Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Breaking down Joe Burrow's confidence in the Cincinnati Bengals' ability to keep Tee Higgins

Starting point is 00:00:00 Joe Burrow made waves after Monday night football, expressing his confidence in the team's ability and his ability to do what it takes to keep T. Higgins with the Cincinnati Bengals. Let's dive into it. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What on Bengals fans? Welcome to another episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake Liskow. he's your host, James Rupin.

Starting point is 00:00:36 We together are Locked-on Bengals on the Lockdown Podcast Network, covering your team every day on YouTube and everywhere you get your podcast. Welcome back to the Everyday or shout-out to those of you who make us your first listen every day. And welcome into the new listeners who are curious about what's going on with T. Higgins' future with the Cincinnati Bengals, for example. Or maybe you just want to know where the Bengals are picking if the season were to end today, because I made that promise after the postgame show yesterday that we will provide that update later in this episode today. Today we're brought to you by Fandall

Starting point is 00:01:11 where you can get $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. Check it all out at Fandul.com to get started. And James, we touched on this last night, of course, the Joe Burrow confidence in the retention of T. Higgins, Jermar Chase's comments around it as well. T. Higgins asked about it in the locker room as well. Well, but this is too big of a story to only talk about at the end of a postgame show where we're focused mostly on the game. Let's get back to that topic here today.

Starting point is 00:01:43 Yeah, let's get back to it because if tea can, if it's tea time, if it's tea time and I'm not a tea drinker, right? The T-E-E time, if it's tea time, well, that's a huge off-season weakness that remains a strength. If the Bengals somehow keep T. Higgins with Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase, well, then there's reason to believe that this offense is going to be really, really, really, really good. And you can focus on the trenches still and you don't have to think as much about the weapons. And there's just there's a lot of, there's a ripple effect that impacts the entire team, the entire roster, their entire offseason. So it would be huge. But like I said yesterday on our post game show at the end, it's like,

Starting point is 00:02:33 the door felt locked with like eight double bolts and saw and it was welded shut and no one was breaking through that and in the only person that has the the staff or the sword or the dagger or the the sword of power or whatever you want to say that can pick up that sort of power and break down this door i think is job bro i don't think it's tea i don't necessarily think it would be anyone in the Bengals front office and you could say oh well they want to pay him it's fine you can want to pay them but Joe Burrow can be the the guy with enough power that can also do something about it from a cap standpoint to have to be able to make that comment after a Monday night football game in week 14 when your team is five and eight and T. Higgins has his worst performance of the year

Starting point is 00:03:28 two catches on five targets and in Joe Burrow talking about how much T matters, there's just, there's a lot there. And we do, courtesy of the Bengals, have part of what Joe Burrow had to say about T. Higgins's future and about how important T. Higgins is to this offense. Those discussions are, are ongoing and I'm confident that I think we're going to be able to do what it takes to bring T back. And, you know, I know that I'm going to do what it takes to get him back and so is he. We've had those talks so you know those are those are going to be off-season discussions but I think we're excited about that opportunity. What gives you that confidence that you'd be able to get to Higgins back based off of what's gone on so far? We'll see you feel his

Starting point is 00:04:16 presence when he's out there you feel his presence you feel how it affects the defense you you feel how it affects the defensive coordinator's calls even if he's not super productive on a night teams have to worry about him. You feel his presence, the defense is worried about him, and you feel that. So not only talking about his confidence and what might need to happen,

Starting point is 00:04:43 hinting at what might need to happen to retain T. Higgins, but also extolling his values and talking about the way he affects the defense. We talked about that in the postgame show as well. From a practical perspective is where it gets interesting, right? And there's all the salary

Starting point is 00:04:59 recap gymnastics they'll have to do. They don't really have any more as to pay this offseason. In fact, we think that they're going to probably be moving on from some veterans on this roster that will free up cap space. So if you're looking ahead and you're looking at over the cap because you're one of those cap nerds and you're looking into the future and you're like, oh, well, how much cap space for the Bengals going to have next year? And right now you see that number says $62.7 million in cap space. And you're thinking, well, they're going to give Jamar chase certainly some more money but he's already on the books for a 21 million dollar cap hit with that fifth year option next year so an extension could actually lower that number if the bengals

Starting point is 00:05:41 were interested in doing so and you might be thinking well they're going to have to replace bj hill and they're going to have to find a safety maybe they're they're going to have to find a slot corner maybe they need a new guard. So you're thinking about all these positions they have to sign. Sure. But if they cut a couple of guys too, which then they'd have to replace, obviously, that cap number can easily approach a hundred million dollars. And that's without touching Joe Burrough's number.

