Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - BENGALS SQUAD SHOW: Shemar Stewart NEEDS to take a BIG leap in Year 2, how DEEP is the D-LINE?

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

If the Bengals' defense is going to be better this season, it's going to start up front. In particular, Shemar Stewart, last year's first-round pick, needs to make a big leap in his second season.   Alex Frank, Jake Liscow, and Coach Art Valero discuss the importance of Stewart having a much better second season after a much smoother offseason for the Bengals' first-round pick last year.   Stewart is part of a completely revamped Bengals' defensive line that some are saying could be the deepest in the NFL. How deep is it, exactly?   While the Bengals haven't exactly addressed linebacker by signing a linebacker, they have done a lot around Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. to put them in a better position to succeed. The guys discuss if the Bengals' approach will pay off this season.   Monday, the Cleveland Browns sent shockwaves through the NFL by trading Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams. Joe Burrow now won't have to face him twice a year, and the guys discuss the AFC North now that one of the game's biggest stars is out of the division.   Photo Credit: Sam Greene-Imagn Images   Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! 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...   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0l...   Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0...   Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-...   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!   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.   FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.   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.   Betterhelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.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.

I'm Alex Frank. His rookie season was filled with drama and disappointment. So what can we expect in year two from Shamar Stewart? You know what? That in the defensive line, you know, he almost goes unmentioned right now because of all the additions that they've had. There's always, hey, put up or shut up. Going unnoticed might actually be a good thing. Today, it's the Bengals squad. Everything Cincinnati Bengals every week. Breaking down all the big 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. I've been to have you with us on this Tuesday afternoon. June 2nd, 2026. It's the Bengals Live on Lockdown Bengals and the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast Network in America and the world, your team every day alongside Coach Arfallaro. I'm Alex Frank, Jake Liskill and Joe Goodberry.

busy recording tomorrow's episode of lockdown Bengals as we speak. We'll hope to have them back later this week. Coach is busy. He's preparing for a playoff game this weekend up in Columbus, the United Football League playoff semifinals, the UFLs, Orlando Storm, playing the DC defenders for a third straight week. We'll talk a little bit about that as this week progresses. But we begin today with the conversations surrounding Bengals second year defensive end, Shamar Stewart. Last year's first round traffic, coach, you said that he has gone a little unnoticed. this training or this off season, I said that that's probably a good thing. And you know why it's a good thing, coach? Because this year, he's not being asked to do as much. He's not being asked to be the number two guy behind Trey Hendrickson. And he clearly was not ready for that. If Shamar Stewart can just be a role player on this deep defensive line, suddenly he might actually be able to flourish this year. Oh, you know what? With the additions of the edge players that they have, and The two that are actually three that were actually still there, it's going to make for great competition.

But now the one thing that is Shamar Stewart is not probably going to get as many reps as because he's fighting with other people for a spot, for a playing spot, not necessarily a roster spot, but for a playing spot. You've got, you know, the young young man from Texas A&M coming in, You've got the new edition from Seattle. And you also got, hey, an oldie but a goody, that's now an older man there in Murphy on the other side. So there's going to be some great competition.

There's going to be some great competition. And I think Mr. Marst Stewart, you know, I was thinking about this on my morning walk this morning around Paycor Stadium before OTA practice got underway. And that is that you think about coach and you joined our show, middle of the season. We started the show in the season. But Shamar Stewart last year in the summer, you know,

he had just so many things happening for him. Contract drama. He was battling injuries then as the season unfolded, maybe because, and I don't know, this is true or not, maybe because he hadn't gotten on the field until a few days into training camp. So he was just not prepared for the role that the Bengals needed him to play on a very, very depleted defensive line

in terms of both talent, injuries, and whatever else you want to put in there. And when you don't have that normal period, after you get drafted, you come to the team in late April, you sign your rookie contract, well, at least hopefully you do in the case of Shamar Stewart. He didn't until late July.

When you're not on the field getting reps, instead you're ripping the front office and you're creating a pity party and whether it was his fault or not, however you view it, the fact that Shamar Stewart coach was not on the field throughout the off season last year, and by the time he was, he was not ready.

Then injuries happened. There were some small incremental improvements in the late part of the season. The fact is, he did not have a normal rookie season. But going into his second season, he's seen things. He says he's more calm. He's more peaceful. He's more prepared. And that stuff matters.

Oh, yeah, it does. You know what? And it's funny that his scenario sounds a lot like Trey Hendrickson's scenario from a year ago. You know, if you're not in camp, if you are not with your teammates, or you're now chasing that learning curve, that it really creates an issue for players. And because you're already behind the eight ball, they have added so much in the spring. And now they're adding it again in the fall to kind of review it all.

And if you're not there for the review process, even though you may have it down on notes, it's very, very difficult to get that game speed that you want to have. If you're in the building all the time, hey, your tempo is faster. You know the attitude in which the D-Line has and how fast they're working and how, you know, whatever the drills are, you're not learning new drills. It takes a lot. You know, you mentioned the phrase in the building a lot on this show coach, and I appreciate that. And you hear a lot of beat writers and other media members talk about in the building, the facility.

And I think any casual football fan can, you know, say, oh, God, stop saying it like that. No, it's true. Because when you're in there, when you're with your team, when you're in that environment, that climate, then you're more prone to being successful. Shemore Stewart last summer was working out at Texas A&S. I mean, there were crazy rumors going around that he could not play and go back to college and re-enter the draft this year again. That's how tumultuous the situation was last year. And whether you were on his side or not, the fact is the book should not be closed, coach, on Shemar Stewart.

He's only one season in the NFL. For me, for a first round draft pick and maybe even a second round draft, heck, maybe even a third. I'm giving him three years, three years to write the book. Because after three years, you pretty much know who he is. You pretty much know who a guy is. With Shamar Stewart, in this case, the traits and the potential are there. That's why Al Golden drafted him. He even said so as such last year.

Or why Al Golden wanted him, I should say. You could see some signs throughout the rookie season that he can be a disruptor. He can get to the quarterback. And this year, he has so much more preparation. and he has so much more experience. And he just has so much more of an infrastructure around him, coach, that is stronger and more fertile, for lack of a better word, that could make him a better and more impactful player on this defensive line.

