Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - BENGALS SQUAD SHOW: SAFETY help in the form of former Cincinnati Bearcats on the way in FREE AGENCY

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

With the start of free agency less than two weeks away, help could be on the way for the Cincinnati Bengals in the form of two former Cincinnati Bearcats.  Alex Frank and Mike Santagana discuss how Kansas City Chiefs safety Bryan Cook and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Coby Bryant, who are both Super Bowl champions, could give the Bengals a major boost at both safety and cornerback.  How could Bryan Cook help Caleb Downs if the Bengals draft him at No. 10 in April?  Could Coby Bryant help the Bengals young corners keep ascending in 2026?  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.  5-Hour ENERGY Have your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at 5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon.  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.  HomeChef For a limited time, Home Chef is offering my listeners 50% off your first box, free shipping, and free dessert for life. Just go to https://HomeChef.com/LOCKEDON.  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.

When it comes to the Bengals fixing their safety room and potentially bolstering their cornerback room, the answer is Mike's antagona may be two former Cincinnati Bearcats that can help both safety and the cornerback position. Certainly need all the help they can get on the defensive side of the ball. That and more coming up on 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 bengal

squad show starts now good afternoon and welcome to the bengal squad show on this tuesday february 24th 26 i'm alex frank joined by mike santagina today coach jake and james are on assignment it's combine week it's a busy week so we'll get them on thursday show when we have some more news from the combine but But while we're still waiting for Duke Tobin to speak today, that's coming your way at 3 o'clock. We have reporters there who are colleagues of us on site. We're going to talk about how the Bengals can bolster their safety room and potentially their cornerback room with two former Cincinnati Bearcats, potentially being the solutions there. Mike, first of all, combine week, what's your biggest storyline for the Bengals, non-Trey Hendrickson

related? I think what I think about the draft, I'm thinking of some of these guys that could get picked at number 10. So I think of Caleb Downs. And does he, I think he's going to test? Does he test well? Does he not do all of the testing? Does he weigh in? Because you got to weigh in.

I don't think anybody skips the way in and the measurements. But does he come in at a decent height and weight? He's listed at 6 foot 205. Does he end up being more Bob Sandersy at like 59, 205 or something? Or is he come in a little lighter than 205 and make you think like, can he really stick it in the run game, even though he did that in college? And I think of the other positions too. The sunny styles blow up the combine and is no longer a question at 10.

It's now a question of does he make it to 10? Because he has some incredible combine performance. And then I think of kind of the defensive tackles too. I'm thinking a lot of this fine of this defense. We're going to talk corner too. but Peter Woods keeps falling on these boards. Does he just come in here 6-3-315 or whatever and just have an incredible combine performance? And now he's just right back where he was.

Or are they previewing something like he didn't have the greatest work ethic? And now he's going to come in and he ends up underperforming what's expected. Because I think part of the combine is yes, it does a great job of testing your athletic ability and shorts. But it also, I think, tests a little bit of your work ethic. because a lot of these drills are did you prepare for the drill? I think back in the 2000s, you could think of this more as like, yeah, that's a real good test of their athlete. This isn't any more. You look at it, and I've heard Jason Kelsey talk about how he set the short shuttle record,

and it's knowing the amount of steps for each part of the short shuttle. He practiced it and practiced it. He didn't really move up draft boards. He would now because I think NFL teams are a little more informed about how well that correlates to offensive linemen. but do you memorize your steps on your three cone if you've ever run a three crone three cone picking it up and just running it doesn't really test your ability to move it tests you ability like okay so I go around this way and then I have to spin over here it's knowing every part of the drill and every portion even the 40 yard dash you think is just go but there's technique to that too and

knowing how far to set your foot back how to make sure that you get timed upright so you don't get stopped repeatedly by the guy and he has to try to explain it to you. while you're about to run. There's a lot that goes into it. So do some of these guys have a little bit of a lower work ethic than you'd expect and underperform or some of them show a fantastic work ethic? And they overperform what you expect from the combine. I feel like this draft, we're pretty much, I would say, 95 to at least 95% sure

for Nana Mendoza is going number one. The Bengals obviously aren't on the market on the market for a quarterback. But after Mendoza, it's so wide open. and you don't know which team is going to draft which player. And for the Bengals, our good friend John Shear and a Bay to Z sports, they did a mock draft recently, and Sonny Stiles was mocked to the Bengals at number 10. So as you're saying, if he goes into Indianapolis and has a really good performance,

maybe the Bengals take notice because I do think they need definitely a talent infusion at linebacker, which we'll talk about later on in this show. But for me, Mike and coach has talked about this. I've talked about this. you've talked about this, safety is such a glaring need for this team. I mean, you need that last line of defense. You need that game changer that's back there that can lurk and cover so much ground. In a league that is still very proficient when it comes to passing,

when it comes to taking the top of defenses that is dependent on big plays, you can look at the teams that played in the Super Bowl, the Seahawks and the Patriots and how they lived on those big plays. So for me, when I think of who the Bengals could target in free agency, and there's a lot out there, Brian Cook stands out to me. And not just because he's a really good player. He is. But it's the fact, Mike, that he is a Super Bowl champion times two.

He was a leader on a very good Kansas City Chiefs defense. And when the Bengals rebuilt their defense prior to 21, you saw them not just go after great players, but leaders, winners, and captains. So when I think at Brian Cook, that's what I think. In addition to being a former Cincinnati Barricade, so he knows this city. Is that what you see in Brian Cook, all those characteristics that the Bengals went after five years ago

when they rebuilt their defense? Yeah, I think with them, obviously, yeah, you get the Super Bowl experience and Super Bowl winning experience that comes with that. He's part of the Spaggs defense, these Kansas City defenses have always kind of overperformed, I think, what people think their talent level is, where you look at that and like, yeah, you've got Chris Jones, you've got Brian Cook here, you've got Trent McDuffie,

but all the other pieces, what are they? And they end up performing extremely well. I think Brian Cook is a guy that when he started, I think gave you flashes, but it was pretty inconsistent play. But similar to DJ Turner to me, he's kind of had linear growth. It's not as if he was bad, bad, bad. Oh, contract year, he's amazing. I think it was more so spotty. He's an okay starter. He's turning it around. And then this year he was a good player. He's a plus starter for the chiefs this season at the safety position, even though he had zero interceptions. It doesn't always come. The ball doesn't always come your way as a safety. Maybe you worry a little bit about the ball production. But I think overall, just from down to down, he's a pretty consistent

