Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - BENGALS SQUAD SHOW: Joe Burrow HAS his LEFT GUARD in Dylan Fairchild, what to expect from OL rookies

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

One of the bright spots last year for the Bengals was the emergence of their offensive line. In particular, rookie left guard Dylan Fairchild settled in nicely and has given Joe Burrow a much-needed boost at left guard.   Alex Frank, Coach Art Valero, and Joe Goodberry discuss Fairchild's flourish last year and what his expectations can be in Year 2.   Scott Peters was hired prior to the 2025 Season to be the Bengals' offensive line coach. After a slow start, we started to see a lot of things that make the Bengals look good on hiring him. Are we ready to say the Bengals got it right by hiring him?   The Bengals return all five starters on their offensive line this season, a first in the Joe Burrow era. Are there any concerns, though, that still remain about Burrow's security detail?   Cincinnati drafted two offensive linemen this past April in Connor Lew and Brian Parker II. Could we see any of them in significant action this season?   Photo Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images   Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! Where you'll get updates directly to your phone and be able to text the hosts, check it out at: https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengals   Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everyday...   Find and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0l...   Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0... 0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz? sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg   Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-...   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!   Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.   FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started now.   Square If you’re starting a business, or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at https://square.com/go/LockedOnNFL.   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.   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 Bengals offensive line is finally a potential strength, and a lot of that has to do with Dylan Fairchild flourishing last year as a rookie. The Bengals may have gotten their offensive line coach hire correct for the first time in about 10 years it feels like. And Dan Pitcher says they may go under center a little bit more in 2026. We'll talk about why that's important. 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 Lockdown Podcast Network can.

From the jungle to the playoffs, the Bengals Squad Show starts now. Welcome to the Bengals Squad Show. It is Wednesday, June 24th of 2006. I'm Alex Frank. He's coach, Art Belarro. Joe Goodberry joined us today for the first time on the Bengals Squad show. The new co-host of Lockdown Bengals with Jake Lisco. We're happy to have him with us today.

route the rest of the off season and during the season, which is slowly, not slowly, fast approaching. Today's episode of the Bengals Squad shows brought to you by Odu. Great organizations win because operations matter. And that's why you should get Odu, try for free at Odu.com slash locked on. That's ODO.com slash locked on NFL. Joe, we're happy to have you. We're happy to have you with us today.

We're talking all things. Offensive line. Coach is probably one of your favorite subjects to talk about offense. of line. Joe, I'm sure it is for you, too. Let's get into it. Dylan Fairchild, the Bengals have their left guard. He flourished last year, and when you have that in place, that just makes the whole operation up front that much better. No doubt. Dylan Fairchild last year's third round pick out of Georgia came in. My evaluation of him coming out of Georgia was that he still needed a lot of technique refinement and needed to clean up some of the inconsistencies in his game largely with hand

placement. Scott Peters with his MMA background pretty much ensured that that was a good fit and that they were already linked together and that they saw eye to eye and how they were going to approach Dylan Fairchild's progression and development. And man, after about the first four weeks, I thought he just took a leap. He had that one little injury, missed a couple games, came back from that. And the progression he had from that point on, I thought his hands were extremely clean. His balance was almost perfect. I mean, his footwork was great. That's the guy that's probably right now their best run blocker of the five starters. And when we got to end of the year,

I was like, not only is he a good rookie at this point. I think he's a quality starting guard. And to get that in your rookie season is impressive. I'm real excited to see what he looks like in year two. Yeah, I tell you what, he made leaps and bounds. And it's a credit to Scott because they came in, they talked about it. He knew what he had and how they were going to continue it to work on it. every day until he started to refine it. And I think that after Dylan went through play,

he probably said, whoa, you know, the level of competition, well, SEC level of competition is huge anyway, but now all of a sudden you're in the National Football League and you're going against the Dexter Lawrence's and the Jonathan Allen's of the world, you can only get better and you have to get better. And I think that he made some great strides. Year two is usually a big jump for those guys, and I think he's going to be around for a long, long time. We'll talk about what Dylan Fairchild, what we can expect from him in year two in this segment of today's show,

and then we're going to get into a little more on Scott Peters because it looks like the Bengals got it right when they hire him as their offensive line coach prior to the 2025 season after moving on from Frank Pollock after his four seasons here, 21 through 24. When I think about Dylan Farichard out, I think about the fact that he's definitely an upgrade from Cordell-Wolson, And I think, you know, what could he be like Clint Bowling was when he was left guard of this team, the last offensive lineman to get his second contract from this team?

You don't often say his name when you watch a Bengals game. And if you do, it's because he did something good. Do you guys feel that same way about Dylan Fairchild? I do. I think his rookie season is if that's the baseline for what he can be, like I said, I believe that's a quality starter. But I don't see any real big weakness in his game anymore, especially if his independent hand usage continues to take that step forward. that it did is rookie season from what we saw at Georgia. Really the only thing from there is sometimes lateral quickness,

you know, guys that can change direction really quick at defensive tackle, can give him issues. But I think with time and more development, he should be able to handle that at a higher rate because he's really strong right now, really good core strength. Like I said, I think he's one of the, if not the best run blocker on the team right now. And that's largely because of his core strength, grip strength,

how the way you can torque guys out of there. I think that he has borderline Pro Bowl. So I don't know if Clint Bowling ever got to Pro Bowl level, but I think a Fairchild is that mixed with Scott Peters, where they just hit it off and they're seeing eye to eye, which it seems like they are. Yeah, I think he has Pro Bowl potential. It'd be very interesting to see how he progressed in Scott's eyes

from the season to over the course of the OTAs and the one day of Minicamp. how he progressed, what he's learned. He's got new competition now in terms of on the other side of the ball, how that fit in. I think that it would be great at some point in time to talk to Scott about, you know, his progression, where he needs to go. And you know what?

One thing that I thought last year that Dylan needed to work on was second level blocking because those backers are much, much quicker. But you know what? He made strides during the week, or during the year, excuse me. And I think that, you know what, as a second level blocker, he can really listen to the Ted Karras of the world where, okay, he's got a history of having to work on that. You know, at what angles of departure he takes,

how fast is he need to get out based on the play, when he needs to slow down, when he needs to slow down, when he needs to flatten out. I think that's a whole other technique that Dylan's going to master to set himself up. And you know what? To go through Life Anonymous is the way an old line guy wants to go. You're only mentioned on highlights when people look back and say, hey, oh, check the left guard out.

