Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Did the Cincinnati Bengals ACTUALLY get better at key positions in 2025?

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

With the Bengals' 2025 roster mostly set, it's hard to see too many positions where they clearly improved the room. Jake Liscow and James Rapien dive into each position group on the offense and defense to discuss how they got better at running back, and arguably several other positions including linebacker and defensive end, but are leaving a lot up to chance or development. We even discuss whether the coaching staff is better, a bet the Bengals are clearly making.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!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.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.

With the player acquisition phase of the off season, mostly behind the Bengals, they're only clearly better at one position. What about the rest? There are questions. Let's answer. 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 on the

lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Every day. I'm Jake Liskow. He's James Rapine, and we've been covering the Cincinnati Bengals here on Lockdown Bengals since 2016.

So if you've been looking for a place for daily coverage of your Cincinnati Bengals, you are in the right place to everydayers out there. Already know that. Welcome back to all the everydayers that have that great listening habit

of not missing an episode of Lockedon Bengals. And if you make Lockdown Bengals, your first listen every day as well. We appreciate you very much for making us part of your routine. Today's episode brought to you by a fan where right now new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. And today, James, we dive into the question of where the Bengals got better, where the Bengals got worse.

And I made a bold claim at the top of the show that the Bengals only clearly, unambiguously, got better at one position. And there had a couple that it was going to be really hard to get better at, unambiguously, clearly. And we'll talk through some of those. but do you want to push back on that claim before we dive into the to the various position groups on this team and try to figure out whether they clearly got better or clearly got worse? Yeah, it's at least two. Two. At least two positions.

So I would say, and once I get to it, I think. I know the second one now that you say it, yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're better at running back and they actually have a nose tackle. Yeah. So there's two. So you lose, but the point. But the point remains, right?

When you look at the depth chart, it's not like T.J. Slayton is jumping out at you. It's that they finally have a nose tackle. Were you talking about nose tackle or running back, by the way? Running back. I mean, nose tackle isn't a position to me. I mean, it's a position. It's not nose tackle erasure, to be clear. I was this big a DJ reader fan at Cincinnati as anybody was.

I just consider it part of the job of the defensive tackle room. And so I consider it, you know, defensive tackle. But yeah, if you want to carve out nose tackle as a stone specialized thing, And you want to argue the McKinley Jackson wasn't that for the Bengals last year, then you could say that they upgraded by default by adding T.J. Slate. Or Slate is just better than Sheldon Rankin, who was clearly not a nose tackle. He clearly not right for Cincinnati, for whatever, for football reasons, and I think attitude reasons and all of the above.

So, yeah, that is it, though. Like you look at the depth chart, and it's just, it's a lot of the same faces. And that doesn't mean it's bad. It doesn't mean it's bad. Obviously, the whole world won in Jamar and T paid, including Joe, and that makes sense. You're bringing back guys that you, to me, are excited about Amarious Mims. You're hoping he takes a step forward. Ted Karris, obviously, I think coming off of probably his best year, and why wouldn't you want him playing center?

Same thing goes for Orlando Brown Jr. As long as he can stay healthy, you feel good about those three spots. Obviously, there's some questions at the other two that we can hold. You bring back Mike Gisicki. obviously Joe Burroughs under contract. And then the area where they clearly got better to me is running back because Chase Brown is this emerging, blossoming young player that played really well down the stretch last season.

Then you bring back old reliable in Samajapirang who just is better than what Trevian Williams was at that stage of his career is certainly. There's no doubt in my mind that Samajap Ryan is a better player than Trayvian Williams. You still have Zach Moss. And then you added Todd Brooks. You have some real depth there. And Todd Brooks may be your RB2 by mid year, maybe sooner than that. And so clearly an upgrade there, clearly better without giving up much. Like Zach Moss was the, it was the highest paid guy in that room. When you think about it that way, it's like, all right, well, it makes a lot of sense that you are able to

rebuild a running back room and do it without spending big money by bringing back Samajip Ron and drafting Tash Brooks. I think Zach Moss still is the highest pay player in that room because Chase Brown is on a rookie deal and Sanajat J.P. Ryan did not get a big contract.

Taj Brooks is going to get a bit of a signing bonus this year, but as a six-round pick, it won't be terribly significant. I'm 99% sure Zach Moss is still the highest paid player in that room. We'll see where or if he gets back to the field this year. The Bengals did keep him around, which suggests that they are bullish on his chances to make it back to the field this year, because otherwise we could have seen an injured waived at some point this off season. I think they were waiting for a while to figure out what was going on with his neck and his return to play potential.

