Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals Still Have BIG Needs to Fill After First Week of Free Agency

Starting point is 00:00:00 A week into free agency, the Bengals have made some significant additions to their defense, but it's more than fair to say they still have holes. There's plenty of work for the Bengals still to do. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What up, Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day in the number one sports podcast network in the land. He's James the Pinojik, let's go, and we are your host of lockdown Bengals

Starting point is 00:00:39 covering the Cincinnati Bengals here on this podcast daily going all the way back to 2016. And all the everydayers have heard me say that probably thousands of times now, but we appreciate you being here. Nonetheless, all of you who make us part of your daily routine, you are

Starting point is 00:00:55 quite frankly all the best. Today we dive into resetting where the Bengals are after one week of free agency. They've obviously made some big additions, but there's obviously still a lot of work left to do. And one of the most common questions for me over the last few days, James, has been who's still out there that can help this team? So we'll discuss that.

Starting point is 00:01:15 We'll discuss what the cap situation could look like right now, pending details of Jonathan Allen's deal and cover the minor transaction the Bengals made since you last heard from us, which is signing Josh Johnson to be the backup quarterback. We'll get there later. Today's episode is brought to you by Bandw, giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins in a college basketball parlay profit boost. Head to bandwale.com to get started. James, the biggest question, like I said, is how can the Bengals still get better?

Starting point is 00:01:48 Because you and I are at that part of free agency, James, that we reach every year where we're thinking the same word on repeat in our heads more. What's next? What's the next thing? They need to do more. And I think that's obvious to everyone. I think that's obvious to some of the people inside the building, too. Free agency pretty well picked over after a week,

Starting point is 00:02:12 but there's still a path to improving the team. And they have to do it. Glass half-empty approach to free agency is how I entered it. And here's why. And by the way, I'm ready for everyone that's going to say, James, you're so negative and all that stuff like bring it. Because they've gotten their ass kick three straight years. and all these coaches are coaching for their jobs this year,

Starting point is 00:02:34 and they should be. Like, Zach Taylor could realistically be fired if they go 8 and 9 or 9 and 8, missed the playoffs, which means his whole family has to relocate and guess who else has to relocate? Everybody, all these other coaches do, right? So I say that because there's a lot on the line this year.

Starting point is 00:02:52 There's a lot on the line when your quarterback is in Los Angeles and he's been seen in Los Angeles for him more than he's been seen in Ohio and in Cincinnati all offseason. He's going to be in LA for the next week again and has that flag football game. Like there's a lot of layers to this. And expectations were high because, one, they need to be.

Starting point is 00:03:14 Two, the Bengals indicated they were willing to spend and were willing to push. Obviously, the Duke Tobin, all in quote, has been recycled a ton. And so now you look, and I like all three editions, where there's some things that they should have done that maybe I would have done different, all of those things. Sure, fine. But did they add a defensive tackle that should give them some juice as a pass rusher?

Starting point is 00:03:38 They did. Did they go get an edge rusher that should be entering his prime, a safety that is coming off the best season of his career, and should upgrade them on the back end and stabilize the back end? Like, they did those things. Like, that's huge. But it's not enough. It's the glass half empty approach. And there's going to be a lot of people that hate it and want the half full. And all of those things will know. I'm not going to be a fool for this. They need to continue to add. There are still guys that can help. There's some obvious weaknesses that I know they're aware about, including Edge.

Starting point is 00:04:15 Edge is one that they need to address. And there are some guys out there that can do that. And yet I think of our everydayers and the listeners out there and people watching on YouTube. And a lot of them are going to be yelling linebacker. and those are the two. I came into this saying five starter level players on defense in free agency. They have three. They need two more.

Starting point is 00:04:38 They need a linebacker in an edge. And if they don't get both of them, I'm going to be annoyed by it. And I'm going to be frustrated by it because they need to give themselves everything they can, all of those resources. So then when they go into the draft, Ruben Bain's there great. But if he's not, it's not the end of the world. You don't have to force it and take. a different edge that doesn't have as much production.

