Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - BENGALS SQUAD SHOW: It's TIME for Zac Taylor to RELINQUISH calling plays, team looking at EVERYTHING

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

With Bengals President Mike Brown releasing a statement saying Zac Taylor and Duke Tobin will both be returning in 2026, it's time for Zac Taylor to do what he should have done a long time ago: defer play calling duties. Alex Frank, Jake Liscow, and Art Valero discuss why this could make Zac Taylor a better head coach, and, as a result, the defense possibly better in 2026. Mike Brown said the Bengals are going to take a hard look at EVERYTHING, and Zac relinquishing play-calling may be what enables the Bengals to be better situationally. Zac Taylor said yesterday that the Bengals are going to run it back with their coaching staff. Fans are not happy, but was it the RIGHT decision? The guys discuss if running it back is what will help the young defensive players continue to develop. Cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt is sentenced to five days in jail after pleading guilty to traffic charges from an incident in September. Does this have an impact on his future with the Bengals? Bengals Director of Players Personnel Duke Tobin will be speaking to the media Friday at 1:00. What could come of it? The guys discuss what could happen Sunday when the much-maligned "de facto general manager" speaks on Friday. 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.

Mike Brown released a statement on Monday saying that Zach Taylor and Duke Tobin will be back for the 2026 season. That's fine, but it is long overdue time for Zach Taylor to give up play calling. Jake Liscoe, do you agree or disagree with that sentiment that Zach Taylor needs to finally defer calling plays on offense? You know, I don't think I have a very strong opinion about it, Alex, but if it would help him on game day, sure. I just think in the list of things that are priorities for this team in the off season, that's not necessarily the top of the list for me. And coach, speaking of priorities and coaching, coaching continuity, Zach Taylor says there won't be any changes to the Bengals coaching staff.

Is that a good thing? Well, I tell you what it does tell you is organizationally, staff-wise, status quo. You're going to get the same thing. This year, next year, as you did last year, it's all going to. to be the same because they have basically told you by there are going to be no staff changes that they're putting it on the players and the lack of and their lack of ability to execute a game plan. Well, let's hope one thing is different. The Bengals record in 2026. All that and much more coming up on the first offseason Bengals squad show. Today it's the Bengals squad. Everything Cincinnati

Bengals every week. Breaking down all the big hits and game changing players. 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. Boothay and welcome to the Bengals Squad Show on the Lockdown Bengals YouTube channel and the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in America and the world. Your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Van Duel.

If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit Fanduel.com and place your NFL live vets. He's at long. I'm Alex Frank at Frankie underscore Natty on Twitter. Jake Lisco at Jake Lisco on Twitter and Coach Art Valero at Arthur Valero 54 on Twitter. This is our first offseason edition of the Bengals Squad show. And the first topic of conversation, which Jake, I know you said, may not be as high on the priority list as it might be for some, but it has been a topic of conversation. If I had it in my way, Zach Taylor would have done this the day after Super Bowl 56. but I feel as if it is long overdue that he defers offensive play calling because unfortunately

the 12-1 score losses over the last two seasons for as much as they are tied to defensive failures and that's not Zach Taylor's side of the ball per se it does fall on Zach Taylor and if this team is going to be better situationally in 2026 perhaps giving up offensive play calling is the right way to go coach Jake kind of teased it in the open How do you feel about that? Zach Taylor remaining or deferring offensive play calling duties? Well, you know what? The one thing is, is that you cannot stop what they've done offensively.

And Joe Burrell and Zach Taylor think alike. They're thinking alike on game day. They think alike during the week. Their practice and their preparations are all geared towards that. And there's nothing wrong with the offense. So, but I would say. this on the other hand, is there somebody in the building that has been groomed, and you would hope so, for that next elevation, whether it be the coordinator position, whether it be the

play caller position, the crazy thing about the NFL these days is they have a hot coordinator. They got a hot play caller. But when that young man or that coach gets an opportunity to move on and get his own gig, they don't have anybody to follow. So then they bring them somebody else in who thinks differently, who wants to spend it, his way immediately, and the team suffers for it. So you've already got major problems on defense that have to be addressed. I would keep offensively as the continuity on offense,

as status quo as possible because it's not broken. It's not broken. You don't need to fix that. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. How many times have we heard that phrase in our lives and, you know, in sports? But I think, coach, to what you're saying, there is value in the fact that offensively and when they get Dalton Reisner resign, hopefully sooner rather than later, you're pretty much set on that side of the ball.

I mean, a lot of teams that are in the Bengals situation, and I'm echoing what Paul Dana Jr. wrote in The Athletic yesterday. And for those of you listening, if you haven't read the article, I'd get to highly recommend going to check it out. He basically said that a lot of teams in the Bengals position would envy the fact that the Bengals, as you said, coach have Joe Borough,

Jamar, Chase T. Higgins. They have some other really good offensive players. Chase Brown coming off a thousand-year-old season, the first of his career. So maybe you just stay status quo. But for me, Jake, I think about when Mike Brown said in his statement yesterday that they're taking a hard look at everything within the organization.

And I do want to believe that. I really do because I think that the standards and the expectations and the fan, whatever the word I'm looking for is, fans care more about this team than they ever have because of the stars that are on it. I just think for me, it's time for Zach Taylor to be the head coach, not head coach and play caller. When I frame it to you like that, Jake, does it kind of change? where you rank Zach Taylor and play calling on your offseason priority list?

Not really. I mean, I understand where you're coming from. I just, like art saying, like coach is saying, what they're doing on offense works. Where it gets frustrating to me is when Zach is busy arguing a call and then doesn't get the play call in. And then they have to take a timeout or things like that happening. My understanding of the Bengals play calling process,

so in game planning process, is that it is highly collaborative. Van pitcher and Zach Taylor in constant communication, both leading into the game and during the game. And so I'm not necessarily sure how much changing the play caller really changes the results. Now, if it does free up a lot of time and bandwidth for Zach Taylor to do other things that could help this team, that's where you, and I think that's what you're alluding to, Alex, that's where you could make an argument that can start to move me. but I just don't know how much that ends up mattering in terms of bottom line of wins and losses. I think largely you get the same result. Now, if you get the same result, well, maybe that's an argument to say, well, you might as well change it.