When you're mentioned, she'll see not a good thing. And so to go through Life Anonymous, you're going to get to. the accolates from your peers. You're going to get the accolates from the league. You're going to get an accolades through the organization by granting you that second contract or wanting to redo your contract in year three because they don't want you to even get close to free agency. Coach, I got a question while we're on it then. I feel like the year two leap. A lot of that is second level blocking, and I think that's a good example because the combination of the time on task with your left tackle or your center on dual blocks and combination blocks and having that understanding of when

you're passing him off, when he's taking him and when you can climb the second level, there's a lot there that you need that time with that guy next to you. Plus, the Bengals run so much of different, different type of schemes, right? They're not just strictly zone. They are gap. They'll run out of shotgun, out of pistol. You know, they'll get under center. So there's a lot for him to pick up. And you could see the progression of the run game throughout the season, how much better it got. And I think all the linemen started to get better in the second level. And that created those explosive runs we got in the second half of the year. Well, you know what? And the thing, too, as you mentioned, the continuity, he's got two veterans on either side of them. And you can tell a lot

of times when you put a young player in, the veterans are trying to tell him what to do. And it takes away from their game. And he was a young man that went in, was assignment sound, and did what he was told to do, and the veterans felt very, very comfortable. Now it's a matter of getting that timing down on those scoop blocks, on those double teams, whether it's on a zone play or a power play or whatever, that now he feels very, very comfortable with Ted Karras

and with Orlando Brown Jr. And now they're to. the point where, huh, they no longer have to make the call. They make very just insinuated conversation and they're all on the same page. For a third round pick that was thrust it into the starting left guard job right out of the gate last year. Dylan Fairchild definitely held his own. He did miss two games, Joe, as you mentioned last year, but he got better and better and better as the season progressed. And now you're talking that Joe Burrow has his left guard of the future. But coach, I want to go back to you here with your.

offensive line expertise. We hear Tom Brady said it that the worst pressure that he would feel was up the middle because then that collapses the pocket. We also hear about how important protecting the blind side of a quarterback is, especially a right-handed quarterback, which most quarterbacks are, including Joe Burrow. That comes from the left tackle. But how about left guard right next to that left tackle and he's blocking in the interior where there could be pressure?

So how important is it that Joe Burrow has potentially his left guard? to the future in Dylan Fairchild. Oh, you know what? The confidence level is number one. You know, okay, hey, Dylan's in there, whether it be him or Reisner, I feel comfortable with the middle of the pocket, you know, and I used to term it as it was mop. You know, the inside three guys need to be the fighters, the brawlers, they keep them on the line of scrimmage guys.

The tackles were the dancers, and they create throwing lanes. by the width of the pocket. And if you have those guys working in concert, the quarterback always understands by which way they're turning the protection, where's my double team? And I can always step up behind the double when I have to step up instead of having to step up behind the single block that's up front. And now all of a sudden, hey, that guy can go either way.

And it makes it a little bit more difficult. So I think his comfortable confidence in those inside three guys, and especially in you got two veterans in a second year player, I think has grown a ton. Yeah, and to add to that, I think as a quarterback, when you see that flash in your face, right, you're not trying to look at the pressure, but you see that guard whiff instantly or any of the line, but the guys just particularly in the middle. that's what kills you. The packet can collapse on you, of course. But when you see that guy win right away, it can ruin your whole thought process of what's happening. Plus, as you mentioned, Coach, good point about where the double team is going.

Not only does that help you step up, that gives you your escape plan as well as the quarterback. Because so much of the game now is second reaction going off script, creating and extending the play. But you need to know where the pocket is open at and where the rush lanes are coming from. And when you have that security of knowing that, okay, There, left guard, center, right guard, we feel really good about it. To be honest, we'll get to that conversation. He should probably feel good about all five spots right now,

because at least you have quality starting veterans. You should feel they're all going to do their job at the base level at the very least. And that makes your vision and conscious so much clear is going through your reads, seeing things clearly, but also your escape lanes, which Burrow does so often to create plays, should just be more streamlined for him. That is so true. And you know what? And they, they seem to have really started to gel when Joe was not in there. You know, they had a guy because a lot of the routes are timing routes.

You know, Joe Flacco got the ball out of his hands very, very quickly in the games that he was in. And then when Joe Burrow came back, they didn't skip a beat. They kind of all started to gel at the right time. And I think that down the stretch when Joe Burrow was in, you know what? They really made leaps and balance because of Joe Burroughs' escapeability and his ability to get the ball out on time. And I think that that really helped them out and help them develop. Well, and Coach, you said it on our show last week that you thought the biggest move to the

offseason after Dexter Lawrence was bringing back Joe Blackout for, Joe Borough to have as that sounding board because you saw Joe Flacco flourish behind the offensive line as it got better in those middle weeks of the regular season. Only the Bengals defense would have been able to compliment them. And I think when you look at Dylan Fairchild and Joe to clarify something, it should brought up earlier. Clint Bowling, shockingly to me, was never a pro bowler in his career with the Bengals. But the one thing that Clint bowling was, was he was very durable. Clint Bowling did not miss a start in each of his last two seasons. He also did a miss a start in 2014 or 2015 or in 2012 on those core Bengals teams that made the playoffs five straight years.

So when we think about Dylan Fairchild, my question for Joe and Koji as well is do you think he's a guy, and I think we touched on this in the segment, that you could already see, you can already see the Bengals giving a second contract to. Definitely. I mean, it's early, but, you know, anything can happen. And we've seen guys have solid rookie seasons and almost plateau. I think judging and trying to predict progression and development, it can be a tricky thing. It doesn't always happen in a linear way.

It's not just you start. Let me get on camera. Not it's just starting here and slowly going up, right? There can be a lot of this in progression. And when that happens, you know, you just have to trust that the guy is doing the right work. He's got the body. He doesn't have the injuries. He's got the athleticism.

He's got the mentality. He's a good fit with the locker room. and based off one season, I would say he's checking all of those boxes that they're not worried about his development at any point yet. Let's see what your two looks like, right? Does he hit a wall? Does he figure out, oh, now there's tape on me. They can see what I don't do as well.