Starting point is 00:05:00 Like as of now, I think edge is far and away the thing that they're going to try to address at 10 if they didn't do anything else. And I hate that. It doesn't mean I don't want an edge. If the right one's there, I want them to address their defense, this defense with proven guys. And so we'll see if they do it. But yeah, they're better. Like they've added some cool pieces that are going to help them.

Starting point is 00:05:21 That needs to continue. Yeah, that's the thing that we need to. that we need to remember and keep in mind is we're going to be critical over the next 10, 15 minutes a little bit when we dig into the salary cap and the structures and some of the things this team does that continue to be a little bit frustrating or a lot of it frustrating. But it's important to remember that we like the moves they made. And if you missed my conversation with Luke Braun on Friday, a little bit of an extra dig into Jonathan Allen, what he does, why he is no longer in Minnesota, which has nothing to do with his quality of play on the field and what he can do for the Bengals, make sure you check that out.

Starting point is 00:06:01 That's our little bonus content from late last week, but the moves they've made should help them, but you go back to our last episode before Free Agency Open or second to last episode before Free Agency Open, and we talked about the standard for successful free agency for this team. And it wasn't just you that said five, right? It was a collective position shared by you and I on this podcast. I got to go get five guys. Got to go get guys at every level and they have missed one level so far. And I joked about this a little bit. It's only half a joke late last week.

Starting point is 00:06:35 Like we should be talking about slot quarter right now. We should be talking about they could use another piece in the cornerback room. They could use a little bit of depth in the cornerback room. They could sure use a competitor. Maybe they will end up getting one in the draft. Who knows? But they could sure use a competitor for Jalen Davis in the slot. We like the return of Jalen Davis, but here's on the practice squad for a lot of

Starting point is 00:06:56 last year, right? And so we're not even to the point, like I said, on Thursday or Friday or whatever day that was, where we can say, like, yeah, let's talk about corner because they still need to figure out lineback or they still need to figure out edge. Now, the news that we have shared with our insiders, the Lockdown Bengals Insiders, which you can join at join subtext.com slash lockdown Bengals is that there are a lot of indications that the Bengals are so actively and we're still late last week actively searching for edge help and for linebacker help. They didn't get the deals done, which is crushing. They, to go back to Sir Mar Stewart's quote last year, might be more concerned with winning

Starting point is 00:07:41 negotiations and winning football games right now. And that, that quote is going to live on, I think, now that I'm revisiting it in my head. And they need to figure out a way to get some of these deals done with. players that can help their team that can help their defense that can help their coaches i think the coaches are probably still very much looking for help at linebacker and at edge the guys that we know they've been in on and we've talked about quay walker we've talked about devon lloyd i think there have been more linebackers they've been on i think there have been more edge players they've been in on indicate to you how they feel about the guys on the roster i think they like them

Starting point is 00:08:23 and they're hoping for more, but they don't want to be in a position where that's all they can count on. And so the week that was has left them with a couple of holes that they still really need to fill. And you talked about those. I agree with you, James. I think we do need to talk about corner a little bit too. I think we haven't talked about the offense at all where tight end and wide receiver and interior offensive line depth, they're all positions that, again, little moves could help you there.

Starting point is 00:08:53 And so we're not necessarily going to spend a ton of time on those spots until the bigger dominoes have fallen and hopefully they fall. But I think the next question is, where are they with a resource, with the salary cap resources? What can they still do? Who's still out there? Those are resources too in this conversation. Who are the players they still that can help them? Can they afford them? Can they make that work from a cap perspective, from a cash perspective?

