Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - BENGALS SQUAD SHOW: JEREMIYAH LOVE and the TEMPTATIONS, BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER in the DRAFT?

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Even though the Bengals need a major restructuring on defense, it may be very hard to pass up drafting Jeremiyah Love at No. 10 if he's still on the board.  Alex Frank and Coach Art Valero discuss how the Bengals could ABSOLUTELY benefit by drafting Jeremiyah Love in the first round, and how it could take Joe Burrow and the Bengals' offense to another level.  Who is the best defensive player in the NFL Draft? Is it Caleb Downs or Rueben Bain Jr.? Alex and Coach debate that question and what should be a bigger priority for the Bengals' defense.  If the Bengals don't find a trade partner for Trey Hendrickson, is it okay if he walks in free agency and the Bengals get nothing for him?  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!  TurboTax For a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today.  FanDuel Use your Profit Boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA Finals. Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started.  Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast.  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.

The ultimate temptation for the Cincinnati Bengals is if Jeremiah Love is there a number 10, do they take him? Coach, when you have the opportunity to draft a great player, I think you may have to consider taking him. That you do. You do consider it, although you have to see what you did in free agency to fill some of those dire holes that you have. You have to see what you could possibly trade to someone to move up to take him and not lose a lot of what you really need and what you really want.

Okay, we've set the table and this is the Bengals Squad show. Today, it's the Bengals Squad. Everything Cincinnati Bengals every week. Breaking down all the big hits and game-changing plays from the Queen City, the way only the locked-on podcast network can. From the jungle to the playoffs. The Bengals Squad Show starts now. We are just about one week away

the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, and we welcome you to the Bengals Squad Show on this Thursday, February 19th. I'm Alex Frank. He's coach Art Valero, 45-year coaching veteran and Super Bowl 37 champion with the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bengals Squad is the twice a week

long-form conversational supplement to the daily lockdown Bengals podcast hosted by James Rupin and Jake Liscoe. And for more on how to become a member of the newly established Every Dayer Club here at the number one podcast network in America and the world of Lockdown Podcast Network. Visit Lockdown Podcast.com slash every dayer. Jeremiah Love and The Temptations. It could be a huge debate going into the NFL draft,

and it already is because the way I see it coaches, if the Bengals do enough, as you said in free agency, If they have the opportunity to get another weapon for Joe Burrow, I am not thinking twice and I'm rolling the dice. You know, that is a very, very tough question. Certainly right now, he, you know what, Jeremy I love to me is this year's Sequan Barkley. You know, Sequin came out, people had a choice.

I mean, that was the year the quarterbacks all came out, right? the Giants took him because he was a unbelievable college player. And they passed up on the Justin Herbert. I mean, they passed a lot of great quarterbacks, which they needed. They're still in that bind because they traded him a couple of years later. And now he's the player everybody wanted to have. So that's a tough call. And the one thing is with a guy like Jeremiah Love and with Sequin Barclay,

Philadelphia won it last year creating and allowing him to eat, allowing him to run the ball, and that's how they won the Super Bowl. They transform the team. Are the Bengals willing to do that? Because this young man needs the ball in his hands. and preferably from the backfield. He needs the ball of his hands to really show dominance. I look at it right now, and I'm saying, who needs them?

Kansas City won. And they can use it, you know what? Because the team is pretty much together with our running game. And right now, New Orleans, they need a guy, a feature Belcal that can establish, take some pressure out that quarterback, and they can establish a, running game, much like Kellan and those guys did when they were in Philadelphia,

it was with Sequin. Okay, so a lot of great points there that leads me to my next point about why I want the Bengals to draft Jeremiah Love. The Bengals need more explosiveness on offense coach. It is very evident. They were sixth in the NFL when explosive plays in 2021, the year they went to the Super Bowl. In the last four years, they have not ranked higher than I believe 17th. And ESPN's Ben Baby did a terrific job breaking that down about why the Bengals were so successful in 21.

And I get that Jamar Chase has had some great years since then. But it's been hard for this offense to move the football and create those downfield explosive plays that became a staple of their offense in 21. Jamar Chase had eight touchdowns of 25 or more yards that season as a rookie. No other receiver had more than five. Let's look at Jeremiah Love and the fact that not only could you bring an explosive element to the Bengals that has not been a part of this offense in the last four years, at least according to the data, but it's a running back. You could get explosive plays from the running game. So what that means, coach, is you're going to bring safeties down in the box. That's going to leave one-on-one opportunities for Jamar Chase and T. Higgins.

This is a guy that has 35 touchdowns over his last two years. I think if you do enough in for Reactioncy to fix what you really need to restructure, I think you have to take the gamble. You're absolutely right with that. I mean, when you really look at it, there's a lot of different scenarios that you have to look at when he gets to that point or when you get to that point. You know, the one thing about a Jeremiah Love that does it, and if you look at all of those big play scenarios,

where they usually come is on first. or second or six or less because your play action game is huge. That's where you get explosives. Your running game, when all of a sudden you got a great one who can spit it out of there and go for 30, go for 20. They're so fast in this league, they may not break it all the way, but they can go for 30, which is a big play. You'll take that on in the passing game as well. So, but what it really does is that it creates a whole entirely new offense with the play action game that it, other than bootlegs and nakeds and stuff like that, that are really needed and would really serve a great purpose for those two skilled whiteouts outside. I mean, you're talking about a guy in Jeremiah Love who averaged nearly seven yards a carry in his last two seasons.