Now the Dexter Lawrence and the Jonathan Nels are trying to take advantage of it, maybe in practice, or the other teams when you get to the regular season. You know, what are my weaknesses? Because not only is it up to your own staff to highlight your strengths and use your strengths, the guys on the other side are trying to match. magnify your weaknesses. And so now how do you react and adjust to that? Absolutely. I think that that is a great point. And he is only going to get better because of the people, you know, one snap, he's got Dexter Lawrence. The next snap based on formation, he's going to have

Jonathan Allen and Slater and all those, B.J. Hill. He's going to have a different group with different skill sets that he can go to, the closer they become, he can go to and say, hey, tell me about this, tell me about this, tell me about this. What would you do? What are you thinking? What are you reading? What are you feeling? Are you feeling body weight lean?

Are you, what is it? How did you get off the block? Well, very simply, probably, you weren't working your feet. You were locked up, but you weren't working your feet. now I got extension. I can throw you and go. So all of those things for it. And that's what you want in an offensive alignment is to ask the questions.

That's only going to make you better. And the old line coach is one thing. But the players actually are going to tell you a little bit, well, I ain't going to work in this situation. Well, okay, you need to be able to have your mind and body react to the same thing at the same thing. same time and they could be totally different. And I, you know what, and I've been very, very hard on the front office through free agency, through the draft, through all their past drafts, and all the mistakes that, in my opinion, they made in the earlier drafts, Dylan Fredtrad is right where you wanting. That, I mean, that's a great pick, in my opinion. Yeah, not only was

Dylan Ferrich had a great pick coach, but so too was Amarius Mibbs. I mean, they've hit on two offensive linemen in the past two drafts. And then this draft, you look at the rookies that they got in Conra Lou and Brian Parker the second. We'll talk about them in segment four. I mean, you've got some depth now, too, on your offensive line. So for as hard as we've been on the front office in recent seasons, when it comes to being able to fix the offensive line for as long as it took them to get it right, they have. And so now you feel like as we've talked about Joe Burrow, So that internal clock, it can maybe slow down a little bit. We already know Joe Burroughs, one of the great, if not the greatest processor of the field that there is in the NFL.

Just imagine what he can do behind an adequate, if not above average offensive line. It's going to be really fun to watch this upcoming season. Part of the reason the Bengals have now a potential strength in their offensive line is because they perhaps got it right with their offensive line coach in Scott Peters. plus going under center and the benefits that could result for the Bengals offense. Those conversations coming up next on the Bengal Squad Show. Support for the Bengals Squad Show today comes from Square. If I can get this on. Oh, there we go.

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Click the link in the show notes or go to LockdownBengles. That supercast.com to claim your free trial and go to Lockdownpodcast.com slash Everydayer for more information on the Everyday Air Club. With Joe Goodberry and coach Art Fulero, I'm Alex Frank, here on the Bengals Squad Show, the twice a week, long-form conversational supplement to the daily lockdown Bengals podcast that Joe hosts with Jake Lisco. Bangal Squad Show, we're down to once a week this offseason until the first pre-season week.

So for the next six or seven weeks, we're going to go once a week, noon to one on Wednesdays every week. So we got a consistent time for all of you listening. We thank you very much. We're going to be here every Wednesday afternoon, new to one, during your lunch break, during your afternoon walk. Whatever you're doing, we hope you make us part of your Wednesday afternoon. Scott Peters, Spengel's got it right with that higher. I think we saw the progress of the offensive line, and that goes back to the offensive line coach and everything that he is brought.

They got it right. They may have. It seems like it so far, you know, we're only one year in. Same conversation applies to the Dillon Fairchild evaluation, but, yeah, I remember during the Vikings game, week three, that's Jake Browning's first start of the year. Yeah, it was bad, right? But I remember watching the tape that Monday and saying this is the worst run blocking unit I may have ever studied on tape. It was that bad.

They looked disjointed. It didn't look like anyone was really working together. They were slow off the ball. They were weak. Everything looked bad. And, you know, I thought about this when coach just mentioned about when they, the O line gelled when Joe Flacco got in. there and it reminded me of how bad the O-line look when Browning was in the game and how much that can really affect them because the quarterback is the center of the evaluation, right?

If he's not right on the right time down to the millisecond, if his cadence isn't 100% correct, if his footwork isn't correct, he's not on time getting the ball out, it makes everything look worse or just hard to evaluate at times. But the offensive line, from that point, that Vikings game week three, to where they ended up, if you take away week three and go from week four to week 18, the Bengals in the run game ended up number two in EPA per play in the run game. They ended up number three in success rate. That is a major leap from what they looked like. Like I said, worst run blocking I may have ever studied to this is great.

This looks good. And to be able to get the guys to buy in after at that point, they probably felt as low as they possibly could. They saw the tape. Joe Burroughs hurt again. Like nobody's feeling really good in that room. But to go from there to buy in, to work together. to get everyone on the same page and really at the end look like they have been working together for

years at that point that speaks volumes to scott peters oh i tell you absolutely and that minnesota game i remember watching it although we weren't on uh locked on yet yeah um it was like okay same-o same oh uh you know what and it says it doesn't matter who you bring in but you know what i think Scott Peters has really done a great job of those two young players developing them in his image and then now fitting into the image of the three older veteran players. And I think that once they got to that point, that now you've got on either side of the line or excuse me, other side of the center, you had two guys that were, were really starting to be dialed in.

It's hard for a young offensive line coach to come in because, A, you have to learn trust. B, you have to give them something that's going to enhance their ability to get that next contract. And with veterans, you have to give it that way. If not, you get the fighters, the guys are going to fight the new guy. plus Scott was coming in into a new system, a Joe Burrell-esque system, because that's who it was designed for. And then all of a sudden, they relied on him in order to get Joe Flackle through the games that he went through. And that's when the onus really started coming on. And you hate for Joe Burrow to go down, but you would have liked to see them all grow together.

And now I think this year they really have a great chance to gel together with their commander-in-chief back there. And I tell you what, when you get a new quarterback that steps into the huddle, even though you practice with him all the time, Cadences get a little different. He's a little different. Communication gets a little different. Is he checking the things that maybe you don't weren't the things you were supposed to? whether it be, you know, kills or changing the play or running the play the opposite way. A lot of those things, you have to get a lot of communication going and a lot of comfortable feeling about with those quarterbacks.