You might as well let Dan pitcher, who has called plays in the preseason, I believe, for this team. So he has a little bit of practice doing it. Might as well let him do it and let Zach be the head coach. But at the same time, could that be disruptive? that's always a risk. And that's from the outside looking in information that we don't have. I don't think that the Bengals fundamental issues come down to play calling. So if you think Zach is a bad play caller, I don't necessarily agree.

A lot of that goes to the structure of the offense that they've built around Joe Burrow in the first place and the menu of plays they have available to them to put in on a given day. I do think, again, like I said, it's a highly collaborative thing. So I'm not sure how much it would even change from a play-to-play basis with Dan pitcher, for example, calling plays if he's still in Cincinnati. Assuming he doesn't get a head coaching opportunity, Lou and Arummo is out there interviewing for jobs as we are talking right now. He's getting some job interview requests. So, you know, assuming that the staff is intact, not sure how much of a difference it makes.

And further, like I said in the open, I think that there are some much more pressing priorities for this team than just talking about Zach Taylor and play calling for a unit that generally has been good when it's been Zach and Joe Burrow. That's fair. I do agree with you on that. And I'm not at all saying either that Zach Taylor is a bad play caller. He has had some games that have been excellent.

You go back to, there's a sound bite of Jamar Chase, really giving Zach Taylor a lot of credit at the game in New Orleans in 2022, just off the top of my head. It's the first that came to my mind. But I think about the Chiefs games that the Bengals won. He had some excellent play calling there. You look at the Thursday night game, Jake, against the Steelers and coached the Thursday night game where the Bengals beat the Steelers. Zach Taylor was in a rhythm.

The playoff games, the Bengals won. He was in a really good rhythm. I do believe he is a good play caller. But to your point, Jake, when you mentioned when you're arguing with an official and you're trying to get the play in, like, that's where I go, okay, that's like that one, my new detail, maybe not necessarily my new, but it's a detail that the Bengals can look at and say, you know what, if you're not calling plays, you can manage the entire team and roster

on game day better. I'm not sure if they're going to do that because from what I remember, it was a collaborative effort between Zach Taylor and Brian Callahan when he was the offensive coordinator here. So is Zach Taylor going to defer play calling? I don't necessarily, I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't. I would kind of be surprised if he did, even though I've been adamant on this show today

saying that he should. But for me, like the one score loss is the last two seasons. Those do fall on Zach Taylor. And it comes to situational football, comes to, you know, game management. And Zach Taylor's job, I said this when Joe Burrow was in his rookie season, your job as Zach Taylor becomes easier when you have a quarterback like Joe Burrow. And Zach Taylor didn't have a ton of experience when he came to Cincinnati as the head coach. He hadn't even been a coordinator at the NFL level.

Now, he did have a lot of experience from the Rams coach in with Sean McVeigh, which I think is what drew the Bengals front office to him. But at the same time, if, and the last three seasons transitioning here, the last three seasons and the Bengals missing the playoffs. Is it all on Zach Taylor? No, but it is in a way. The Bengals from office hasn't given Zach Taylor and the coaching staff the best deck of cards, so to speak, the last three seasons.

But that's where coaching does come in. And if you're being a head coach and play caller, I just think, and look, I don't know much about it, Coach. That's why I'm going to turn to you here. But was John Gruden the offensive play caller when he was in Tampa Bay? Was he the offensive play caller? He was. Okay. And then Pete Carroll, he didn't call defensive plays, did he in Seattle? Okay. So you coached on a staff with the head coach that was the play caller. And then you also coached on a staff that the head coach was not the play caller. What's the difference between the two? Well, I'll tell you about going back to the Tampa Bay years. John was in complete command of the offense. He knew what he wanted to call. Very few times would he ask for suggestions. because he in his mind had gone over and over and over,

and we would meet on Saturday nights, and he was down to what his calls, and he asked everybody their opinion of them, of what he thought, but then it kind of solidified him, and he put his little red marker on his call sheet, and everything was good. So we all knew, as an offensive staff,

we could anticipate the next play call. So if John was, which he did, quite often get into it with officials. The next call was already basically made. And somebody, whether it was probably Bill Muir, who was the coordinator, would go ahead

and make the call. So it wouldn't slow the apparatus down. Now, the one thing that John had, that is he had total safety. His drop net, his

His safety net was Monty Kiffin. Monty ran the defense. Nobody messed with the defense. It was all Monty and his staff. They knew where it was. I can remember a lot of times because Monty was kind of a bend but don't break kind of guy. And all of a sudden we crossed the 15,

John says, okay, get ready for coming out. You know what? Then we get the ball back in good position and everything would go. Because Monty Kiffin knew exactly what he wanted to do on defense. And the defensive staff was sound. And where you take Pete, we were not very good, hence being seven and nine to finish the regular season. We weren't very good on offense, but we were able to score some points, not a lot. Where we were really not very good, and that was Gus Bradley on defense.