and good player for the chiefs. I think he is kind of similar to some of the guys they've brought him before. To me, he's actually a little bit, I think he's going to be priced higher than at least the guys they were looking at back when they made their free agent overhaul before the 2021 season, where they're getting Von Bell, maybe he's in like the Trey Wayne's type where it's like, yeah, it's a pretty decent sized contract for a pretty good player. And Trey Wains obviously didn't pan out, but they gave him money. So is that going to be their big fish? Because it feels like they make like a bigger fish signing and then they kind of supplement that where they signed a chidobe a wuzier who's kind of a mid-level free agent going into that year and now then he became a great

player you go out and you supplement him with mike hilton who also didn't get a huge contract but was a good player played a great role for the bangles but they did make their big fish signing in tray wanes and is brian cook the big fish and hopefully it turns out a lot better than Trey Waynes did. But that's the only part to me is where it's a little bit pricier than I'm used to them, at least expected for Brian Cook, a little bit pricier than I'm used to them spending at the safety position because Vaubel relatively cheap. They let Jesse Bates go because they didn't want to do guaranteed money.

Does the Cincinnati history with Brian Cook make him want to come to Cincinnati? And he's okay forfeiting over a little bit of guaranteed money for the same, for a similar deal as he'd get elsewhere. That, I think, is also interesting where the Bengals, until shown otherwise are going to be low on the guaranteed money. And that's going to put them behind the eight ball for a lot of these big name free agents. That's, I think, part of the reason they end up with Gino Stone a couple of years ago. Maybe they learn from that.

Maybe they're willing to use the guaranteed money now. But until I see it, I'm going to expect them to be a little bit, a little bit low on that market. And that's going to kind of limit them just a little bit on some of these bigger name free agents like a Brian Cook, who I think is a good player. Alex, you're muted. I'm just want to let you know. I am muted. You're right. sorry. Let's look at Brian Cook and where he ranks in free agents. So PFF has him at number 19,

and their top 250 free agents, Brian Cook is number 19. PFF grade of 83.5 was fifth of month safeties last year. And he had a mistackle rate of just 5.6% in 2025, 6.2% in 20204. So you like that, he's a reliable tackler. If you look at his numbers over the course of four seasons, you mentioned the linear growth aspect. He has started 17 games. in each of the last two seasons. That's good. I like that. He had five passes, defense to 24, 6 and 25.

He also had 78 tackles in 24, 85 last year. Now, you mentioned all the players on that Chief's defense. Chris Jones, obviously being the enforcer up front. And the way that I see it is, if you don't have that many passes defense, if you don't have that many interceptions, that tells you that the job, that the guys are up front on doing their jobs, Jones, Carl Lofdis, There's another player I'm trying to think of his name. I think Mike Dana was on that team.

So they all did their jobs up front. Now, I still think because he comes from a very good defense that played in three Super Bowls. And I know the chiefs weren't very good this past year. Their defense was still, I mean, it wasn't terrible by any means. So you have a guy in Brian Cook that can come in here and just reestablish what the Bengal secondary was. their two playoff years in 21 and 22 because when they rebuilt their offensive line, look at who they got. Ted Carras, Alex Kappa.

This was before Kappa fell off and then Orlando Brown Jr. So at one point in time, you had three former Super Bowl champions on your offensive line. And you're trying to raise the standard and Joe Burrow was the leader of that. Now let's try to do it on the defensive side of the ball where you have had a, free agency spree where you went completely all in on refixing it when nobody else was really even talking about it. And they mean they were, but the offensive line is the more glaring issue. So to me, if you start with Brian Cook, now you can say it starts up front and I will entertain

that. But to me, you need that game changer in the back end that is going to keep the lid on the defense because you may give up yards. If you can't get, if you don't give up big plays and points, it starts with that last line of defense. and Brian Cook can be just that. He's ascending. Why not sign him?

And he's a guy, like when Gino Stone signed, Mike, we all thought he was going to be good because he had seven picks the year before he came here. He also benefited from Kyle Hamilton. Brian Cook was the Chief's best safety. So you know you're getting a proven player who wasn't reliant on someone else. Yeah. And you mentioned Chief's defense. The defense wasn't bad even if they were bad.

They were the sixth best defense and points against this year. So still very good. I think just below elite level defense this year, despite the offense being pretty bad. I think the other thing you might be missed here with Brian Cook is he is a deep safety, right? Like there's, he's got one TFL this year. He didn't make a single quarterback hit, no sacks, none of that. Like he's not kind of that Swiss Army knife that some guys want

where they can play near the line of scrimmage and be an enforcer for kind of kind of Kyle Hamilton like. But I do think that also, one, fits very well with Jordan Battle, who's a little bit better when he gets put into the box rather than deep. You're going to have to play both as an NFL safety. So it kind of fits that. Also, to me, if you end up going Caleb Downs, I think Brian Cook and Caleb Downs would be one of the best safety duos in the league. I mean, both guys able to do quite a bit. We're actually going to get to that angle of this conversation next, how Brian Cook could help Caleb Downs tremendously.

If the Bengals go that route with the number 10 overall pick, we do that next coming up on the Bengals Squat show. Today's edition of the Bengals Squat show is brought to you by Home Chef. So we are 55 days into 2026. I may be the only one that actually knows that, but if you do too, great. And so a lot of people are trying to simplify their routines. And dinner is a big one. I know that.

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We are part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in America and the world. And for more on how to become a member of the Everydayer Club, visit Lockdown Podcast.com slash every day. It is Combine Week. We've got plenty of that coming your way on Thursday night show. We got James Rapine out. there. Jay Morrison's out there. Jake Liscoe may be out there as well. So plenty of news coming your way in this week, DuCobin speaking to the media at 3 p.m. Eastern Time in Indianapolis.

But Mike Stang's back to the conversation about Brian Cook potentially being an answer at safety for the Cincinnati Bengals. It's interesting on Friday, I was told. And if you go to his Twitter account on at A.O. Cook underscore 6 at Ayo Cook underscore 6. His Twitter banner picture is of downtown Cincinnati and Paycor Stadium. Now, I'm not sure if that is new. I'm told that he changed it. So maybe that's a sign. He wants to sign with the Bengals. I don't know. He is an Ohio kid. So you like that aspect. He all. also play college football at Cincinnati, as we mentioned.