Starting point is 00:09:21 and like I said, that's been one of the most common questions is who's still out there that can help. So we'll dive into that question coming up next. Today's show is brought you by Fandall. Fandall is America's number one sports book. And college hoops are here. And guess what? No matter who you think is going to cut down the nets,

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Starting point is 00:10:31 Head to fandle.com today to get started. That's fandle.com. Fandle play your game. All right, Jake, let's dive into who's out there. And you mentioned Edge. That would be my personal preference of the two. Obviously, I want both. But Edge over a linebacker, I think there's a little more talent at Edge still. A few names that really stand. out. And by the way, one that I think a lot of people reacted to last week on the one-year deal towards the end of the week. It always feels like the Eagles get one of these guys. But Arnold Ebikati was someone that we certainly discussed as a possible target. So he goes off the board. He was almost like Leo Chanel light from a, oh, he could be a fit and he

Starting point is 00:11:18 could be a guy that's ascending and all of those things. Like I think Chanel was popular among the fan base, but I think Epicady was as well. I think specifically, he's a little year deal. We even talked about the combination of Maffa and Evacati. Like, I think we talked about, would you rather have Jalen Phillips or Maffan Evacati? Yeah, and they could have had Mophan Evacati, and we would have been pretty pleased with that.

Starting point is 00:11:38 Yeah. One year up to $7 million with the Eagles, like a super reasonable deal, which this is, so people see that, and then they hear you say, well, they're still in on edge.

Starting point is 00:11:51 And I'm sure they're like, well, why the hell didn't you do that deal? Where that guy, if you're Evacati, or you're any of these edges, you instantly think, oh,

Starting point is 00:12:00 I'll be able to get a ton of snaps there. Like you're not worried about Miles or Shamar, Maffa, you're looking at that like, yeah, I'm going to be able to get a ton of snaps there, no matter what they do in the draft. And so I think that in some ways

Starting point is 00:12:12 should give them a chance to get one of these veterans, but Evacati agreed to that deal with Philly. I assume it's signed. If not, it will be. But Joey Bosa is certainly someone that stands out, Cameron, Jordan, Jadavia, and Clowny.

Starting point is 00:12:26 Those are the three. I will just go ahead and mention Callais Campbell. I think I'm pretty sure we've speculated this, but I'm 99.9% sure that man does not want to go anywhere cold. So I don't think Callais Campbell's

Starting point is 00:12:41 in the mix for any of these Midwestern on-up teams. Yeah, it's kind of a joke, but also it's kind of what he's done outside of the brief stint in Baltimore. I think it's true. I asked about it because I was like, this is kind of dumb. Like how is he not getting one more

Starting point is 00:12:57 money. Yeah. If you just look at Campbell, he could make a lot more money. And I think he's like, nah, I'm rich. I just want to go play here. What are you going to pay? What are you going to pay me so I can play here? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:07 And so good for him to have it like that. A couple other guys that would be lower dollar options at edge. So I just want to mention that are very stopgaffy, but do different things. And one of them that really stands out to me when you look at the guys that are a little bit lower on the projected price tag, he's a veteran. 32, former top three pick, Dante Fowler, who has a career that's lived up to top three pick. But like they weren't going to go do the Josh Uche deal. And I didn't see where Uche landed.

Starting point is 00:13:38 Did you see where he ended up, James? I did not. Josh Uchay, I didn't even know he got signed, honestly. Maybe I'm checking out. Our spreadsheet is wrong. He is in Miami, Miami, yeah. So like that would have been one that would have been interesting, but he's not available. Three days ago?

Starting point is 00:13:56 where was I? Yeah, interesting. Small deal, right? Dante Fowler is the guy that would be the lower, potential lower dollar option that could be interesting. He's been a pretty consistent rotational pass rusher, and he's okay against the run. He's not great, but he's okay. If Dante Fowler was a piece they added because they wanted to go a little bit lower dollar and they wanted to do a one-year deal, I'd be pretty okay with that.

Starting point is 00:14:22 if they wanted to swing on a on a designated pass rusher type that's a little bit younger still in his 20s yet her gross matos if he's still out there which i think he is gross but gross but just joking no it's not wow you can't mess with me on names james it's hard enough it's hard enough it that it looks like it is what it looks like yeah but the top the top guys that you're talking Go get a top guy. Yeah. Like the, the Bosa, Jordan, clowny trio that are all older.