We weren't very good defensively. and so he would be in meetings with them and let us put together the game plan, but he was in meetings with them with, and it was, you know, Gus Bradley, Dan Quinn, we had a lot of good coaches on that side of the ball, but we were brand new. There still wasn't a lot of, we didn't know how Pete thanked, we didn't, we, there wasn't a lot of continuity, so we were all kind of growing together, and it wasn't until towards the end of the season that it all kind of solidified itself. I feel like he just kind of took us into like what goes on on coaching headsets with

the entire coaching staff led by John Gruden and Pete Carroll, who you coached with in the NFL. Jake, I turn to you. If Zach Taylor is going to remain the play caller, what's one area in that you want to see the most improvement from him next season? I think some of the things that are on Zach's plate that he could do better don't really fall into the play calling category. I would like to see better game day decision.

making in terms of kick decisions in terms of go decisions, situational football, like we're talking about, the second and 10 run decisions, that sort of stuff is what drives me crazy. The kicks between the 40s and 4th and 1, the running the offense out there to go with a hard count. I know it worked for him a couple times this year, but, you know, burn in a time, just go for it. Just go for it on 4th and 1 in the middle of the field when you have this offense. That would be a tendency breaker. Yeah, and I think that's where situational football comes into play.

And that's not really play calling to me as much as this game management, right? That's where I want to see improvement from Zach Taylor's game management more than play calling. I just wanted to look as well at the playoff teams this year. I always like to look at the playoff teams to see what's popular in the NFL and what's working in the NFL, right? As far as these sorts of things, like what teams in the playoffs are head coaches that are calling plays? it's a pretty good mix. The Denver Broncos one seat in the AFC. Sean Payton's calling those offensive plays, obviously.

Now the offense is not the strength of that Denver Broncos team, but there's one on the AFC, Liam Cohen, a coach of the year candidate in the AFC calling plays for Jacksonville, and I think largely driving that Jacksonville offense to success on the 13 and 4 team. Obviously, Mike Brayble not calling offensive plays, but also I don't think he's calling defensive plays for New England either. Mike Tomlin, I don't think. I'm actually not sure if Mike Tomlin calls a defensive plays.

place. You're shaking your head. No, I don't think he does. DeMeco Ryans gave up defensive play calling for the Texas. I think Sean McDermott does still call the Bill's defense unless he gave that up at some point. I vaguely recall maybe it's a fake memory of a story of McDermott giving up play calling or not. Jim Harbaugh in LA, I don't believe calls that offense, but in the NFC, pretty different story. Mike McDonald calls the Seattle defense. Ben Johnson calls the Bears offense. Sean McVeigh obviously calls the Rams offense. Van Hane calls the 49ers offense, and Mike Lafleur calls, or Matt Lafleur calls the Calls the Packers offense. So in the NFC, a lot of head coaches that are calling plays on their respective sides of the ball.

I don't know what's going on in Carolina, and I don't believe Siriani is calling plays currently for the Eagles. I know that that's gone back and forth during his tenure in Philadelphia. I'm not sure what the exact situation is there. But like 50-50 split, roughly. If you look big picture on both sides, both conferences, is there. And some of the favorites in the NFC this year, like all of the contenders in the NFC, I would argue, have head coaches that are calling plays. If it's Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Green Bay with varying degrees of contending status and injuries on those teams

going into the playoffs. A lot of really good head coaches, a lot of the coaches that are considered the best head coaches in the league, not saying that Zach Taylor right now, are calling the plays and have earned that right. And Andy Reid, obviously, doing the same. And, over a long stretch of success in Kansas City. So I don't think that there's a great deal of evidence to say, like generally one approaches right, one approach is wrong. I think it is really choose your adventure and figure out what works best for you

and your situation. And as we've discussed, I think there is a reasonable argument to say, like maybe Zach's attention would be better spent elsewhere than play calling specifically. I just don't know that it's a very cut and dried argument to me from the outside looking in, not knowing exactly what's happening in their processes on game day. And instead, I would focus my attention on like we've talked about.

Like, have a coach on the headset who is giving you that clear direction that you trust and says, okay, we're going for it here on fourth and one. Okay, this is how we need to manage this second down. Hey, Zach, I know you want to call that run here on second and ten, but when you run it on second and ten, 20% of the time are we getting a first down after that. 80% of the time we're punting after that, whatever the stats are. having those situational voices, the exact trust, I think, will be more important in making a difference

to the offensive side of game management than him changing up his play calling responsibilities. And that goes back to this organization, taking a look at everything that it does. And I think it's interesting when you look at the number of head coaches that are play callers. And I think, coach, which you've said in this segment,

you can be a head coach and a play caller. My thing is, it's just when you look at this defense and the way it has been, the way it has gone downhill the last three seasons, I just wonder if he were to give a play calling, if that could improve not only the defense, but the situational aspects in which the Bengals lost games. Jake, go ahead. I know you.

What's funny to me about that idea, and Art, I'm curious about your perspective here. So, Zach is an offensive guy, always been an offensive guy, pretty hands off on the defense side of the ball. We're saying for a fan base that wanted Zach Taylor got, unambiguously, I think, like 80% of the people that answered a Twitter poll. I did a few weeks ago, one is Zach Taylor got, right? He's obviously back. Now we're saying, like, actually, you know what, Zach? We don't like you calling plays. We want you more involved with the defense.

You can help the defense. Art, have you seen throughout your coaching career, an offensive coach, and a head coaching job like Zach Taylor? Like, what could he bring, hypothetically, to the defensive side of the ball that could improve things there? What do you think? Very little. He does not have enough time during the course of the day

to study offensively and defensively what is going on, nor meet on a Tuesday night or Tuesday afternoon with the offense. Okay, what's the, what are we going to run offensively against this? What's the approach? And then go next door, because one group is waiting on the head coach to tell you, okay, defensively, what do you got? No, I'd rather do this. It's a little late.

It's a little late in a week for him to do that. Now, understanding that if I was Zach Taylor right now with, I'm going into 26 on the hot seat. Now, a lot of people may not put it, but I'm not letting what I do and how I got this job get away from me. So at least I've got control of that. And he's not going to give up play calling to try to go help. You know, it's really, really, if you think back about it, when the Rams were uncertain about Sean McVeigh, they're totally unsure.

Your first time head coach, brilliant offensive mind, knew what he wanted to do offensively, knew the personnel he wanted, but what did they do on the other side? They went hired Wade Phillips to take that burden off of his plate. And so Wade, was enabled and then they slowly they slowly started to develop into different types of coordinators which kind of put them up and over the edge.