So just something to keep in mind there. His Twitter bio also makes it very apparent. He's a two-time Super Bowl champion. But Mike, if the Bengals draft Caleb Downs, and a lot of people want the Bengals to, myself included, if he's there at number 10, I just think for Caleb Downs to have a veteran safety like Brian Cook would be so valuable for him.

Do you agree? Yeah, yeah. You talk about the Super Bowl experience. You talk about Brian Cook being able to, to do some of the stuff that they don't really have a guy on the roster that can do. And Downs to me is a guy that plays all over. He could be your Swiss Army knife where he's playing in the slot. He's playing up close to Lions Scramm.

He's playing in the box. He can also play deep to me. I think he does absolutely everything. So it kind of fits with a lot of people. But I don't want to see him put into a box as much where if he's with Jordan Battle, is he put into a little bit of a box where he has to be the deep safety more often than not, where you can't use him in that same way. that the Ravens have used Kyle Hamilton or the lions have used Brian Branch,

who might be a better comparison because they're similar sizes. That would make me a little bit hesitant. I think Brian Cook, not being the best in the box, maybe gives you a similar feel, but I feel like it's less limiting to have a guy that's not as good in the box versus a guy that's not as good deep. Whereas I would like, personally, if I was constructing a defense, both my safety is able to play deep. That, to me, is the most important part because now I can disguise my coverages.

just watch cook and see what the coverage is. Does he go out and up? Is it cover two? Does he come down or does he go straight back, cover four? Do you go out and towards the center of the field for like a cover three, cover one type of thing? You could just key in on him because you know he's going to be playing deep. You'll never come low. I think with this combination, you get some of that experience with just the Spags aspect of it. You get the Super Bowl experience. You get some of his growth from being an okay spot starter role-playing young player into a plus starting safety. So, yeah, I think he would be good for Caleb Downs. I think if you, the other part of this, though, is if you do draft Caleb Downs number 10, you are banking on him being good no

matter who's next to him. I think that's part of it too, because otherwise, if you need a guy that's good next to him, you could find that a little later in the draft. That's fair. And I do agree with you on that because, you know, like John Harble says, if you're in the first round, you're drafting guys that you, if all works out, you could see wearing a gold jacket. That's your vision as an organization. Now, for me, I think back to when Joe Burrow was drafted. And obviously, he was drafted to be the Bengals starting quarterback. That was never a question even when he was drafted. And if you had, and if there were any questions, Andy Dalton was released exactly one week later. So Joe Burrow was the starting quarterback. He was more than ready, even though it was a

tumultuous offseason, very abnormal from the norm. So the one thing, though, that I kept tearing throughout that season, and it made sense to me, was the Bengals backup quarterback was Brandon Allen. And Allen did perform admirably after Joe Burrow got injured. But Brandon Allen wasn't the most serviceable experience backup for Joe Burrow to learn from. And so the point was, what if Borough had a better quarterback to learn from when he made a mistake? You know, that he was still only a rookie.

I mean, now he's come such a long way since then, obviously. But I feel like for Caleb Downs, if you draft him but don't sign a veteran in free agency at the safety position, you have Jordan Battle who has come on strong and that's fine. But aside from him, there's so much unproven experience at that safety position to where I think, if you do sign a guy like Brian Cook and you draft the guy in Caleb Downs, that's a veteran right there. already in the room for a guy who was expected to be great to learn from a guy who has won pro football's ultimate prize twice. Yep. Yeah. I think you really can't overstate some of the some of the Super Bowl experience that Brian Cook has and what it can bring to a team. And I think

you are right about where can you see Caleb. To me, you mentioned that. Could you see your first round pick wearing a gold jacket. To me, so far out of the guys I've watched, Caleb Downs feels like a guy you could where he, you draw some lofty comparisons when you watch him. I think I brought up Brian Branch, who's been very good for the Detroit Lions as a playing a lot of different positions with them, kind of similar size. He went a little bit later because I think some of the size and athleticism questions, but he's proven to be an all pro for them. I saw somebody also do like a Bob Sanders one. And to be Bob Sares, one of the most underrated players of the 2000s. He was only healthy for two years, really, if his prime, first team all

pro both years, defensive player of the year, one of those years. And in between those two years, got hurt, came back, Colts won a title behind their defense with him coming back and being the, you know, best player, maybe you can talk about Frini and Mathis, too, on that defense. So, very good player um i to me just really just a really good safety i think there's a there's a question about how much value does a safety provide you at 10 but um i don't think that's what we're going to get into too much here with uh Caleb downs and Brian cook and I'm yeah there are there any other safeties that you think of maybe more in the bangles type of price range that you would like to see them go after if Brian Cook exceeds what they want,

like let's say just whatever team offers him a ton of guaranteed money up front. They just can't match that. If there's any other safety that I would go after. I mean, there's Cameron Curl, who's very experienced. It comes from a good Rams defense. There's, I'm going down the list of PFF's free agent rankings when it comes to safeties. There's, and see, here's the thing.

too. Like, I get it. There's Kevin Byard who could be a good, I mean, he was a very good player last year for the Bears. Gabriel Peppers is interesting, has played in the AFC North before. I don't really know how high his ceiling is. I feel like he hasn't really panned out. Jalen Thompson from the Cardinals, Reap Blankenship will be a good, would be a good signing from the Eagles. That's a good one. Harrison Smith's a veteran. I know he's on the down, the back nine of his career, but Harrison Smith's one of the best safeties of this generation. So there are a lot of names out there, Mike, that I'm mentioning that I'd be interested in. But for me, when I think of, I'm going to keep going back to Brian Cook because I just feel like that's a good place to start. I feel like when it comes to rebuilding this defense, when it comes to bringing in a player who's a veteran, who's a leader, who's a winner, that's the kind of guy that I envision for this Bengals defense. And I think another angle to this is, you know, we talk about Caleb Downs.

What about Jordan Battle? You know, Jordan Battle has, I think he's always had the potential and the chance to be a really good player in the NFL. And I think we saw that in glimpses last year. He had a pick against interceptions in the first two games in the regular season. I'm trying to think he had it. I think he had another pick against Baltimore in week 15. I'm just naming plays off the top of my time. my head here, but we've seen him shine. We've seen him. I think he had another pick against

Pittsburgh. So we've seen him really come on at times throughout his first three seasons. But what can a guy like Brian Cook do for a guy in Jordan Battle who's obviously entering a big year, contract year? I just feel like there's so, there's just such an immeasurable amount of value that can come for battle having a guy like Brian Cook. Now, if you'd do go that route, then maybe you're not going to draft Caleb Downs if you feel comfortable with Cook and Jordan Battle together. I think with battle, he shows those flashes. To me, he's a little bit too inconsistent.