Starting point is 00:14:58 Yes. Those guys are probably the best players at the position despite their age. And when you do the one year, 10 to $15 million deal with those guys, that's the question for the Bengals. Yeah. I hope so. I hope so.

Starting point is 00:15:12 It makes sense. It's one of those things that, one, like the age thing, who cares? if it's a one year type scenario too they clearly are willing to go over 30 they did yeah and i know i know there are people you you mentioned it with the coaches like i know they want to add more there are people in the building that know they need to add more proven talent and edge is a big part of that

Starting point is 00:15:42 because you can sell yourself on like oh well shamar will take a step or maybe miles will take another step. And like, maybe, but what if that doesn't happen? And what if Ruben Bain goes sixth? And then you look at 41 and there's no edge rusher that you're like, oh, or maybe you take an edge rusher at 41. Or maybe Ruben Bain isn't as NFL ready as everyone thinks. And it takes him a little bit because he's a rookie. And it takes him eight, let's just say, let's go wild and say it takes him eight games to get into a range where he's actually playing meaningful snaps when the game is kind of hanging in the balance and you trust them to be out there then. Like it's half the season.

Starting point is 00:16:20 You don't have time to wait. You need proven guys that can come in right now and raise the floor of a defense that's been one of the worst in the league. And I think that's it. Like a lot of these guys you've mentioned can be, can make some impact plays here and there. But which guys are going to raise the floor and also have those impact plays? I think they're probably the old guys.

Starting point is 00:16:41 I think Cam Jordan does that. I think Joey Bosa does that. even if he's had some injuries and people will dismiss that and see his injury history. It's like, okay, well, have him be part of the rotation. It's not like you want him playing all of the snaps and Shamar not to be playing or Miles not to be playing. At the same time, can he give you some juice? That'd be great. And then Clowny had a heck of a year last year.

Starting point is 00:17:05 I would be all in on Clown. Like if it was me, that would be the guy I would be trying to get in stripes, probably for two years if he was willing. The thing about all these guys, Jonathan Allen too, BJ Hill too, all these guys is they're probably better if they rotate and can play a little bit less. Like if Alan can play 10% less snaps, it's probably a little bit better. And he talked about that in his presser late last week.

Starting point is 00:17:28 He talked about finding the balance between being on the field as much as you want to be on the field and being on the field in the way that makes you the most effective. And that's going to be true for edge rushers as well. I think keeping them fresh, having a deep rotation there. can obviously help quite a bit. Chenevian Clowny only played 372 snaps last year. Cam Jordan played 590.

Starting point is 00:17:48 Joey Bosa played 654 despite his injury. So finding, if it were Bosa, for example, finding a way to reduce his load and put him in more situations where he thrives, which I would say is primarily a surpassed rusher, that could lead to greater effectiveness for those guys. So we'll see if they can get a deal done there. Like I said, we know that they were kicking around that market late last week.

Starting point is 00:18:19 And they didn't get deals done throughout the week, I think, that they would have liked to have gotten done, not just late in the week. So I think there's that. I think they're also still interested in linebacker. I think, again, they are hopeful for the guys they have. But the linebackers they've been in on tells you that they were willing to spend big. at one point and give a big role to a free agent linebacker, whether it was Quay Walker, Devin Lloyd, early in the week.

Starting point is 00:18:47 They didn't get either of them. And now we're talking about a really picked over position, where it's like Bobby Wagner, Shaq Thompson, maybe Matt Milano, and then you're talking about like, is Bobby OK, Riquay, a guy that they are interested in or not? I don't know. O'Kareke. O'Kareke.

Starting point is 00:19:08 I want Okaraque and gross matos so I can mess with you because it isn't gross mitos, but isn't it gross matos? That's what I thought. That's what I said. Yeater gross matos. Yeah. Gross Matos. Oh, I said the first name wrong. If that's how the first name is pronounced.

