Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Cincinnati Bengals' defense wins another practice as Dax Hill stands out, and Chad Johnson thinks Ja'Marr Chase will sign an extension this week

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

The guys break down how the Cincinnati Bengals defense won another day of practice as training camp is nearing its conclusion. Plus, it sounds like Ja'Marr Chase may have gotten a little bit of an ext...ra workout in after practice on Monday. We also discuss the Evan McPherson deal, locking up the Bengals' clutch kicker for a 3-year deal that comes in at a somewhat surprising average cost. For your next listen, check out the Locked On Fantasy Football podcast. Get daily insight to the best Fantasy draft strategies so you can win your league this season. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply.FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The Cincinnati Bengals returned to practice on Monday, and the defense continued up its hot streak and won another day of practice. Let's break it down. 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. I'm your host, Jake Liskow. He's your host, James Rapin. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network on Lockdown Bengals covering your team.
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Starting point is 00:01:03 You're going to get a three-week trial for free at Fandle. dot com slash lockdown. Check it out to get started. And James, the defense was honestly better than I thought when I rewatched the tape against the Bears. They had won a couple of practices that were just Bengals against Bengals last week. And they kept it up. They're stringing them together at this point. Another practice win for this Bengals defense on Monday, although it is noteworthy that, well, of course, Mark Chase remains not practicing, but neither did T. Higgins do much, if anything. and fill in the gaps there on Monday. Yeah, Jamar.
Starting point is 00:01:40 Jamar, we'll get to Jamar coming up in a bit, but another win for the defense. And I think there's a lot of good things defensively. I do think the storyline, though, is about the offense because we're now talking about last Monday. Joe throws two interceptions, has the miscommunication with Andre Yosefash deep downfield. Tuesday was a dominant performance by the defense.
Starting point is 00:02:03 And then Thursday in the joint practice, obviously, up and down for the offense and a lot of down in a weird environment. And then today, and it wasn't as long of a practice with the joint session on Tuesday, and I can't wait to cover that with the Colts. But the first team offense didn't score a touchdown. And you were here at camp, usually even on days where the defense kind of wins, the offense finds a way to get downfield and score. And the Bengals did not score a touchdown.
Starting point is 00:02:33 It didn't happen with the first team offensive. And so I think that that's pretty noteworthy. And it really is a testament one to I think the emerging defense, but I also think the offense is searching a little bit right now without T. Higgins and without Jamar Chase. Yeah, Zach Moss saying at his locker after the practice, the defense is doing a great job with disguise. That was also apparent against the Bills by the way, or the Bears by the way in that preseason game. The second team defense doing a really good job with their disguise. And I think that's what led to some of the issues for the Bears' early. early in that game. So it was interesting to hear Zach Moss shout that out after practice as well.
Starting point is 00:03:10 And a lot of that perhaps you chalk up to the presence of Gino Stone and Von Bell, at least for the first team. But they were able to do it with the second team at a high level against the Bears as well, which is a nice trend to see. Daxil had a big day. That was a big part of that defense holding the offense out of the end zone, both on a fourth down play with a pass breakup and with a good jam on Trent and Irwin on a third down play in the red zone that led to an overthrow or something that appeared to be an overthrow. I think that Dax really disrupted the timing of that play with a good jam. And on the throw to Charlie Jones later, the Dax gets a pass break up on.
Starting point is 00:03:46 And these plays have been tweeted. They're out there on social media if you want to check them out. It looks like Sheldon Rankins has a pretty clean win and Joe Burrow is drifting back in the pocket and Rankin's getting a clean win one-on-one it appeared with Ted Karris on that play. So not just Dax Hill, but Dax Hill certainly stringing together some strong practices and while we'll ask our questions about the offense without de higgins and without Jamar chase dax hill continuing to work with the ones and continuing to make plays and practice seems like that battle is in a very interesting place right now yeah i still think it's far from over that that's where if you look at the depth chart it still says dj turner and then and i get it all
Starting point is 00:04:28 of training camp depth charts fine but it's still something it's not like dax shifted into that that first roll and they could have done that. And so I do think it's still up in the air. And that's number one on my list to watch for again, since we only saw two series from those guys on Saturday. But, yeah, tomorrow's joint practice is going to be huge. That being said, Dax looks comfortable. He does.