And when you got your head guy back there, the guy that the face of the franchise, you're really going to make sure that you're not the reason why. Especially because Burrow does so much of that, coach, right? Like he's calling them a lot of the protections. It's not just Karras. While they work together on that, and I'm sure they are during the week of practice and stuff and make sure they're on the same page.

Like if Burrow calls it, I've heard them sometimes. You can hear the TV pick it up. And they'll go back and forth real quick. And then Burrow has final say, and you've got to pick it up the way we say. You get a new quarterback in there. It could be chaos until they figure it out together.

Oh, no doubt. I mean, he's got the best view of the house. You know, that guy. I mean, everybody else has got their hand between their legs. Right. So it's very difficult for them to see, safety rotation. Hard for them to see where the linebackers are aligning.

They're deploying. Right. The slack guy creeping in. Right. Absolutely. And so when you've got a guy that can control it and override anything that we may see up front, go for it, brother. I think this is a great point that you two are bringing up about the games last year

against Minnesota and then the game in Denver because those were the first two stars for Jake Browning last year. And you think about it from Scott Peters's perspective and coach you mentioned it, he was under the impression and the expectation that he was going to come in and get to work with Joe Burrow and protect him. Well, then he goes down in week two. You bring it a backup quarterback with no running game and they still subpar offensive line.

And it's like, all right, go up against Minnesota and Denver's defensive lines to see what you can do. Yeah, we saw what that turned into. And it was just so bad. And by the time they came home to face the Lions, you knew that they were a broken team up front. But then you get in Joe Flacko and it's like, oh my gosh, you can go under center. You can run the football. Does it matter, coach, the kind of quarterback that's behind the offensive line? Does it matter like how well they play, like just how in sync they are?

Does it matter the kind of quarterback that they're playing with? Well, it does. And you know what? A lot of people say it doesn't matter. We're going to practice the same stuff. But you know what? It really does because of the fact that each of those quarterbacks have a different skill set. And if you're as an example, you may have a scrambler. Oh, okay, you got the guy that's on the move. When is the play over? You never know.

You know, your back is to them all the time. The other thing is that when you got somebody like Browning that came in, they're basically not switching it. They're trying to run the same thing. but that quality of player is different than the starter. Reason is, he's going to get the ball out a little bit slower. The run game is they're still trying to go with the Joe Burrow game plan and not the Browning game plan of what he does well

because they've got to open it all up. Once Joe Flacko came in, all of a sudden now, hey, you're going underneath. The powers of B are trying to run things that can protect. protect Joe Burrow because they really don't have another guy. They already went through him. And so now they moved him up on a line of scrimmage. They started to run the ball a little bit more. And all of a sudden they became a little bit more balanced instead of the 60-40 that they

are with Joe Burrell. Now they became more 50-50. And it really enhanced their ability for the guys up front. Okay, now they're saying, hey, because all the line guys, protection is one thing. thing. That's where they make their money. But deep down inside, they want to run the rock. And they want to try to establish physical dominance. If they can do that, it makes protecting the passer so much easier because now you're not in second and long, third along all day long. Yeah, and those edge rushers are living for that third and long, obvious pass rush situations.

You see those guys, they get in that stance and they're not. even concerned with the run, right? That foot is back and they're ready to go and you're just like, geez, here they come. And you know it's a pass. They know it's a pass and it's still second and, you know, seven, but the Bengals are going to throw it 60 times today. So get ready to protect all day long. That's a long day. You're right. I want to lean on guys. They want to control the pace. They want to, you know, impose their will. They want to be physical because they don't want to always be chasing these freak athletes around the arc all day long because that is a nightmare, even if you're the most confident lineman.

Well, you know what? I used to always tell these guys that said, you know what? If you can fight him in a phone booth, you'd win. But if you're out in space in the schoolyard, first of all, you've got to catch him. Right. Once you're catching him, you can beat the crap out of him. But you're wasting a lot of energy trying to catch this guy. And so you want him as close to you as possible.

And you make those runs very, very valuable because now it's, It's your physical will against theirs. And they see themselves as a track player coming off the rock 180 miles an hour. You've got to slow that down. I think it goes to this theme here that we're going to get to right now, making your passing game unpredictable. So the Bengals offense, the last few seasons, I think we can all agree, has been very predictable for opposing defenses.

It's going to run through Burrough and Chase and Higgins. But now that the Bengals can run the football, that makes them multi-dimensional. But what about in the passing game becoming unpredictable? That's where going under center comes into play. This stat from Paul Dana Jr. and the athletic this morning stood out to me, guys.

NFL teams over the last three seasons have produced 1,49 explosive completions while using under-center play action. In that time span, Joe Burrow has produced one. That's right, one. So does this offense, with the opposite line fully intact, from last year and with a healthy Joe Burrow,

do you think we're going to see more under center and is it going to be an effective offense pen the passing game for the Bengals? The second part of your question is the biggest part because, yeah, you can do it more. You can go under center more. You can run the ball more. You have to be effective, right?

We can, you can run for two yards per carry and next you're going to be punting, right? So can they be effective? And they were last year on the ground. So now what's the next thing, that next ship that falls is, all right, let's get in there, make it look like our run game, and let's have a play fake off of it, right? So the Bengals, and most teams around the league have gone to this.

When you're throwing the ball, you're in shotgun majority of the time. You rarely see true dropbacks from under center at this point. It's rare. It happens a few times per year. Joe Bro has done it like twice per year, but he's an extreme example. So what you see when you get under center and defenses are key in on this, you get under center, it's either a run or a play action pass. That works both ways for the offense and defense.

For the offense, I would like you to think that every play could potentially be a run play there. And we got the same thing. Maybe I'm pulling a lineman to give the linebacker something to look at, something to key on, maybe suck them up a little bit and we're attacking that second level of field over the middle, right? But defenses are also seeing this and going, okay, do we run blitz here? Do we try to stuff the gaps and overwhelm them a little bit? Who's checking out of what? Now is Joe Burrow going to check out of this and drop into shotgun because he sees us start crowding

and bring an extra guy into the box. Right? So the Bengals, specifically, when I just finished watching all of their play action passes from 2025. I just did a film review on this. And when you watch them, they are not attempting to create explosives off their play actions, almost to them like they are not expecting. And I looked up data on this too, so I'll get to that.