Starting point is 00:19:24 Is it Yeater? I don't know. I don't know. By the way, you know what? I don't want to know. Give me one of the other guys that are better. Sorry, Yeater. I thought it was Yeter.

Starting point is 00:19:37 I don't want to know. No. Okay, okay, I could be in on. I'm fine with knowing that. Dude, I'm, I'm, I'm to the point at linebacker where I'm like, like, I'm kind of looking over at Matt Milano, like, hey, you, and I know better. He's been hurt. I wonder if there's a guy that could trade for. I wonder if there are trade. I mean, you're never going to hear about him if they don't happen.

Starting point is 00:20:00 Oh, that sucks. I know. But they wanted to get better there. And so that's still the job. Depends on how you ask if they're actually really wanted to get better at linebacker, you know? I'm joking. I'm joking for the audio audience. I don't think people get it.

Starting point is 00:20:21 You do. That's all it matters. Well, I do now. Let's finish the show with the backup quarterback spot that the Bengals have patched and doesn't close the door on the Joe Flackar return. We'll get the update on the cap situation as we learned some more details about Brian Cook's contract and Orlando Brown's extension. And we have a better understanding of where the Bengals are from a cat point of view.

Starting point is 00:20:45 We'll finish the show with those couple of topics coming up next. Today's show is brought to by TurboTax. It's tax time. But for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot. Trying to book an appointment, that's not the most convenient. Sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth and wondering, they really get your situation. But this year, you're getting a major upgrade.

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Starting point is 00:21:31 Head to turbotax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment today. James, as we dive into the minor transaction the Bengals made over the weekend, the everydayers and the Lockdown Bengals Insiders, well, especially the Lockdown Bengals Insiders, had the Josh Johnson tip just a couple minutes before the move occurred. And we've had the information that we've been able to share this week. I think people have really enjoyed. It's been a lot of fun engaging with all of you out there that are part of the Lockdown Bengals Insider group. Again, you can check that out at join subtext.com slash Lockdown Bengals.

Starting point is 00:22:10 You'll get text directly to your phone from us when news occurs. And it's been before I've woken up many days last week. And it's a way for you to not have to check social media and be directly in contact with us. And the Everydayer Club has a promo going on right now. New Code this week from last week. The code now is March. You'll get your first month of the Everydayer Club free, which gets you access to an ad-free episode. And we've got an NCAA.

Starting point is 00:22:36 March Madness bracket pool going on in Discord right now as well. Winners will get $100 in Lockdown merch. Join the club at lockdownbengles. com.

Starting point is 00:22:50 James the Bengals signed a quarterback over the weekend. Josh Johnson. A lot of people reacted to this thinking that that meant the Bengals were not resigning Joe Flacco. And we're here to tell you that is not the case.

Starting point is 00:23:03 They needed to make sure they had an option in the case that Joe Flacko goes elsewhere. And Josh Johnson is that guy. Will he be the guy in a few months? We'll see. But they needed to at least have a second quarterback on the roster. And that's what Josh Johnson is. Yeah, for sure.

Starting point is 00:23:22 And by the way, this is Jake Browning's replacement. That's what it is. They were open to Jake Browning returning on probably the same deal that Josh Johnson got. with the idea that he would be their third quarterback. And I think that's what Josh Johnson hopefully is going to be, which I would love. I would love to have Josh Johnson as the third quarterback. But you need a quarterback.

Starting point is 00:23:48 Like there are a lot of people like, I can't believe they did this. They just re-signed Flacco. Well, Joe probably doesn't want to make a decision now. And I'm probably, I honestly think you want to talk about losers from week one. And I mean this with all due respect. I think he expected to get a real offer to at least

Starting point is 00:24:05 compete to start. And all these musical chairs happened and Malik Willis goes here, Kyler Murray goes there, Daniel Jones gets paid way too much coming off of an Achilles and the Colts, ooh, the Colts. It's, uh, you look around and it's like, man, it is a, for Joe Flacco to be still just kind of hanging out there and there's no, or not many at least, logical landing spots where it makes sense. Maybe Arizona says, you know what, we'd be interested. Maybe, you know, there's just not much out there. So I think there's a decent chance that Joe Flacco does return. We'll see.

