Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - BREAKTHROUGH: Dohnte Meyers EMERGES As WR4, Bengals Face TOUGH Decisions on Final WR Spot

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Bengals just had their last practice before cuts are coming this weekend. And this wide receiver battle looks like it is shaking out and staying interesting up to the last minute. 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. He's Joe Goodberry. I'm Jake Liscoe. The Bengals are.

Starting point is 00:00:35 wrapping up training camp. They've got their final preseason game on Friday. We'll be previewing that game a little bit later in this episode. But we're going to start today with what we can take away from the Bengals' final practice and practices of training camp. Today was a walkthrough kind of day. So limited takeaways on days like that. But you can see where the rotations are coming into shape, how some of these battles have shaken out, what the depth chart likely looks like going into this final preseason game. And it's worth noting Zach Taylor told media there will not be any bengal starters playing in this game. But what does that mean for a guy like Dante Myers who continues to get working with the first team offense catch passes from Joe Burrow. And

Starting point is 00:01:23 without Jamar Chase today, he was at least for a lot of this practice, the guy that stepped in. And one way to see that could be that he's a direct backup to a lot of what Jamar Chase does, especially the workout of the slot, but could probably back up a few different roles in the Bengals wide receiver room. Another way to look at this is Dante Myers is your wide receiver four. And he's done enough on offense with this team to work his way up to death chart. I think that's where I'm leaning, Jake, is that we talk so much time about could wide receiver three potentially be up for grabs or a battle or a rotation, right? And I go on fantasy shows or other shows around the country and they say, who is wide receiver three?

Starting point is 00:02:06 And I always say it's Mike Keseki and Chase Brown's going to get a lot of targets. But really, it's Andre Yosuvash and he's going to be the guy getting the bulk of those snaps. But we failed to talk about wide receiver four, five, and six enough, I think, because the conversation continues to be interesting because I think we get new information every day. Not only did Colby Young have a very good camp, especially for a rookie and in preseason made place. But I also think Dante Myers storming the scene this camp, being a playmaker, being a big part of the offense in both preseason games, getting things created for him, touches and opportunities designed for him, jet sweeps, screen passes, playing inside

Starting point is 00:02:49 and outside. And then today at practice, because Jamar's not there, it's Dante Myers. And it's Yoshi on the outside. It's T. Higgins on the outside on the handful of plays we got to see. and you go, yeah, that's the next guy off the bench because he can probably play the Z, which is what I would classify Charmarchase as, and the slot. We've seen a lot, Dante in the slot, a bunch where Colby Young, in my opinion, is probably just the backup at X right now behind T. Higgins. And I know that can get into the weeds a little bit, and you put your playmakers out there, and we're still going to see everyone, and there will be a bit of a rotation.

Starting point is 00:03:24 But when you start to rank them and see it that way, I came away from this practice going, yeah, maybe Myers is wide receiver four and maybe Charlie Jones is still the primary return man because we also got a glimpse of that at practice where it was Charlie, Kishon Williams, and then Dante Myers. So we talked about so much about Myers making the roster as a return man. Maybe it's not that. Maybe he's just that good at receiver. Yeah, I think maybe the thing that I particularly overlooked, Joe, was Mitch Tinsley's roster

Starting point is 00:03:53 security or maybe overestimated as the right word for that. and maybe Mitch Tinsley's job not as secure as I once thought. Early in camp, it looked like Tinsley was rotating it with the ones, just as was Colby Young at times. But Dante Myers climbing this wide receiver depth chart, continuing to stack day upon day upon day in training camp and in preseason games. I think he talked about a number of back shoulder throws from Joe Burrow to

Starting point is 00:04:18 Dante Myers at this point, which really shows you. And there have been players that have discussed this as well, the trust that Joe Burrow has. Dante Myers and you're seeing to make no look passes that Dante Myers on crossing routes at the back of the end zone in practice. And again, it's a walkthrough, which means from a timing perspective, the only thing really going at full speed, relatively speaking, are the wide receivers corners and quarterback running backs as well. There's no real live pass rush or anything like that. But that trust is there. And so where does Tinsley fit in to this equation now

Starting point is 00:04:53 if Dante Myers isn't going to be the return man, if they still want. one of Charlie Jones or Kishon Williams to run away with that job, how does that shake out if that's actually the competition for wide receiver six? And they think that Mitch Tinsley, they got him to the practice squad last year, maybe they think they can do it again, although his highlight reel is out there. And someone might be in love with the tantalizing highlight reel that Mitch Tinsley has out there.