Starting point is 00:06:11 And perhaps this is what Joe Burrow is alluding to. You look around the NFL and these big cap numbers for quarterbacks are often continuously pushed out into the future by the Kansas City Chiefs or the Cleveland Browns or the Buffalo Bills. Teams are very inclined to take these massive base salary years for their quarterbacks. And Joe Burroughs cap number jumps from 29.5 million in 2024 this year to 46.25 million in 2025 next year when that salary takes a big jump. The Bengals could look at that, and Joe Burrow could look at that, and they could revisit that number if they were so inclined. And depending on what kind of extension T. Higgins is looking for and what kind of extension happens with Jamar Chase, this is where Jamar Chase is playing chess comment comes up, the way they structure these contracts and decide they want these cap hits to land over the next few years, can be maneuvered such that within ever-increasing salary cap in the NFL, the Bengals can make it work and field a team around. on those guys. That's what we've always said.

Starting point is 00:07:19 The Bengals have cost themselves money if they choose to do this after this season by not getting these deals done with these receivers earlier. But they can still do it financially. No doubt. No doubt. The cap space is there. The chance is there.

Starting point is 00:07:35 The opportunity is there. Look, T. Higgins is 25. So he'll be 26 in January. So maybe you sign him first, 26, 27, and 28 years. Maybe he signs a three-year deal. and the Bengals are comfortable with that, and T is comfortable with that,

Starting point is 00:07:52 and Joe wields his power and also restructures. What was a team-friendly deal, by the way, it could be pretty darn team-friendly if they want it to be. And so they have that flexibility. And I just, I think it's really hard to paint the picture where I'm more bullish on this offense next season without T. Higgins

Starting point is 00:08:18 because it's such a drop-off. I mean, there's, if T. Higgins isn't in the picture, Jake, it's Jemar and Andre and who. And so if you can find common ground and get a deal done with T. Higgins, you just feel so much better. They're always going to be a past first team.

Starting point is 00:08:36 I know Chase Brown is a factor on offense. Not belittling him or Andre or the possibility of Eric, all, Mike Gisicki, if you bring him back, but we know what T. Higgins does, and Joe does too. And I think that's why he brought it up. And I think that's the most interesting part of this is the timing. Joe Bro is 28 years old today as we record. Tuesday, December 10th.

Starting point is 00:08:59 He's in his fifth NFL season. Up to this point, he has been a quiet guy when it comes to giving his, he'll give opinions to Zach or the front office. I don't think he'll shy away from that. But it's usually when he's asked. I think this is a, all right, I want to keep tea, we're keeping tea. And now how the organization responds, do they react one way? Do they react another way?

Starting point is 00:09:25 Do they just think it's a player backing his guy? I think that's interesting because obviously Joe, and I've said it a few times, has more power than anyone in the building, including ownership. He does. And so I hope they listen, and I think it makes sense for them to listen. This has come up before. we'll continue the conversation and Joe Burroughs comments why it came up I think is also interesting. It's not like he was asked about that directly.

Starting point is 00:09:54 He did bring it up on his own. So we'll finish up with the details of why this is back in the Bengal zeitgeist coming up next. Today's episode is sponsored by Built Rewards. If you're a renter, listen up. This is a total game changer. Thanks to Built. you can now earn points on rent payments, just like you do with groceries or travel, paying rent now comes with serious perks. And it's free. That's right, free to join. Your invaluable

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Starting point is 00:11:06 So how this came up in Joe Burroughs post-game presser is an interesting topic in and of itself. You know, we've talked about what Joe said. We talked about the Jamar Chase point. T. Higgins' reaction, which is essentially, well, if Joe said it, maybe it is possible. But how this came up was this discussion around what the Bengals stars were. are playing for. And this is a topic that we've talked about on lockdown Bengals, and we've observed Joe Burroughs comments over the last few weeks.

Starting point is 00:11:46 Technically, they're not eliminated from the playoffs. 3% chance, according to models, between 2 and 3% chance, to sneak into the playoffs. So technically, that still exists, but nobody's talking about that in the building. We're not talking about that on lockdown Bengals. What Joe and Jamar have been talking about is this idea, of making memories and enjoying playing football together.