So while he was learning, they always had that safety net with having Wade Phillips, somebody with experience, somebody with a great scheme, knowing what he wanted, and it fit the personnel that the Rams had at that time. And so it's tough. It's, I mean, it's hard. I think offensive coaches, they can't call their way out. And they should call the plays because that's why they were hired. And that's such a defining characteristic of so many coaches in the league, so many GMs in the league, right?

They have the job. They're confident in their ability to do the job. And they think, well, you know what? If I'm on the hot seat, if my job is in jeopardy, I'm going to go down my way. If I'm going down, at least I'm going down with full control of this thing. I'm not going down because I handed off play calling. And now suddenly the offense takes a step back when the offense is a thing that we think and hope should be carrying this team going forward. It's a great point that you bring up, Jake and Coach, I really appreciate the insight that you gave them.

But what goes on with the entire coaching staff throughout the week and leading up to the game? Because, and I do think, I do think in a way Zach Taylor has been burdened by the expectation since that 2022 season. And even since the Super Bowl season, the year prior. and the fact that the front office has not given him a full deck of cards on defense. Now, he did hire Al Golden. I know a lot of Bengals fans have been upset about that, but we did see defensive improvements in the second half of the regular season. Speaking of Al Golden and the defensive staff,

Zach Taylor also announced on Monday that he's not making any changes, at least as of now. And now some coaches could get poached elsewhere. We'll see if that happens. But the coaching staff, as coach you mentioned in the open, is remaining status quo. Bengals fans aren't happy about that. but it actually might be a good thing that the coach and staff isn't changing.

We'll get into that coming up next right here on the Bengals Squad Show. All right, ladies and gentlemen, so the NFL draft picks positions are set, and so many teams are looking for their franchise quarterback, not the Bengals. But ever wished you wanted to become a pro quarterback getting drafted first overall by the Bengals like Joe Burrow did six years ago, and Raj Goodell was in his house announcing the picks? Well, now you can. There's a mobile game just for you called Ultimate QB Football Ledger.

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That's ultimate dash QB.com. or search for Ultimate QB in your app store. And we've got something special just for you guys. Use the promo code locked on all caps in the game store to get a free boost at the start of your career. Ultimate QB football legend, QB1, it's your legacy. Before we get into the Bengals coaching staff and the status quo nature of it going into the offseason, I want to say this.

So I go on walks every morning downtown Cincinnati where I live. and I've been walking around Paycor Stadium the last two days, like outside the exterior event. I'm seeing, you know, crew members there, and they do a great job. Staff workers, like, tearing down, like, cleaning up stuff outside all around to, you know, because it's the end of the season. And I say to myself, it is January 6th, and we should not be doing this right now. We should be getting ready for the playoffs, hosting a playoff game, and not just as like a number four C that snuck in like the Steelers did Sunday night.

Now, I'm talking about at least a number 3C with a favorable matchup or a number 2C knowing if they win the Bengals get a home game the next weekend. Or better yet, a number one C, and we got two weeks to, you know, get ready for the Bengals run to the Super Bowl. Like, the sad nature of the last two days for me walking around Paycor Stadium, it's like, here we go again, another wasted season. So normally when that happens, fans pivot to the fact that they want to change. And if you want to see any fans' perspective, just look at Nick Lechay and his post comments on Instagram because he's very vocal about change needs to happen. Well, Zach Taylor announced yesterday that the coaching staff is returning. That includes defensive coordinator Al Golden and the defensive coaching staff, which he hired last off season. I'm here to tell you that I think this is actually a good thing.

Paul Dana Jr. of the athletic believes that he wrote a column on that earlier today. I turn to both of you. Coach, I'll start with you. Is this a good thing the Bengals coaching staff isn't changing going into next season? Yes or no. Okay. Yes, from the standpoint is you've got continuity, that every one of those defensive players now understand the system and how it's going to be called.

The one thing that you kind of realized over time with the Bengals is what is their defensive identity? Who are they? What are they trying to accomplish? What kind of players are they trying to draft? You know, I knew exactly, even before I got there, what Monty wanted, what Monty Kiffin wanted. When you go to Pittsburgh, there is a foundation that is set, and that is the kinds of players they're looking for. When you go to, you know, any of the other places, those are the kinds of players. And right now it's like best available.

We're going to take whomever and then plug them into the system. You have to start somewhere and then build around that before the guy gets too old in order to really solidify and say, this is what we do. Stop it. And that's the one thing that one year of continuity, great. All right. But will there be two? Are you going to draft to those not necessarily needs, but draft? to the system and they will fill those needs instead of just helter-skelter,

oh yeah, this is a good player, this is a good player, and where we rank we're going to take you because he's the best available. You want football players and you've got to make sure that you approach it that way. You know, we talked earlier about offensive, hey, it's not broken, so don't fix it. That's not the saying that there are some key guys out there in the draft and free agency that are worthy of being on that offense to give you another weapon at tight end, at offensive line,

as a slot receiver. You know, those kinds of players are still out there. But then now your major priority has to be on the defense to fit the system so you can continue to get better. And obviously, as long as it took for this defense, and all the comments that were made by the coordinator, for them to get where they were actually performing, it was, you don't have that much,

you don't have six weeks of training camp and six weeks of the year. You don't have 12 years for it to set in the player's mind. You've got to make it crystal clear to them what their assignments are and how you're going about it in order to win and to sustain winning. Sorry, my mic was muted there. The light, the light bulb did come on for, Miles Murphy in the second half of the season. We talked about him a lot.

Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight. And Al Golden was the Bengals linebackers coach prior to him going to Notre Dame to become their defensive coordinator. So he does understand about linebackers. He was instrumental in Logan Wilson's development, Jermaine Pratt's development. I'll even go so far to say Akeem Davis Gaither and his development. So there is benefit to bringing this coaching staff back and coach to your point. It's like look at what the Browns and the Raiders and other organizations do. when they turn over their coaching staff seemingly every year or every other year.

That's not going to help. Like, I get it that fans want this organization to be desperate. I get that they want them to, you know, pull out all the stops. That's fine. But I think what's even more important is having a sense of urgency, and that's particularly on the front office. This front office needs to give Al Golden a better deck of cards. Like, you can talk about the players that are on this team coach,

but we have said this on this show multiple times. Pay to buy a team. Go out and get a difference maker that can help. And Jake, you remember this in 21. Look at the Bengals defense that was on the field week one against the Minnesota Vikings. When the offense was struggling early, the defense was flying around.

They were getting after Kirk Cousins. They were containing Dalvin Cook. It was a really good day for them because they had really good players. Five players on the field that day. that I can name were free agent signings. Trey Hendrickson, Chidobe Abusier, Mike Hilton, Larry Ogunjobe, Eli Apple,

and then you could even go as far as to say Ricardo Allen. BJ Hill was a trade. That defense looked so much different that week than it did in 2020. And that's what I want to see. Guys that fit what they're trying to do. When Lou Anirumo got that, when the front office gave Luena Rumo the full deck of cards, look at what he did.

The same can be true for Al Golden. Yes, they have two rookie linebackers. Bring in some competition. Maybe draft a linebacker in the fifth or sixth round. There are ways to work around this so it can make it look like a good decision that they kept this entire coaching staff. Jake, do you believe it's a good thing that they didn't make changes on that side of the ball? Look, it's much maligned. There's no denying that.

But is it good given what they could do this offseason that they kept this deep, that Zach Taylor's keeping his defensive coaching staff? way, he changed it completely after 2024. Yeah, I think if you're running it back with Zach, you're running it back with Zach with the idea that if you're giving him another year, you might as well give the guys that he hired last year another year. If you're moving off with this defensive staff after one year, after you let Zach hire this defensive staff last year, why are you keeping Zach at that point? That's part of it.

That's something that I know, you know, my co-hosts on Lockdown Bengals, James Rapids, or Pena's talked about quite a bit. There are obvious upsides of continuity. There's a few things here, though, from a big picture, keeping the head coach conversation that kind of put this in a different light. But one thing that really stood out to me from that Paul Dayner article that you are referencing on The Athletic.com is he wrote that there were lessons learned between the defensive transition debacle of this past year.

Disconnect between the staff and personnel department on what Golden needed and the front office's ability to deliver it. Now, who holds a blame for those of those. and misopportunities depends on who you talk to in the building is what Paul continued to write. So that is something that is a bit alarming, right? You have a couple of these transitions in the Bengals history where they really botched the offseason because of how late in the process they get coaches in the building and the reliance and need for the coaches in front office to work hand in hand. Ideally, and coach, you were talking about this, if you draft a BPA, it is truly the best player.

Say Kyle Hamilton a few years ago. he falls in the first round and ends up on a team that figures out how to use him. But say you're in that situation this year, and the BPA is a position that you don't feel like you desperately need. And the Bengals have a bit of a proclivity to draft for a need when they have very clear needs, and they have a bit of a proclivity to get to the draft with very clear needs, i.e. needing a defensive tackle two years ago drafting McKinley-Jackson and Chris Jenkins in that draft that was a weak defensive tackle draft, really needing linebackers going into the 2025 draft

and then drafting two linebackers and what was seen as a weak linebacker class. Part of that goes to the front office and fixing that issue and making sure that, you know, Al Golden, when he arrived, wasn't sitting there thinking, like, I'm going to be starting two rookie linebackers for 10 weeks this year. That's my plan.

That's what I want to do. Nobody wants to do that. And the Bengals linebackers goes talked about this. Like nobody wants to sit there and start two rookie linebackers for 10 weeks. Al Golden, I think, arrived with expectations that he would have a little bit more in the way of veterans on that defense that didn't get that. So I do think that that is one way you could spin it. The other side of this is the stats are really unfavorable keeping Zach Taylor. The history of keeping a head coach

who hasn't won a Super Bowl with that quarterback in the first few years or whatever it is. And I know John Sharon has had this stat in the past. It's never happened that a head coach quarterback tandem have won a Super Bowl after they haven't won it at this point in their combination. The other thing that, and shout out to John Sherin, John went and looked for coaches that have made it seven years, at least seven years despite having losing records. And the list is not terribly inspiring. The highlights of this list are probably Gary Kubiak and Jack Del Rio and Sam Wysha, of course, the Cincinnati, of course, the Bengals have another list, another representation

on this list of a coach who made it seven plus years with a losing record. It doesn't really happen that if you haven't figured it out by now, you continue to get these shots. So it's a big swing, I think, to keep things intact. And part of that, I think, is perhaps a little bit of honesty, or maybe not. Maybe this is just because he has two years left on the seal. I think that's probably as simple as. But last year, if the Bengals were in a head coaching market,

I would have been all in on Ben Johnson. And I think I was. Absolutely. James Rapine was all in on Mike Frable. I think that there is a 0% chance that Bengals were paying either of those coaches, their salary requirements to be the head coach in Cincinnati. So that's the other part of this. It's always uncomfortable.

It was uncomfortable at the end of the Marvin Lewis era. It was like, who are they going to hire? Well, they hired Zach Taylor, an unproven, quarterback's coach who had an interim offensive coordinator, a cup of coffee previously in its NFL tenure. And it went okay for what it was. And then this ownership group continues to do what it does and holds on. So there are potential upsides of continuity,

like we've talked about, the scheme alignment with the front office and figuring out what players now we know we have a better idea this defense needs, where they need to attack this soft season. You could see a short-term bump there. The one thing I would say is I would like to see them add a pass rush specialist to this defensive staff. Right now is just Jerry Montgomery coaching the defensive line specifically. And I think that he did an admirable job. And we saw some development from those guys as the season went on.