Starting point is 00:05:18 He might not make it through waivers, but so too might not Charlie Jones, who has clear value as a returner and draft pedigree to go along with it. Well, it was the highlights that got Mitch Tinsley this job last year and the opportunities he did get. But if you remember that Ravens game, Joe Burroughs return, I want to say, that deep ball where Burrow kind of gets Marlon Humphrey to squat and then he throws it and Tinsley stops his route as well. There were some other plays. I remember in reviewing his film or people are like, why aren't they going to Tinsley more? And I was like, yeah, he's kind of rough around the edges and a lot of the nuances and details that you need at receiver.

Starting point is 00:05:54 So maybe that part never developed. We don't know, but we did see more of a share going to Colby Young, going to Dante Myers throughout this summer, and we know the tight ends are going to be involved big time. So is there just going to be less three wide receiver and potentially four wide receiver if you're counting Mike Keseki in that role opportunities? So that just means less of a share for somebody that is just a highlight type player if he's that. I don't want to be disrespectful for Tinsley because he did seem like he was getting rotated at all

Starting point is 00:06:21 three receiver spots. He was a big part of the blocking assignments and 12 and 13 personnel, like obvious run situations. Tinsley was getting in there. But I think if we had to rank these receivers right now, I'm definitely taking Kobe Young and Dante Myers over him. And then if that last guy is just a special team kick returner, then yeah, that's how you end up with the Charlie Jones or Kishan Williams on this roster. And to be fair, I watch other preseason games. It seems like every team has a Mitch Tinsley, a wide receiver five through seven, that they really like and they'd like to get them on the roster. And if not, they'd like to get them on the

Starting point is 00:06:56 practice squad. So when you stack that up around the league, Bengals have a stronger receiver room than most. So maybe that's, you know, ruining my opinion of getting Tinsley onto the practice squad. But I do feel like you have a good shot of doing that. And if not, I think that's when you get to Kishon Williams and potentially Noah Thomas on your practice squad. And then are you too mad if you actually lost a Mitch Tinsley at cut down day? The one thing that stands out to me in favor of Mitch Tinsley is I do think that the staff must value the versatility. Like he can play in all of the different receiver spots in this offense where Dante Myers is going to be limited.

Starting point is 00:07:31 He's never going to play X or very rarely going to play on the line of scrimmage, dealing with press covers because he's 5'9. He's a smaller wide receiver. He's a shifting slot type or go offline. And yeah, he's not going to be as effective as a blocker, almost certainly. Like there are rare cases where these guys turn into good blockers despite their and they overcome it. The Mike Hilton's, but inverse, right?

Starting point is 00:07:56 Like the Steve Smith, I mean, he was small, but nasty. And built like a bowling ball, which Dante Myers isn't quite so much. And so where there are certain receivers that are a little bit, like I say, typecast necessarily, but have their specific roles in this offense, Tinsley, more versatile. So if you're looking for a wide receiver depth piece, Tensley provides you more versatility than a Charlie Jones and a Kisham Williams and a Dante Mayors like any of those guys, he's going to be more versatile. Probably the most versatile backup in the receiver room period, but versatility doesn't

Starting point is 00:08:29 necessarily mean he's going to make the biggest impact on your roster. I just know that this coaching staff does value that player that can step in at any role and really understand what the offense is asking of them in those different roles. And that's where I think if there's a case to be made for Tinsley, for maybe keeping seven receivers, maybe they keep Tinsley and a returner and figure it out after the initial cut down. I think the argument would probably center around the coaching staff's trust in Tinsley and the versatility and understanding of the offense. I think you're right, Jake. And it's something that we're not going to get an answer to until the final preseason game this Friday night

Starting point is 00:09:06 versus the... I continue to be confused about it, man. I know. Every day. It's tough to figure that one out. It's overthinking season for this 53, man. I think it's part of the fun, right? You debate internally with yourself, with each other on here, with the listeners. And yeah, you get to different opinions every single day. And I think that's, that's how it goes. But we've got other newcomers. Wasn't just Dante Myers taking snaps with the number ones again today. We have another one. We'll get to that. Some other notes. And what we expect to see in this Bengals Eagles game on Friday night coming up next. Support for today's episode of lockdown Bengals comes from Indeed sponsored jobs. When workplace chaos hits, you need the right hire. You need to find that Dante

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Starting point is 00:10:52 If you need to hire, this is a job for Indeed, sponsored jobs. Jake, I alluded to this. The other newcomer still taking first team reps was Ticario Davis, third round pick corner. And it's Ben DJ Ivy. Ticario dealt with a little bit of injury. It seems like he came back from that and has done everything. The defensive staff wants of him because he's still out there getting starter reps

Starting point is 00:11:14 while Daxo was still out. We did get Brian Cook back again today in team drills. so no setback from yesterday's practice. That's a good thing to hear. Again, it seems like he's on all systems go for week one. We've got plenty of time until we get to that game. But little things like that, Dexter Lawrence getting vet rest. Jamar Chase being held out today.