They're not expecting the linebackers to come up. They're not really even respecting that the Bengals could potentially run the ball. Despite them running it well, from under center last year. Chase Brown averaged 4.9 yards per carry from under center on his 96 attempts. He had a 15.6% explosive rate over 10 yard gains on runs. That's the highest in the league for any starting running back. And yet defenses did not care. They said, we are not going to let Jamar Chase and T. Higgins dunk on us 50 yards down field because we care that Chase Brown's getting five yards per carry. Right. So there, when you watch all of these plays on film,

The linebackers are almost turning their backs and taking off as soon as they see the linemen in our past setting. The only times it's really working is if they're pulling alignment, bringing the tight end over to get the unblocked defensive end, really selling the run game. I think Bengals need to get to that a little bit more and try and take advantage of that gap that could potentially be there between the second and third levels. But again, I don't know that the defenses will actually respect it until this run game is one of the top run games in the league.

And at that point, I don't know if it's worth it because you have. you have borough you have chase you have higgins that is your bread and butter i think that uh i mean exactly you're jo you're exactly right they uh what a lot of teams do because they've gotten away from you know being underneath and now they're everything is in the gun well you know what you're limited to the you're limited by how many runs or what kind of schemes you can do in Like if you looked at it in college, hey, it's inside zone, it's counter. It's inside zone, it's counter. Or it's a quarterback keeper.

Well, or it's a read option. Joe Burrow, you're not going to put him in that situation. Right. So that backside end has nothing to do with a gun run. When you go underneath and believe me, when I was with John Gruden for six years, we never went in the gun. All of our throws, five, seven, step drops were all from underneath. I think that's a loss start with a lot of quarterbacks

is that they're now, then when they go through college, they're always in the gun. So they really don't get the depth they need on their drops or their play fakes out of from underneath because they're just not used to it. They're not as efficient as Brad Johnson doing that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Shoot, Brett. I mean, he went a runner. And he was an old man at that point. So, but he, he to be really good at everything else. Yeah. So you know what? And I think that the game has flipped a little bit. And I think it's time that people get back because there's no question. You can really become a dominant running game from the dot, from the quarterback underneath and the back behind it. And you get so much thought. And when you go in the pistol, you kind of lose a little bit of it.

But when you go underneath, the defense says, okay, up front, you're going to play. play pass, but you're going to react to the run, and so do the linebackers. If all of a sudden you can start throwing some five and seven-step drops out of that, and seven-step drops are usually the play action part of it, you can create big plays, and now they can't play both. And right now, if you're underneath, or I mean, if you're in the gun, they're playing pass and reacting to the run, as opposed to playing the run and reacting to the pass.

here's another thing too that I think is very important think about Orlando Brown Jr. Big guy, 6, 8, 350, and he's getting older. He's going into his ninth season. And Andrew Whitworth said this last year, and I think it's so true. The hardest thing, the hardest job for any tackle in the NFL is dropping back in past sets all the time for the Bengals. He said that last year, Joe Burrow got hurt. Well, you think about your twin towers at tackle and Brown and Amarius Mims.

those are bigger offensive linements. They may not move as quick. So, coach, when you have the ability to go under center and run the football, does that make the tackles jobs that much easier? And it keeps the defensive line more neutralized. It should. And you know what? You want to be able to minimize their effect on rushing the passer.

So the best way to do that is, and one thing that if you're a tackle, you have to change your set point. every snap, basically. You can't always set the same depth, the same width all the time, or they're going to start to work on you. If you can keep them close to the line of scrimmere, you can jump them, you can do a lot of different things with him, and it makes his job that much easier because now they're playing both sides of the ball.

You know, they're playing both sides of that fence and they're not sure. Okay, hey, is this a run? Is this a, you know, or is it a throw? And it really neutralizes those guys. And that's what you want is you want neutralization and make them think. And if they think, they play slow. If they react, they're playing fast. And that's the thing that you don't want them to be able to do on the other side of the ball.

Yeah, let me bring up some data for you. Actually, the rest of the league sees their quarterback pressured at a lower rate whenever they're using play action. Because the defensive line has to hesitate for a second, maybe read run and then try to pass rush, much different, right? The Bengals during Burroughs career actually get pressured more on play action. Now, a lot of this was Frank Pollock and then not being able to be married with the run scheme. I think they had a lot of issues there.

Last year was a little bit better, but that's something they're going to have to really find that marriage between the two so that they can get these D-Lyman and to slow down just for a second. So when we're saying, yeah, ideally I would like the Bengals to get under center and run play action more, drop back from under center. But Burroughs numbers throughout his career from play action are much worse than his just straight drop back. So when they get into a must need or a must pass situation and the way the defense has been lately, right, it's hard to dictate that flow and not just start dropping back and out of shotgun and throwing from there because you need to score and they feel more confident in that part of their offense. It's rare to be worse, like worse completion

percentage. 65.7% of play action in his career. This is. 449 career attempts. He's a 69.7% completion rate when he's just in shotgun and throwing from there. Like if you need it on third down, if you need it on a money down, if you're late in the game, it's two minute drill. They're just going to put Burrow in that shotgun and let him be the best version of himself. His passer rating is better when he's just dropping back, not under center or not doing play action.

So I think they just feel so much better about it. So I would ideally like them to be better before I'm really saying they should do it more. Here's a quote from Joe Blacker that really stands out to me when it comes to that saying, quote, there's a reason that under center has always been a part of the game. Obviously, the game evolves, but there are still base parts of the game that matter. On first and second down, if you could be a physical team and then play off at that physicality, it is going to help you get easy plays. The explosive plays are coming not because you are fighting an uphill battle all game,

but because you are finding ways to get easy chunks, and quote. I read that this morning, I'm like, that just makes total sense. Absolutely. I mean, that, that would, that when you commit to running the football, especially first and second down, you're really not going to, I mean, you've got a couple of nickel runs you're going to throw in there. But that's why the game is different than it is in college. In college, you can run the ball on third and 12 and get a first down. But in the national football league, good luck to you. You're going to be punting.