Starting point is 00:24:42 We'll see how long he wants to wait. If I'm the Bengals, I would try to sign him soon and be like, look, man, don't come up to, don't come to the offseason stuff if you don't want to. We'll see you at minicamp. Like, it doesn't matter. Like, we don't need you. You started on a Sunday after being acquired on a Wednesday and held your own. Like, it'll be fine. So hopefully they can get that done.

Starting point is 00:25:03 But regardless, you were going to have to add to your quarter. back room and Josh Johnson is exactly how we should all treat our profession. I mean, this dude has bounced around like crazy and you look up and he's 39 years old in the 2008 draft with Joe Flacco and he's still in the league because he just does his job and he works really hard. And so you could do a lot worse than Josh Johnson as QB3 and I think that's the plan is for them to continue to look to add to the quarterback. quarterback room, ideally with Joe Flacco, in the meantime, getting Josh Johnson.

Starting point is 00:25:40 That's a nice signing. I'm totally fine with it. Wouldn't roll out a day three pick on a quarterback this year either. Right now the Bengals have two six, two seventh round picks. I don't think that would be surprising if there's a guy that ends up there that they like and think can compete with Josh Johnson probably for QB3 would probably be the approach there. And maybe they sign someone else not named Flacco, right? You know, it could be that route, too.

Starting point is 00:26:07 Yeah, I'm not sure who's out there anymore at quarterback. Kirk Cousins. Aeron Rogers. Did I get that name right, James? Cooper Rush. Cooper Rush, sure. Sarad Taylor, Carson Wentz. Those guys still unsigned.

Starting point is 00:26:23 No real cap implications for Josh Johnson, very likely at or near league minimum. And so no real cap impact there. there is a cap impact with Orlando Brown's extension. There is a cap impact with learning more details about Brian Cook's deal. So you might have heard last week me complain about the Bengals not pro-rating all of the year-one bonuses for Boye-Mafé. Turns out, while we thought initially that Brian Cook's bonuses were all pro-rated, it appears as of Sunday morning that they did the same thing.

Starting point is 00:26:57 And they carved out $3 million of signing bonus and paid it to Brian Cook as a roster bonus, which means that year one cap hit is a little bit bigger. And the year to year three cap hits are a little bit smaller in exchange. So the Bengals have a little bit less cap space than we previously thought based on the Cook deal. And with a relatively conservative estimate for Jonathan Allen's contract right now, James, I've got the Bengals after accounting for rookie. after accounting for the practice squad and other expenses that all teams deal with.

Starting point is 00:27:39 I've got the Bengals pretty close to $5 to $7 million in cap space with the placeholder in there for Josh Allen. But I still think they're going to spend more money based on the cash benchmark and projection that we had for this year. I still think they're going to spend a decent amount of money. Now, maybe that ends up just being extension. but I think the activity they had last week indicates that there is more they would like to add to this team. And we'll see if the financial terms are agreeable to the people who are pulling the financial levers

Starting point is 00:28:16 because they always have that Joe Burrow restructure. They always have that Jamar Chase restructure option if they so choose. And if they needed cap space to make additional moves, they could pull those levers. But that is currently how I see the. the cap situation and the cash situation with everything they still need to do. So I was looking at that Cook cap hit. And so 10.6 million dollar cap hit.