Starting point is 00:11:34 One report was that he did have a sleeve on that knee. And then Ben Baby said no protective equipment, which I don't know, you know, if a sleeve even counts as, you know, stabilizing your knee or not. Sometimes it just feels good to have a sleeve on there. But on the defensive side, going into this game, I think there's still a lot of questions. I think more roster battles than there are on the offensive side, although we've talked about swing tackle a bunch.

Starting point is 00:11:58 We've talked about wide receiver five, six, seven, who's going to make it? I think on the defensive side, there are more questions for who's, do they keep a fifth the end? Do they keep a six defensive tackle? Who's linebacker number four, five, or six, right, depending on how many they keep? is this taking Josh Newton off the roster and then safety four. But all of these are probably going to be answered. If not already, it feels like I think we could project this.

Starting point is 00:12:25 The hardest question may be at wide receiver or swing tackle. But I think we could project what's going to happen on the defensive side easier, even though there's more positions that are up for a battle that will probably get more playing time in this final preseason game with those players than any of them before. Yeah, and some of that might be who do we want to prioritize for the practice squad? where some of these battles are going to be. You mentioned Ticario Davis working with the ones, and I wonder how different his journey may have been

Starting point is 00:12:53 if he was able to play in that first preseason game because he really, I think, impressed coaches with his first preseason action, especially the physicality in the run game. I've mentioned this a couple of times. When you get a corner that is a bigger body corner and he goes and affects the run game, the way Ticario Davis affects the run game,

Starting point is 00:13:11 the way he played physical at the line of scrimmage with wide receivers, is not afraid to mix it up with the other team. I think there's a certain attitude that impresses the coaching staff that earns respect of his teammates and coaching staff, but especially playing in the run game like that. And if he had that opportunity in week one, I wonder how different this could look.

Starting point is 00:13:31 Could we have seen a lot more of Takario Davis with the number ones if he didn't have that minor injury earlier in camp? But speaking of the minor injury column, we still haven't seen Dax Hill or Samar Stewart, turn to practice. And a lot of people are asking about the status for those guys. They've been on the rehab field now for at least a week. And presumably it's just a easing them back in because Dax is dealing with a hamstring. So you don't want him to aggravate it again. I think he already is dealing with every aggravated hamstring injury that he tried to get through, tweaked again. And so

Starting point is 00:14:06 they're giving it more time to recover. But there's been some discussion, Joe, about making this roster math easier because maybe Shamar Stewart is going to start on IR and come back in four weeks and I for a while thought that that was pretty unlikely because he was on the rehab field it's been at least a week maybe it's been

Starting point is 00:14:27 more than a week of Shamar Stewart getting work on the rehab field and usually that means you're pretty close to returning BJ Hill returned to the rehab field a week before he returned to practice and the Bengals still do have two and a half weeks we're on Wednesday so two and a half weeks today until their first game.

Starting point is 00:14:43 And so I'll be very interested to see what happens with those guys. We'll have to monitor their practice status. And we might not get it next week because there are no injury reports I don't think required next week. I don't think that's until the week leading into week once. It might be two weeks until we actually get practice statuses because I believe. And again, we'll need to double check on this. After this week, I don't think after the cut down, we get.

Starting point is 00:15:10 full media access to practices anymore. And so we might not get as much of an idea about what's going on with those guys unless they're very obvious, I guess, at the beginning of practices. But those are two that we'll have to keep an eye. And I guess we'll get the answer from Mark Stewart this weekend when we find out if he's on the IR or not after the cutoff. Yeah, and I assume that they think he is going to return for week one. Same with Dex, right?

Starting point is 00:15:36 Why won't you shut Dex down? He's playing for a contract also. So in his interest, like he shouldn't be risking it and should be ready to go. He wants to have a full healthy season at Boundary Corner and show what he can do. So that makes a lot of sense. Shamar, on the other hand, was in a brace and then went to a sleeve on the rehab field. I think it was the last update we got from him. So it would feel like he's close and on track for week one.