Absolutely. You know what? It's a lot for everybody that's listening or watching. It's as if you get transferred to another place and you even take a higher level job, you think you understand because you've done it before. But now you get transferred. You've got to learn the building.

You got to learn the people you're working around. You have to learn exactly what your job entails. And if you're late coming in, you're behind the eight ball for a while. And if everybody else, the ones that you're competing with are ahead of you, they're going to shine a lot faster than you are because they understand the circumstances that they've just entered into. I mean, think about this. When you're a rookie, and I've never been in this situation,

but you've been around a lot of rookies in your coaching career, they're coming in later than everybody. They've got to get up to speed. Like, coach, what is that process like for a rookie when he gets drafted? When he comes in in late April and the off-season practices were already underway. What's that like? Like, how fast is that process for a rookie? Oh, well, you know what?

the first thing that they have to do is they have to come in and they're going to spend basically about two days just getting acclimated, getting physicals, getting conditioning tests, getting strength tests, because everybody wants to know where they're at. So that, your mind is focused on that. And yeah, you may sit in in a meeting, but what the meeting you set into, you have to remember, they covered that the night prior to coming into the meeting. and now they're doing the fine tuning of that particular meeting. So it's very, very difficult for anybody to come into the building.

That's why you have to, my hat's off to Joe Flacco and him coming in the week of, because he's a veteran and he understands it and he can adapt and win a football game. And it's tough, especially for a young guy. You're not even in the state. And that's why, you know what, it's really great now. that a lot of, especially the first round picks, you're already slotted on what you can earn. So I don't understand what the holdout is

because you're already going to get this amount of money because you were a 14th or, you know, 10th round draft, or excuse me, or the number 10th pick overall. You're already slotted. So you should be there. And it's important that you get in the facility in the building because you need to learn teammates, who your position coach is, who you're, you know, who the trainer is.

You know, you can just make the worst of them. The playbook. If you're not comfortable, your only comfortable part is playing on the field. But if you don't know what you're doing on the field, it's not very comfortable. You got to learn the playbook too. Absolutely. I mean, isn't that the most important thing? I mean.

Oh, no question. Because a lot of times, especially if you get like a. a if you get a free agent or a rookie, what they called an apple, we now call an orange. So you have to translate that in your mind. It's like if you go overseas, you have to learn the language. You really don't understand the language until you can start to think in that language. Then you become a native.

And when you're trying to compare apples and oranges, that's difficult. That's very difficult. And Shamar Stewart last year, some numbers, according to Pro Football Reference.com, Shamar Stewart last year played in eight games. He started five. He had one pass defense, one sack, 11 tackles combined, two tackles for loss, four quarterback hits. So again, not the greatest numbers.

But again, just think about his offseason, think about the injuries that he had. He missed a good part of the season early and then other parts in the middle. But we still should not give up on him. Because this year, what Shemar Stewart can be, coach, if he can just be an asset to the Cincinnati Bengals defensive line, a role player on the defensive line, learning from Boy Maffa, learning from Dexter Lawrence, Jonathan Allen. And even his former Texas A&M teammate Cassius Howell. Cassius Howell hasn't signed his rookie contract coach, but he's still out there practicing. That's a good thing. Absolutely. Shamar Stewart has so much more around him this year.

And it wasn't just him last year. Trey Hendrickson was supposed to be his mentor. Trey was in the same situation. Shemar Stewart was. He was holding out. I mean, how are he supposed to function as a player and a unit if your two best players that you're counting on aren't showing up for everybody else?

Correct. I mean, you know what? It's really odd that you have those situations. And having Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen in the, building is great because you know what their energy and the way that they handle themselves as pros is going to rub off on the young players on the miles murphy's on on jimar i mean shimar it's really going to help them out of this is how you go about your business because it's no longer the college we're going to go like my hair on

fire and cause a wreck it's now we have responsibilities and one of your responsibilities is to be there every day and that's your best ability is your dependability and when you're not there to absorb and to watch and you're now watching other players and you're hearing the coaches coach them up you have to put yourself in those shoes told us to say okay Coach mentioned this. I don't want to do that. So now you can work on it on the practice field with those things and not just depend on ability. The one thing is, is young players, whether you're a draft choice or a free agent,

you never want to give up on them. Why? Because they're young. They're energetic. They've got a lot more juice. And they're getting paid a lot less for your management. And you're waiting for them to bust on the scene. And so your first thing is, hey, how can I help in special teams?

How can I do this? I want a helmet on on Sundays. And that's what their goal is. Not fighting with management about how much money you're not making or what you are making, but hey, just get on the team. Negotiate it later, you know, or during the season. But get in the building and be a member. of that particular team.

And I think that's very important. I guarantee you, the Joe Burroughs of the world, even through his injury, he was in the building every day. He was. He was in the building every day. Yeah. And why? Because he's learning and he's watching and he's dissecting defenses as if he was going to play. And so when he came in, everybody's going, oh, okay, I wonder if he's healthy.

I wonder. And wow, that night and Thursday night, Thanksgiving, he lit it up. Yeah, because he was in the building. He worked. He did everything in his power to get on the field for that game, even though the Bengals were three and eight at the time. So basically, if you show up, you're going to get rewarded. No matter what you're going through, on the field, off the field, in the building,

show up because employees, employers will see that. See, pretty much the NFL and sports. media and I'm coming and realize this. It's just like everyday life. The same things apply. Show up and you know what? You'll be rewarded. So it's interesting with Shamar Stewart. I am not giving up on him. Jerry Montgomery was quoted recently saying, I'm not giving up on him, nor am I giving up on any of my guys. Those are my guys referring to his defensive line. And it's interesting. I was reading a tremendous article from his quotes there. Jeff Hobson Mangles.com. Jay Morrison wrote about Shamar Stewart and Sports Illustrated.

We haven't really seen what Jerry Montgomery can do as a defensive line, but you look at the defensive line many had in Green Bay, Rashon Gary, Kenny Clark, T.J. Slayton, who obviously was brought over to Cincinnati last year for a free agency. So Al Golden and believes in Shamar Stewart. If Stewart can take that second year leap, this defensive line is going to be really good. So, Coach, I'm going to ask you final question in this segment. What do you hope to see from Shamar Stewart this year? And what are your expectations for Shamar Stewart in year two?

