made that play, it was like, okay, this is going to be different because it swung the entire momentum of the game in their favor. When you have an edge rusher like Trey Hendrickson that can force turnovers seemingly every game, coach it does make a big difference. And that's who Trey Hendrickson was for this Bengals defense. for the last five years. Yeah, you know, and you need it, you need somebody like that.

And especially he showed up, not playing this year, really showed up where they could have needed it, where they could have used it. And he just wished all the antics prior to this hadn't happened to where he could find his way. I mean, we, nobody knew, except for the people in the building, what his problem was. It was a hip, it was a back, it was a core injury. I mean, what was it? Ultimately, he didn't play.

And it really hurt the team. And I think it hurt a lot of players on that team. Yeah. And you mentioned, you talk about a lot, Miles Murphy coach. I think that's where you need to go out and sign somebody that can help him along, the same way Trey Hendrickson did that with Sam Hubbard. All right, we got one more segment coming up. We'd like to have a little fun during January when the Bengals are in the playoffs

and talk about what we've seen in the NFL playoffs and how it relates to the Bengals. In particular, the Texans defense and the Patriots defense. They have the blueprint for a championship caliber defense. We'll talk about that and so much more with the Wild Card round coming up next right here on the Bengals Squad show. The Wild Card round has come and gone. The divisional round is four days from now. And Van Duels officially in playoff mode every game day during the NFL playoffs,

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Jerry O'Sgroski, Jeremy White. They do a fantastic job on Bill Squad. And they were basically talking about how going into the game, Jacksonville, the Jaguars, the media down there, and some of the national media were hyping this up as this was going to be the game the Jaguars break through. They were going to end Josh Allen season prematurely and then what the heck were we going to talk about. And Josh Allen said, ha, bet. He was sensational on Sunday. Yeah, Josh Allen has done that kind of all year where they've been in some close games

and the bills in the fourth quarter just go crazy. And Josh Allen is a big part of that. And Josh Allen is a big part of why they've been able to close out games. You need closers. in this league and it certainly was a theme of of the first what the first four games before we got to Patriots chargers and yeah texan steelers i mean you got to be able to make those plays in the crunch time and the teams have made the the the last play tended to win i mean the win probability charts on those games or or something to watch because it's just you know the the the straight

up the last touchdown with 30 seconds puts you in it puts you in position to win now the jags did have a chance to go back down the field and they got an interception from Trevor Lawrence on the very first play, didn't get to see how that would materialize. And that was not too uncommon this weekend, just finding ways to make plays, right? And I think that a couple things stand out when you look at the winners of these playoff games. One, a lot of them spend a lot of money on their football team. A lot of them are top cash spenders in the NFL. The Bengals continue to be in the bottom 12 or so of cash spending in the NFL, even though Duke Tovin wants to tell you about the $400 million in contracts they wrote last offseason and act like that's some sort of achievement when there's

room to do more with the way they structure their contracts. And the other thing is great coaches, man. Sean McVeigh, Dave Canales, great coaches on both sides in that game. Lefleur, I know he's under fire in Green Bay. I still think he's a good coach. And Ben Johnson, great coaches in that game. Liam Cohen mentioned that he's the only guy that's. survived losing to the Bengals in 2025 up and coming, really like his trajectory as a coach

for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And Sean McDermott with Josh Allen, obviously a lot of success there. In the San Francisco Philadelphia game, obviously the better coach wins there. Kyle Shanahan doing one of his best coaching jobs and his decorated coaching career, Mike Brable, putting the hurt on Jim Harbaugh and Roman in the Los Angeles Chargers. they're making changes with their staff. And obviously, we've talked about D'emiko Ryan's and Mike Tomlin in this show, too. A lot of really high-end coaches that are willing to make those tough decisions.

And you need to see Zach better in those fourth down decisions. That's something that I'm going to continue to harp on. And you've got to find the playmakers on the defensive side of the ball. I just wanted to shout out. I don't think you're wrong that Josh Allen was the best player this wildcard weekend. but Carolina corner Mike Jackson. Oh, it was awesome. Loved them.

For Carolina. And easy to overlook that one because, you know, they've lost, and it's the defensive side of the ball, and it's a quarterback league and all these things. And it was one of the, it was the first game of the playoff weekend. But Mike Jackson had himself a game, and that was absolutely.