Starting point is 00:12:10 And in this post game, with the season, obviously coming to a conclusion in the near future, these guys are thinking about the fact that they're not necessarily playing a whole lot of football together anymore. And that's how this came up is Zach Taylor sent Joe, Jamar, and T out for the coin toss together before the game, which hasn't happened before. And there's a moment there that Joe Burrow talked about. Joe Burrow quoted saying, I like that trio. We've played a lot of football together, made a lot of plays, scored a lot of touchdowns, won a lot of games.

Starting point is 00:12:46 Us three are some of the best at what we do, and we're great friends and continue to love playing with each other. I realize that in the moment, and that was kind of a moment. I mean, that seems like a big deal to me. Yeah, I agree. I think it's a big deal. And I also think that it makes Joe start to think of, all right, this season's been hard. How do we get back the championship level?

Starting point is 00:13:16 Right. And it's like, all right, well, with the, that's the path. It starts there with us three together. And I get it. I get why he would think that way. I get why he would feel that way, the way this team is built. you lose tea and he's just not there and that's that's a really tough ask right you lose jo it's a really tough ask you lose jim we've seen it over the past few years when one of those guys says

Starting point is 00:13:45 out how much different it is i uh i wonder i wonder why zach made that decision or that game in that moment i don't know but i will say this we've talked a lot of at least there's been a lot of talk, we haven't, but a lot of talk about Zach Taylor's future. Assuming Zach is here next year, you know what? He wants T. Higgins on the roster. I can promise you that that's the case. Yeah, they've built their offense around

Starting point is 00:14:12 having T. Higgins and Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase. Those guys are the engine that makes the offense go. And with all the other changes that we'll talk about between now and April and May and next year's training camp that will be necessary

Starting point is 00:14:28 for this team, those guys are certainly currently foundational pieces. And we've talked a lot on this show, James, about looking around and trying to find foundational pieces and having a hard time finding them, especially when you don't count T. I think that the last thing to talk about here is what practically does Joe Burroughs comments do.

Starting point is 00:14:51 And it applies pressure, or, as I said yesterday, it either implies pressure or implies that Joe knows something. And I think much, much, much more likely is that this is Joe making a statement in his presser about his preference here, right? And so does that mean anything to the front office? And this is what we will find out in the coming months. We will not get an answer until after the season. The Bengals cannot negotiate an extension with T. Higgins this year while he's on that franchise tag. They're past the deadline.

Starting point is 00:15:29 That was a long, long time ago. It was July 15th. Yeah. But are they willing to do what they need to do from a contract structure perspective? Are they willing to hypothetically restructure Joe's contract? This is not a team that has made significant restructures ever. And that is converting salary to pro-rated signing bonus money to spread cap hits out, to be very, very specific about what.

Starting point is 00:15:58 to restructure means. So those are questions that remain to be answered. Last year, Joe Burrow expressed similar confidence that T. Higgins would be back. And of course, they had the franchise tag in the back pocket. And Joe knew that. So that could be in the back of his mind. But this is obviously a bit of a different scenario. I don't think he's necessarily hinting that the Bengals planned to franchise tag T again.

Starting point is 00:16:22 But that technically is still an option that we haven't talked about for quite a while. well they should that's one they absolutely should regardless they should it's 26 million dollars you should you have the cap space but the follow up for Joe and I won't talk to him until Wednesday

Starting point is 00:16:43 maybe I'll ask because there's a way to go about it it's still midseason he might not have even gotten as far but is he willing to go into Mike's office and be like yeah you got to keep tea I mean, that's, it's really it, right? Is he willing to look at Mike, KD. Trot? And be like, yeah, you guys, this is, if you need me to restructure, fine, but you have to keep deep.

Starting point is 00:17:09 Like, you can't just be, if it's just one comment and it's just to us following a Monday night football game, as big as it feels right now, a month from now, is that going to matter to the front office? And so two months from now, when they're making that franchise tag decision, is that going to matter to the front office? to the front office. That's, and that's where, by the way, maybe they tag him with the hope of landing a long-term deal. I'm not saying tag him and just let him go or trade him or anything like that. But that would be my follow-up. Is Joe willing to continue to push? I don't think he's done that, but that might be required.