So, but if you can get on first and second or six or less and create, you can. the feel that you're running the ball and you feel confident with it, you can do so many more things out of it to allow your guys up front to start to play the game that they ultimately want to play. Yeah, I think a lot of the explosives, we were looking at this yesterday after Jake and I recorded the Lockdown Bengals podcast, because we knew we're going to talk about play action on the next episode a lot. And when I was watching film, I started watching these other teams, these other

quarterbacks that really use it and get a lot of explosive plays. The highest rate of explosive plays off play action is Lamar Jackson, actually. And I think it's because of you have Derek Henry, you're running the ball so much. So I started to look at, all right, give me all the play action plays, and then give me all the plays where defense blitzes or sends a fifth or six guy, right? And there was a direct correlation between explosive plays and how often you were blitzed on a play action play. and the Bengals, Lamar Jackson's all the way at the top of this plot point, right? You know, who was all the way at the bottom of the plot point?

It was Joe Burrow. It was because they are not going to blitz. It's hard to create the explosives if they're still dropping seven guys into coverage, right? You're turning your back, you're looking up. You're like, oh, great, we got a two-man route. And they've got seven guys in coverage. I'm checking it down to Drew Sample or to Chase Brown and hoping something happens here. It's so they really need to dictate to the defense to get the defense to actually believe and bite on.

I think the only way to truly do it, to truly get defensive coordinators to care about it is to start ripping off some of these 30, 40-yard runs. And they say, you know, we just, we can't do this. We can't have this. They're killing us out here. It's a slow death. We're not getting the ball back.

They're chewing up the clock. And here comes that a 40-yard run. All right, put an eighth guy in the box. Send that middle linebacker through the egg gap. Whatever it's going to be required. But it takes a commitment to it and force them. It's just hard to commit to it. Again, to reiterate that point when the defense has been,

as bad as it's been. Well, coach loves to say, go ahead, that's true right there. I mean, you can, on first and second down,

you can commit to the run and be good, but you know what? It's very difficult to do that when you can't surrender the ball. And most play callers end up, they, I mean, they panic. They're just,

their body and minds won't let them continue. continue to play slow death all the way down the field and score and take time off the clock. They want to what sells tickets and start throwing it. I can remember watching a game, I think it might have been the Bengals game, where Derek Henry literally the first three or four players of the game ran the ball and he was just stuffing it. And all of a sudden they got to the Reds on and start throwing it. It's like, well, you got a field goal out of it.

You could have got six. Yeah. And coach, you love to talk about like how you can beat teams with slow death by running the football. I mean, your former team, the Seattle Seahawks. Like I was watching their playoff game against the 49ers last week. And you saw how Kenneth Walker was just gradually wearing down the defense. And eventually the Seahawks were up 41 to six. And then you saw Kenneth Walker do it again in the Super Bowl against the Patriots.

And that's no slouch for a defensive line that the Seahawks went up against in Super Bowl. So if you have the ability to run the football and if you have the ability to go under center and make your offense that much more unpredictable. We know Joe Burroughs very advanced, but if he has the ability to go under center, if he has the ability to lean on a running game, just how much better can that make him? And how much better can that make Zach Taylor and Dan pitcher as offensive coaches? That may be a tease for next week's show. But coming up on this show, do we have any big concerns about the Bengals' offensive line? I've got one that may be not as concrete, but I'll tell you what it is coming up next on the Bengal Squad Show. Today's edition of the Bengal Squad Show is brought to you by Odu.

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So for me, the offensive line, my biggest concern, I've got two. And I may be nitpicking here because the offensive line for the first time finally feels like a strength of this team. Number one is this. What happens if Orlando Brown Jr. and Ted Carras start to show their age this season? They're older players, and we've got to admit that. They've been so solid, though. Orlando Brown Jr. is very durable. Ted Harris is solid as a rock. But what happens if age starts to catch up with them this season? And for me, can they run the ball well early? Don't wait until we talk about this in segment two. Don't wait until week six to get it going. Remember back in 21 when the Bengals went to the Super Bowl, Joe? Joe Mixon had 129 yards rushing in week one. He was running the ball well early. Start running the football well in week one. And,

then you start getting your identity, you start being multi-dimensional on offense. But those two concerns for me are my biggest concerns about this offensive line. What do you guys think? Yeah, to your point on 2021 and the following seasons, Bengals have routinely struggled in September, especially the first couple weeks of the year. And it's not just the Bengals, Joe Burroughs numbers are not very good at that point either. If you really want, and this is a, I think Joe Burroughs is fantastic, right? Top three quarterback is passing offense when it's clicking.

is as good as any in the league. But it's not good every day, and it's not always going to be good on every single drive. You need a run game to supplement it. And I think the idea that you come out early in September with a full-fledged running game would be huge to get getting them off on the right foot. And I think they tried that last year. The Browns game started that way.

I remember that first drive, a lot of misdirection. They had a play action play to know a Phant for 10 yards. They had a play action play to know a Phamp in the end zone for a touchdown and a goal line formation heavy package with, Cody Ford out there. It was very balanced. And they kind of got away from it once they ran out of the scripted 14 plays or so. It looked like, all right, let's drop back and start throwing this thing around again.

But yes, I feel like if they could come out in September with that game plan, with that idea and that mindset that they can run the ball and can do it in September, it would only help get Burrow and his timing and pocket presence and everything he needs. He ends up developing once November, December hits. Like his timing is internal clock at that point is fantastic. It doesn't always start that way in September. Let's get it there earlier by supplementing and helping them out a little bit. My major concern to get to it is that what every team has is if you lose a guy,

do you have the right depth and do you have the right backups? The teams that go the farthest in the playoffs or are still surviving in the playoffs, let's say, are the teams that have had the healthiest offensive line. As soon as you start to lose a guy, it's a cascading effect, you start to plug in somebody else. Now who's our sixth man, right? Now who's our jumble offensive linemen that everyone's going to? maybe it's a guard that really doesn't have a lot of time at tackle, and we've got to put them there because he's our best guy,

because not enough teams have a really good swing tackle. Like if Cody Ford is the standard swing tackle, that's two games you can get through. If you get to three, four, or five games, you're having issues and your offense is now affected at that point. I do like what they've done with Connor Lou and Brian Parker, even Jalen Rivers. Let's see what he looks like in year two.

But I do wonder if they have a guy at swing tackler, or can they weather the storm if somebody goes down for, a month or two. You know, it's so true that backups in the league, I think everybody, there are 32 teams that are all playing this game of, hey, what happens? This also gets hurt. You know, and everybody's got the same feeling. That's why you have to have, you always have to go into the season after training camp with your backup plan. And you work those guys in as much as you can. And that's why the, The league needs more developmental for those guys, because your five are set, your two rookies are going to make the team.