My expectations are very, very high for him. Okay. Because he's got, he has all the tools, and it's the reason why they draft him one as a one. They know that the playing ability that this young man has. A hard time is when you're a young person, you don't know the expectations. You, it's like a high school kid that just turns 18. They want to be adults. Yeah.

And they're not mentally. And his situation is exactly the same. He came, he himself came in with some high expectations. But all the other stuff drug him down. Now he's on the field. He's comfortable. He knows his teammates. He knows how to rush the passer.

He knows how to play hard. Hey, now it's going to be a great test to see how he competes. during camp. And once you put pads on and let him, let him go, you're going to find out an awful lot about him. As you will, Miles Murphy, because you remember before Miles really started to ascend, he wouldn't even on the field.

And then all of a sudden he worked his way on, and then all of a sudden he didn't give it up. That's what Shamar has to do. Yeah, it took Miles Murphy former first round pick three years to really have that light bulb turn on. Now you're hoping Shemar Stewart first round pick can do that. in year two. Speaking of the Bengals defensive line, is the Bengals defensive

line the deepest in the NFL? That question discussed next on the Bengals Squad show. This episode of the Bengals Squad show was brought to you by Indeed, you know, there's workplace chaos. You got deadlines stacking up. Your inbox is overflowing and that one position, excuse me, you have to fill a still sitting open.

When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is the job for indeed sponsored jobs because they hope you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for, skills, experience, location. So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post. And here's a stat that says it all. So in this minute I've been talking to you, companies like yours have made 27 hires on Indeed. That's according to Indeed data worldwide. So if you're hiring,

spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with indeed sponsored jobs. Less stress, less time, more results. Sounds good, right? When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And right now, listeners at the Bengals Squad show will get a $75-sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast terms conditions apply. If you need a hire, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Don't forget to check out the Everyday or Club here at the Lockdown podcast. Never get your daily

lockdown Bengals. Fixed completely. free by joining the Everyday Air Club today. Start your seven-day free trial right now and get closer to your team without the interruptions. Click the link in the show notes or go to lockdown bangles. com to claim your free trial. And for more information on the Everydayer Club, visit lockdown podcast. com slash everydayer with Coach Arfallero.

I'm Alex Frank on the Bengals Squad show. The twice a week long-form conversational supplement to the daily lockdown Bengals podcast, now hosted by Jake Liscoe and Joe Goodberry. All right. Coach, Bengals, defensive line. Now, here's something I've got to bring up here. So one of my favorite things to do after the schedule gets released in mid-May is listen to the other squad shows here on the Lockdown NFL channel and see what they're saying

about their team. And I was listening to Lockdown Cowboys, Cowboys Squad Show earlier this week, Jeff Biggs, Glenn Stretch Armstrong, and Landon McCool. And Glenn was talking about, he used to be a coach, Coach Glenn Stretch Armstrong, who's talking about coach about the, there's no. nothing natural about football. I'm like, okay, what does this mean? He was talking about how the anxiety the players get, knowing that they're going to be involved in the kinds of collisions that are involved on the field. Is that accurate what he's saying, coach? Well, you know what?

It's part of the learning curve that young players, especially. I think when you're a football player, you sign up to play the game, a game that you played as a kid. So you know, there's going to be be collisions. So I don't know how much anxiety you get over that. But I do know the anxiety that they get when and they get frustrated that they're not winning all the time. But as long as you do your job, keep the quarterback in the pocket, if you're an offensive alignment, protect the quarterback at whatever means necessary, then you slowly learn. But I think that once players get into the season and they get that routine and they start to learn they learn how to study and they learn how to not just the plays but they study their opponents then they feel very very comfortable in in their

shoes basically um to where they feel really really good about it and i think the anxiety and the pressures that they build up is the pressure that they build up on themselves interesting They are so competitive and they are so driven to be the best, to be the best, not necessarily the best that they can be, that sometimes they kind of go haywire a little bit. And that's where the anxiety part comes up with them. And I think that other than that, you know, hey, they've been doing it a long time. coaches been doing a long time and you can pretty spot pretty much spot who's having a difficult time and the key thing is is a lot of the young guys excuse me they don't want to ask those questions

because they don't want to feel like they're dumb but they understand there are no dumb questions except for the ones you don't ask and get as much knowledge as you can so you feel very, very comfortable about doing your job. And I used to tell the guys all the time, you know what, you're not going to get a great job out of me. That is your job. So if you're looking for pen on the backs, you're not getting it from me. You know what? That is your job. Go out and do it the best you can. We'll dissect why it worked or why it didn't. And then hopefully you put it in your own mind. I got it. Now I feel it. Now let me try this. If you're going to experiment,

experiment and practice, not during the game. That's really interesting all those points you just made there, I feel like that directly applies to Shamar Stewart and the Bengals' defensive line. Jerry Montgomery and Shamar Stewart was saying recently that he never got a good job from Jerry Montgomery last year. Well, he got one this year. And you know why? From all that you just said, if you're prepared, you're not worried about getting hit.

If you're not prepared, then you start worrying about all these other things. And believe me, I've been there in other areas, so that all makes sense. As it relates to the Bengals' defensive line. I just think about Jerry Montgomery and the Bengals defensive line coach now going to the Bengals defensive coordinator. Just on quantity alone with the players they have up front, they're going to be able to do so much more than they were able to do last year. You're not going to hear the phrases, well, we're making it simpler. We're making it even more vanilla.

No, you're going to hear them saying, well, we're going to try this. We're going to try that. All these things to confuse opposing offenses. And then they're the ones that are up at night during the week, preparing to face the Bengals and their stout defensive line, which also may be a very deep defensive line. Yes. Well, absolutely. You know what?

The thing that both Jerry and Al are doing now during the OTA of Minicamp party is all these new body parts that came in, they are figuring them out. How fast they learn. What type of player are they? What kind of techniques they have that they brought with? them and how I can find to those, fine tune those to make them a better player. And that's the one thing a veteran always wants to learn. Why?