Starting point is 00:04:52 I talked to Charlie afterwards, and he thought he had more separation. And he said Dax closed quickly. And he thought it was a clean win with time. And Dax shut that down very quickly. And so what does that tell you? Well, one, the closing speed, the ball skills to knock it down. He didn't pull Charlie. He didn't panic because he had gotten beat by step early, all of those things.
Starting point is 00:05:19 And Charlie isn't slow now. That's the other element here. Charlie is not a 4-7 guy or a 4-6 guy. We're talking about a 4-4 guy. So nice play there by Dax. But I agree with you. I thought B.J. Hill had a nice day. Sheldon Rankin's nice day.
Starting point is 00:05:33 And part of it with Burrow, and Burrough certainly searching a bit, didn't push the ball downfield a ton today, and put a glove on in between drills, but didn't throw with the glove. Apparently it was for moisture in some kind of quarterback thought process that I don't fully comprehend or understand. And I'm certainly not going to bother Joe with that after practice because he wouldn't want to talk about it. He's probably replaying the entire practice in his head. But there were a lot of times where Joe, to your point, Jake, was backpedaling in the pocket, was moving, was throwing off of his back foot, didn't look comfortable from a rhythm standpoint. I'm not talking about a health standpoint, but from a rhythm standpoint, it felt like the defense kind of kept the offense off balance all session long. Yeah, and that has happened at other times. Like I remember a day or two that was like that when I was in Cincinnati where you saw Burrow.
Starting point is 00:06:30 Throwing off platform quite a bit, not really driving throws, not stepping into throws as much as you would be used to seeing him do. Typically operates with incredibly clean mechanics. And maybe it's just something he's working on. Maybe he's just trying to emphasize throwing off platform on those days or throwing in different situations with his base. But it did not lead to a great deal of success for the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday. But, you know, T. Higgins wasn't out there either. And I do think that's a factor. The question that begs is, well, yeah, T. Higginson and Jamar Chase aren't out there.
Starting point is 00:07:06 Those guys are obviously significant pieces for this offense. But are these tertiary pieces doing enough to keep the offense afloat if those guys need to leave for a play or two in the course of a game? Is the offense going to struggle for it? And obviously the run game is part of this too. It's not just passing the ball. It's just harder to have run game takeaways and practices. But when's the last time we talked about Mike Kaseki in a training camp practice, James? I mean, we were pretty bullish on his.
Starting point is 00:07:36 Weeks. Potential skill set in this offense. But we haven't talked about Mike Keseki making a significant play. And I think he did have a touchdown against the Bears in like seven on sevens or something in that joint practice. So I guess there's that. But he's not consistently showing up the way that we've talked about Andre Yosevash consistently showing up. Or lately have talked about Daxil consistently showing up. but the way that we talked about Sheldon Rankins at times
Starting point is 00:07:59 when he's been able to practice consistently showing up, or even Joseph Osai with the wins that he had for like five straight days when I was in Cincinnati. So I guess the question is, is are they going to get enough out of those guys that are not Jamar Chase and T. Higgins when they're not in the field? When they are in the field, you probably don't worry about it. They're fine, tertiary and fourth and fifth options.
Starting point is 00:08:23 But you wonder about the top end there and probably talking about tight end again in the future. Eric Hall and or Tanner McLaughlin don't develop as well. Well, sure. One, this is why we, I didn't dismiss the idea of taking a receiver early day two, right? And I know they did. But like, that was like a big topic before the draft. And people were like, oh, you can't do that.
Starting point is 00:08:43 And yeah, you can. And it's because I don't think Andre Yosevash is the next Marvin Jones necessarily. Might be the next Tyler Boyd, right? Where he's the slot receiver. it might be the next souped up Trent Niro. It might be, I don't know what he is. And that's not being mean to Andre. I think he's going to contribute and catch a lot of passes this year.
Starting point is 00:09:05 But he's not a number one wide receiver. Jermaine Burton is searching right now and it wasn't the solution on offense right now. And that's okay because you do have Jemar Chase. You do have T. Higgins. Well, they didn't today. They haven't had Jemar Chase throughout training camp. And that is a good segue, Jake. because as we record this on Monday, August 19th, we are T-minus 20 days away, less than three weeks away from the start of the regular season.