Okay. There's going to be a heck of a fight with those other guys to fill in the spots because remember, you only get to dress seven on on game day. And so those backups really need to be stout and they need to be on it right away. And it's very, very important that, you know, the Cody Ford's and some of those other kids that are just relatively new, that they make great jumps in year two. And they really start to show who they are because you really want them to be able to be able to be playing. plug in guys. I know that when Dalton Reisner went down last year, there was no longer all gas, no breaks. It was not, okay, we're tapping on the brakes there. And you need to be ready and game ready as those players go. Yeah, and Reisner did miss some games last year with the

calf injury. Orlando Brown Jr., missed six games in 24. You don't really worry about Fairchild and Karris and Mims getting injured. I mean, Ted Karras hasn't missed a start in four seasons with the Bengals. That's as good as it. gets. And coach, you know this. Availability is the best ability, especially on the offensive line. But you want to have your backup plan, as you mentioned in place. One might call that. Some might call that an insurance policy, which is very important, especially along the offensive line. Orlando Brown Jr., there from 2019 through 2020, only missed one start. Ironically, that one start was actually when the Chiefs came to play

the Bengals in week 17 and 2021. The Bengals won that game. Yeah, yeah, yes, he did. I remember that. I was in Miami, Florida for that game. So, yeah, I think. what we're talking about here is you do worry about Orlando Brown Jr. He's going into his ninth season, Karras going into his 11th season. But you not only know that this is the best offensive line that Joe Burrow has played with, it's also potentially the most durable. And that's a really important quality of a unit that has been much maligned for the last, not just of the Joe Burrow era, but for the last 10 years. And to your point, Alex, because Brown and Karras are a little bit older, and Dalton Reisner too.

He's in the same age group as those guys as well. That career cliff, I describe it as you're walking towards it. You know you are. It's dark. It's foggy. You really don't know when you're going to step off of it. It's not a, like we talked about progression and development, that decline is not always linear.

Sometimes you're going. You're good. You get hurt and you never hear from that guy again or he's never the same level. It just tends to happen. So I don't want to put any bad juju out there. I'm knocking on wood right now, actually, on the desk. But because of their age, yes, that could happen at any point. These guys could miss time.

They could fall off to the point where an injury does start to affect their play. The young guys typically can play through it. They're fine. They're athletic enough. They're spry. They come back in a couple weeks. They look fine. You get to 30, and I'm 39.

I'm feeling it. You get to these mid-30s, and these guys don't bounce back just as quick. And it starts to affect their play. Well, thanks for the warning. I got 12 years. So I get to your age, coach. Hey, well, I've got 30 on Joe. So I feel.

You know what, though? That's, you know, it is so true that that all of a sudden you feel great one day and next thing you'll fall off a clip. And I think that that's one of those things. And every head coach will constantly be on it. Every trainer, it's like take care of your body. Whatever you have to do, you got to take care of your body. whether it be through hydration, massage, getting chiropractor, acupuncture, take care of your body, the best you know how.

And the older you get, you forget. You forget how to do that. It's just like trying to go if the Bengals were playing in Tampa, game one, they'd be all over them all week long about hydrating. Oh, yeah. They'd hydrate so many times they wouldn't get a good night's sleep. But yet the Tampa Bay Buccaneers being on the other hand of it, it's like old school, right? They're used to it. So they're used to hydrating and not all trying to flush it in one day.

Donne Reisner, by the way, 30 years old, he'll turn 31 on July 13. So you got guys who are getting there as we're talking about. That's why you got to have some young guys in the Bengals do and Dylan Fairchild and and and Marius Mims, and also two rookies that they drafted this past April. We'll get to what Conrad Loo and Brian Parker the 2nd could bring to the Bengals this season next on the Bengals squad show. I am really excited about the rookies that the Bengals drafted this year in Conner, Lou in the fourth round and Brian Parker the second in the sixth round. Joe, with your extensive film washing and your extensive draft prep, what did you make of these two players when the Bengals drafted them? Let's start with Connor Liu.

this is a guy that was one of the youngest players in this class, still 20 years old. He may have just turned 21, but he was 20 when he was drafted. And when you start for Auburn in the SEC and you're 18 and the 19 years old, that is a big green flag for scouts, right? They see that and they're like, that's, okay, now let's dive into the tape. He looked athletic, very good getting to the second level, rolling off linebackers and sealing them. Very strong player at his young age.

I think he has to get stronger still. But again, we're talking about a guy on tape last time we said. some was 19. He had the knee injury this past year. Didn't it take, I will say this, he was, I want to say 45th on Dame Bruegler's board heading into the season. So it could have been fringe first rounder had he taken a step. I didn't think he took a step this year until the, and then the injury happened. So that's probably why he lasted until the point he did, because now you're compounding that with an injury. Still, I think we're talking about a guy with really high upside. All the character comments from every coach is praising him. I think they get,

because you have to care. You afforded the ability to allow him to develop and give him the time that every team can offer you that, which is why he probably goes a little bit later. And it's a perfect landing spot for Connor Lou. I think he is a center all the way. I didn't really see him as a guard where Brian Parker was a right tackle at Duke. He played center in high school and has played all across the offensive line throughout his life. But he was a tackle in college.