And you know what the scary part for me is when it comes to Carolina, and they did end up losing that game, obviously, but my worry is, and I never thought I'd say this going into the 20, 25 season. They may have the window more open than the Bengals do. And that's a really scary thing for me to think about. There's some stuff to figure out on offense. They do.

They do. They have a nice coach. They do. Can he? He played, he played well, I thought at times on. He's not Joe Burrow. No, no. But again, you have to be more than Joe Burrow.

For sure. as a team to win these playoff games. And I think when we talk about, and coach I'll turn to you here at the Buffalo Bills, Josh Allen, and you know how much I'm praising him, the Bill's defense on Sunday, they made some huge plays in that game.

Think about when Ray Davis fumbled the kickoff after Jacksonville score. Jacksonville, if they go up 14-3, who, that game might turn out differently. But give the bills credit. They stopped Trevor Lawrence on fourth and two. They take a lead in the halftime at 10 to 7. And then with the game on the line, Trudevius White, Sean McDermott's, I did not know this.

Sean McDermott's first ever draft pick gets a deflection, interception of Cole Bishop. The Bill's defense, which everybody, a lot of people thought going into that game, they're going to get shredded by the Jaguars. Lawrence is going to pick them apart. They forced him into two interceptions that changed the whole outcome of the game. Absolutely. You know what? And here's a very interesting that I thought watching all these games.

You talk about Chicago right now. Oh. They've got a good quarterback and they've got some good pieces, but they don't have all the pieces that Ben wants at this point in time. But what they did have is they have a defense who has really struggled statistically with the exception of one category. and that's turnovers. They have created more turnovers to get the ball back to their offense than anybody else in the league.

And that puts you up where you look at it, I don't know if they're like plus 14 or 15. And then obviously you look at the Bengals on the other hand that shoot, there's children in the negatives. And you got to get the ball to score with the ball. So it really, you know, that's how a team works. And you know what? You got like we were talking about earlier, the coaches out there knew what they wanted. They instilled it and they went out and performed.

And you know what? The high side with Dave and those guys in Carolina is they believe. Now they believe. And they got there. They know what it's all about. and now the next time they go about it, hey, who knows? That was their first home playoff game in 10 years.

And I was listening to the game on radio driving down to Lexington Saturday afternoon. And so many things that I've read, so many things that I've heard, they have said that that felt like 2015, the last time Carolina went to the Super Bowl. So they have a great future. The bills obviously are moving on. The Chicago Bears.

You know, it's interesting, coach, you talk about getting the right guys. in the room. Ben Johnson first time head coach. What does he do? He goes out and gets a proven defensive mind and Dennis Allen and look at the bear's defense. Are they great statistically? No, but they make plays when it matters. They're fundamentally sound in terms of tackling. They're not going to make too many mistakes in that. They're going to give up plays, but they're also not, but they're also going to bend but not break. And that's where they won the game Saturday night. Now, Caleb Williams is ridiculously good when he needs to be.

I don't know what the heck's gotten in to him. But we'll see on Sunday the Texans and the Patriots in the divisional round. You're going to see, gentlemen, defensive identities and what it's supposed to look like. And it's going to be night and day with them and the Bengals defense. Yeah, the last round we got here, next round we got here, the divisional round. We got San Francisco, Seattle, the offensive defensive master. minds going against each other, what could be a very fun shootout in Rams, Bears, and the NFC.

And then in the AFC, a couple of defense, well, yeah, a couple of incredible defensive matchups in Denver and Houston against a couple of incredible quarterbacks in Buffalo and New England. And it should be a really fun game. Should be able to glean more, we'll see more flawed teams overcoming their flaws and finding ways to win games, finding ways to make plays. And that's what makes football fun. These playoffs have sure delivered so far.