Starting point is 00:09:33 Jamar Chase is a deal going to get done. Will the hold end? We have an update, at least on Jamar's activity, plus a Bengals legend weighs in on Jamar Chase's contract status. We will react to that coming up next. Today's show is brought to by Fandle. You've heard us talk a lot about Fandle. Well, it's America's number one sports. And we have something a little different for you right now because right now through September 22nd.
Starting point is 00:10:04 So you have over a month, Fandul customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. That's right. And Jake mentioned it at the top. You get a one, two, three week free trial of Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV when you bet $5 with Fandall. Then with a YouTube TV base plan, you'll be able to watch every single regular C. and Sunday afternoon, out-of-market game, all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment
Starting point is 00:10:33 and you can cancel at any time with Fandul right now. All you have to do is visit fandle.com slash locked on. That is fandul.com slash L-O-C-E-D-O-N locked on to download America's number one sportsbook. The update for Jemar Chase is small but interesting. It is something that I don't believe we have observed, at least to my knowledge throughout training camp. And also Chad Johnson's out there talking to Adam Schaeftor saying the deal is going to get done this week.
Starting point is 00:11:06 So we got that too. But Jay Morrison tweeted after practice today that Jamar Chase climbed on a golf cart with his jersey in hand and assistant QV coach Freddie Knighton sitting next to him with the football. Freddie Knighton was a quarterback back in his Arkansas state days. So that's a guy that has some experience throwing a football. Jay's tweet continued, looked like they were riding off to a post-practice workout at the end. indoor facility.
Starting point is 00:11:29 And since like the very first couple of days of training camp, I don't believe we've seen Jamar do this kind of extra work outside of practice. When we did see him staying after practice and catching on the Jugs machine with T. Higgins and doing that sort of thing, this is different from that in the first place. And it may be nothing. Maybe they've been doing this. And it's just the first time anybody's seen it. But I find it to be at least a little bit noteworthy here,
Starting point is 00:11:57 especially on the same day where you get Chad Johnson going on and saying, yeah, the deal is going to get done this week. How do you know? Well, I just know, you know. It could get done. It could get done. It should get done. At this point, you need Jamar Chase.
Starting point is 00:12:15 And by the way, if you're Jamar, this isn't just on the Bengals to get it done. If you're Jamar, just get that four-year deal and make it easy on them to spread that cap head out. line yourself up with Joe Burrow. Get that guaranteed money, Bengals. Give that to him. And Jamar say, all right, what I'm going to give you is four years on top of the two I have. I'm going to trust you to build around me and Joe. And Bengals trust Jamar to hold up his end of the bargain by giving him guaranteed money that you've only given to Joe Burrow.
Starting point is 00:12:47 Both sides, there we go. Maybe I should be the mediator. Jake, maybe that's it. All right. Katie, you got to give a lot of guarantee. money up to Jamar. Remember what happened the first year he got here? Jamar. You want to catch passes from Joe? Oh yeah. We like catching passes from Joe. Okay. Well, you know what we should do. We should get you a four-year deal and you should be willing to accept that. I feel like Owen Wilson at
Starting point is 00:13:12 the beginning of wedding crashes trying to mediate here. But it isn't a divorce. It's a marriage. So hopefully they can get something done. What an obscure reference. Like wedding crashers is not an obscure movie, but the beginning, like the mediator scene at the beginning. Well, I was, I was. literally turning. I'm up here turning. There's no one by me. And so I'm doing it. And I'm like, ah, this kind of reminds me of wedding crashes at the beginning when they're just really good at and so, you know, when's the last time you watch wedding crashers? It's been a while. It's a must. Like if you're just like flipping through and wedding crashes is on, it's definitely worth leaving on. It's funny. It's great. And they don't make comedies like that anymore because Hollywood's like.
Starting point is 00:13:52 Anyway, we're speculating, of course, that the issue is guaranteed money or the issue is the duration of the contract, but it's very easy to look at what the potential friction points could be and come to that conclusion. It's also easy to imagine that maybe it's the $35 million per year that Justin Jefferson got in Minnesota. That is a point of friction where you're seeing these market exploding deals and teams like Dallas. And maybe Cincinnati, we don't know. speculating seem to be dragging their feet a little bit in the wake of that Jefferson deal trying to get deals done with their respective stars. But that's why you're willing to do the 35 if you get the four years.