I think we're at that point of his career where we can kind of say, yeah, he'll show you some of the interceptions, some of the plays that are highlight reels. God, a long low light reel, too, I think. You think of the Chicago game where. could have just tackled the guy and forced a 50-yard field goal from a kicker who missed earlier than the day. He doesn't really wrap up. I think that leads up to some of this.

He likes making the big play, but sometimes you need the consistent play and not the big play. I do think he would be much better suited if he was not the best safety on the team. If he was kind of more of a role player rather than a, you know, he was a better player than Gino Stone last year. and if he's playing next to Brian Cook, he's probably not the best safety back there. At least you're not paying Brian Cook to be giving you Geno Stone-type performances. So does it put him a little bit more into the role he's more comfortable in

where he gets to play in the box more, gets to be hit guys, be physical, be violent. I think that suits him a little bit better. But yeah, for me, I don't know if it would fully unlock him into being a star safety just because I think there's just some inconsistencies to his game. And I'd love to be proven wrong. but I'm not sure those they'll improve, but how much do they improve?

Jordan Battle, to me, has always seemed like a guy. If he was the worst member of your secondary, you would be very happy. He'd be like, yeah, he's going to give you a highlight play here and there. He's going to take the ball away. He can make some big hits, be a guy that does it in excels at his role. And I think that could be the case if you signed Brian Cook and maybe upgrade the nickel a little bit. but if he's your third best member in the secondary, now you have issues because the third best member of your secondary

shouldn't be a roller coaster from down to down. I think he's valuable. I just don't know if he's a guy that I would be thinking, when Caleb Downs gets you at 10, thinking, ah, we've got Jordan Battle. So how are we going to make this all work? I think there you would just go, yeah, Jordan Battle. Would you like to play a little bit of dime linebacker?

Would you like to learn a little bit of the big nickel and provide yourself a role in these three safety sets? But, yeah, I don't think that I'm dissuaded personally from drafting Caleb Downs because you have a free agent safety and Jordan Battle. So I agree with you. If Jordan Battles not this team's best safety, I think that's better for him. I think it's better for the Bengals defense overall. And other names, too, might keep going down the list of the athletics, free agent rankings and safety. You got Alohi Gilman from the Ravens, and we obviously remember from that pick six in the fourth quarter

when the Bengals played the Ravens in Cincinnati. You've got Tony Jefferson veteran, been around a long time with the Chargers, veteran of Jesse Minter and the Ravens and Chargers. So you got a solid option there. And then if I keep going down the list, I'm seeing Jalen Hawkins from the New England Patriots would be very okay with that. So there are definitely a lot of options. It's not in the price range for Brian Cook and the Bengals.

But for me, I think, again, if you're trying to rebuild this defense, if you're trying to go all in and you're trying to win a championship, you got to be willing to spend maybe just a little bit outside of your comfort zone. Now, what's interesting is Kobe Bryant is listed as a safety in some of these rankings, but pro football reference has enlisted as a corner. So what does that mean? And if you know what, you can play both positions, that could be an even better thing for the Bengals.

We'll get into that conversation coming up next right here on the Bengal Squad Show. Today's edition of the Bengals squad show is brought to you by a fan duel. If you've ever wanted to experience the NBA finals live and in person, fan duel is giving you the chance to turn that dream into a reality with their NBA sweepstakes. Here's how it works. Use your profit boost on any NBA future and you'll automatically be entered for a shot to win an NBA finals trip for two. That's right.

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Visit fan duel.com to get started. 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 Fan Duel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Mike Santagina, Alex Frank with you on the Bengals Squad Show on this Tuesday, February 24th. So we talked about Brian Cook, who played on the Bearcats College Football Playoff team back in 2021. Kobe Bryant did as well, the Jim Thorpe Award winner as college football's best cornerback. He was tremendous in his time at Cincinnati. And so far with the Seattle Seahawks, he has had, had a very, very solid career.

His first four seasons, he has played in 58 games, start at 34, has seven interceptions, one return for a touchdown that was back in 2024. He has 227 career tackle, 17 career passes, defense. Mike, when you look at a guy like Kobe Bryant, I know the Bengals already have a solid corner and DJ Turner, but if you add a guy like Kobe Bryant, that gives you two very solid corners,

and it's going to make it very difficult for quarterbacks and wide receivers to connect in games in 2026 when they played the Bengals. Bryant has, he's really been a safety of the past two years. I think he was more of a corner when Pete Carroll and in college when Pete Carroll was there for his first two seasons. Kind of felt out of favor, too, when he was a corner. Only started eight games over two seasons when he was playing corner for Pete Carroll and then became pretty much a full-time starter with Mike McDonald at the same. safety position. So I would struggle to put him back at corner, I think, where he had those issues with Pete Carroll, where he got kind of played off of the field. I mean, you draft Devin Witherspoon and Tariq Woolen. It's hard to maintain your spot on the field because those are some really

good corners. But being able to be flexible and play some safety, I think it does provide you with the ability to get into some of those three safety sets I kind of talk about with battle, where you would feel very good about playing a big nickel with Kobe Bryant kind of playing that nickel spot there because he's done it before rather than just taking Brian Cook who doesn't play there as much and asking him to try to play man coverage on a slot receiver. But yeah, I don't think I would want him playing corner mainly if I was picking him up for the Bengals. Just because when he won a Super Bowl, when he's played his best, he's been at safety. He's been playing deep with Jordan Love, Jordan Love, no, Julian Love back there.