That's just a tick. It's actually just a tick under that yardage per carry. I mean, that's 70% of your way to a first down. So if you get those, if you get seven yards on first down, you're going to have the edge rushers further back. And an offensive line, and it does sound like Orlando Brown Jr., at least I think, is still going to be on this team in 26. And he may not be as nimble as he used to be.

You need every advantage you can give him. and if you can give him a solid running game, so when you're in passing plays, he can hold up in press protection. There are many benefits to drafting Jeremiah Love, but you better have the sense of direction which you're going in as a franchise, an organization, if you're going to do that. If you want your overall team identity to be explosive offensively, you draft Jeremiah Love if he's there. because to pair him with not not pair him to put him with Joe Borough

Jamar Chase T. Higgins, Mike Cickey and Chase Brown. I mean, and here's the thing, Coach. You don't have to let Chase Brown go if you draft your, am I love? Why can't you have both of them? Oh, the problem with that is there's only one ball. And they both need to be fed. But you make great points. as far as what it does for those alignments.

It creates, you know, like we said, we talked about, you know, what it does with play action passes. The running game, you're going to get people in the box. You're going to get single coverage outside or at least 3D. And it can give you quite a bit, but you said it the best. Are you structured? Do you have a plan? not just willy-nilly, man, he's the best player on the board.

You've taken the best player on the board at that time, numerous times, and you've come up short. Best player on the board, Joe Burrell. Best player on the board at that time? Jamar Chase. Those are no-brainers. Yeah. The other ones, you know, you're working at it.

I remember five years ago throughout the entire winter and early spring, Sewell or Chase, you're on one of those teams. I was in team Chase because my reasoning was if you have the opportunity to give Joe Borough a weapon of the caliber of Jamar Chase, especially one that he played with in college, you do it. They did. Even when everybody, But he kept saying you have to protect Joe Burrow, you have to give him Pinae Sewell, so much so that Mike Tanabalm said the Bengals should be kicked out of the league for not drafting him, which was such an asinine take. Even when everybody said, you need to go offensive linemen, the Bengals said, we need to be more explosive downfield with our franchise quarterback. And look what happened. It nearly won them a Super Bowl. Yeah, I feel really close.

Yeah. And I feel the same way five years later when it comes to Jeremiah Love. Because I think Caleb Downs and Rubin Bain are going to go early. I do. And if you're not going to trade up, if you feel like you've done enough in free agency, you stay back, you restrain because you're confident of what you've done. And you draft because like John Harbaal said, coach, you're drafted in the first round, a guy that you want to give a second contract, third contract, and just maybe he's wearing a gold jacket one day in Canton. True.

And you've got one that possibly could be there at that spot. And you need to be right when you make that decision. You know, he's a great young man, comes from a great school, played at a high level, knows what it takes to be good, how well he fits in the offense, how well the offense fits around him, is huge. And so there's a lot to be to consider him because he's got to be one of those guys you consider.

I totally think he is. I mean, because people are saying you need to go defense in the first round. Do you? Is the draft the only place you can go to fix your needs? You don't know if the guy's going to pan out of the NFL. You hope he does. But if you're drafting, if you want to strengthen your identity, you do that in the draft because you're drafting him to join your identity.

For me and the Cincinnati Bengals, because you said it earlier, coach, the chiefs are looking for him. You're in competition with the chiefs. And the way you beat the chiefs in 21, you had more explosive plays than they did. You need to get back to that. You need more game-changing plays. Offense wins games. You have to win games to get to the playoffs.

And in the regular season, in the AFC North, in December, I want to be able to hand the ball off to a running back that can knife through any defense. And I believe Jeremiah Love can do just that. Now, speaking of defense, who is the best defensive player in this year's draft? Is it Caleb Downs or is it Ruben Bain Jr? We'll answer that question coming up next right here on the Bengals Squad show. We want to welcome you and coach I'll keep you on for this. This is going to be a good one. Welcome to the five-hour energy flavor draft because we're looking at every aspect of the draft to let you know which tasty flavors are the best and which just might be sleepers.

The board is set. The flavors are ready and only one is going to take the top spot. Five-hour energy has a wide variety of flavors and something for everyone. So here's my first pick in the five-hour energy draft. going strawberry watermelon because it's a candy-like flavor. It's my two favorite flavors of fruit. It's the ultimate flavor duo. Some flavors are just made to go together, Coach.

And if you add strawberry watermelon to that list of delicious pairings, you got yourself a great first round draft that could be wearing a gold jacket in the five-hour energy Hall of Fame. Now, how about that underrated flavor? Sleeper pick. You know what I'm most excited about trying? And I told Coach this before the show started, I'm going for me as a Georgia boy, peach mango. Why? Because it's ripe with a flavor on the first sip.

And the mango adds a tropical depth and sweetness, smooth, rounded fruit profile, slightly richer mouth fuel than citrus flavors. And it's got a balanced tropical blend. You can't go wrong with that, especially this time of year. Find your new favorite flavor of five-hour energy shots available online at five-hour energy. or Amazon. I'll tell you what. I'm starting to get hungry after being cold. You know what?