Starting point is 00:28:48 Guess what Jalen Phillips, who agreed or signed that four year $120 million contract with Carolina. Guess what his year one cap hit is? Probably like 10 million. Yeah. It's less than Cooks. It's 9.9. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:29:01 And it just those are the, the type of things that impact everything, everything. It impacts how they operate with who they're going after edgewise, who they're going after linebacker wise, how much they're willing to spend or structure the offer that they make for these guys, what they could potentially do from an extension standpoint. Like, leaving that money out there and saving a million dollars in cap space for next year, when if you don't use it this year, it just rolls into next year. There's no reason to not give yourself that flexibility now because it's not like you get extra. It's not like it's a dollar and a half for every dollar if you push it into the future.

Starting point is 00:29:44 There's no benefit. And it's weird that they keep doing this. And it's just those levers that you could pull. Like these are simple things. Like the borough restructure, it's simple too. But like these are simple things that are costing you cap that could cost you both. So that could cost you clowny. That could cost you Wagner or whoever else.

Starting point is 00:30:08 It's, that's annoying. And it could get in the way of Flacco or potentially get in the way of it because they're hoping to save some cash for him and cap and all those things. Like I just, just restructure Joe and stop not pro rating. It's, it's dumb. Like maximize it now because if you don't use it,

Starting point is 00:30:29 like for whatever reason, it just doesn't get used, then it will roll over and you'll still have it. Like there's no reason to do it the way they did when it comes to cook or when it comes to Mafe. And they'll never give us a straight answer when it comes to this stuff. But like this is the time to maximize the roster. And I always come back to this. Well, what does Joe think?

Starting point is 00:30:50 Joe's looking around the NFL and all of these quarterbacks that are on big deals have restructured, all of them. And so he's not restructured. And I guarantee you he at least has some sense of like, oh, well, why? why didn't we do this or get this guy or that guy? And he made, hell, hopefully he's listening to lactone bengals. And he's like, I can't believe that we didn't maximize these cap hits in year one. So we could go get my guy, Joey Bosa, who wants $8 million over two or whatever the case is. It's frustrating to see them continue to do this.

Starting point is 00:31:24 The carving out part of the bonus to be a roster bonus, I don't remember them really doing before T. and that stuff really really grinds my gears to pick a euphemism for it. I mean, like you said, there's no real way to make sense of it other than it reduces the potential of like catastrophe and dead cap in the future. But like who cares, man? Like you said, you roll over that money anyway if you don't use it. And the fact that you're doing this on both of the big contracts you sign, we'll see what Jonathan Allen's deal looks like.

Starting point is 00:31:59 I'm not expecting that to be. I have a $12 million placeholder in for Jonathan Allen right now. We'll see if it's any lower than that. It could be much lower than that if they wanted it to be. The Orlando Brown extension hardly saves cap space under $3 million. And they have what, like $100 million right now next year before anybody's extended. So there might be a little bit of increase, but you're talking about a ton of cap space next year. It's like, what are you worried about if some of these cap expenses go into next year, man?

Starting point is 00:32:26 I have a really hard time wrapping my head around what the reluctance is for putting the money out there other than this is where you get cheap allegations. By not reducing cap hits this year, it means you're spending less cash because you're paying less players because you can't put them into your cap that you've artificially created like you have the ability to put them into your cap if you want, but you're choosing not to. So you spend less and like that's where the cheap allegations come from for me. And it's really quite frustrating when you see the amount of things they still have to do, but there's plenty of time for us for them to prove us wrong. They can go restructure these deals and trade for Max Crosby and prove us way wrong. You know what I mean? Sure.

Starting point is 00:33:11 They can restructure these deals. They can free up 30 million plus and cap room just by restructuring them. Easy. And then they could go pay more money to people this year or they could go pay a couple of these other guys who aren't Max Crosby who don't. require you to give up draft capital. And we'll see if they do it. And if they do, we will give them a little pat on the back a little bit too late,

Starting point is 00:33:34 but it's better than not doing it at all if it manages to be the reason that they get a couple more players that can help this team on the roster for 2026 and into the future. Let's wrap up there, James. That's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. We'll have you covered all week in case there is more news that we need to react to, tell you about see how players fit if they get some deals done until that thanks for listening to this episode of the lockdown bengals podcast hoon and have a go

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