Because that lengthens his career. And it makes him a more valuable player. Young guys, they don't understand that yet. That, hey, so coaches usually those young players, you treat them like they're still in college. you know the older ones hey if you got something to say to them you're reading them with respect and you tell them something kind of off campus or via text or a individual meeting because you don't want to necessarily embarrass them in front of the whole group yeah i'm saying i i get that and i think when you look at the players that are at the disposal of jerry montgomery now and golden

you know what you have last year you didn't know if you were going to have tray hendricks You didn't even know if you were going to have Shamar Stewart. You didn't know what Miles Murphy could do. Now you know what Miles Murphy can do. And then, oh, by the way, you also got Boy Maffa, who has a Super Bowl ring from Seattle. You got a guy in Jonathan Allen who still has a very good love of the game. You love hearing that from a player. BJ Hill, maybe he had a down-year last year, but he still has some juice in him.

And then you start thinking about, okay, what can T.J. Slayton do with better infrastructure around him? What can Chris Jenkins and McKinley-Jackson can do with the, the better infrastructure on him. And then it's like, oh my gosh, I've got Dexter Lawrence to build around. I mean, like, night and day from where we were two months ago at this time. And you just think about all the things you can do. You can get complex. You can do stunts. You can do this. This is what you want if you're the Bengals defensive line. It's as deep as it's been in a long time, coach. And pass rush, as Duke Tobin says, and I'm sure any coach will say it, is king. Absolutely. I mean, you know what?

It does with a, if you can only rush four, then you can play coverage behind it. And you're going to get pressure on the quarterback. Unfortunately, a year ago, without all the tools that Jerry thought he was going to have, they didn't get the pressure from the outside. So everybody just kind of had to move around the big guys in the middle. Now you have to get pressure from the inside and pressure from the outside, and you can do a lot of different things. It took Kansas City a long time to figure out that, you know what, you can move this guy all over the place, and he can still be a viable threat, no matter where he lines up. Now, Dexter Lawrence is a bigger person.

He's probably stuck in the inside, but you never know with Jonathan Allen. You can put him on inside shade of the tackle now to rush the passer and make that guard work his feet. But if Dexter Lawrence is taken up two, you got one-on-one over here. And I think that plus that and all those young kids that had to play last year, they are developing. And now they have more competition. There's no greater competition than be penciled in number two when you were a starter a year ago. that is great competition that gets you up and gets you moving and plus if they all do that then at the end of the day now the front office has viable viable trade options because somebody's going to need a big guy in the middle

or a real good pass rush or outside and you can't hold them all you won't be able to keep them all. And rather than put them on practice squad or put them out there, somebody's going to snag them. So you might as well trade for somebody that you need, aka, I mean, possible linebacker, possible nickel. You could trade one of those big guys for that. This is why the Bengals went out and spent so much money on their defensive line because they knew they needed depth. In addition to talent, you need depth at that position. Guys are going to get nicked up during the season. They may have to miss a game or two.

Hopefully, not more than that if they do. But again, the quantity of players up front is going to be a huge benefit for this defense. Just that alone. But then you add in the talent level, excuse me, that you know Dexter Lawrence is, that you know boy Mafei is, that you know Jonathan Allen is, that you know other guys that you already have are. And oh, by the way, you bring in a guy in the draft second round cash. is Howell, SEC defensive player of the year. Al Golden and Jerry Montgomery, now we're going to

really see what they are going to do as defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. We didn't really see that last year. Now we're going to really see. But the pressure is also on them to deliver a very good defense. Absolutely. You know, I can see the Bengals doing in their base defense, you know, keeping one of those young guys on the field as that strong side outside linebacker, keeping in the box where he doesn't have to spread himself out. And now he's, he can rush from there. He can at least play the run from there. And you created a whole different element of your defense.

And that really makes it well because you've got good players on the field. Yeah. I mean, they need a talent infusion? They got it. They need to depth. They got it. I mean, I'm not saying that the Bengals' defensive line is of the caliber of the Rams, the Eagles, the Buccaneers, even the Texans, the Buccaneers and Texans, the Bengals' first two opponents.

There are teams with really deep defensive lines. I mean, look at what the Rams did yesterday. We'll get to that in segment four. The Bengals, though, at the very least, have the opportunity to say, hey, we know what those defensive lines can do. we can do that here too. That's a good feeling to have. Oh, without a doubt.

You know what? Here's the great thing about what they have with all of those players. They're probably going to say each game is about 60 to 65 plays. If each player in their rotation gets 30 quality, quality plays, then that takes some rush off of those other guys. So you're getting a wave of players. coming in and out like a hockey exchange to where you've always got some fresh skaters on the field. Hey, they can be, you can now put them in a situation where you've got guys not running out of gas,

especially early in the season when it's hot. But they can go and go and go and you've got waves of fresh bodies constantly coming after an offense where the offensive alignment aren't coming off the field. And that's an offensive line nightmare. When you have different players playing the same position but are totally different. And that makes it tough because now you're scouting, you're not just scouting one guy, you're scouting multiple guys. Given the offensive line nightmare, something this defensive line is finally going to be able to do.

And imagine it doesn't even have to involve Trey Hendrickson, a disgruntal Trey Hendrickson out and a fresh new batch of players that are really good in. But perhaps the biggest impact that this new revamped defensive line can make is on the two second year linebackers. That conversation next on the Bengals Squad Show. We're presented today by FanDuel. The NBA Finals are here and every possession matters. If you're looking to get even closer to the action, FanDuel has a great offer to get you started. And right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins.

That's right. you can turn $5 into $150 bonus bets just for getting started. I like using Fanduil during the playoffs because everything I need is right there in one place. You can check stats, trends, and matchups before making your picks, which makes the whole experience feel a lot more informed. Whether you're looking at player props or just following your favorite stars, it adds another level of excitement to every game. Plus, it's a really easy app to navigate,

and it makes playoff basketball even more engaging from start to finish. As a New York's fan, excuse me, as a New York Knicks fan, I cannot wait for the NBA finals to get underway tomorrow against the San Antonio Spurs, game one down in San Antonio. Right now on Fandual, game one, or excuse me, NBA Finals winner, I'm going to take the Knicks plus 160. NBA finals MVP, I'm taking Jalen Brunson at plus 195. So head to fandual.com to get started on your bets. Fandu'll play your game. There was a very interesting article written yesterday in the athletic by the great Paul Dana Jr. who does a tremendous job covering the Bengals for the athletic coach.