I was starting to feel a little down until you did that commercial. I'm going to run out and get myself some five hour energy. Oh, there you go. You know what? On draft night, we might need some of that because. And I should, I'll take this time to let everybody know, listen to this. We are planning a live show on draft night, Thursday, April 23rd. Coach you and I will for sure be on there.

We may have other members of our Bengals squad crew on there with us. And this is a show for the fans. So we're having you as fans as guests on this show. We got our first confirmed guest today. I'm going to withhold who it is until we get closer to the draft. But if you're a Bengals fan, if you're a fan of this show, DM me on Twitter at Frankie underscore Natty. And we will find a spy for you because we are going deep into the night.

Thursday night, April 23rd. first round of the NFL draft in Pittsburgh. We won't be in Pittsburgh. We'll be in Cincinnati just down the Ohio River, but maybe you're going to Pittsburgh, and we would love to hear from you. All right. Caleb Downs to me is the best player defensively in this draft coach.

Do you agree with that? I do. I do it wholeheartedly. He can do so much for the Bengals and for any team that select. them. Here's why I take him over Ruben Bain. And it's this thing called recency bias. I get Ruben Bain had a terrific season last year. He came on so strong in the college football playoff. And I think because Miami beat Ohio State and they went on to play in the national championship and darn near took down

Indiana, I think that's why kind of people are on the Rubin Bain bandwagon. Please don't forget what Caleb Downs was because Ohio State didn't even play past New Year's. I urge people to remember how good of a player he is. Two-time unanimous All-American, second-team All-American in 23, Big Ten defensive player of the year this past year, two-time Big Ten defensive back of the year the last two seasons. He is a national champion, lot trophy winner, Jim Thorpe Award for Best Defensive Back in College Football this past year. He has all these accolates. And it's not just because he's a big name. He came from Alabama, then went to Ohio State. Coach, this guy truly does not make a bad play. And that matters at a position where you got to cover a lot of ground.

Without question, you know what, in my opinion, what he gives you, he's a proven leader, okay, which I think that back end really needs. He's a leader, can get guys lined up, whether it be in Alabama or whether it be in Ohio State. He is able to speak multiple languages. Now, you take that into account, and this year, he had Matt Patricia as his coordinator, and he basically ran the defense. He ran an NFL-style defense in college football with all of its verbiages, with all of its different coverages. They don't just play too deep.

They play a lot of combo coverages where he was actively involved. And I think that a lot of people don't look at that. But when you look at his, he's just so fluid. He's like an antelope back there. He can cover a lot of ground. He makes plays constantly. If he's not making the play, he's a part of the play and why the play was shut down. Well, the numbers back everything up that you just said.

I mean, he had 107 combined tackles his first season in Alabama, 82 in 2020, the year the Buckkeyes, won the national championship. and then 68 this past season. He has 16 tackles for loss in three seasons as a safety. I mean, this isn't a guy that has just six interceptions in three seasons or 12 passes defense. This guy is playing against the run. He's coming up to make plays, whether it be the limit. I mean, if teams want to try a screenplay,

if they want to try bubble screens, they want to try, you know, a little five yard out, they're not going to be able to move the ball because Caleb down. is there to make the play fundamentally sound that's a guy that you want on your team and again you're not just drafting for needs he is one of the top prospects in this year's draft because he is a great all-around player absolutely you know what if we were fortunate enough and i say the bangles um he would be my first choice now if he happens to be gone because somebody else feels the same way. Now you're, you're scrambling. But, you know, you're a possible trade up. But if he's there, shoot, I take him. Excuse me, sorry. I got to make sure I stay hydrant.

It's my five hour energy. Uh, anyway. If he's gone earlier, then now you can take Jeremiah Lowe. Oh. Oh. Wait, hold on a minute. Hold on a minute. You sound like you have a clear, concise plan to approach this draft. I think the bank, I seriously hope that Duke Tobin and the, and the, and the Bengals draft brass is listening to this right now. Well, you know what? I mean, it just makes sense. And I think instead of putting the cart before the horse, you say, okay, let's get some horses

first. Then we can load the cart. But if the guy you want is gone, which. There's nine other teams that got to pick before you. If he happens to go, Washington needs a safety. Then, hey, that opens up the door for another, not a best available, but somebody who's going to come in and fit your needs and or wants. See, whenever I start thinking about the draft,

and I always go to Mel Kuiper on ESPN, his team needs. But can't those team needs apply to free agency? And here's the icing on the cake coach. Free agency comes first in the year. The one thing about Mel, he don't make his money on free agency. He makes his money on his books and whether he's,

and believe me, he's notoriously wrong more than he is correct. It's easy to pick the first five, right? After that, that's when it gets a little heavy dude. But there's a reason he, I mean, he is well regarded throughout the sports media business. I mean, Mike Greenberg has said many times, Mel Kuiper invented the NFL draft. But free agency comes first. If you can, as you say, acquire your horses defensively, then all of a sudden you can load up offensively and you know, you have a defense that's going to complement it this season.