Starting point is 00:14:36 Like that's why I would say, like mediator me would be like, yeah, you're willing to do make him the highest paid receiver ever because you have him for four years and there's going to be eight guys that surpass him during that length of that deal. You know, and that's probably why Jamar doesn't want to do four. And you can assume he would probably want a three-year extension. and line up with Jefferson's length of deal and test free agency again or be set to hit free agency again before he turns 30 like all of those things. But there could be a happy medium.
Starting point is 00:15:04 And hopefully they find that happy medium. And it takes time. I will say it's getting to the point. And I like the Freddie Knight and workout speculation that we can assume. I think it's a fair assumption to say that they did something. I need Jamar in shape now. Yeah. Like the other thing Chad said in that interview that was really noteworthy, he was like, I would want all of those reps because I want to be an elite shape. And the one thing you can't say about Chad, Chad was the best shape of anyone, always. He could run all day. He would take second reps. He would take third. He would try. He would try to hang in with the twos and threes. He would try. And it's because he was in elite shape. He could run all day. And we know when Jamar's locked in a couple of years ago against the Steelers, what did he do? He was on the field for 100 snaps. week one.
Starting point is 00:15:54 Like that is insane. A 100 snaps, but he was in. And so I just hope that Jamar can be ready to go and hit the ground running. And so to know that he's working out probably in private is great to know. And I'm sure that his fitness level is at least pretty good. Maybe it's not as good as it could be if you're practicing every day. Or maybe it's fine. I mean, that's also speculative.
Starting point is 00:16:18 Anything that we can really comment on about any of that is speculative. But you're right about the timing aspect. The preseason ends on Thursday, right? There's one preseason game on Thursday, and then there's two weeks of practice leading into the regular season. You would really like Jamar Chase to be present for those two weeks of practice leading into the regular season when game planning starts to become a much more significant part of what they're doing in practice,
Starting point is 00:16:47 and they're not just repping things to learn the offense and to get experience with calling plays into different looks, sometimes calling them into plays, calling plays into looks that you know you're not going to get in the game just to see how players will react on those bad plays where you call a cover two-beater into cover three, and you just want to see what happens when you get a look that you're not expecting. You watch March Ace back for getting ready for the New England Patriots in week one
Starting point is 00:17:16 or getting ready for the regular season, whatever it is, if you don't think that the New England Patriots are going to present a significant challenge with all of the issues that are facing the Patriots. But this week, to Chad's speculation or point with Adam Schefter, would be the time. This like end of preseason time frame, this is when the Bengals often have gotten deals like this done in this sort of time of year. And so wouldn't surprise anyone if it did happen this week. I would say that would be in line with the Bengals M.O. for the last, what, five to 10 years?
Starting point is 00:17:56 And would get him into practice after the preseason when things start getting specific and starts preparation for things that will count. Yeah. The time is now. I don't want to be, if it happens, I'll tell you right now, if it happens, like it did last year with Joe Burrow, September 5th, which is that Thursday, day before the home opener or the regular season opener. I'm going to be so annoyed Jake Liscoe. I don't want an emergency podcast that Thursday night after the haze in the barn. I don't want to be on Chase Watch. Get it done. In fact, I'm calling, I'm calling Jamar after this and I'm going to try to be the mediator.
Starting point is 00:18:39 We're going to try to hammer this out. Unfortunately, they won't let me, I know they won't let me stream it. I know they won't. Otherwise, we could just stream it live on YouTube. You got to get hard knocks in there. One deal did get done, and we haven't discussed it yet. Lockman Bengals better than hard knocks. Just throwing that out there.
Starting point is 00:18:57 Go ahead. Of course. But, you know, these NFL teams only play ball with certain levels of media sometimes, and they don't recognize us for the level that we're at. I don't even mean the NFL. Jamar's got that power. We'll get Jamar in. We'll get the other half of that cover.
Starting point is 00:19:15 Oh, for sure. I'm not sure Jamar has a power to convince the sense. Cincinnati Bengals front office to let his negotiations be streamed. I think one, his agent does, two, like their side of the things. They could certainly stream that. Of course they could. I would be shocked. That would be some unprecedented stuff.
Starting point is 00:19:37 That would be insane. Now would it hurt their. I'm brain and on your parade here, James. Yeah, you are because you're a wet blanket. You know who's not a wet blanket? Evan Money Mac McPherson. He got paid. We will discuss that coming up next.