So, yeah, with him, I also kind of wonder a little bit, that Seattle defense to me, especially the secondary, is stacked. You think of Nickyman Worry, Julian Love, Torek, Wollin, Devin Witherspoon, all these dudes, are incredible players. I think a little bit, does Bryant slide a little bit through there on, you know, I kind of brought up with Jordan Battle, or Jordan Battle if he's your third best defensive back, I'm not, you know, excited, but if it's, if he's your worst defensive back, like, you can have a great defense with that? Can Kobe Bryant at safety, which you've only seen

for two years under Mike McDonald, be a guy that you feel pretty good about being your second best defensive back in the room or third best defensive back in the room? Or is he more of a guy that he makes an excellent cog in a machine, but he can't really be the engine, is what I think, with him, where that would be something I'd have to look for. He's a really interesting player, though just because of the corner to safety move but i do think there's and this comes with you know his expected contract there's more questions than with brian cook where brian cook feels like a easy one-to-one move coby bryant kind of feels like kind of got to squint just a little to figure out exactly how it's going to work for the bengals rather than where i saw with brian cook where i think

like you just take a look at that and think yeah that's that's that's going to that's going to end up working out for the Bengals, most likely. So Kobe Bryant did make the move to safety prior to 2024. His last two seasons, his overall PFF grade is 72.7. He had a PFF run defense grade in the last two seasons of 80.9. So you like that. Now, ideally, you don't want your corner, in this case, your safety, having to be a great, or your best tackler.

If he's a great tackler, that's great. If he's your best act, for that's an issue because then the guys up front aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. So the athletic has said that he got his career back on track in 2024. It was a key starter on the Seahawks Super Bowl defense, which, as you mentioned with guys like Julian Love, Tarek Woolen, Devin Witherspoon. I mean, that secondary was loaded with great players. The Athletic said this is an article written by Daniel Popper who gave his top 150 free agents. His corner traits show up when he is carrying vertical routes and driving on routes underneath.

So he has those cornerback traits, but he has made them move to safety. And I would think the Bengals would honor that and not make him move back to corner, especially when you consider they have DJ Turner. They have Josh Newton. Now, again, I still think their cornerback room is not completely settled when it comes to the Bengals. But if you bring in a guy like Kobe Bryant, you know, if you let him show that versatility. Now, his contract projections three years, $30 million, would the Bengals be willing to spend that money? I'm not sure. We talked about that in the last segment. But Kobe Bryant

has that winning pedigree, and he has that lockdown nature to him, that regardless of where he plays, that could be a huge boost to this Bengals secondary that needs one. Yeah, definitely. And like Cook, you come with the Super Bowl championship experience. So I think that obviously gives you a little pay upgrade and gives you a little bit more suitors out there. You can see even when the Bengals lost their Super Bowl and went to a fantasy championship game, some of their free agents suddenly became a little bit more of a hot commodity than they were coming in, thinking of like Von Bell signing with the Panthers and some of these other players that left and were quickly picked up elsewhere.

But yeah, with Bryant, I just think I kind of squint a little bit. I don't think three years, 30 million is what it used to be because the cap keeps going up. That's probably more like what 8 mil per year was a couple years ago, rather than thinking what 10 mil type contract would have been a couple years ago. Because Jesse Bates, if you think about that, he's not signing that same deal, which was always the case to make is that when you sign these guys early, the cap keeps going up. So, you know, it's only going to end up looking better over time.

It's not like you sign that guy unless he really turns into a pumpkin afterward. You're not going to sign a guy and then look at that contract and go like, oh man, look at all these other guys that we, you know, that are getting paid now that we could have paid instead and just, you know, ate the sunk cost. Yeah. With Kobe Bryant, I'm interested, but I do have just a couple of questions here and there where I also think, comparing him to, like, Cam Curl. I think that Cam Curl showed that he can do this in a couple different spots with both

Washington and Los Angeles, showing he can be a key member of a high-ranking defense where I think the Seahawks defense was incredible. I think the Rams defense was not too far behind. I think he did it with a little bit less talent around him, where you think of some of those Rams defenders. Do they have a corner as good as Devin Witherspoon? I don't think so. Do they have a corner as good as Tarek Wollin? That's where it's like, I also don't know about that one. And then I think of Nick Eamon Worry and Julian Love, it's like, do the Rams have comparable players at those spots? I don't, that's where I don't know.

And I also think you look at Mike McDonald, maybe the best defensive play caller in the entire NFL, does that help or hurt you if you're a free agent, where you're now going moving from Mike McDonald to Al Golden, where even the biggest Al Golden fans are going to tell you there's a pretty big difference between those two as defensive play callers, I would think. So, yeah. And Al, get him in. into the right place. Can he press the same buttons that McDonald was pressing to get the best

out of Kobe Bryant? Those are all questions right. And that one goes to Brian Cook as well, just because Spags is an all-time defensive coordinator. Can he press those same buttons to get the best out of these players? I think that's where you would have to have this conversation inside the house. And just like, how do you plan on using these guys and watching and seeing and talking to them? You know, I remember in 21, wherein the Bengals signed a lot of free agents like Trey Hendrickson, Mike Hilton, Larry Ogun, Joby. And what you're saying, when you go from a guy like Mike McDonald to Outgolden now, it was that way in 21 with going from whomever, particularly Trey Hendrickson,

going from Dennis Allen to Lou Aniruma. And I don't know if we talked about this a lot of the time. Maybe we did. But it was also because Joe Burrow was heavily recruiting these guys to come play for the Bengals. So again, when you talk about an overall football team, it's getting these guys to come play for Joe Burrow and the Bengals. Now, that was then. I'm not sure what's going to be like now.

You know, I do think Joe Burrow, and I say this, I'm not sure how I say this, but to me, he's kind of, I mean, that swagger that he always has, I'm not sure if it's totally been there in spades like it was in 21 and 22, and maybe it can get back. And maybe that's why a lot of players

signed with the Bengals this all season and because of the belief they have in Joe Burrow, and I think league wide, there is that belief that he will get it back. And that's where if you're the Bengals, you can't just settle for, well, we just need to be an average defense because then you're only going to go after average players. You need to set the bar high like you did five years ago and go out and get great players.

So then you're more than just an average defense. And if average is what you get, then I guess fine. You can probably still go to the playoffs. But for me, when it comes to a guy like Kobe Bryant, I think, yes, if he has converted to a safety, which it appears he has, you can also win big with him and you can also get a good return on investment. But I also wonder if you're going to go attack free agent, if you're going to go attack the safety position free agency, which I'm all for doing, what does that leave a cornerback room with a guy like DJ Turner and a second spot on the outside? slot corner. What about the outside corner on the second on the other side of the field? I think it's fair. Dax did move, I think, to almost strictly playing outside corner last few weeks when the defense was better. We've talked a lot about it. Was it better? Or did they just

face the murderers row of Pro Bowl quarterback Shador Sanders, Jacoby Brissette, Quinn Ewers down that stretch where that's where you have to kind of figure that out for yourself? They probably, it's probably a little bit of both, right? Like, they probably, I were a little bit better, but they also did face the easier opponents during that stretch. I think Dax Hill makes it interesting, where I feel pretty good about him. I don't feel exceptional because we haven't seen it long enough. He had his struggles at outside corner, especially against the Patriots. I think that gave him a lot of, that game gave him a lot of issues.