Starting point is 00:15:58 But yeah, that was a scary one to start camp as we, it looked real bad. But so what I'm looking for for this game here, Eagles, Bengals, and start transitioning to that a little bit. On the defensive side, I really want to see these backup linebackers. I hope we get a little more Warren Berks because I think this is the other part of the story, right? No starters in this game. That means we only got three snaps of Dexter Lawrence in preseason. Yeah, we had the big practice versus the Bears and like that's serving as our,

Starting point is 00:16:25 but we didn't get to see that. We didn't, you know, as a fan base, as analysts, as podcasters, we didn't, we got clips. We got after the fact. We've got play by play from beat reporters. So we really don't get an evaluation. But Orrin Berks, we talked about this in the last game. He was treated with the unks, the starters, the semi-starters that didn't play with the Kyle Duggers and the T.J. Slayton's. And even today, I didn't see Slayton out there.

Starting point is 00:16:51 It looked like the second team or mix of second and third backup defenders was Landon Robinson and Chris Jenkins. So I would like to see like an Orrin Berks because part of the concerns is we're entering the cutdown. Like this is final roster phase. linebackers still, even if you believe the starters have taken a step in year two, how do we truly feel about the depth if one of those guys had to go down? I can't say we feel good. Orrinbergs has a lot of experience in this league. He played bad last year.

Starting point is 00:17:19 I'd like to see what he looks like right now. We're not getting any three linebacker defensive sets. We're almost never seeing Warren Berks at all. Like if he gets cut, would you actually be shocked? I kind of thought about this last night. I guess I wouldn't be because I keep mentioning how good Shaka Hayward and Joe Giles Harris are on special teams. And maybe you just say, if Warren Berks is basically a special teamer and we don't

Starting point is 00:17:41 think he's good on defense, could we cut him and save a little bit? This works for two cutting Cody Ford, right, and saving a little bit of money that they just did. And if they've fallen out of favor or you don't really, but again, I'm contradicting myself because they saved him from the week two preseason game. I guess it's more for me. I would like to see some of these guys still play that shouldn't be guaranteed a roster spot. And the first guy I thought of on defense was Warren Berks.

Starting point is 00:18:05 Yeah, I think the treatment he got in preseason week two, unless there was an injury that we don't know about, and there's something minor he was dealing with, and that's why they held him out. Assuming that he was fully healthy and could have played, because we have not heard of him missing any practices. You have to assume that that is a case. We've heard nothing on him, to be honest.

Starting point is 00:18:23 Seems like he's just safe. He's going to be a special teamer. He's going to be the first linebacker off the bench. He was in the system last year. He's a guy they trust more on defense and shock. a Hayward for better or worse. I mean, what are you really going to glean from a final preseason game that's going to change your evaluation of Orrin Berks at this point?

Starting point is 00:18:43 They've seen so much of him. And it never has seemed like he's really in a battle. So that might just be one where they're in a different place than you are on a player. Because you're not alone on this. I think a lot of people would have liked to have seen these linebackers challenge more up and down the roster than they were from the starters all the way to the backups. And while Swayzey Bozeman has been a refreshing. player in this preseason and looks like a guy that we like as a backup for this team,

Starting point is 00:19:10 Shaqahabird's had good preseason performances as well, and that's continued this preseason. Joe Giles Harris has in years past and has acquitted himself well as a special teamer for this team. But the direction they're going on defense might just lead to change in the way they're treating this position a little bit because we're continuing to project, I think, four guys at this spot. And that is a spot where they've traditionally had. had quite a lot of special teams contributions where they might have fewer this year.

Starting point is 00:19:40 Yeah, and that's going to be part of our 53-man projection. Do they need to keep a fifth linebacker? Is it more tight end? Is it another running back? Is it an extra receiver? Is an extra corner like Josh Newton? We'll talk about all of these fringe players and things we'd like to see more in the game coming up with the Eagles and Bengals coming up next.

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Starting point is 00:20:57 That's ODO.O.com slash lockdown. So as much as we would like to see more from these linebackers, we might not get a whole lot of movement there. Feels like the depth chart is pretty set at corner unless Josh Newton has a Herculean effort out there. He's made plays in preseason, army and camp, right? It seems like every other day,

Starting point is 00:21:18 it's like Newton with an interception or tip ball. Camp, yes. Game, though. Off tip passes, yes. Making a play outside of that, outside of air throws, nobody's capitalized on the opportunities that he's had. But Takario Davis, DJ Avi,

Starting point is 00:21:31 J. J. Taylor seemed to be clearly the backups with perhaps Jacario being the first guy off the bench where they continue to find ways to get DJ Ivy onto the field with the first team defense in various sub packages where they're putting an extra defensive back on the field, which you talked about yesterday. They did again today. Justir Taylor going to be the backup slot corner almost certainly.