But if he can be back on the field, he can be a valuable piece. He can fit into this room in some way, shape, or form. The Bengals like to keep four running backs. And if that works out that Chase Brown is your RB1 on all three downs, Samadje Piron is your third down RB2 from a past protection and familiarity with Joe Burroughs' offense perspective. And let Zach Moss takes a step. I think Samaj Payron is better in that role. And Taj Brooks is your running back RB2, short yardage RB2,

and Zach Moss is kind of your do-it-all RB3. Then that works out to be a pretty good room. Compared to what they had last year, especially where it was Chase Brown. and then after Zach Moss went down, the depth really wasn't there. And so by bringing Samajapirang back, by drafting Taj Brooks, they give themselves some depth that is either proven or you have a reason to be excited about in Taj Brooks. Because even though he's a six-round pick,

and maybe he doesn't work out, maybe he goes away of the Chris Evans or Trayviel Williams, and it doesn't really stick in a terribly positive way. But Trayvian Williams had a long career in Cincinnati, too, for where he was drafted and carved out a role on special teams. Tosh Brooks reason to believe that he can be more effective as a runner, especially coming into the league, no reason to think otherwise right now. So, yeah, running back clearly better.

You talked about some other offensive positions. And so part of this conversation is that it's hard for them to get better in certain spots. Can you unambiguously clearly say Joe Burrow will be better in 2025 than he was in 2024? I don't think you can know for sure. And something that we're going to do this week is talk about how Joe Burrow can be better in 2025 than 2024, which was his best year, which was an awesome year. Hard to be better than that, right? But there are some ways that he can be better. Jamar Chase C. Higgins, hard to be better than they were in 2024.

Jamar Chase just put up a triple crown year. But there are ways they can be better. It's just not clear that they will be better. So when we're talking about position groups that have gotten better, you look at a couple that are already really, really good. Yeah, they're better. Maybe they will be better. But it's largely the same guys.

It's largely the same quantities that we know at those spots, especially for the guys who expect to play a lot for a lot of these positions. So it's really hard to make a claim that like, oh, yeah, wide receivers better. Those guys are going to develop for sure, because that doesn't always happen. You don't always know that. And maybe bunnyback isn't. better either. Maybe there's regression there. But based on the players they added,

compared to what we think they had last year on paper, running back looks better for sure. Well, it's definitely deeper. That's clear. Like more talented room. Like that, there's no doubt there. I think it's realistic to think T, to expect that T is better.

Because he only played in 12 games last year. Made an impact. No doubt. But Prime T needs to happen now. I think that's largely a question of health, though, for T. And that is something we're going to talk about this week. So I'm going to talk with Joe Gober about that in the next couple of days here. We're going to dive into that in a little bit more depth.

So we don't have to get into that too much today. But for T, to me, it's largely a question of if he's on the field the whole time, playing like he played last year, how much better can he be? He was awesome when he was on the field last year. And there are always. And so that's it. The other thing would be where are they better? they would say, well, they're hoping that their run game in general is better because of the scheme stuff.

And because they don't have the same run game coordinator because you bring in Scott Peters who could hopefully help and they can be aligned from a run game standpoint. And so not only better running. But think about it. I mean, that really has been. They've said, hey, man, these coaches that we brought in, it's going to make us better. and that's it. So that would be the other thing. It's like when you talk about positions, yeah, it's defensive tackle.

And I get it. Everybody still wanted them to do more there and running back. And then it's bringing back a lot of guys that they believe in. But it's the coaches. And I think that that's the other element that they're saying, hey, we are clearly better in this area. Whether they are or not, I think that's up for debate. I'm sure you have a response or some thoughts on that.

So we will get to that coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Fandul. Fandul is America's number one sports book. And the NBA conference finals are in full swing, whether you think the thunder are going to get it done or the Timberwolves, the Pacers or the Knicks. Fandul is a place to go because you can live bet. And we've seen huge comebacks in the Eastern Conference Finals,

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Again, head to Fandall and make every moment more with Fandle, official sports betting partner of the NBA. When we're talking about where they got better, where they got worse, and you tell me they think they got better as a coaching staff. I believe that they think they got better as a coaching staff.

I do not believe that we can sit here from the outside before we've seen these guys play it down or operate as a cohesive unit on the field and say, yeah, they're better. I love Scott Peters. as a coach. That idea of Scott Peters teaching these guys technique on the offensive line, talked to Brandon Thorne about that, did a whole deep dive on the offensive line, just go search it, Lockdown Bengals, Brandon Thorne, 2025 Bengals offensive line, something like that on YouTube

or Google or whatever, and you'll find it. And we talked a little bit about Scott Peters in that episode, obviously. Really excited for that. And very hopeful that Al Golden, from an approach perspective, can do what Luena Rumo could not do. and get something out of players on their first contract instead of established veterans in the league where Louana Rumo did a great job with established veterans from a game planning perspective. But I don't think we can sit here and say,

yeah, the coaching staff is for sure better. We don't know yet. I mean, that's just one of those things where I think you have to wait and see a little bit. Well, I agree, but I think clearly, given what the Bengals did or didn't do, bringing back the players they did. Yeah.

A lot of familiar families. basis is they're saying, hey, yeah, we needed a nose tackle. Yeah, we like adding some running back depth. And obviously we love T and Jammar, but there were some, some issues, I will say, with this coaching or the past coaching staff. And in that being said, I think Frank Pollack is a good coach. He didn't get hired anywhere. Lou Anirumo, I think he's a good coach, got hired.