You can think of that one drive where he picks up two DPIs to keep the drive alive and I think gives up the touchdown all on the same drive, which also makes you think, like, Well, at least it all happened at once. Get that out of your system. But, yeah, he makes it interesting because you could go for kind of a nickel-only guy. Like right now, they re-signed Jalen Davis. And I wouldn't feel incredible about Jalen Davis being my nickel corner. I wouldn't feel terrible either.

I would feel kind of similar to battle, where I'm like, that should be your worst member of your secondary, I think, where everybody else is uplifting him and making his traits that. he's good at shine versus him being, you know, the watermark, the average player of your secondary, where I think he is the worst of the corners, but I don't think he's a guy that you have to 100% upgrade on. If you upgrade elsewhere, I think it helps you. So it just makes you interested to see, would the Bengals go after a guy? Because they can. They can go after outside or inside. So you go after like an Alante Taylor who's strictly an inside corner or a guy, we have mentioned quite a bit in Tariq Wollin.

You go for Tariq Wulin and just try to have a guy that matches, and I think Tariq Wuling would match really well with DJ Turner and that they're both speed freaks, sure, but Woolett's huge and Turner's not. So now you've got two great corners on the outside and you can put Turner on these shifty, smaller, fast receivers and you can have Tariq Wulin kind of take on the big monsters that might give Turner some issues at the catch point. That might be out of the price range too. I'm not exactly sure what Woolen's expected to get.

But it just opens you up by having Dax Hill able to play both inside and outside. And I think we're going to talk a little bit about it with the draft, too, opens you up so that you can really go anywhere with this corner for your last corner. You know that D.J. Turner is going to be a starter. I think we both know Dax Hill is going to be a starter, especially you pick up his fifth year option unless something crazy happens, like you end up signing Tariq Wulin and then one of these high-end corners and the draft beats him out at the nickel spot as the third corner, but you're expecting

Dax Hill to be a starter. So where do you go for that third spot? You've got a guy on the roster that's okay. It kind of feels, like I said, I think Davis probably a little bit lower, but it is similar to me to battle where he's not going to stop me from drafting a corner or signing a corner. Similar, a battle isn't stopping me from drafting a safety or signing a safety. But he also makes it so I don't feel like I am forced to sign a corner or draft a after a corner. If it doesn't fall away, you don't need to force it. Like you end up in the

second round. You don't need to go, yeah, all our guys are taken, we've got a third round grade on this guy. Let's just take him at 42. Like, I don't think you have to do that because you have a guy that you feel at least okay about in Jalen Davis. So Jalen Davis is interesting. I mean, he's been here since 2020, which is remarkable. But again, you can't just say, well, we resend Jaila Davis, we're fine. No, you can't do that. You got to have an talent infusion on defense. You bring up Tariq Wollin, who's been one of my favorite player since his rookie season. I feel like he was the best rookie no one really talked about because how good

sauce Gardner was. By the way, that contract projection, Mike, according to the athletic, four years, $76 million. So again, would the Bengals be willing to spend that money on a corner? I don't think so because I think they're thinking, okay, DJ Turner, Dax Hill, you know, we'll see what happens with that third corner spot. But if they do spend it, I think they're. be a mixed reaction of why would they spend that much money on a corner. But at the same time, if you need help with that position, you get that veteran in the room,

hey, you know what? There you go. Now also that could, in fact, impact DJ Turner's contract extension, which hopefully he will be receiving this offseason. Speaking of corner, I got a name for you, Mike, in our final segment that is in the, who is in the draft, who is going to be picked very high. And if the Bengals do draft him, would you be happy with that? Plus, we'll talk about our biggest combine storylines going into this week before we get to Thursday show, which is going to be a night show Thursday night and about 7 or 730 with Coach Art Fulero joining us.

We'll get back to that conversation next right here on the Bengals Squad Show. Closing out a Tuesday afternoon edition of the Bengals Squad show. We are live on the Lockdown Bengals YouTube channel and this podcast will be available anywhere you listen to Lockdown Bengals hosted by James Rapine and Jake Liscoe who works. in Indianapolis for the Combine this week. Mike, you mentioned Caleb Downs as your biggest storyline going into the Combine this week. But for players, coaches, and members of the organization currently with them, Caleb Downs, not yet. What are you most wanting to get out of this week as a Bengals fan from the Combine with the current organization? With the current organization, the players on the team going into the combine, just

But just say we'll call it like as the team currently stands, personnel-wise, what do you want to most to get out of it? Me personally, I want to see enough guys test well that I feel good no matter what at 10. I think that's where I go where I don't want to see Caleb Downs and Sunny Stiles, like both tests poorly. Nobody's expecting to go top 10 now or something, which to me is probably an overreaction. But, you know, just seeing that.

And then you're like, oh, boy. But this guy tested well, but most people thought he was a second rounder going into the week. Now does he go 10th? That's where I think that's the frustrating storyline for me. And it's also like, to me, I also think just like negative outcome where I think like these guys test poorly. And now the Bengals may not take them at 10.

So who are they going to take at 10? So who are they going to take at 10 and does it rise up a guy and name names? But does it just rise up a guy that maybe you've got a second round grade on who tested well? That would be frustrating. I'd be worrying. But if you have a bunch of guys that do test well in the top half of this draft, now you feel pretty good. Because testing is not everything, but it is something that I think gives you a little bit of risk assessment, where if a guy tests well, the risk on taking him is a little bit lower.

If he tests poorly, you kind of go back. you see, like, is he a bad athlete? Was it a bad combine prep? I talked about work ethic with that. What caused that? Usually, it's not a great thing to test poorly. I mean, you see guys all the time that make it work. Orlando Brown on this team as a Pro Bowl player,

and he had one of the worst combined performances of all time. So, yeah, I think I'd like to see a lot of the guys that are mocked to the Bengals right now test really well. I don't want to see, I mean, the only one I can think of that maybe I'd like to see test, okay, Not bad, but just okay, would be like a Ruben Bain where he's expected to go like top three right now. And if he tests like, oh, that was welcoming. And David Bailey tested much better or something. And Bailey ends up going higher, which I think is what some people have said now. They might go higher.