But he does have primarily an interior defensive line coaching background. And so adding a pass rush specialist, I think, given the dire need for this team to improve his pass rush next year especially, couldn't hurt. There is very much truth to the fact that this is a big swing, but it is the right swing. Because if you change your defensive coaching staff again, clearly it didn't work at the start of this season when you still had hope to make the playoffs or win the AFC North. So we're going to try with the fact that we saw improvement from the defense keeping this defensive coaching staff, excuse me, around. And coach, I think when you have, excuse me, the young linebackers that they have in particular, continuity is so important for that development because the more voices that you have early on in your career, that can be problematic.

Is there truth to that? Absolutely. You know what? You have so much noise going on. It's hard to focus on because you have to remember. a lot of these kids came from a college atmosphere. And all of a sudden now, what they called in college, an apple is now called an orange. And it's like going to Japan.

You're still speaking in English and thinking in English, but you're in a different environment. What is it they're trying to say to where I can understand it? And I think that that is part of the growing pangs of being a young player, walking into a veteran environment. And you know what? I think keeping the defense together with adding a pass for a specialist, you know, especially for the edges,

would be outstanding because it allows the defense to go a whole different direction and to stay away from the dysfunction of the front office. because they obviously haven't gotten the players that the offense or defensive needed or wanted. And you never see the Bengals come up to the best player available and say, you know what?

He's a great player. Somebody else wants it. Let's work the phones. Let's see if we can trade down a little bit. Let's see what we can get for this spot and add more players that are on your board. that are out there ready for the picking that you might have thought later. So there's a whole lot of things that that front office can do on draft day.

And prior to that by, you know, working with people's contracts and trying to get them down so you can get the money available to be able to solidify your football team. Yeah. And again, this goes back to them taking a hard look at everything that they do. They understand. Everything. Yeah, everything.

They are in a Super Bowl window. If you would have changed coaching staffs, head coach included this offseason, you'd be starting over. After three seasons that have already been disappointing for this franchise, right now to me, this feels like the end of the 2020 season going into the offseason prior to 21.

And we all know how that turned out. It turned out really good. There is a feeling going into this next season. of if not now then when, even more so now because we know how good Joe Burrow is. We know how great Jemar and T are, and we quite frankly know that there are expectations that these fans have had for years now

because of what they did in 21. The other thing too is the Bengals are coming up on their 60th anniversary in 2027. Wouldn't you want to enter that with some momentum? And I do believe Mike Brown is thinking about that. Speaking of continuity, they do value it. Unfortunately, one member of the defense, not the one you're thinking of,

may not be a part of the team next season because of some news that broke earlier today. We'll get into that coming up next right here on the Bengals Squad Show. Today's edition of the Bengals Squad Show is brought to you by Zoc Doc. Finding a doctor you actually like and feel like discovering a diamond in the rub. You want someone in network nearby and with availability. But you also want a doctor who really listens, makes you feel comfortable, explains things clearly, and helps you walk out, feeling confident about your next step.

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you love today. That's Z Oc, doc, doc.com slash locked on NFL. Zockdoch.com slash locked on NFL. Thanks to Zock doc doc for sponsoring this message. To find out more on how to become a member of the Every Dayer Club of the Lockdown Bengals and Lockdown Podcast Network, visit Lockdown Podcast.com slash Everydayer to learn how you can get, among other things, access to the members-only Discord. Lockdown Bengals is part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network, in America and the world, your team every day. So, news broke earlier today that Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor Britt has received a five-day

sentence for traffic charters related to a traffic incident on the street just behind me, actually, Joe Nucks Hallway that took place after the Bengals victory over the Jaguars. And my first reaction to that was, okay, so your franchise quarterback just got hurt. Your season may be over because of that and ended up being that way. And you decide to drive recklessly down a street that's always packed on game days. Wow. As Cam Taylor Britt fallen from potential franchise corner to a guy that may not be here come March. Coach, I turn to you first.

When a player like Cam Taylor Brick has something happened to him like something did today, how does that impact not just his position group, but the entire team? Well, I think everybody kind of looks at it with because it happened so long ago. You know, they wanted to wait and they wanted to see exactly what was the circumstances that led up to that. And they just continued playing. and you don't know if it had any value on what happened during the course of the season, but now that it's over and, you know, reality is set in, you have, that is another thing that that they have to take a look at.

How valuable is he to the organization? How valuable is he to the defense? How valuable is he to that room? Can he still have the leadership ability if he's, you know, being indicted for whatever, you really have to take a good look at it. And the front office has a, and they probably have, and they should have. When it gets game eight, you know, you're halfway through. All of these things come up every day.

You don't show up on just Sunday and watch the game. All of these matters have to be dealt with in a timely manner. And you weigh the good and the bad. and do we get rid of them? Do we keep him? Do we do it? We got this pending over them. There's a black cloud that's hanging over

where the front office group has to make sure that they've got an answer, run through the head coach, to be able to answer all those questions that come up. And hopefully they've already done their due diligence and they know they're just waiting for the time to be able to pull the plug or to say, let's go. I know what I would do.

I'd release him because, not just because of this, but one of the real atrocities of the last three seasons. And he was having a good start to 2023. But Cam Taylor Brits fall from being this franchise's potential cornerback one to being a guy that was a liability last year. He was benched at one point last year. He was benched again this year. He sustained a Liz Frank injury that ended his season long before,

Joe Burrow even came back. And now you have this. I mean, this goes back to the point that we, I have thought about a lot this season. When the Bengals were making their runs in 21 and 22, it wasn't just that they were really talented. They had a bunch of high character guys leading that team. Hendrickson, Sam Hubbard, Jesse Bates, Logan Wilson,

and then on offense you had Tyler Boyd, Joe Mixing. Yes, I'm not going to condone what he did in Oklahoma, but he was still a leader on the team. Jamar Chase T. Higgins, Joe Borough, Ted Carris, all those guys were leaders. The defense this year did not have one of those players. And when you have that, and we talked about this on Sunday, Coach, the fans struggle to relate to them. And so Cam Taylor Britt, like, he's shown me what he is, really, the last two seasons.