You have read it and you have a scrupulous sheet of notes. I have read it myself and I've got some quotes that we're going to analyze and dissect in it. Very good Monday morning read yesterday as I was listening to the first word with James Rupin. Congratulations, by the way. The James Rupin, Marissa Contepelli, and Jacob Tisset on the launch at their news. show on the launch of the new Sincy Crown Network with First Word, the working lunch with Jack Kremlin, and the two shows that Nat Jones hosts. That's going to be a tremendous endeavor.

I've been up every morning, coach, both mornings so far, listen to it. Truly fantastic what James and the crew are doing over there. Back to the Bengals linebackers, Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight. Now, like Shemar Stewart, you should not give up on that. If anything, you should be rooting for that, right? When you read this first quote to me from Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight, this is what stands out to me, okay, and why I'm rooting for them. So the Bengals didn't take a linebacker in the draft.

They did not sign a linebacker in that first big wave of free agency. They did sign, I forget his name, I don't have in front of me, Sway's Bowman or something like that. They signed him, not sending the world on fire. So essentially the Bengals are saying to Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. You're our guys. Okay, great. So here's a quote from Demetrius Knight Jr. Well, I actually really thought had a good training camp last year.

Quote, there's a ton of talk about the Bengals not sign a linebacker and that they're going with Carter and Knight. Continuing Knight, quote, we don't look at it because it can be hit or miss. There can be comments out there that bring you up and then two comments later brings you down. That's what this sport is. People have their opinions. Bring them on. We don't read them for mental health reasons. Then take this quote from Barrett Carter.

We were both in the fire together. Usually if you have a rookie out there, you are with a vet or alongside a vet. We were learning at the same time. I can speak for the both of us. We never saw a fullback. We never saw a quarterback under center. In college, that's just not where the game is right now. Coming into the league, you see that so frequently.

We both were trying to lean on each other with that. and get in the film room and try to give us an edge any way we possibly could come Sunday, end quote. Okay. Wow. That's, that's, that is an incredible indicting statement. Yes. Where college football is and the evaluation of these two young men, knowing that in the National Football League, and there's not a lot left, but when you're playing the San Francisco's of the world and they're playing with a fullback

and other teams are playing with the Ravens. The Rams, they're playing with fullbacks in the game. Pittsburgh. It is a different ball game. And to try to learn all that stuff on the run, especially when in training camp, your team doesn't operate with a fullback or the center underneath or the quarterback underneath center very often. So you are not really getting a healthy doleback.

of it. You're doing everything off of film, but you don't have that on the field experience of knowing how that affects your inside reeds. And when play action comes, are you sucked up so far? That could be very well of why overrouts always beat them last year because they were too close to the line of scrimmage. And so it's indicting to the evaluation process of him and of college football and where they've taken it. Well, they had to be up at the line of scrimmage because there was no pressure coming from the defensive line. So Algonaut was trying everything. But then the problem was they were still going to beat over the top because that blitz could not get home. But you think about the situation that Carter and Nate were in. So the Bengals decided to turn over

to them and bench Logan Wilson in the middle of the season. Okay, that's fine. but you still want to keep Logan Wilson around so they can learn from a veteran of Logan Wilson's caliber coach. You don't just trade him away. I mean, like, explain that logic to me. Hey, until you have another one in the building, you don't get rid of them. And the one thing is when you've got a veteran who's played a lot of football, you want him not necessarily trading, but you want him in the mix. and you can rotate him, and he can be a first and 10, second down or six or second down or six or less, a base defensive player.

And you don't get rid of them and all of a sudden say, okay, we're going to go with these two young guys. And we'll find out when you have other holes, they have a lot of other holes. And what surprises me is that when they came out of camp, they said, you know what, we're good enough to win. well it didn't happen and you traded away one of your leaders your other leader was you know in the contract dispute who did you have left to take this young group and excel them and get them to where they're now ascending and they're learning the game they didn't have anybody and so those those young kids were thrown literally to the fire all right so this are article to Paul Dinergenre. Those are great points there, Coach. I know you have some notes you want to get to, and we'll get to those here in a matter of seconds.

So Paul Diner Jr., I'm not sure if he directly talked to, I'm kind of gathering he did, to Rand Carthin, who was the general manager for the Tennessee Titans. He held that role for two seasons. But he spent 15 years working his way up from scout to director of player personnel with the Falcons, the Rams, when they were in St. Louis and Los Angeles, and the San Francisco 49. Now, those teams have had great defensive players over the years. The Niners still have Fred Warner, who for my money's worth, is the best linebacker in football. And the Rams also had some guy by the name of Aaron Donald. You may remember him. So here's where, here's a quote that stood out to me. Paul Dinner Jr. said, or actually, here's what Rand Carthin said.

Okay. Quote, all those dominant linebackers we have in our league, nine times out of ten, they are playing behind dominant defensive fronts. And then Paul Daner said, most of the league's best defense. didn't invest heavily in linebackers, but rather in defensive lines capable of producing quality linebackers. Producing quality linebackers, coach, when it comes to strong defensive lines, like when you were in Tampa Bay, and you had guys up front that included Simeon Rice, and then he had

Derek Brooks on the back end. Was there a harmony between the two levels of that defense? Absolutely. There was great harmony. You know, we had Warren Sapp and we had Anthony McFarlane. They, those linebackers were. weren't high played. Derek was probably the highest paid.

But Sheldon Quarles and Al Singleton, they were good football players that they both brought in. You know, Sheldon was in the CFL, but they knew he could run and he fit the system. So when Barrett Rood joined the crew, Barrett just fit in as an inside linebacker, but what they had is, they had older guys next to them to help them get through the hard parts, you know, the formation

recognition, the, they do this, we do this kind of thing. And they worked very well together. And I think that when you've got a porous defensive line and you're putting young guys behind them without an older player really makes it difficult. So here's the conversation we're having in this segment. Bengals Squad Show twice week long-form conversational supplement to lockdown Bengals hosted daily by Jake Lisco and Joe Goodberry, Coach Art Valera, Alex Frank here with you on this show. When it comes to the Bengals linebackers and Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr, the question is, can they succeed in year two? Obviously, we know they weren't very good last year, but it wasn't necessarily all on them, not even in the slightest, arguably. When you look at linebacker, we said, okay, it's a need, it's a need, you need a veteran.