Starting point is 00:21:50 But Newton is still in that mix. I think at corner seems pretty decided. Cedric Johnson being the fifth defensive end seems pretty well decided. And barring a trade, it seems like Chris Jenkins and and Robinson, T.J. Slayton, going to be your defensive tackles off the bench at some point this season to provide really quality depth there. So of all these defensive spots that we're talking about, where this is a unit that had all these questions last year, they've really remade. For actually who's going to make the team? Is PJ Jules safe? That's really the biggest question to me on defense at this point in terms of who's going to make the team.

Starting point is 00:22:28 When we get to the regular season, the questions are different. The questions become, how good is Boye-Mafi going to actually be as an edge rusher? These are questions we're not going to get answers to in the preseason game. Just a preview what's coming in the next couple of weeks. I can't wait to get to those, though, Jake. The roster said it's going to be like, how good is Boye-Mafi going to be? What kind of step is Miles Murphy going to take as a past rush in terms of production? How good are these linebackers going to be?

Starting point is 00:22:51 How much of an impact are we going to see from Brian Cook and Dexter Lawrence? When these games really matter, those are the questions that we're going to be looking for in a week. but until then we're still looking at these depth questions, which, I mean, really, it's OT3, right? Like, that's the biggest one by far in this Eagles game is OT3, maybe Jacob Bayer, maybe wide receiver 6. This defense looks pretty well set despite all the questions we have overall about the quality of that unit. I agree. Like, even if you're a big fan of Josh Newton, I wouldn't be making the argument that he's a top six corner on this team. even if you really believe in McKinley Jackson,

Starting point is 00:23:28 you couldn't say he's a top six defensive tackle, not the way Landon Robinson has played. Landa Robinson's had more flashes in two preseasoned games than Chris Jenkins and McKinley Jackson combined going into year three for those guys, right? Like, that's not crazy to say. So it's hard, even if you like Isaiah Foskey, I don't think you could say he's better than Cedric Johnson. So I think it's pretty clear cut for who's making the team,

Starting point is 00:23:51 even if we like some of these guys we're projecting two-gate released. But on offense, yes, I think the biggest roster battle on the entire team is offensive tackle number three. We gain some clarity by not muddying up the waters with Cody Ford still being on this roster. But hopefully we get Jalen Rivers at right tackle in this game. We get Javon Foster at left tackle. Can Andrew Coker make an argument to get in there? Or is he just a practice squad guy that you could call up if you need it? Will they keep both of those guys, Foster and Rivers?

Starting point is 00:24:19 And go light with Jacob Bayer being released or traded. If there's any value there, I'd love to talk about. trades. Maybe we'll get a bonus episode coming up, Jake, where we just talk about players with value that could be had around the league or offered up around the league. And then can Mitch Tinsley, like, have a 20-25 preseason performance and really get back into this conversation, right? If he does, man, we're going to be talking about receiver again because Tinsley, the plays he did make were absolutely impressive. And he made a lot of big plays in regular season games last year as well, that fade ball from Jake Browning and the Jags game week two. Like, instantly,

Starting point is 00:24:54 I'm like, man, maybe this Mitch Tinsley dude is for real. We too, we're getting him already. And then Tage Brooks. We got flashes. I feel a little bit better about him. He had really good pass protection reps. He had good special teams reps, which made me go, okay, maybe it's less about what he does as a running back.

Starting point is 00:25:09 Maybe he's Cedric Perman of the future, which is fine. Cedric Perman made a Pro Bowl, right, in 2015. Like maybe that's what Tage Brooks is and less of a Smajapy Rine, and we'll still need answers in the future for running back one and two. But that's how you make the roster as running back. three, but still, I'd still give him 10 carries or touches and hope for the best and see some flashes and hope that he can be a guy. Because again, if an injury happens, I don't like to play doomsday scenarios, but if they're

Starting point is 00:25:35 going to happen and they're going to come up. So I'd really like to see more out of Tash Brooks in this final preseason game. Yeah. And I wonder if we do get a waiver claim there or not. Trey Benson was recently waived. He was waived injured by the time you listen to this. He is probably processed on waivers by now. by the time this episode is out to you,

Starting point is 00:25:54 which means you'll know if he's going to land on the Arizona IR or if a team is willing to take that risk. A lot of Bengals fans were very interested in Troy Benson after he was released. And I dumped a bucket of cold water on it because he's still dealing with that knee injury that he couldn't come back from last year. He's hardly practiced this year.