If you're thinking about all facets of your football team, you can draft whoever the heck you want in the first round. I didn't mention this on Monday. But you know when like you play fantasy football and you have all these players in your queue of who you want to draft, you're not worried about what position they play. You want the star players on your team to be your first round pick. Well, guess what?

The same thing can apply in the NFL draft. Absolutely. You know what? I mean, if you look at it from a Bengals standpoint, they don't need a quarterback. They don't need whiteouts. They don't really don't need tight ends because they're pretty comfortable with the guys they got. So you need a whole bunch of people on defense to solidify the defense, not that they're not playing up to par, but you have to surround them because defense is a precision play. making style that you have to be aware of. Offensively, it's precision, but you've already got some of those. You already have those in your wagon. And now to be able to add to it, oh, man, you can just keep reloading and reloading, and now it's tough to stop. Now you put the onus on the other people's defenses.

Yeah, reloading. That's how you sustain success in the NFL. The Eagles have done it. The Niners have done it. And by the way, a lot of their best players didn't even come through the draft. You know where they came from? Aggressiveness and in-season trades with Christian McCaffrey, free agency. It was either free agency or trading for Trent Williams.

But there's a reason the San Francisco 49ers have been so successful in this decade. They've been to three Super Bowl since 2012 because of their aggressiveness within their front office. Now, let's take it back to Downs versus Bay. I'm not trying to take away anything from Ruben Bain Jr. what he did last year. He was a menace for the Miami Hurricanes, a team that prided itself on being ultra-physical up front on both sides of the ball. Ruben Bain had nine and a half sacks,

15-and-half tackles for loss. He did have an interception. He had one pass defended. He was an all-American ACC defensive player of the year. But again, I just wonder, because he only had one great season coach, and he did have seven and a half sacks in 20s. 12 tackles for loss, 12 and a half in 2023 with the Hurricanes.

I do like that. He didn't transfer. He stayed at one school for three years. And that's going to matter a lot more in future drafts, including this one. But there's a part of me that thinks, it's recency bias here, making some think Rubin Bain is the best defensive prospect in this year's draft. And again, I'm not trying to take away anything he did or is as a player. I think he's a great player.

he is a great player and you know you you always are always concerned about the one hit wonders you know can they sustain it now as a junior excuse me he had a productive year but you know he stepped up his game this year and the great thing about it is you know for those that live in the west and those that live in the Midwest you don't see a lot of Miami hurricane games and And so you're really a little bit behind the eight ball as far as looking at it. The other, I mean, Downs, he's on national TV all the time and makes big plays all the time. So you know what? You're kind of looking at it as if you're the Bengals, you've tried for three years to get a pass rusher.

And are they coming? well, we're still holding our breath to see if there are that. But they have them in the building. Do you need another one? Do you trade one of them to give you more draft capital? If he's there at 10, probably not. But do you take him? Well, yeah, best available.

Any suits of need, you go take it. Again, if you do enough in free agency and you do all the preparation you can do, any player you draft at number 10 should be a two-foot pipe. It should be because there are so many great players, including Ruben Bain. Now, you break up an interesting point, coach, about how a lot of people may not know who he is that don't watch a lot of Miami Hurricanes games. 25 years ago, when you were coaching, when you first got to Tampa Bay, Miami was the Kings of College football. I've been your first season in Tampa Bay was the year Ohio State beat him in the national championship.

So you saw a lot of them. The country saw a lot of them. But when it comes to a player like Caleb Downs, he comes from Ohio State. And again, when it comes to having that two foot putt, a lot of people know who he is. He's a local prospect from a very prominent school. If he is there in number 10,

you take him and you do nothing twice about it. Not at all. There's no second. guessing you do there is no buyer's remorse when you take somebody like that because you know there's a great I mean and I hate to compare players with other players they're like but they're not them but he kind of reminds you of the Sean Taylor's who's a Miami Hurricane uh you know he reminds you of that style of player the Ed Reeves who's a Miami hurricane you know he's that kind of player, I think. You know, and I don't think Ohio State's had a guy, maybe I might be wrong,

that is as good as that player is. He's like an Alabama safety. You know, he played Alabama his first year. So I mean, you know what? But I think, too, to your point about the fact that a lot of people may not have seen a lot of Miami football, the ACC expanded to the West Coast in 2024. And Miami did play some games out there, but it's still only been two years. and Miami just has gotten good again the last two years. Ohio State has been consistent for the better part of the last, I mean, especially the last 20 years and really since they came into existence. So for me, I get what Ruben Bain has done and you can have a disruptor up front if you draft him. But as you and I both think, the back end is the priority. And if you have Caleb

Downs and all his accolades and his leadership and literally 100, up the road, he probably knows about the, he probably knows a lot about the Bengals in their organization already. Again, head start, you draft him. We'll get into why coach and I think, not an action, not just think, believe that safety is the bigger priority over edge rushing. We'll get into that conversation next right here on the Bengals squad show. Workplace chaos, deadline stacking up, inbox overflowing, and the one position you have to fill still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs, indeed sponsored jobs. It helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking

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show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves and indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on the Bengals Squad show. Indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply. Again, if you need to hire, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. even as running backs coach have become prevalent once again and have become a critical component towards winning championships, I still am in the camp that safety is a bigger priority than edge rushing. And you agree with me.