True, but sometimes teams will say, okay, we know we need this, but we also need this on our defense. I go back to 21, and I've mentioned this before, I believe, on this show. The Bengals needed offensive line help after the 2020 season, but they went in the first round of the 2021 draft and took Jamar Chase. because they thought, okay, if we can take the top off of defense, eventually guys are going to play further back, and they're not going to blitz, and we're going to be able to hold up in protection. Well, we saw how that worked down.

Jamar Chase is now the best wide receiver in football. So on defense, the Bengals said, okay, we're going to address the defensive line, and then we're going to hope that it improves the linebackers. The question now, coach, is can this defensive line make these linebackers better? I think there's a synchronization and a harmony to forge in that locker room. Barack Carter was ecstatic when the Bengals

traded for Dexter Lawrence. And so too should Demetrius Knight Jr. Because the Bengals linebackers now have guys in front that are going to make their jobs easier. And then all of a sudden, you can put more on the plates of your linebackers. There's going to be a trust factor. That matters too. Well, you know, with those two young guys inside,

boy I'd be fired up for to get the defensive front and its key is those two defensive tackles to keep them clean so they can run to the football and honor their gap responsibilities you know but they still have they're going to be able to help them but everything is it has to be gap sound up front in the running game. And if Dexter Lawrence has got the A gap, then one of those backers has got to be. And then the ends have got the C gap. So their gap responsibilities are going to keep them a little cleaner because those big defensive tackles are harder to move.

So it's going to be a little bit later for the guards to get up or the center to get up on climb up on them to be able to make a play. Now, does that allow them to just run wild and make plays? No, because that's not the structure of the defense. And once you start to do that, then now you can trick them to the point where now there's vulnerable. You know, and when they made, those two young guys said, okay, hey, we didn't, we weren't sure about a fullback in the backfield. Hey, hopefully you don't have to play the Niners because they move their fullback all over the play. And he doesn't necessarily take you to the ball. So you're dealing with that.

And they've got a pretty good offensive line as well. They are capable of doing those things. So I think in theory, in theory, it tells you, yeah, they're much, much going to be much better because of the D line that they have. In past coverage, it's going to make them easier because the ball's going to, but what it's going to have to happen in past coverage is they are going to, going to have to be on it because when you have a great pass rush, either from the inside or outside, the quarterbacks are more up to checking the ball down. Now you're in space making those tackles and not everything being thrown behind you. And I think that they still have a tremendous learning curve to go through. But they are there. They are studying. They have had their

meetings to how they need to excel. And they're going to, I think that they're going to be much better. Now, great. Not yet. Not yet. That's why I thought that with the article that said it, they mentioned a lot of linebackers that were signed, but they were three-year veterans who understood the NFL game.

because they were in every meeting, yet they might have been on special teams as their primary role, but they were able to bring them in in each of those situations and allow them to learn and all of a sudden they burst onto the scene. And now they're free agents

and somebody wants them. And there had to be one of those guys if you did your due diligence. Out there was a third year vet, started four or five games a year, and all of a sudden, what you saw on, film is what you like, put him in your system, and let's see where we go.

That's why coaching matters in the NFL, because they have been around the game for a long time, and there's a lot to learn about the game, and there's a lot of ways to view the game, as I'm sure you know, coach. But, I mean, can you imagine, like, what it would be like for two rookie linebackers to go up against Mike Allstadt in a game? I mean, or, like, can you imagine what it be like to go up against Kyle Uscheck or Patrick Ricard or any other great bullback that's come through? Rand Carthin said this about defensive linemen, quote, when I am evaluating defensive linemen,

the number one thing I'm looking at is, can you maintain the point and keep the linebackers clean on the second level and allow those guys to run, chase and hit, end quote. That's what I think is happening here with the Cincinnati Bengals. Now, this conversation is going to be revisited in the buy week. So after the first, excuse me, five games of the regular season. If they still look lost, then it's like, well, should they have signed a veteran lineback? But if these guys flourish with the new leadership, then all of a sudden you're talking about a defense that can be really good. Because then your biggest liability from a year ago is not because what's around them is better.

No question. You know what? As during the whole free agent signing part and the entire going into the draft, I had an opportunity to sit down and watch. the defensive side of the ball, in particular, those two linebackers, and see how they fit and what was put on their plate. And at times, it took the instinctiveness out of their game because they were so busy thinking that they couldn't react and be instinctive about it. because there were rules in which they had to have. And now it's not a mount just hitting and running. You have gap responsibilities.

You have coverage responsibilities, formation responsibilities, and hope the team that you're playing doesn't shift and change strengths. Because now that's a whole different animal for them. You got shifts, you've got motions, you got eye candy coming out that distracts young. the linebackers, and that's the way offensively you want to attack those guys. Because now they can't hit everything downhill. They're thinking. When you think you play slow.

When you react, you play fast. Yep. And that's what Carter and Knight are hopefully going to do this season, as hopefully will Shamar Stewart on the Bengals defensive line. Speaking of defensive line, you may have seen some news yesterday about a very prominent defensive linemen getting traded out of the AFC North. We're going to reset the state of the division as we see it after the Brown said to cue or to quote in sync, bye, bye, to Miles Garrett. That conversation next on the Bengal Squad show.

Coach, with Miles Garrett was traded to the L.A. Rams yesterday, your reaction was what? Total shock. Okay. Total shock. I mean, defensive player of the year, you're really the only big time player that you have. have on your defense, even though they're good. You got a lot of guys that aren't mentioned every day, but they're playing well. And you're going to send him, well, at least they didn't send him to somebody that they're going to play, like what happened to Hendrickson going to Baltimore.