Starting point is 00:26:12 He hasn't played in the preseason this year. So you might be submitting a waiver claim just to wave him yourself a couple days later if he doesn't pass the physical, which I guess you could do. do. You can stash him on your own IR if you're, if you're interested in him.

Starting point is 00:26:26 So they do have the roster spots to do that right now. They don't have the injuries. So hypothetically, they could. That's a scenario, right? Like worst case is you have to release Jack injuries, Landon Robinson? Because this is an inactive player.

Starting point is 00:26:40 He doesn't take the place of Todge Brooks. Right. Yeah, he's either taking Tage Brooks roster spot or he's going on IR, would be my thoughts. But he didn't go straight on the IR for Arizona. which was interesting. I assume that even if he does revert to Arizona's IR, and this is probably what teams around the league are realistically waiting for,

Starting point is 00:27:00 is they will then cut him from the IR with an injury settlement, and then he'll be free to sign with another team. I would assume what's going to happen, and we'll see probably by the time people listen to this, that will be resolved. But they're running backs around the league that could be available. And I think in the division from the Steelers, a couple running backs could potentially be available as well.

Starting point is 00:27:22 So that's one to watch because I do find it interesting that in preseason game, too, he just didn't get more touches. Like Kendall Mill was out there early. There was more of a rotation than I thought there would be like, why not just get a heavy dose of Tage Brooks in that first half and get a better idea of him as a ball carrier? But because he had such a nice game in past protection, because he made plays on offense and as a special teamer, he did help himself, I think, in that second preseason game quite a bit. I agree with that. And, you know, I wonder if he got that treatment because, yeah, they wanted to see a little bit, but not expose him to injury because if he went down, they'd really have nothing at Running Back 3. We've seen nothing from Gary Brightwell, Kendall Milton that says they should be on a roster, right? So the Bengals are very weak in the depth department at running back.

Starting point is 00:28:10 They've got a bunch of guys that could probably flash for you. But really, when you're comparing it to some of these other rosters, there's guys four, five, six that I, and you mentioned the Steelers. I mean, they've got guys that I would take in a hard. They've got recent draft picks that they may be cutting. That would be interesting. But yeah, it has to be, I don't even see, I don't even, I'm not even sure if they make a claim at running back three unless that guy can play special teams, right? Because making that guy active is part of the challenge.

Starting point is 00:28:38 Some level of experience because they need to be able to trust that guy is going to be able to pick up the system. Because like running back three is active. I'm pretty sure, almost always going to be active. And so they're going to need that guy. He does play some special teams, though, to be fair. He does. But you probably need whoever that RB3 is,

Starting point is 00:28:57 be able to pick up your offensive system pretty quick in case he's needed. Not that like Todd Brooks maybe is getting like two snaps a game if those other guys are healthy, if that, right? But you do, I think, need, if you're going to spend that waiver claim there and cut Taj Brooks, you need that guy to be able to hit the ground running. Khalil Herbert, they traded for him and then didn't use him at all. Remember, it was kind of like, yeah,

Starting point is 00:29:18 I wonder if he just is not picking up the system. Maybe they don't want to make that mistake again. Yeah. I like your idea for a bonus episode, Joe. We'll take a look at some trades that could or could not happen. And some Bengals that may or may not have value, it does feel like there are some Bengals and maybe we're just overvaluing them. This is something that you're prone to do if you're covering one team with the depth that we do.

Starting point is 00:29:41 But it seems like there are more guys this year with trade value for this team than normal. We've already seen some player for player trades happening. some draft pick trades happening for potential swing tackles. It was the chiefs and the Giants getting a trade done for a 2028, seventh round pick for, honestly, a four position backup who has played reasonably well when he's on the field, a trade that if you go by PFF numbers, because I haven't watched him, maybe the Bengals should have considered it. I think that's the kind of deal they should be considering, though, in the next 24 to 72 hours or so

Starting point is 00:30:16 getting through this Eagles game and seeing where they are afterwards, that countdown deadline is coming up. And so we'll take a dive into that, a little bonus content for you here, because our next full episode will be after the game on Friday night. Until next time, that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Thanks for listening, Hoodey, and have a good one.

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