Does that leave you Ruben Bain at 10? Yeah, take advantage of that. But then I think of the guys that have been going to 10, some of these corners, some of the safe. Caleb Downs, Sonny Stiles, Peter Woods, maybe even Caleb Banks, etc. there are all these guys that are possibilities at 10. I would like to see most of them test well because I want to be able to pick at 10 and not worry about the guy I'm taking in the top 10 of this draft, having some big risk red flag in his profile.

So you went something kind of 30,000 foot view overall picture for the combine. That's fine. And I think testing does matter because you want to have as much information as you can. Now, ultimately, those numbers don't tell the whole story, but they do tell a good part of it. For me, Mike, it's linebacker. Are the Bengals going to attack the linebacker position in free agency or the draft? Because I get it. Barrac Carter and Demetrius Knight are projects, and I get that maybe they can be developed.

But if you're trying to win a Super Bowl this year, I'm sorry, they can't be your starters. week one. They can't be. You need some competition. Whether that means you go out and sign a guy like Devin Lloyd, or whether that means you go out and you draft Sunny Stiles or you draft another linebacker like Arvill Reese, although I think he'll be gone before the Bengals pick number 10. You have to be better at that position because the way that this position, which was a strength of this defense in 21, 2, and 23, it is completely falling off. I mean, they can't tackle.

They can't cover in passing. They struggle against the run. Like, yes, they make plays. But I feel like it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time, which is good. But you kind of do that when you're trying to execute the fundamentals. And so I think I want to see what the Bengals do with that position. Like when Duke Tobin has asked him a linebacker today,

I quite frankly want to hear what he has to say about it. Because this linebacker group right now is just not good enough. Yeah, sometimes it's hard to tell where it's going to go based off of the press conferences because I think of last year, I think Duke Tobin said something about like, yeah, you've got to be able to get off the ball, you've got to have size, you've got to be able to have a couple of moves in your pocket to rush the pass or whatever. They spend the first round pickage, Mara Stewart, who I'm not sure had the moves to rush the passer. And a lot of times, there's also some of those coach speak where it's like, yeah, we like the guys in the room.

Because they are trying to thread the needle, right, of give you some information, but also you can't make your players upset. They're trying to thread that needle. And maybe a lot of people are saying, hey, who cares if they're upset? Like, I should light a fire under them. But that just seems to be the way it goes. So to me, if Duke to, hopefully when Duke Tobin is asked about linebacker, he does say something more to the effect of, we like the guys we have, but we sure, but we're not going to skip an upgrade.

We're not going to, you know, we're not going to pass up a guy that we think will change this defense at 10 overall or in free agency or whatever. You brought up some interesting names for linebacker. I do wonder, we talked about the price conversation a lot. I hope they proved me wrong. I hope they signed Brian Cook and Devin Lloyd. And we're not having this discussion anymore. That'd be great.

They go after some of the prizes. But I think they are maybe more in the market of hopefully your linebacker coach coming from New Orleans, giving you a boost on a to Mario Davis one-year contract where he doesn't seem happy in New Orleans, might want to just go try to join a defense, chase a ring. He's probably good for the young linebackers on the team. I don't think he stops you from drafting any linebacker even at 10. overall, but I am on your side of all of this where I think if you go into next season with Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter as your linebackers, you're basically hoping the

defense fixes itself on a hope and a prayer. You're not making a real effort to fix it, where that was probably to me the biggest issue of this defense the entire season, and there were a lot of issues on defense, but that to me was the biggest issue. And if you make no effort to fix that, where maybe you draft a guy, another guy in the fourth round or something. And that's the only change you make. That to me is not taking this serious. You're not actually making a real effort to change the linebacker group at all. I think you have to bring in a guy that is very likely going to take one of those starting spots. Whether that's Mario Davis or maybe just look around, I don't have the linebacker

list in front of me, but I know Davis's free agent. I think there's some other guys at linebacker that are interesting that aren't out of their price range. I'll give you some names right here. I mean, to catch you off there. But Nicobi Dean's interesting. I know he was injured for summer last year, but he's a veteran, had a great 2024 season. Leo Chanel from the Kansas City Chiefs.

I mean, he was a stalwart on those great Chiefs defenses. You keep going down the list and you see, this is according to PFF's top 250 free agents for this upcoming free agency period. I keep going way to do. Quay Walker, I think he's a free agent as well. interesting. He's interesting to me. Kind of some red flags with him. I just remember he, you may remember this. He got ejected from the last game of the

2020 season. Yeah. And I, I feel like that may be his continued. Maybe I'm wrong. So don't quote me on that. Bobby Wagner, older guy, but as solid as they come, I mean, he's going to be wearing a gold jacket one day for all. I'm concerned. You mentioned to Mario Davis, another guy, solid linebacker for many, many years. I mean, he's 37 years old. So I do kind of worry about that. Alex Anzolone is another really interesting player, Mike, from the Detroit Lions. He's been so good, middle of that defense.

He's also a good leader, which I like. If I keep going down, I'm seeing... I think a lot of these guys also, they kind of played interesting roles on their teams, where Nacobi Dean got to play next to Zach Bond, got to play behind Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter, and kind of insulated, where Bond kind of took the hardest coverage stuff from him, and he also got to play relatively clean. He's light.

So if he plays behind B.J. Hill and T.J. Slayton, or if you bring back D.G. Reader or whatever you end up doing in free agency, can he give you that same level of production? I do think the Eagles are moving on. You drafted Jihad Campbell in the first round last year. Yeah. So he has to see the field, and I think he's a linebacker, and I think the Eagles think he's a linebacker based off how they played him pretty much this entire season. So he should be available. I don't think they're going to make some last ditch effort for us. him. Chanel, maybe the chiefs do make a last-ditch effort for and he ends up staying. He's also interesting in the opposite way.

Where I actually think that Kobe D and Leo Chanel would work very well together, where Chanel is big. He's a monster against the run. He's going to go thump guys. He plays really well coming downhill. I think would fit very well into Demetrius Knight's role, where he asks him to play on the line of Grims a little bit. He's a little thicker than Knight.