Jake, does what happen today confirm to you the belief that he should not be a member of the Bengals in 2026? It doesn't really have much of an impact for me. His contract is up. He wasn't coming back. He'll be playing for another team if he finds a suitor in free agency. I think that today's news is unfortunate. I think that driving recklessly is a bad thing to do pretty objectively. Not really much debate to be had there.

And he's out under contract with the Bengals very soon. So unfortunate news for sure. but I was already thinking it was correct for the Bengals to move on from Cam Taylor Britt and they were going to move on from Camp Taylor Britt before today's things. I agree. And just a little shorter segment, we've had long on the first one, which is okay, because we have some big news to get to in the Ford segment. And that is Bengals, Director of Player Personnel and de facto General Manager Duke Tobin

is going to speak to the media on Friday. Is this a good thing for the Bengals? Is it different from the norm? We'll talk about what we expect to hear from Duke Tobin when we return right here on the Bengals Squad Show. Today's edition of the Bengals Squad Show is brought to you by FanDuel. So Friday's already feel different during basketball season and Fan Duel is making them even better. Every Friday night before the games tip off, Fanduel gives fans a new way to kick off the weekend with NBA Happy Hour.

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So before tip off, check the Fandual app and see what's dropping during NBA happy hour. Again, every Friday 6 to 7.30 p.m. Eastern, a little basketball, a little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy. That's NBA happy hour only on Fandual, the official sports book partner of the NBA. The Bengals often get criticized for not changing, not evolving, not doing things different from what they normally do, even though the last few off seasons and few seasons have suggested they have changed in some regards. But one thing that is changing, which doesn't normally occur at the end of a regular season, is the fact that Bengals director of player personnel, Duke Tobin, is going to speak to the media Friday at 1 o'clock. Jake, I ask you first, is it different for the Bengals to be doing this?

How different is this really for this team and an organization? Yeah, I mean, it's different. They never done it. So in that sense, yeah, factually, objectively, it's different. They haven't run Duke Tobin out there this time of year before. It adds one media appearance for Duke Tobin to the calendar, which is a 50% increase. Previously it was two. 50% of two is one.

And that will make it three for Duke Tobin in 2026. He will have this one on Friday. He'll appear at the Combine. And usually he does a pre-draft press conference as well. That gives you three opportunities. for the media to ask Duke Tobin questions. And I think the difference really is just that it gives you an opportunity to ask about what he said last year at the combine and what he said last year before the draft.

Where did their plans go wrong? He talked about not wanting to spend more money for the same team. He talked about hanging on to the Super Bowl core for too long last year. And it sounded like there were plans from Duke Tobin's point of view. His druthers were that they would have gone out and I think been a little bit more active than they were. Now, Duke Tobin still is not the general manager of the Cincinnati Bengals. Katie Blackburn still holds a lot of the responsibility for this team

in terms of negotiating contracts and spending authority, as it were. Duke Tobin isn't just working within a budget. There's still no salary cap expert and individual in charge of managing the salary cap for this team. That also falls to the ownership group and those things aren't changing. So I think what's always interesting when Duke Tobin speaks is there's always a little bit, that you can glean from what he says. There's always a few little tidbits that tell you, these are kind of our plans.

We'll see if we can execute those plans. But what's always interesting is who he's talking to. Is he talking to the fans? Is he talking to the coaching staff? Is he talking to players? Is he talking to ownership? In the past, it sounded like he's talking to the coaching staff about certain players over the years.

Daxhill was a player that the front office and the coaching staff, the previous coaching staff, we're never seeing eye to eye on. The front office was still very bullish on Dax Hill's future. The coaching staff kind of took a while to figure out what his best place would be. I hope at this point they're done moving Dax around. That's kind of beside the point. Last year, I thought, and several others that have talked about this,

thought that Duke Tobin was really talking to the front office. I don't want to pay more money for the same team. They end up paying way less on defense last year. They, over the last five years in this entire Joe Burrow contending era from the Super Bowl year all the way to present have been the bottom 20, sorry, the bottom 12, I guess, below 20th every year in overall cash spend. So these are things that Duke can't control unless they expand his responsibilities. The other thing that's really interesting about this is he's named in the Mike Brown letter. He and Zach are named and linked. does that mean that Duke is also on the hot seat if this thing doesn't get turned around finally after 26 years in this job with the Cincinnati Bengals?

That remains to be seen as he's been recently referred to as still part of the family. And so we'll see what direction that goes. But yeah, it's different. How much does it mean? The biggest thing would be if this is an indication that, yeah, Duke's performance is also under scrutiny right now from the ownership group. And that's kind of a scary thing to think about when you talk about reshaping this front office for an ownership group that's really used to it, too. Excuse me. Coach, how important is this? Because I think the one thing about the Bengals that fans have won in addition to winning is transparency. So how important is transparency for an NFL organization, especially when we're talking about the front office?

Well, you know it is. Transferency, they're not going to have total transparency. There's a lot of things. It's just like the government. You know, there's some things that you don't know what's going on, but you're glad they are going on. But for him to come out from behind the curtain, so to speak, and speak, now the key thing is you've got to listen for on Friday when he comes out, is it coach speak? Or are they getting hard questions at him where he has to answer and answer definitively? or is he kind of him and and hon and building a wall around it, then you know that there are other issues that are just deeper. And, you know, it's good. You have to put a face.