They have. Jake, you're on assignment Friday. Oh, sorry, Coach, go ahead. No, I was going to say, I have not witnessed in a long time where the tournament actually has had great games. I mean, you talk about coming down from, you're down 18 points and you come back and win. You're talking about keeping games close and winning it at the end. end. I mean, they've been outstanding games to watch. And you've got guys that you don't

assume are making plays. They're making plays because that's playoff football. You know, it's interesting too. And we talked about this earlier when it comes to, you know, what you're going to see night and day and how it relates to the Bengals. And the fact that coaching part of it is overcoming injuries, adversity, deficiencies on your roster. Watch the Niners Seahawks game on Saturday night, which, I mean, that's the most underrated rivalry in the NFL. It's become my favorite rivalry because of how competitive those two teams are seemingly every time they play. The Niners are going to be without George Kittle. Watch them relentlessly run the football with Christian McAfre because they know that's how

they win games. That's their best player. They're going down with him. Texans, that's going to be a pass rushing clinic. Domega Ryan's and Mike Grable, they embody defense winning championships in spades. Jake, you're on a Simon Friday. Which of these four games are you most looking forward to? I'm excited for all these games. I mean, you can't really make me pick. But I think Mike McDonald and Kyle Shanahan going head to head in that Seattle 49ers game,

that one should be fun. Saturday night in Seattle on Fox. That's going to be so fun. Coach, I texted you earlier today. And Jake, I'm not sure if you've seen this. The nighttime forecast in Chicago on Sunday is eight degrees wind chill of minus seven. It will be the coldest game. Sean McVeigh has coached in his nine years with the Rams.

That's going to be fun to watch. I don't think that's good for either team, man. The bears like to throw the ball. And I know, you know, Ben Johnson's a run game genius. So they'll figure out a way. But that does not seem stylistically positive for either of those scenes to me. Coach Matthew Stafford's got a banged-up finger. If I'm the Bears' defensive line, if I'm Dennis Allen,

I'm sending four every single passing play, and on third down, I'm bringing the heat. Hey, be careful what you wish for. There's a 17-year vet who has performed all year long. And my personal, now, I know there's some great players out there. But you know what, at this point in, 17 years in, as old as he is, shoot, he's at an MVP season. Yes, no question about it.

All he does is win. John Breach had the stat on Twitter. Sean McVeigh, this will be his 15th playoff game on Sunday. It'll be the 15th different team he has faced in the playoffs as a head coach. That is remarkable. You know, that is crazy. You know, I mean, hey, Sean's one of those good ones. They just keep reloading him and he just keeps firing.

You know, as you come to San Francisco and Seattle, it's around three. This is their third go-round at each other. So they've got good tape. It's going to see who is very ingenious, who's inventive, and who goes. You know, who creates that scheme with or without George Kittle and how they can get that tight end involved and they know how to and let it go. First time Sam Darnold is starting a home playoff game in his career. Jake Bill's Broncos, are you nervous about Josh Allen against that Broncos defense?

I don't have strong thoughts about this game. I think the Broncos, as soon as we don't have to talk about the Broncos anymore, I'll be happy. I just think that I know they're a one seed. They remind me of Tennessee being the one seed when the Bengals had to go down to Tennessee and Joe Burrow won a game that he got sacked 27 times. And we'll see how the game goes. We'll see if Sean Payton can pull a rabbit out of a hat there. He's done it many times this season.

Very, very difficult to take two weeks off and come back with timing and everything else. And not to mention, Buffalo has a lot of momentum right now from that win over Jacksonville. Jake, you're on a Simon Friday. We'll talk with you next week on the Bengals Squad show. Coach, you and I are back on Friday. Much more conversation about the Bengals and their decisions to remain status quo and how it relates to Mike Tomlin. now stepping down after 19 seasons as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was in second grade when he was hired.

So that tells you how old I am. Yeah. So I was a young man in those days. And still am, I like to think. So there you go. Check out Jake and James Rapine on lockdown Bengals each and every day, daily during the week on Lockdown Bengals on their YouTube channel and wherever you get your podcast.

Lockdown Bengals is part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast, number in America and the world, your team every day. For more on how to become a member of the newly established Every Dayer Club, visit Lockdown Podcast.com slash every day or where you can become a member of, among other things, the members-only discord. Coach you and I are back Friday. Jake, always great to have you on the show.

We'll talk with you next week. Don't forget tonight, Cincinnati Bengals talk on YouTube. Enter the Jungle with James Rapine and Andrew Fox Miller. I'm Alex Franke and Frankie underscore Natty. He's Jake Lisco at Jake Lisco. He's coach Art Valero at Arthur Valero 54. Thank you so much for tuning in this afternoon. Have a great rest of your week.

We'll talk to you Friday right here on the Bengals Squad Show. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in America and the world, your team every day.