Starting point is 00:19:56 Before we get to Evan McPherson, Jake, I do. You're taking back your wet blanket comment because that was mean. No, what the hell are you doing? Why wouldn't you just let me have my street? Obviously, Jamar and the Bengals aren't going to let me stream. But you didn't have to like take it all literal and play it out for a minute. And now I'm feeling like, oh, like, I'm about to go by. I'm at Paycor for those listening.
Starting point is 00:20:21 I'm about to go knock on Mike's door and see if they'll let me. Do you know where Mike's door is? Crickets. What are you trying to do? You're trying to get me in trouble. Just keep going. Evan McPherson signed a three-year extension that will keep him with the Bengals for the next four years. It's $5.5 million per year reportedly with $10 million of cash flow in the first year of the deal,
Starting point is 00:20:45 according to the reports of the deal that has not made it to the over-the-cap website. yet so we don't know the exact specifics of how exactly that cash flow works. It's almost certainly not $10 million of upfront money in the 2024 NFL season. It's probably a roster bonus that happens within 365 days from the day the deal was signed. So it's probably a roster bonus for next year sometime in March or something like that that leads to a little bit more of that money for Rick Fierston coming up front. But the Bengals get the deal done. McPherson said that he had a feeling the deal would get.
Starting point is 00:21:20 get done, and it did. And this may be a situation where on the other side of the Jamar Chase coin, where you're talking about just pay the man the money to keep him for four years, the Bengals might have convinced McPherson to take a little bit less than he otherwise might have because he gets back to the market. He's going into his age 25 season is the youngest good kicker in the NFL by two years and is now making $5.5 million per year, which is time with Graham Ganoe. for fifth most in the NFL.
Starting point is 00:21:52 But when you look at the list of highest pay kickers around the league, they're all like late 20s, early 30s, and McPherson really stands out as a 25-year-old on that list, and he will hit the market again when he's in his late 20s and find plenty of time for another payday if he continues his performance the way he's been going. Keep ascending. I think that's what's fun when I think about Evan McPherson,
Starting point is 00:22:17 similar to Jamar Chase, guys like that, that perform at a young age. Like, there's a path where he's the best kicker in the NFL in a few years. It could very well happen. And at least I believe it, I believe in his skill set and his ability. And so we'll see, of course, consistency needs to be there, which I think he's gotten more consistent as time has gone on. We certainly don't question him in game winning situations.
Starting point is 00:22:44 We've seen him do that plenty. And the leg, you're only going to get stronger at this age. I'm sure his leg is stronger now than it was a few years ago. He said he would love the opportunity to kick a 68 yarder, kick the 68 yarder this offseason at a kicking camp. And he said if the conditions were perfect, he probably could. It was to win. There was some pressure on, too.
Starting point is 00:23:03 It was to win that specific contest they were having with a bunch of punters, long snappers, and kickers. And it was a group that gets together every year in Gatlinburg. And he said he drilled a 68-yarder. So that's pretty dark. darn good, 68 yards for Money Mac. That's pretty fun. The most impressive thing to me.
Starting point is 00:23:25 It is fun. 68 yards. I mean, it's like the whole challenge you did where he kicked the lid off of a, remember this back when he was? Yeah, but it was like a real field goal. Yeah. We're talking.
Starting point is 00:23:37 68 yards is, I just hope he has to do that with the game on the line. All I'm saying is like, that's really far. So it's a pretty impressive feat. I do think that the most impressive thing to me, about McPherson, the criticism I've had that you've kind of scoffed at for the last couple of years is that he needed to be more consistent in this shorter than 50 range. And that is a huge area of his game that has taken massive strides that I think he's pretty proud of too.
Starting point is 00:24:05 In 2021, he was 9 of 6 on field goals from 40 to 49 yards. That's not great. 67%. 9 of 6.6. 6 of 9. Sorry. Yeah. Good catch.
Starting point is 00:24:17 We're late in the podcast. things start getting squarely. In 2022, he was 9 of 13. And that's where the 9 of came from. He was 9 of 13 in 2020 on those field goals a little bit better, I believe. But I don't know how to do math off the top of my head like that. And then last year, he was 8 of 8 on field goals from 40 to 49 yards. In years before, 2023, he was missing extra points a couple of times a year.
Starting point is 00:24:43 He missed 2 in 2021. He missed 4 in 2022. and then in 2020, he was perfect on extra points. So his consistency on field goals that were less than 50 yards really took off in 2023, and he was still pretty good from 50 plus, and they're still trying him in some pretty strenuous 50-plus year field goal situations.