Zach Taylor's been out there every week talking about the team, talking about the team struggles, talking about the successes. Now it's time for the other ones to come front because they're the ones who basically built the team. And they're what's showing you this is evident. of our product that we put together for you. And when it doesn't meet mustard, somebody's got to be held accountable. And somebody has to tell you, here is our direction. That one didn't work.

Why? Whether it be injury, whether it be whatever. Financial conflicts, whatever it may be. But here is how we're going to go about it. And on defense, to be that low in money spent, you're going to get what you pay for. And that's the situation that I think they're in right now. More than anything, when it comes to the Bengals adding scouts to their scouting department, when it comes to hiring a general manager, more than anything, what I want this front office to do is streamline everybody's role.

So we clearly know who does what, okay? Who oversees the roster? Who oversees the salary cap? Who oversees game day experience? Which is clearly Caroline and Elizabeth Blackburn. But I just, when you're a multi-billion dollar organization, and there are some organizations obviously worth a lot more than the Bengals. But when you're a multi-billion dollar organization,

You can't just have a small group of people and everybody does a little bit of everything. No, no, no, no, no. That doesn't work. Okay. I worked at a small market television station multiple years ago. That's where you can have people doing multiple things because the resources and the money that you have as a news station isn't as great. When I got to Columbus in 2023, everybody had a specific role. That was it.

you didn't step outside of it. It was all streamlined because it's a bigger operation. In minor league baseball, for instance, Coach and you're a big baseball fan, that's different. Like I, with the Dayton Dragons just up the road from Cincinnati here, their play-by-play announcers also their director of media relations. He handles PR stuff. That's fine.

This is the NFL. Everybody within your front office needs a clear and defined role. And I don't feel like right now this organization has that. So whether that means Duke Tobin gets named GM on Friday, I've heard people say that could happen. I don't know what's going to happen. I generally do not know. Go ahead, Jake.

I don't know where that came from. I've seen fans speculate, I should say. People are trying to figure out why Duke is talking. And I think that's, I think that's pretty speculative. We'll see. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe we're all wrong. I generally don't know because we don't normally get this.

So let's say, excuse me, go ahead, Coach. Well, you know what a lot of times what ends up happening is those that are not transparent and they don't tell the fan base, their workers, anybody, what is going on, that leads to uncontrollable speculation by everybody in the building and out of the building because they start to think themselves of what needs to be fixed. And that adds more scrutiny to the front office people instead of just coming out, hey, this is what we're going to do. This is what we are and this is who we are.

And this is how we're going to go about fixing it. And when it doesn't get fixed three years in a row, you're saying something's wrong. Something is definitely wrong. So let's think about all the other things that could happen to make, us better. I just think if Duke Tobin is the GM, it does get named that. And again, I'm not expecting that. And I also don't know what's going to happen. You better have help for him, whether it's going out and hiring a new director of player personnel, whether it's advisors, I don't know. Jay. They have three assistant GMs. They don't have a real GM. It's hilarious.

It's ridiculous. Who are they assisting? There's no GM. And you know what's interesting too is like when I see the Tennessee Titans and the, you know, the restruction of the front office that they did. Now the Titans front office is still not very good. Not a bottle that you want to as fine. No, but they, they are at least saying to their fans, this is what we're doing and they're doing it. There is something to that. And the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Blank, who's one of the more interesting owners in the NFL, he just released his statement earlier this weekend yesterday after they fired head coach Rahim Morris and their GM, Terry Fontenow saying,

basically being as transparent as you could possibly be about why they did this and what the fans deserve. So the fact that Mike Brown released that statement yesterday, albeit didn't say, you know, it wasn't a lengthy statement, fine. But at least he's putting Duke Tobin, I believe in the spotlight more so than ever. It's because of Joe Burrow.

It's because of the talent that's on this team. It's because of the expectations. And it's because, quite honestly, and I do believe this, Mike Brown's 90 years old. He's not getting younger. And the Bengals are turning 60 next year. I truly believe in my God of guts that that stuff does matter to him more so than ever. And Joe Burrow said this is as big as it gets for the offseason.

Speaking of which, our second offseason show coming your way on Friday, coach, it'll be us too. And hopefully James Rapine will be joining us following Duke Tobin's press conference at Paycorr Stadium. Friday have won our show at 2.30 Eastern. And we're also going to talk about the future of a player we haven't really been discussing a lot since Bengals Squad started back in November. And is it as crystal clear as some think it is? We'll get into those conversations on Friday.

Thank you, as always, for our loyal listeners. Thank you for those who watch us on YouTube. And wherever you listen to us, wherever you get your podcast. Lockdown Bengals and the Lockdown Podcast Network. It is the number one sports podcast network in America and the world, your team every day. And for more, Honda, become a member of the newly established everydayer club, visit lockdown podcast.com slash every dayer. For Jake Lisco at Jake Liscoe, for coach Art of Valero, Ad Ruther Valero 54.

I'm Alex Frank and Frankie underscore Natty. Jake, we know you're not going to be on the show Friday, which is totally fine. NFL playoffs this weekend, is there a game that you are most looking forward to of the six this weekend? You know, I have actually looked at the schedule for once. Oh, look at this. Alex, it's the first time in the history of the show that I've looked ahead of the schedule. And I need to pull it up again because I don't remember. What stood out to me is that they put Texas Steelers on Monday night.

And I think that is hilarious. I think the best game this weekend is Bill's Jaguars. And that's your Sunday at one game. Bears Packers also could be fun. But Bill's Jags for me because Liams and Trevor Longer, Lawrence have been on a heater against some bad defenses lately, and that one could be a very high scoring contest. The bill's defense, not a defense that can, on paper, stand up to what the Jags have been doing lately

unless Christian Benford goes crazy again. So that's the one that I have my eye on this weekend. I like that pick. That's my favorite game. Coach. We'll have some playoff talk on Friday when we tee it up again right here on the Bengals Squad show. It is part of the lockdown podcast network, the number one sports podcast network in America in the world.

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