They're going to play him twice a year. They send him there. They've got a good player coming with, I mean, in exchange, but he's not a Miles Garrett. No. But he is still a force. And then now you gave up the Rams, it appears every time that they're going to have a Super Bowl at SOFi, sell the farm and want to bring them in. They did when the Bengals played them back in the day or a couple of few years ago. Well, that's my biggest fear. So you could end up. I mean, great trade by, I mean, I don't know if I would have traded my Belcal on defense. the defensive player of the year as a defensive lineman

and the sack, all-time sack for season, winner, you're not going to get that same pressure. You're not going to get guys having to say, okay, offensively, we got to chip him, we got to give him help, we got to slide the line to them, and we got to give him all kinds of those things. Until the other guy shows up, you don't know. No.

I've never been happier to see a player leave another team, let alone an AFC North team, then Miles Garrett lead the Cleveland Browns, because I don't have to see him, thank goodness, terrorized Joe Burrow twice a year. I think Joe Burroughs, the quarterback he has sacked the most of any other quarterback in the NFL. And then at the same time, it's like, what are the Cleveland Browns doing? And I'm going to take this time to set the record straight about the Cleveland Browns. And it's not just because I'm a Bengals fan, lifelong Bengals fan. because I had Browns fans on Twitter and via text message yesterday text me some positives about trading Miles Garrett away.

What exactly are you positive about that you've got draft picks? You may hit on those draft picks. They may become stars. But then what are you going to do? Trade him again for more draft picks because you couldn't get a quarterback. The way that Browns approach building a team and the way they approach quarterback, And then I have someone say, well, we don't need Joe Burrow here. You would do anything to have a Joe Burrow on your team in Cleveland and impact the city and the team the way Joe Borough has here in Cincinnati.

So don't tell me that you don't need a Joe Borough and that you can't wait for when he tears a knee again this year. First off, even if you're just joking about that, don't even say that. Okay, that's just criminal. And by the way, my comeback to that is you at Baker Mayfield in your building who brought you out of 0 and 16 into the playoffs in three years. Dot, dot, dot, dot. And you let him walk and brought in a creep into Sean Watson and gave him fully guarantee money.

Sorry, that's called an unsurious organization. That's what the Cleveland Brown's our coach, an unsurious organization that does unsurious things. Play stupid games. You get stupid prizes, period. Well, you know what? Just look at their track record. Yeah, they did get a couple of number ones.

and they, you know, down the road. And you did build draft capital. That didn't have been helping you now. And with the history of how the Browns have drafted, you're, boy, that's a big coin flip on wasn't worth it. Because you know, Miles Garrett had a minimum of three years left inning. I mean, he's a specimen at his age. And everybody will say, well, you can't, you got rid of,

Miles Garrett because he was older. This guy's younger. But you've got a commodity. The grass always looks greener because they know their problems or you know your problems, but you don't know theirs. And that player looks at it and says, oh, shoot, I got a chance to go to a winner right now.

First time of my career. Hey, go to LA. Miles Garrett showed up yesterday, toasted Orlando Brown Jr. and said, brother, we don't have to see you each other two times a year. Yeah, unless the Bengals play the Rams and the Super Bowl. And the last time that happened five years ago, the Rams went all in and Aaron Donald and Bob Miller and Jalen Ramsey.

I mean, yeah, that's my biggest fear is that's going to happen again. And then, of course, there'll be Miles Garrett this year. Now hopefully the script flips this year. But as this relates to the Bengals, and you think about this, okay, and I tweeted this yesterday, And I got some criticism, and that's where I play so. I'm not going to, not everybody's going to agree with me. I understand that.

And I also got some breaks. And the reason I say this is, you go back to before the 2021 season. If you would have said to me that Cleveland Browns are a Super Bowl contender at that time, I would have actually kind of bought that. The Browns finally had their quarterback in Baker Mayfield. They had Nick Chub. They had Miles Garrett. They had a talent at other positions.

Kevin Stefanski was coached the year. You could have sold it to me. And you know what? I felt happy for Browns fans. I genuinely did. They waited so long to get their quarterback. They got him. And you know what?

If they would have been in contention for the next 10 years, so be it. They kind of deserved it. The Browns have fled coach. You say it all the time. Don't let a player leave the building. Don't let a coach leave the building. What are the Browns done since then? They let Baker, Mayfield, Nick Chubb, and Miles Garrett out of the building.

Done. The Bengals in 2021 went to the Super Bowl. If anybody tells me it was a fluke, sorry, you're wrong. Joe Barrow, Chamarach, Chas, and T. Higgins. Paid, paid, paid, dot, dot, and they traded for Dexter Lawrence. And they signed Paui Maffa. And they signed Brian Cook. One team is serious about winning and going all in this year.

Another team is not. The Cleveland Browns was only one Miles Garrett coach. There's only one Miles Garrett. He's this generation's Bruce Smith and Reggie White. Or I should say, or Reggie White. And you're like, eh, we'll take the draft picks. Who's to say you're going to hit on them? It's coach, it's never about winning now for Cleveland.

It's about the future. The future's never going to be good if you don't take care of the now. No doubt. I mean, you mentioned that about the Browns when Mayfield was rolling and they were actually really good. Very quietly, they built their offensive line to be very, very stout. It's a good group of players. But, you know, you let them all go. and you know it's real and you get a retirement out of Joe Thomas and now I'm saying you're down

to nothing again how much Joe Thomas feel today how much like what does Joe Thomas think about this what is Denzel Ward who's not like the only poor guy left yeah they're saying okay I'm part of a rebuilding project again do you want that no okay and coach here's the thing think. Think about Baker and Shub and Garrett. They came to the Browns either in 2017, Miles Garrett, coming off a 1 in 15 season or in 2018 coming off an 0 and 16 season. They came to the Cleveland Browns when they were at the very bottom that you can be at in professional sports. Oh, and 16 in the NFL. Baker brought them to the playoffs. Miles Garrett became one of the best defense of players are not the best in the NFL.

Nick Chubb is the top five running back. They were with you at the lowest, and they were with you when you won 11 games twice and four seasons. They went through hell with you, and you're like, the hell with that, gone by. That's not a serious organization. No.

Go ahead. No, you know what it comes down to, this is the greatest game on the planet, my opinion. It is the greatest profession on the planet, and it is the worst business. Because you got guys doing business who don't understand the game. And they don't know. I mean, you can only make chicken salad out of, you know, the other so many times,

and you're constantly hiding that player. When you got a star, boy, you wear the tires off of them. and you hang on to them and let's go. You know, and I think Baker Midfield ended up being one of those guys that, hey, he had a lot of splash early, and then he had to go away to mature into what he is now, which is an excellent quarterback in the National Football League. And he's not coming back to Cleveland.