And he was 29th overall on our draft board for the sheet we do. And he hit every single advanced analytic marker. we're looking for. We're talking about a high-end athlete that has played a bunch of games that produced at an extremely high level, even though it's Duke, right? But still, when I watched him, we're talking about a very good technician with a lot of tenacity, fight, and power. He finished guys at a high rate, and his pass protection was as clean as any lineman in this raft. But again, didn't have the prototype size, more of a Jonah Williams size that tackle. So could he get you through a game or two or whatever at tackle? Probably. You mentioned Clint

bowling right in the start of this. He could be in my mind a Clint bowling at Guard in the future. I love the idea of putting him behind Dalton Reisner and saying, do what he does. Mirror him. You guys are same size. Dalton Reisner was also a tackle coming out of K State, move to guard. They are very similar prospects to me. I remember scouting Dalton Reisner as well that your 2019 draft to me looked very similar. So mirror him, follow him. He could be your sixth lineman down the line or eventual starter at right guard. Connor Lou will turn 21 on August 30th, so that'll be at the end of training game. We're talking about a really young player, but the maturation coach of this young man is really

something to be excited about. Oh, no, I mean, he's a baby. You know, he's, he is, he can't even go to a bar. I mean, legally. But, I mean, that's, it's really, it's nuts. How young he is. So, you know what, when Joe talked about his ceiling being very high. eye. It is there. And now the great thing is that Scott can groom him all the way through. The hardest thing for guys to do is, you know, if you keep him inside and you let him be work on just center and works on some a little bit of guard because that backup player has to be a little bit of both. That's in his wheelhouse. Now, for the other one, I think that the, problem is where are you going to play him? Where are you going to start him? You don't want to

confuse him. You want him get, just like Joe talked about, hey, put it behind somebody and say, hey, okay, learn, learn, and we'll give you some reps outside just to keep that knife a little bit sharp. But young man, you're new to this system. You're new to this league. There's a lot of different moving parts that are totally different than when you were in college, but you still have that competitiveness and you've got that, that will to play, and you're so young, you know what, you got fresh legs, but learn one spot instead of bouncing all over because then you scramble their brains. These are really good mid to late round picks at offensive line for the Bengals. Parker comes from a great background, athletic family. In fact, his girlfriend is a former Florida

and the daughter, Alexis Bisselli is her name. She's the daughter of coach. You'll remember this name, Jacksonville, Jaguars, Offensive Lyman, proffable hall famer Tony Bisselli. So you have those athletic genes in the family. And have some kids. Yeah, well, I'll tell you.

I'll tell you. I really like that. And then Connor, Lou, I'll take this note from Dame Bruegler of the athletic. Lou says Lou isn't a strong dry blocker and needs to develop better consistency. But he has the movement skills. and instincts to get the job done in the NFL, he has starting potential if he stays healthy and proves he can match up physically with NFL power. Now, you mentioned you start in the SEC as a 19-year-old, 20-year-old, you must be doing something right. And Joe mentioned it. The analytics

that he hid, you have to really like what you're seeing. And if he is healthy, if he's able to practice in training camp, for the first time, you're going to have a lot of depth or more than you've had at offensive line. And that's really important. especially on the interior. They really have a lot of depth. Yeah. Yeah. You know what?

I think they have, and again, I put it back to the front office drafting these players. So much different than in the past the way they drafted them. And I think that Scott Peters has a lot to do with that in terms of his input on what he wants to see, having been a player in the league, have him coached, you know, even though it was very briefly with a couple of different teams, he knows what he wants. And he knows how it fits with the system that they're deploying. And I think that they're getting those matchups that they kind of want in the selections.

With the right tackle, with the left guard, with these two young guys right in, right now. I think that his fingerprint has started to be put on the development of this group up front. If they have to come in for a play, multiple plays, a series, heck start a game, you want to be confident in what they're doing. I think that there is a confidence in the two offensive line. And Conner, Lou and Brian Parker the second that they drafted. Because, coach, you know this. It's tough for an offensive line, the five that are starting week one to start all 17 games.

that is such a tough position to play. There's so much happening in the trenches that, you know, an injury here is going to happen. Unfortunately, you want to have that insurance policy and you want to be confident when you have to use it. Well, you know what? I tell you what, the one thing that O-line guys know, stay out of the trainer room. So when they're out, they're out. They don't have boo-boos and injuries. The trainer holds them out.

They are going to go and they'll be put. together with gum, tape, dirt, mud, it doesn't matter. They'll play through it and you'll never know it. And if that kind of toughness goes on into these young guys, because that jump from college to the National Football League is really big. And the greatest attribute they have right now is their mental and physical toughness. And I think that they're only going to learn the mental part of it more the mental toughness part of it, but they've got some good veteran players up front in which to pick their brain on how to be a pro.

I'm excited. Yeah, because we talked so much about the offensive line, and we kind of did not mention Amarius Mims enough, in my opinion, because I think he represents the upside of this line. Because what he started the show last year, similar progression of Fairchild. I think he headed off with Scott Peters as well. we started to see the flashes.

And flashes will happen when you see a guy like that, the high's high upside, right? He's got the size, he's got the skill, he's got the movement ability, he's got the right character. Like everything you're looking for, but super inconsistent because he didn't have a lot of snaps at Georgia. He kept, you know, he was on and off the field a bunch.

So the rookie year, the flashes were there. And then to start last year, they're flashing. And then they started happening much more often and much more frequent in the second half of the year. And it started to go, oh, there's Marius Mims. That's what he could look like. He could be an old pro. type right tackle. And if he hits that, I mean, the boost you're talking about, if there's a

pro bowl player on this offensive line, on this offensive line, it's Amarius Mims in 2026. And if he does that, this O'Lide could be really, really good. Absolutely. I love everything about Amarious Mims. He does so many things well. He's a physical presence, I mean, a towering presence at right tackle, which is the position that Bengals really have had to try to figure out for the last few years. You got your tackles. You got your interior silent. I mean, we could be talking about Amarius Bims getting a contract extension next offseason. He's in a contract year.

This offensive line, for the first time and a long time, we're not talking about our concerns as much. We're talking about how good they can be. Boy, isn't that refreshing. Coming up on next week's show with Joe, coach, and yours truly, we're going to talk about Dan Pitcher a little bit. There was a great interview that he did. You guys maybe heard it on the athletic football show with Robert Mays. And we're going to talk about some things. to he talked about on that show and how it relates to Joe Burrow in the upcoming 2026 season.

Joe Goodberry, thank you, as always, for joining us, your maiden voyage on the Bengals Squad show. We will look forward to seeing you next Wednesday at noon to one. Coach, as always, thank you for joining us. I'm Alex Frank. I, at Frankie underscore Natty. This has been the Bengals Squash show, the twice a week. Long-form conversational supplement to the daily lockdown Bengals podcast hosted by Joe Goodberry and Jake Lisko episodes dropping Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

three days a week during the off season. We are every Wednesday, noon to one, live on lockdown Bengals. And, of course, it will be available on podcast form after the show. Have a great day. Have a great upcoming weekend. We will talk to you next time on the Bengals Squad Show, part of lockdown bangles and lockdown and the lockdown podcast network, the number one sports podcast in America and the world. Your team every day.