I do. You know, they are the one thing about a pass rusher, and we talked about this earlier, is there's one of them. Offensively, you can do a lot of things with them. to try to slow them down. And one of them is running the ball. Second is chipping them. Third is turning the protection to them.

You can do a number of things. With safety, that's hard to do. Because he is controlling the entire back end. So as that safety goes, the back end goes. And I think the Bengals at this point are pretty good at corner. You know, they just need that to solidify the back end. of it. And what they can do is they're great leaders. They get everybody lined up. And as you put place it all the time, they are the last line of defense to keep its team from having a big play

or scoring play. And the pass rusher, the true pass rusher may not be good on first and second down. They're waiting for third down, but that safety's in every down. So we talked about earlier on this show today about explosive plays offensively. But what also made the Bengals really good in 21 was their ability to create turnovers on defense, especially in the playoffs, particularly in their secondary. Here's what happens when you have a game changing safety. That's that last line of defense that you don't want to throw on as a quarterback. Okay.

That's going to create opportunities for turnovers. Why? Because then the offense has to run more plays to get more yards. If you have a safety that causes so much havoc, so much anxiety for a quarterback to throw down the field, they're going to have to dink and dunk or maybe go over the middle. Guess what? That's going to create the more plays you run, the more plays you have the opportunities to create turnovers. And here's the thing about edge rushing. it's still important. But if you're running more plays,

you're saying to your offensive line, you got to hold up more and pass protection. And you don't know if that one play, and it may not be from an edge rusher. It could be from a defensive tackle. That defensive tackle can get in there and punch the ball out. I was watching the replay of the Cowboys Eagles game in week one on opening night kickoff this past season.

The Cowboys got the benefit of a pass interference or unnecessary roughness it was, excuse me, in the end zone. They got the ball in the one yard. but they had to run more plays. If the Eagles hadn't had that penalty, they would have kicked the field goal. It would have been a one-point game, but the Cowboys got another play.

They got another play, but they fumbled. They fumbled the ball. The Eagles got a turnover. So the more plays the offense has to run, the more opportunities there are for turnovers, including from those game-changing safeties. Absolutely. You know, there's something about a safety,

a good, great-range safety. Because, as you said it, quarterbacks are very, very hilarious. know where they are. And that really creates havoc on the back end. And this is such a pass oriented league now. You still, the responsibility of the run is still there. But it's more prevalent that they're going to create big plays and move the chains with intermediate and deep throws. And to have a safety there, that's big. Even if teams run the football, if you have a safety that can come down and help out in the run game, yeah, they're going to, that's only going to

allow your pass rush to tee off even more. So you can say it starts up run. I say you got to have some guy in your back end. That's that last line of defense that makes the offense play within a box. If they have to do that, they're not going to be as successful. Well, you know what? You make them work for it, just like you said earlier. You have to make the offense. work for it and move the ball 75 yards down the field without making a mistake. And that's difficult to do. That is really difficult to do on offense. So if you have the playmakers in the back end that can do that, then you're good.

And again, if you look at the Bengals situation, if they got somebody like a Caleb Downs, a great safety that could create habit, it solidifies a secondary. And it helps the linebackers out, which all of these young kids are going to be one year older. They could really start to grow up and be the kind of person that they want to be. And now right down the middle between quarterback center linebackers and safeties, just like in baseball, man. You've got great shortstop, second base and center fielder, catcher and pitcher. The example I like to bring up here when it comes to if I prioritize safety or edge rusher.

I'll go to Super Bowl 39, where the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles, Rodney Harrison had two interceptions in that game. And his presence on the field was so big that the Eagles went so methodical late in the game that by the time they scored to make it a three-point game, there wasn't enough time left that once they got the ball back to have even a legitimate shot at going down the field and kicking a game time field. Donovan McNabb was so in his head about throwing down the field of Rodney Harrison that they decided to just go methodically, run the football, gain chunks of yardage,

you know, those dump-offs, whatever. If you have that safety that causes your offense to have to be so confined when you don't want it to be, and we saw it the same way with the Bengals offense early on in 23, they did not throw the ball down the field because teams figured out how to defend them. Well, why not you do it to other teams? Yeah. That's it. I mean, very, very true.

And those all enter the mix. And you know what? There's a better chance of a safety staying healthy than a down guy. But just because of contact every play and getting your body in weird positions. Yeah, I'm all for having a great back end. You got a great back end. that really gives the defensive coordinator and the position coaches on defense a chance to say, you know what, don't worry about that one.

Let's worry about how they're going to attack this one. And you can do a lot of things with those guys. They're great chess pieces. Even as the NFL, the last two years, have seen so many running backs break through a thousand-yard backs, Sparkley, Gibbs, Chase Brown last year for the Bengals. At the end of the day, the objective for every defense in the NFL should still be, take away the playmakers. And a lot of your playmakers coach are a wide receiver.

Look how many wide receivers in the NFL are just doing damage to opposing secondaries. Chase, Justin Jefferson, Pooka, Nakuwa, Jackson Smith, and Jigba. I mean, you can even go down the list of guys you don't usually talk about. Terry McLaurin, Parker, Washington, of the Jaguars, had a great season this past year. The two they have in Dallas. Yes. C.D. Lamb and George Pickens, who I'd put right behind Jason Higgins is the best duo in the league. So Nico Collins in Houston.