No. I mean, it's the same old cycle that they've been in since they came back in 1999. They'll have talent and other positions, looks intriguing, and then they just trade them all the way. It really is. And like you let Baker go and then you bring in to Sean Watson, who you cannot tell me that they did not know what was going on with him. And I don't care.

And the next time I hear anybody say, well, it wasn't this guy who signed off on it. It was that guy. Someone did. It's unforgivable. Someone did. And yet they knew what was going on. You get what you get. There's a reason that Sean Watson hasn't played in, how many games do you play?

And I don't even care, but he hasn't played. He's missed a lot of time, whether due to suspension or injury. You get what you get. You had Baker in the building. Grass ain't always greener. Yeah, Baker wasn't good in 21. He was also injured. You whatever with him and you let him go.

So it makes you thankful to the Bengals. And the Bengals haven't had a great history of winning. I know that. but they've at least been a functional organization since 2003. And they had some lean years at the end of Marvin Lewis and beginning of Zach Taylor. They got Joe Burrow. And the entire mood and perception of the organization changed. If you're jealous about that as a Browns fan, that's fine.

I would be too if I was a Browns fan. I don't even know how I would be as a Browns fan mentally. Oh. But it just goes to shoot. You know what? I mean, the Bengals have at least. as down a season as they may have had recently. Yeah.

They've at least been to the Promise Land. They had a chance. They've made it to the big game. Three times. Browns, on the other hand? When was the last time they were in it? They've never been to the Super Bowl. No.

They last won an NFL championship when Jim Brown was there. Yeah. And Louisville. Somebody like that. And how must like Jim Brown, who I'm sure is watching what's going on from above? And like other guys like Marianne Matley and Otto Graham, how must they feel about what's going on? Like as a. Go ahead.

You know, there's Doug Deacon. He's one of those guys because he was there when they were rolling when George Sharfimer was there. But Bernie Kozar. Yeah. Ernest Beiner. So, yeah, like you have, the Browns have history. I'm not disputing that. But what they're doing right now is being a disgrace to that history and, quite frankly, to the NFL and professional sports.

If you have stars, pay them. You know, unless you absolutely cannot. That's how I would do it. You extended Miles Garrett last year. And you're like, yeah, don't need him. Meanwhile, Miles Garrett, now got us to go to the NFL's version of a wellness center in the Los Angeles. ramps. Think about the great players coach that have revived their careers in Los Angeles. But again, for the Bengals, there is now no excuse at the very least to not perform offensively

against the Browns because you don't have that guy that can wreck the game plan. No doubt. You know what? The doors are open. Now it's time for the Bengals to step up and go play. And go let it happen because, hey, you've got three new head coaches. You've gotten a team that was traded away arguably their best player. You know, the Steelers, they just know how to win and they know how to their resiliency is unquestioned. They're always going to be above 500, so they're always going to be in the mix. And you got Baltimore who's just basically reloading with the same, the prior defense that they had and you still have, you know, a quarterback who can just take the life out of you

with the ball in his hands, either by throwing it or running it, and you've got that monster who could just end the game via slow death and just beat you up. They're still loaded. And so, you know, it's going to be very interesting this year. Well, an AFC North that could have featured Miles Garrett, T.J. Watt, T. T. J. Watt, T. T. T. T. T. T. T. Now the Bengals don't have to face Garrett. They don't have to, I mean, Drey Henderson's on the Ravens. He's declining.

T.J. Watt is also declined. You can make a case for that. And then you go out and get Dexter Lawrence in addition to the other guys that you have brought in on the defensive line. Coming up on Friday, a Texas size test in week two, we're going to talk about the Bengals Texans game, strength on strength, and a Joe Burrow topic as it relates to that game.

The rejuvenated and confident Joe Burrow, that conversation coming up on Friday. programming no Tuesday, June 16th, the special edition of the Bengals Squad Show. It is the 10-year anniversary of the locked-on podcast network. So we are going to have a 10-year anniversary theme to the Bengals. We're going to do for sure the top 10 Joe Burrow games and the top 10 Jamar Chase games. My number one, Jamar Chase game may not be the game you're thinking of, Coach. I'm just going to say that right now, and that's for everybody listening as well.

You're always surprised me, Alex. That's why that, look, you have to surprise people. to get them to tune in. If there's one thing I've learned in this business is that you have to, you know, create an element of surprise that gets people to tune in. So I like that I'm keeping you on your toes.

And coach, you guys have a big game too this weekend. Sunday in Columbus, I'm hoping to make it up there against the D.C. defender's third straight week. You're playing the same team. And it's the UFL semifinals, winner advances to the UFL Bowl on Saturday, June 13th, against either Louisville.

the other team coaching the St. Louisville. Okay, Louisville and St. Louis. All right. Here's the caveat. They really kind of, I know it upset my wife. We were scheduled until yesterday to play in Columbus. Now we're playing in Daytona Beach. Oh, wow. So they blew that up.

My wife had a whole crew. We had a lot of fans going to come to the game. Including me. and her and now, who knows? Oh, my gosh. So now it's in Daytona Beach. All right, I'll book my ticket to Daytona Beach then. All right. Orlando and D.C., Daytona Beach.

I mean, you can go to Daytona Beach. A young man asked me the other day, says, coach, you ever played somebody back to back or three times in a row? I said, I haven't even played anybody back to back. So this is uncharted territory. Unchartered territory, indeed. eight and two Orlando in the NFL playoffs. We're back

on Friday. Thank you again, everybody for tuning into the Bengals Squad Show. We are part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day, the number one sports podcast, number in America and the world, the twice a week long-form conversational supplement to lockdown Bengals, hosted by Jake Liscoe and Joe Goodberry. For Coach Ard-Fallero, I'm Alex Frank and

Frankie underscore Natty. Have a great rest of your week, and we'll talk to you on Friday afternoon to 4-Eastern right here, excuse me, on the Bengals Squad show, part of the lockdown podcast, network your team every day.