He's a little bit more violent. Whereas I think with Dean, you would kind of put him more in the Carter role, where you're trying to keep him clean, you're trying to let him take some coverage assignments. I think they'd work well together because they kind of fit each other's weaknesses, right, at the linebacker level. I don't know if they would go and sign both those guys, but I've always thought that was interesting where they are middle of the pack-free agents,

but they would kind of work really well together if you combine them. We'll see on how much they get, but yeah, they're both interesting to me, where if you signin-all, to me that signifies, okay, maybe Carter will play some snaps, but I think he's going to take Knight's role. And if you sign Dean, I kind of think the opposite. Where I'm not going to put Nikobi Dean on the line of scrimmage and ask him to take on tight ends.

I'm going to hope he's not taking on a ton of blocks. So maybe that means Carter is seeing a reduced snap, and Knight is going to continue being used out there. Or maybe you sign a guy and draft a guy, and neither one of these guys are seeing the field. But that would be very aggressive from what I think of with the Bengals, right? where I hope so. I hope they are willing to do that much,

where they're willing to still draft Sunny Stiles at 10, even after signing Leo Chen, or DeCobie Dean or DeMario Davis or whoever. I think Davis is the most likely where you sign him and you draft a guy just because you know you're not having Davis for more than like a year, maybe two years. Whereas those other guys, you're probably signing him,

thinking that's going to be a player playing a lot of snaps on this team three years down the line. This is Al Golden's position. He was the linebackers coach on the Bengals Super Bowl team. He developed Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt. My hope is that he's not thinking, well, I did it with them. I can do it again with Carter and Demetrius Knight. No, you have to know, these guys are not your long-term linebackers.

Maybe Demetrius Knight is. Barrac Carter is not. Again, I think they could be good players. I just don't see it. And you have to have more talent at that position. Rapid fire questions, Mike, real quick. before we wrap up today's show. How confident are you in the tight end room right now?

Five out of ten. I think they've got guys that fit roles, Drew Sample can block. Mike Gassicki has really good chemistry with Joe Burrow. But I don't know how I feel. If Eric All was healthy, I would feel more like a six or a seven, where they have a guy that can kind of do both. But with him coming off that entire season missed from the surgery, I don't know where he's going to be.

I would not mind adding a tight end to this room, but I also, I don't expect it. I think it'll be an okay room, which is where I currently see them. So you think tight end could be in play this offseason as far as acquiring talent to make it better? Yeah, they went out to sign Noah Fant last year. I don't know why they wouldn't be willing to make another signing like that this year.

Consider that a tease for a Thursday night show. All right. And this question is contingent on what the Bengals do in free agency. but if they do enough at safety, if Mansour Delang is sitting there in number 10, do you take it? It probably depends on what else is there, right? But I don't think I'd feel bad about it,

unless they sign like Tariq Woolen in free agency, and then I'm thinking, all right, we might have gone overboard on the corner. Then you're great. Yeah, you're great, but we might have gone overboard on corner in that scenario. Yeah. But, yeah, I feel pretty good about it.

He's a pretty safe-looking, prospect depending on his way in and his height and whatever else with the combine, but it was a very good player. I haven't watched him just yet myself, but we look at a lot of the data. Really speaks to this relatively safe corner, which corner is one of the hardest positions, too, I think, drafted in the first round where a lot of these guys you think are safe end up busting, kind of like the Ohio State guy from years ago with Detroit, I think of in the top five. Oh, Jeffrey Okuda? Yeah, Jeffrey Okuda.

Everybody said, like, oh, Kudas the safest guy in this draft. and then he was a terrible. Yeah, right. But, yeah, I'd feel pretty good about it. I think it would take a certain draft, though, right? You said they shore up safety. So I assume this means you signed both Brian Cook and Camcrow for me to feel good about passing up to a little amount.

And, yeah, Sunny Stiles is gone because I think I would take him first just based off of need a little bit there. And do you feel good about defensive tackle? Or is Peter Woods and those guys gone? So, yeah. Depending on the draft, I would feel good about it. I think in general, just as a player, seems like a good prospect. So I'm always in favor of taking a good prospect rather than if you said, like,

how would you feel about taking Colton Hood at 10? We're not great. Feel like we force something here. You don't have forced anything. Not a terrible player, but, you know, more of a second round type. And all these players you're mentioning, Mike, like Rubin Bain and David Bailey and Peter Woods, like they're all great players, but you can't go into this offseason with a mindset of, well, regardless of what we do, we know we're going to get somebody great at number 10.

No, I don't want that mindset. I want the fact that they're going to attack free agency and then they can get potentially another difference maker, but they're not putting all their hopes and dreams on that player like they did with Schemore Stewart, like they did with Demetri's 9 Jr. And Barrett Carter this past season. Real quick, Dame Brugler and his top 100 prospects on Mansour Delane said this, quote, though he doesn't have elite strength or athletic upside, Delane is fluid to open and

has enough speed to stay in phase against either vertical or in breaking routes. He is instinctive in coverage and understands down and distance, which allows him to settle and close without any wasted or panicked movements. He allowed zero touchdowns and committed zero penalties in 2025. That is pretty good. Delane is easy to project as a starter regardless of scheme or alignment. That right there is probably the biggest endorsement anyone could give any corner going into the NFL draft.

Yeah, I think that's up there. You want guys that have elite speed if you take him at 10, but you got everything else? Yep. Makes up for a little bit. Absolutely. Bengals have a guy with elite speed. DJ turn around the four-toes. You did.

And he has come on really, really strong. At least he did this past season. Mike's antagonist at Bengals underscore Sands. You can catch him on Cincinnati Bengals talk with his film breakdowns. Also does those on his Twitter page. I'm Alex Frank and Frankie underscore Natty. We are back Thursday night, coach, our fellow. Lara will join us as we discussed tight ends.

Coach loves tight ends. He was a tight ends coach and won a Super Bowl ring as a tight ends. As a tight end room as it stands, where the Bengals could potentially find a diamond in the rough and free agency, perhaps in the NFL draft. I'm not saying spend a first route pick on a tight end, but in the second round, hey, maybe that's the route the Bengals go. They've done it before and it worked.

So there is that. That's coming your way on Thursday night. Bangal Squad is the twice a week long-in-form conversational supplement to the daily lockdown Bengals podcast podcast podcast. For more on how to become a member of the Everydayer Club, visit Lockdown Podcast.com slash every dayer. For Mike Sandtag and at Bangles underscore Sands, I'm Alex Frank and Frankie underscore 90. Have a great rest of your Tuesday. Have a great week. And we'll talk with you Thursday night on the Bengals Squad show right here on Lockedop Bengals and the Lockedop Podcast Network,

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