Starting point is 00:17:47 And by the way, it might be the right thing to do if you're saying, all right, well, how can the Bengals contend in 2025? It's hard again for me to buy into this team being a much, much better when you open up another void in the roster and lose T. Higgins. Yeah, that's the difficult thing, right, that we've seen this team do for the last few years is that some of their good players have left and they have struggled to backfill. Not that they will struggle to backfill every player, and sometimes you have to make hard decisions, but they haven't made those hard decisions to keep players in their recent history. And that obviously has showed up this year, especially on the defensive side of the ball,

Starting point is 00:18:35 where they've got a lot of youth out there, a lot of new pieces out there, and then some aging players out there, and then none of that is working together. So we'll see how it all. all shakes out, we'll see how the front office reacts. You're right. I don't think that just this comment is enough unless this is a persistent thing that Joe continues to bring up for the rest of the season. I think it would require those direct conversations behind the scenes that we

Starting point is 00:19:02 won't be privy to. And we won't get answers for a while on that one. And so while it is very much in our awareness today, the idea that answers are our, our, our, eminent is not really out there. This is going to take time. The only thing that could happen between now and the end of the season is they could hypothetically get an extension done with Jamar. Not that there's any indication that they're talking right now, that they've broken their idea of waiting until after the season to get that done again. But that legally, technically could happen. And that could be a step that they take. That's the only thing that could happen between now and the end of the season.

Starting point is 00:19:45 Otherwise, we're waiting until the offseason for these conversations. The Bengals still have some games to play, James. We're talking about a bounce back here late in the season against some bad teams. The Bengals continue to beat up on bad teams. We'll finish the show with a different topic. The Bengals beating up on bad teams in 2024 coming up next. Hey, Locked on Bengals, listeners and viewers, you got to get ice shaker in your life. And if you're watching on YouTube, you see Jake drinking out of his beautiful Cincinnati Bengals ice shaker.

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Starting point is 00:21:10 It's ice shakers. Show your support for your teams with the best branded workout bottles on the market. Ice Shakers at ice shaker.com promo code locked on NFL. The Cincinnati Bengals have beaten up on bad teams in 2024. And one thing that we talked about going into this game in the last couple of weeks is the idea that the Bengals might bounce back late in the season when they play the Dallas, Cowboys, Tennessee, Titans, Cleveland, Browns. and then they play a couple of playoff contenders for the last two games in the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Starting point is 00:21:46 And we might see them win a couple of games. Who have the Bengals beaten in 2024? They beat the Carolina Panthers, the New York Giants, the Cleveland Browns, the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Dallas Cowboys. Las Vegas currently is in line for the first pick in the NFL draft. The Giants are in line for the second pick in the NFL draft. The Panthers for the fourth pick in the NFL draft. and the Dallas Cowboys all the way down at 12. I'm missing one team, the Cleveland Browns, at 8.

Starting point is 00:22:16 The Dallas Cowboys are the first team the Cincinnati Bengals have beaten in 2024 that if the season were to end today, will be picking after the Bengals in the 2024 NFL draft. They are currently picking, if the season were to end today, the Dallas Cowboys at 12, one pick behind the Cincinnati Bengals, who, if the season were to end today, will be picking 11th. in the NFL draft. And that is all we'll talk about probably too much in this episode about where the

Starting point is 00:22:45 Bengals are drafting in the 2025 NFL draft. But the point stands that the teams they've beaten James are teams picking at the very, very top of that draft order. And you're seeing a little bit of that, quote unquote, dead cap bounce potentially starting this week with the Cowboys win. Yep. And this is why it's so painful to draft. those three straight games where they're all by one score you know the baltimore the chargers the

Starting point is 00:23:16 steelers like goodness like even if you had gotten one then it's like oh well then you have the cowboys and you have the titans and then suddenly you could be six and seven and so that's where my mind's gone i know everyone was thinking draft position and like top five top six joeboro and jimar chase are too good. It just are. They're playing too good. Like Joe Burrow might be the best quarterback in the NFL this season. It's ridiculous that they're five and eight. Jamar Chase is the best receiver in the NFL. It's ridiculous they're five and eight. But they are. Trey Hendrickson leads the NFL in sacks. It's a really weird year. And so what you don't want in this backs up your point, you don't want these long-term decisions to be impacted by some wins down the stretch. You want to

Starting point is 00:24:05 remember the feeling of those three straight losses where they should have probably won at least two of them. And why? Why didn't they finish? Why didn't things go their way? What needs to change? But I also looked at that stretch and I'm like, man, if you just, you win one of those, then the playoff conversation is very different. It just is. If you had beaten Pittsburgh, it feels a lot different right now, even though they haven't really gotten help over the past few weeks. But that's why you got to win games early on. That's why you can't put yourself in an 0-3 hole or 1-4 hole. And yeah, I think they're going to win some games down the stretch, but that doesn't necessarily mean it should impact how the front office views insert whatever