So you have all these receivers that can make impacts on the game. You've got to find a way to take those away. And if you keep the top on your defense, you'll give up yards, but you won't give up points or explosive plays. That's where the value of safety comes in. Yeah, Benva don't break. That is key. Force them to kick field goals and not touchdowns. There's four-point swings right off the bat.

Even the New England Patriots, who thwarted the greatest show on turf in Super Bowl 36, the ramp still had 400 plus yards of offense and they hit explosive plays in the fourth quarter. The Patriots still won the game. But Bill Belichick realized we can be even better. So what did he do at the start of the 03 season? God Rodney Harrison.

changed their entire defense. And that defense in 03 was stifling good. That defense in 2004 was just as good because they had that back end. It doesn't have to necessarily start up front. Offensively, different story. And we'll get into that conversation later this offseason. But on defense, I got to start with making sure that no one's going to take the top off of it. Like, this is where you want the roof before the foundation.

up front, if that makes sense. Well, yeah, absolutely. I mean, just look at the two teams that finish in the Super Bowl. They had very, very good safeties, and there were no big plays. They kind of kept everything in front of them, and they were playing deeper than the deepest, and they came up, made plays, and forced it, and really created havoc for New England. and they ended up pretty much defensively they won the game. You know, I mean, won the playoffs, won the Super Bowl.

So I look at it that way. I mean, I'm an offensive coach, but there's nothing you can do with a great defense. You can try, you can work, you can scheme them here and there, but those are one-play shots. You can't consistently move the ball down the fifth. when you're good on defense. And I think it starts at the back end. It totally does. I mean, look at what the Ravens did after the Bengals

torched them in two games in 21. They spent their first, they spent a draft pick on Kyle Hamilton. Why? Because they're like, we played those guys twice a year. We got to keep them contained somehow. And even though the Bengals have had success

against the Ravens offensively, excuse me, in prior seasons, it's been harder for them because of Kyle Hamilton's presence, whether it be making plays in the back end or whether it be him coming up on a blitz, stop the run, get a sack on Joe Burrow. There's a reason that the Ravens once again have a game changing safety in Kyle Hamilton. They counter to what the Bengals shocked them with in 2021.

And other teams are going to continue to do so. If you can have that game changing safety, if you can have that guy that keeps the top on a defense, you're going to have success. Again, you will give up yards, but like the Bengals have a Jesse Bates, you're going to make the plays that matter. And that's what matters, especially in today's day and age. Because coach, even though running has become now a more prevalent part of the game again, I guarantee you that it's going to go right back to quarterback wide receiver and downfield passing.

And who do you need to have to contain that? We've explained it on this segment. Yeah, that's NFL football. They, the explosiveness as an offense sells tickets. And if you can have somebody, but the championship that it's on defense to make sure that they minimize those and create some turnovers, then you have an opportunity to play for it all. And that's what, as an organization, as fan base, what you want. Would you rather go to the game, watch it on or watch it on television, light up the score?

or would you rather than bring over the scoreboard from the basketball facility and try to match it up because they're both playing a shootout football? Final point I'll make on this. Look at how good Christian Gonzalez was in the Super Bowl for the Patriots. The Patriots wouldn't have had a chance if it wasn't for his play in the back end. But then go back to the NFC championship. On the biggest play of the Seahawks season coach, it was a defensive back who was in the right position at the right

time to make the play. Devin Witherspoon on fourth and four made the final play, or not the final play, but made the biggest defensive play of the game, breaking up that pass from Matthew Stafford. That's what you need if you're the Cincinnati Bengals. Now, Witherspoon's a corner, you're good with your corners, as you mentioned, but you need that safety. And I guarantee you it'll make the corner's job a lot easier. Speaking of safety, the Bengals did let Jesse Bates walk in free agency back in 2023. It was not a good development. and still has not been, but it may actually be a good development for Trey Hendrickson. We'll explain why. Coming up next right here on the Bengal Squad Show.

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We got one more conversation to get to today. And I am going to say something that I did not. I think I would say 24 hours ago, but I am going to say now, if Trey Hendrickson coach were to walk and the Bengals get nothing for him, I'd be okay with that. I honestly would. Well, you know what? That so much drama, so much chaos is playing into this whole scenario, which has created this whole scenario, I should say. You know, and I think both parties are equally responsible for it. But you know what? If he were to walk and you might have to eat something if you can't find a trading partner or you don't know how to negotiate it to get it to where you're balancing itself out,

you got you played with him without him last year. And, you know, it may come down to a thing. He wants a four-year deal. They're willing to give it to a. year deal and he didn't want it. Well, you got to let him go. You got to let him go because it does so much more for the, for the locker room, if that's the case. I have become so apathetic towards the whole situation with Trey Hendrickson. And I never thought I'd say that because last year I was in the camp of, all right, I'm on Trey side. He deserves his money. He wants to hold out.