Starting point is 00:25:05 And so becoming more consistent in the area of the field where you need them to be gimmies and still presenting the opportunity to stretch your scoring range a little bit into that 50 yard to maybe low 60 yard range of having McPherson gets his way, that is a kicker that is worth paying. And as the Bengals would tell me, and I would, you know,
Starting point is 00:25:26 still refer back to the general philosophy on this, the Bengals would tell me that's why you draft a kicker. Yeah, that is why you draft a kicker. You know, you've got to drop the right kicker, but you got to draft the right center, the right quarterback, the right tackle with the 46th overall pick when you trade down, and it didn't work.
Starting point is 00:25:44 The point is you've got to get a, right and they certainly got it right with Evan McPherson. No, the reason I downplayed that is because I just I assume he's going to get better. And I don't question like if he can make a 55 yarder, you're going to make the free throws. And it's just a matter of practice, reps, and more consistency. And that's why I think he's still improving the jump from 22 to 23. And so this year, can he be consistent at all levels and literally push Justin Tucker? Like that's my expectations are really high for having because I think he has that kind of potential but push
Starting point is 00:26:19 Justin Tucker and Harrison Butker and answer that conversation as the NFL's best kicker. In this offense, today's practice aside, they should score plenty of points. They should be moving the wall a ton. He should get plenty of opportunities. And so what a
Starting point is 00:26:34 position to be in. But overall, happy for him, happy for the Bengals. It feels like it's a win-win deal. And hopefully we're I don't know, talking about another extension in the next week or so. What do you think, Jake? Yeah, that would be overdue, certainly do, at the very least. This is a time, like we've talked about. This is a time to get the deal done.
Starting point is 00:26:56 Chad thinks it's going to get done with Jarmar Chase. What do you think? Do you think Chad's right? What's your, what's your feeling? I think if there's one guy, because there's two things that Chad said. Chad said that he thinks that deal is going to get done this week. And he thinks that Jermar would be willing to sit. or is not touching the field, and I'm paraphrasing, but it's pretty close. Won't get back on the field unless he gets a deal. And I kind of agree with Chad.
Starting point is 00:27:24 I think Jamar is pretty dug in. Eventually he has to get back on the field. You need that contract at all. He's going to have to show up in like week eight or week night. But I think that all sides want to get this done before then. And then that's why hire a mediator get this thing done. I'm available. Nobody wants the distraction of this going.
Starting point is 00:27:45 longer than it needs to go. This week, I don't know about this week. I think that's pretty tough still. I hope. I really do. I hope that money is falling from the sky during the joint practice on Tuesday. But I would prefer Wednesday.
Starting point is 00:28:00 Wednesday would be ideal. Yeah, Wednesday would be good. Yeah. Thursday's game day. Thursday. There's his game day. I don't want Friday. I don't want Saturday.
Starting point is 00:28:11 It could be. Nope, not Sunday. It could be right after the country. When's a cutdown day? Yeah, but then we have cut down. Like Wednesday. Wednesday is the perfect day. It is.
Starting point is 00:28:23 Like from our perspective, from our content production perspective, for sure, no doubt. We're doing a game preview on Wednesday. If we can also do a Jamar Chase signed his deal, deal episode. Then guess what we're not doing. We're not previewing that game. It's three segments of Jamar, past, present, future. Well, I'm serious game preview. Anything else today, James?
Starting point is 00:28:46 Yeah, I did my 53 man. There's like three roster spots that are maybe up for grabs, probably one to two. Yeah. Roster spots. Like it is because of the injuries to all these guys, like there isn't a or retirements or like there isn't much that we don't already know. Like I think 51 of the spots are pretty secure. And if you kind of slot in positions even more so. They're probably doing nine offensive linemen.
Starting point is 00:29:14 And then are they doing five safeties and five tight ends? These are questions that exist. But you can check out his 53-man roster at. Where can they find it, James? Bengals talk.com. There it is. That's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. If you need a second listen, of course, you can check out the Lockdown Fantasy Football
Starting point is 00:29:36 podcast on YouTube and everywhere you get your podcast. Thanks for making us your first listen here on Lockdown Bengals. And until next time, thanks for listening, Ho-Day. And have a good.

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