Starting point is 00:24:52 player, insert whatever coach. Now, it should impact a lot of guys. And I think over the coming days and weeks, we'll discuss that as far as these players that could horn more playing. time, all of those things. But you don't want to say, all right, well, keep, keep Lou because the, the Cowboys led by Cooper Rush couldn't figure out this Bengals defense consistently, right? That's not something. And I'm not saying Fire Lou, but I'm certainly not saying that they should be still not keeping it because of what happened Monday night. Right. I mean, there's a whole lot of conversation around which coaches to keep and not keep. And recency bias makes it hard for us as humans to keep in mind the,

Starting point is 00:25:32 three-game losing streak to start the season. The three-game losing streak, the Bengals just finished with getting this win against the Dallas Cowboys, those two losing streaks, dooming their season with crazy losses to Baltimore sprinkled in. The three crazy losses, the Kansas City to Baltimore losses, just absolutely insane the way they lose those games. The Chargers lost very close to being in that category as well. And you just have these big losing streaks. six games lost. And including that New England Patriots game to start the season when Joe Burrow wasn't

Starting point is 00:26:07 quite himself, I mean, you just can't have those slow starts. You can't have them continuously coming up short in these moments. You can't have the defensive breakdowns and spiral, the death spiral that we've seen this season where, yeah, Cooper Rush couldn't throw to open receivers effectively in that game. Cooper Rush was pretty bad. But you can't make it. the mistake that you've made before and be over-influenced by late game or sorry, late-season games due to recency bias. And I think this has gotten the Bengals before in the

Starting point is 00:26:43 Bengals front office, keeping coaches and or players and or units around because of mirage finishes that appear to be, they're building momentum into that's not, they built momentum into next season with Jake Browning last year, right? Went in some of those games. Then they started 0 and 3. And that's not a thing. I mean, not that one anecdote last season to this season should prove that building momentum into next season isn't a thing.

Starting point is 00:27:13 But I think that should be pretty obvious. You're resetting the season all the time when you talk to players. They're like, I don't compare this season to last season. This is a new season. We're a different team. And that's true to some degree, right? That's true to a large degree. But when we see the Bengals get some results,

Starting point is 00:27:30 here. And I think a lot of people have already made up their minds about this. And so that's great. What we can't be over-influenced and the Bengals cannot be over-influenced by late-season results against bad teams that like the Bengals may not have a whole lot to play for. Well, yeah, it's Joe Burrow versus Cooper Rush. Sometimes you just got to say it out loud.

Starting point is 00:27:58 like this week will levis versus joe burrow is it going to be shocking if the bengals beat the titans well they might lose to the titans there is a path for that but it's not going to shock anyone if they beat the titans does that mean that they're close to winning the division does that mean they're close to getting back to the playoffs it's just two separate things and you're right in the bengals history the these down the stretch surges have changed things. And we'll see. I think expectations, I mean, we spent 20 minutes talking about C.

Starting point is 00:28:35 Higgins and it felt like that that was, and we should have, but it felt like that that door was closed. Like I don't think this is your 90s Bengals anymore, even though a lot of people default back to there anytime it struggles, in this organization struggles. Now, are they completely modernized? No. But hopefully they understand that it's not as simple as, oh my God.

Starting point is 00:28:57 Andy Dalton found Tyler Boyd, Marvin and the Bengals finished strong. We should bring him back next year. Talking about that Ravens finale from 2017. It isn't that simple either. And so hopefully they understand that. Yeah, totally agreed there. That's going to do it, though, for this episode, James.

Starting point is 00:29:20 We're on a short week. We are short weeks, baby. Let's go. It's Tuesday as we record this episode. This is usually when we record on. Monday, which means we're already to a crossover tomorrow. We're already looking ahead to that Tennessee Titans game, the Ryan Callie coaching his team against the Cincinnati Bengals down in Tennessee where the Bengals seemed to play every

Starting point is 00:29:41 year and are playing again this year. Play the Titans a lot lately. They hosted them in 2020. I was just looking back through some previous years. It's a lot of Nashville trips. A lot of Nashville. And it's cold. I don't want to deal with the cold.

Starting point is 00:29:56 but yeah oh guess i'll walk i walk my happy butt on broadway all cold guess i will no one tell ben baby about this part of the show that's going to do it for this episode of the lockdown bengals podcast back tomorrow with the crossover thanks for listening raise hoode and have a good one

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Breaking down Joe Burrow's confidence in the Cincinnati Bengals' ability to keep Tee Higgins

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