That's fine. Because I don't want him getting hurt if he's, if he doesn't have a new kind of. contract. But when he played outside of weeks one and two, when the season still had leverage, he wasn't very good. He did not make the same impact that we saw him make in 2024 when he led the NFL in sacks, or in 2023 when he had 17 and a half sacks, or in 21 when he had 15 and a half. Like this is a guy who, first off, missed 10 games. So there's that. And the fact that he was just such a distraction from minicamp all the way through the end of the regular season that I don't care how he's not on the team in 2026. Unfortunately, and I think Trey's a great guy.

I think he's a great family man. I think he has great values. But as far as being a good teammate, can't say that. And that's where you're trying to get back to the playoffs. You're trying to write the wrong of now three straight seasons in Joe Burroughs. prime, you can't have distractions. I don't care how Hendrickson is not on this team. He can't be on this team at 26.

I'm sorry, he can't. Well, you know, and like I was talking about earlier, both of them are at fault. You have a guy that's coming off of 15, 17 snacks. You get the deals done to keep him here. And you extend his contract and you get things. I think it got so personal that, you can either live with a problem, you can try to fix the problem,

or you have to divorce yourself from the problem. And I think on both cases, neither side is happy. So you've got to cut him loose. And he may have two great years somewhere else. You're just hoping you don't have to play him. But you have to have done a good job. I mean, he has been a great free agent. You know, he came out of a free agent.

They went like they drafted him, but he came in and he established himself and, boy, earned the money. He earned it. He earned a chance. And you're not going to reward him? You know what? He basically made up his mind and said, you know what? I'm not here. And he played like that early in the season.

He played like that. He played, okay, I'm here. We're still doing it. We're still working at it, but it's not what I want. And so you get this. And if you're not playing at a high level. level, full tilt, that's when you get hurt. It has become a situation where the Bengals just completely mismanaged.

They're all pro-edge rusher. And it goes back to the point of players over needs. If you have a great player regardless of position, you keep them around. And if at the end of the day, you try everything in the book and you can't, fine. I don't think the Bengals did that. I think they completely mismanaged the situation from the beginning. They were not proactive when it came to Hendrickson, the player, when it came to Hendrickson, the employee.

And as a result, this is now the situation you are in. It's not a good situation. I think you have no choice, but to have some other team, not via a tray, because I think that's going to be harder to get than some might think. you're going to have to just hope that some team out there, and I think there will be,

needs an edge rusher that comes to you or comes to Hendrickson with an offer, and you let him walk. Yeah, well, you know what, just look at it this way. While he's being productive, the Bengals went out and said, okay, we're going to have an issue with this guy.

How long does he have? How long is he going to play? They drafted Miles Murphy. and they drop the, Shamar. Neither one of them has equal the same production as he has to the point where you,

he sees that you're drafting guys to replace him. And he just keeps on, keeping on. It gets to a point where you're saying, hey, show me the money. I mean, do you love me or do you like me? And it's tough. It's tough on both ends.

But I think he's probably got to the, point was saying, hey, you know what, if they want to pay me, if they break and they want to pay me, I'll stay. If not, cut me loose. Yeah. And again, if you had managed this correctly or better a few years ago, maybe you wouldn't have as many needs on defense as you do. You have so many needs on defense that paying a bunch of money to a disgruntled veteran older edge rusher, I don't think it's the best, it's the best move for the Bengals. And they have to realize that. Like, if they had come out last March and said,

we just extended Trey Hendrickson, we came to an agreement with him, oh, this fan base would have been ecstatic. You do that now? This fan base is going to be like, where was this last year? Why did you do it now when clearly the signs are pointing to he's declining? and if he is, let him do that elsewhere, where you can go out and get other needs, excuse me, especially at safety, and you have two edge rushers, one who's ascending to Miles Murphy, another who needs every rep he can get,

and Shamar Stewart. You also have Joseph Osai, hopefully, now Osai could also leave in this offseason, but you have to understand that there are guys on this team who need, to be developed to be a part of this iteration of the Joe Borough era Bengals. And Trey Hendrickson had his time. He had his course. He's run it. Move on. Yeah. Well, you know what, I mean, you could have signed him a year ago, a couple years ago, stayed proactive and ahead of the game. And at this particular point in his career, if you needed to get some or you felt like he was declining, you bring him in, you renegotiated. You bring him in, you renegotiated.

negotiate his contract. You know, they did it with Kansas City did it with Patrick Holmes, Mahomes the other day. Some of those other guys, those big money guys, hey, restructure, if you want to win. And they could have done that. And he might have done that. You never know. You'll never know. There's a saying that my former government teacher in high school used to always say. And it's so true. You cannot change the past, but you can change your future. And what you do right now, is going to heavily impact what you could do in 2026. If you decide to, you know, get desperate and say, oh, well, we realize we're wrong. Now we're going to extend Trey Hendrickson. No, no, no, no, that's not how it works. That's not how it works. Some relationships have ended. It's like a good friend of mine who I covered the Kentucky Wildcats,

where she wrote a column recently because they were Kentucky fans who wanted coach Cal, John Cala Perry, to come back to Kentucky. and she's like, I've seen too many of my friends try to get back together with their exes. And they weren't who they were when they were dating. You broke up with him for a reason, right? The Trey Hendrickson-Bengel's relationship has gotten so sour. And again, there may be other teams who may not want to engage with you in a trade. Now, because you have made in-season trades more so in the last two years, maybe there will be.

And hopefully by next Thursday or Friday, when I'm in your former stopping, of St. Petersburg, Florida, they have a trade partner. We're talking about, okay, is this going to happen? But if not, you are okay with him leaving. For as much drama as there was, I think you have to remember that for five, that for four years of the five that he was here, Trey Hendrickson was as good as any edge rusher in the NFL. Absolutely.

I mean, you know what, I mean, I think it is, They cannot fix the problems that they had. And I think that that is, there are probably working the phones right now, saying trying to get a trading partner, trying to get somebody that will take this away, because they would have done something else by now. You just lost an entire year

when he was actually still in his prime. And you really could have seen how much, much more does he have in the tank? But now you just lost the whole year. Yeah. So and so is your selling point to somebody else. They haven't seen him play in a while. They don't even know what the injury is, you know,

because it floated around so often of what exactly wasn't. And what, how is his treatment going? You got a guy with a foot problem who came back faster than a guy with, I don't know, was it a hip? Was it an abdominal? little strain? What was it? You don't know. So that's out there. And they only know one side. All these other teams only know one side. And that's from management and not from the player or his agent. You know that Duke Tobin and Zach Taylor are going to get asked about Trey Hendrickson at the Combine next week.

It's totally going to happen. There's going to be a headlight. There's going to be something that they say, one of them, or both, that is going to be the topic of conversation on Tuesday's show or Thursday show. Now, again, you have the opportunity because you, and this is looking at a positive in a situation that is just not very good. Because you didn't pay him more money, you have the opportunity to let him go and that frees up cap space. That's what you need. You know, you are past the point of, well, we need Trey Hendrickson, and we just can't come to an agreement on him. Okay, fine. Now your needs are bigger than just Trey Hendrickson himself.

That's what this all comes down to. Those two questions at the combine will be very, very interesting to see how they answer it. I'm sure Zach will give you the company line. Duke, on the other hand, he says some things that you're not quite certain. He's going to give you more insight, though. Right. If he's pressed, he'll give you more insight of exactly what lane they're in when it comes to Trey. That conversation continuing again, and also just, I do not want to have to talk about Trey Hendrickson in April or May.

Seriously, I don't. I don't want to on Draft Night to have to say, well, how does this impact Trey Henderson? No, I don't even want to mention his name on Drapney. And again, I think Trey is a great guy. I think he's a great family man. I think he has a lot of good values in his personal life. life, he's run his time here. And that is okay to realize if you're the Cincinnati Bengals and their front office and their management.

On Tuesday show, could two former Cincinnati Bearcats be the key to reignite the Bengals' defensive backfield? How about that? That topic of conversation on Tuesday show, plus on Friday show next week, we'll have more from the NFL scouting combine. And then we are rolling towards free agency. Again, April 23rd coach night will be live throughout the. the entire first round of the NFL draft. So, you know, normally we don't eat on this show. There will be some good food consumed that night.

Wherever you are, coach, wherever I am, just don't tell people what you're eating in case they're not a sponsor at this show. So just be, you know, just keep it on the down low, whatever we are having. Well, I will tell you this, so, Alex. Okay. I will definitely have some maybe all five flavors of. five-hour energy. Oh, my gosh, here we go.

And I might be looking online at Indeed to try to find something else I can do for a living. Well, I don't even know how to respond to that. I generally don't. Well, I just wanted to throw it out there for the sponsors. You know what? That's what we call a company man. Hey. That's what we call a good employee.

So that show on April 23rd during the first round, where we are booking guests who are huge Bengals fans. So if you are interested, DM me on Twitter at Frank the underscore 90. I mean, we got basically from 7 to midnight. So five hours, we can fill you in there very easily if you are interested. And then later on this summer,

I am going to work on getting a big national guest. Don't know who yet. But it's going to be to center around a conversation about Jamar Chase. And I'll leave it there. but you are going to be, for those of you listening, you are going to have a great time hearing that show. That's going to be in the summer when we have like basically no news to talk about. So we're going to be like, we're going to be going to the ends of the earth and to the depths of Death Valley to try to find topics.

There we go. Hey, we still have OTAs, a minute camp to talk about. And the NFL schedule release, which I actually may be in St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay during those shows. So thank you again for tuning in today. been the Bengals Squad show right here on the Lockdown Bengals YouTube channel and podcast feed and the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. We are the number one podcast network in America and the world. And for more on how to become a member of the Everydayer club, visit lockdownpodcast.com slash every day or back on Tuesday with the conversation about two

former bearcats potentially being the keys to reignite the Bengals defense. And then on Friday, we got news from the NFL scouting combine that we will get to as it relates to the Cincinnati of Bengals. He's coached Art Valero, 45-year coaching veterans, Super Bowl 37 champion with the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I'm Alex Frank and Frankie underscore Natty. We are back on Tuesday. Until then, have a great weekend. Enjoy the rest of the Winter Olympics. Enjoy the NBA restarting again tonight. And most importantly, enjoy this kind of slower time when it comes to the NFL calendar, although next week the combine does start. So have a great weekend. We'll talk to you on Tuesday right here on the Bengals Squad Show. Party Lock lockdown angles and the lockdown podcast number of your team every day.