Marion Hobby didn't get hired. anywhere. We'll see. By the way, Frank may have taken the year off. Mary may have taken the year off. Like, you just never know what these guys, if they would want to jump back in right away or not what their contracts look like, all of those things behind the scenes. I think Franks was up for what it's worth. But it's one of the things that they're clearly banking on to make an impact and get development. And all of those things that you're going to hit on with Joe, like where these guys can get better. The Bengals are saying, this is. why they didn't get they didn't take those steps last year at least to a degree and it's it feels

risky there's no doubt it feels risky especially when you have a joe burrow is to say well where did they get better and we're like running back depth it knows tackle coaches and part of it is because they signed jim r and t but be pretty obvious to to add a few more pieces there's no doubt and i think that's when we say where are they worse. There's a list of areas where you could debate that where they there are technically worse, especially right now. Well, and I think those are debates. It's not clear to me at a lot of other spots where it's going to be, well, let's see

what happens in training camp. Let's see what sort of development occurs for some of these players. Let's see what happens when the games are real. Because like I talked about with quarterback and wide receiver, where you're like, yeah, you can argue Joe Burroughs going to get better. and continue to improve every year. You can argue that Jamar, Chase, and T. Higgins are going to get better. And Andre Yosevash, and another year of learning and growing into that role is going to be better.

And Jermaine Burton is going to have his head on straight this year. You can make all those arguments, but you don't really know how those things are going to play out. Development isn't linear in the NFL. If you've been an every day or for a long time on lockdown Bengals, you've heard me say that before. There are peaks and valleys to development in the NFL. It's not just a straight climb up, and then there's an aging decline at the end. just not the way it works. So you just don't know for sure.

And the Bengals could be selling you, probably are selling you, would like to say, we're going to get development out of these players. We really like the players we have. We think the coaching stuff will get the most out of them. We like the young players. We added on defense.

This year, we like our young offensive linemen that we added in the draft. And that could be indeed what it is. Maybe they executed their offseason plan. Maybe they thought they were going to be able to add more players in the draft. draft. Maybe they thought there was a tradeback in the second round and they were going to add another pick. Or maybe they thought there was a trade back in the first round and they were going

to add another pick or two and have more opportunities to add more bodies to some of these positions. Seeing the Bengals with DT. 5 and 6 being Howard Cross and Eric Gregory, nothing against those guys. I think those are good undrafted free agent signings, but they should be six and seven. There should be another guy in that room. They like to keep five players a defensive tackle. there's a reason that they might only go with BJ Hill nicked up right now right like you already see you already feel it anywhere in the offseason program

yeah and and it's a position where they were ravaged by injury last year early and that leads to them playing Zach Carter and Lawrence Guy and then having to cut Zach Carter because they had better players available to them and then Sheldon Rankin's missed a bunch of time and then they're scrambling and they're in a position again where they can very quickly be scrambling

but where I was going that is like maybe the coaches thought they were going to get a little bit more. Maybe maybe they thought they were going to have a few more tools and and they didn't get quite everything they thought they were going to get. And now they're making the most out of what they have obviously. And that's the challenge and puzzle of being an NFL coach. But just before we get to the defense where I think there are a lot of questions, the one spot that we haven't talked about yet on offense, we talked a little bit about tight end. And I think we need to touch on that as well actually, but the guard spot is totally up in the air right now. It could be better.

It's not a terribly high hurdle, but you're talking about Lucas Patrick Cody Ford, Dylan Fairchild, maybe Matt Lee, and maybe Jalen Rivers, if they're even in the conversation at Guard, trying to get better than Coral Wilson, who did not have his best year, and Alex Capway, who clearly did not have his best year. But for a long time, was a lot of a good player for the Bengals before the body kind of gave up on him. But you can't clearly say they're better there because Dylan Fairchild is a rookie, Cordell-Vosom might end up winning that job. Who knows? That can be a competition. And Lucas Patrick Cody Ford, that's your primary competition of right guard. And again, I have a hard time saying like that's clearly better than

Alex Kappa even last year. Sure. They're not. They're not. They didn't go get a plug and play starter this offseason. So they bench Volson. They brought back Cody Ford, familiar face. They used a third round pick on a guard. And I mean, that's it. I mean, Lucas Patrick is someone you get and you're like, kind of like of the Cody Ford level where you're like,

he can play multiple spots, feel good about the versatility. And instead it's like, well, we have a bunch of these guys. and that's fine at like six, seven, eight. If they're four, offensive linemen four and starting, not just dressing, that stinks because then the drop off when there is an injury is even more substantial.

And I think that's what we've seen at the end of the 2022 season. You've seen it a couple of times last year, multiple times. That's why they really liked Cody Ford, because he can play multiple spots and raises that floor a bit off the bench. That's where I want him. That's where I think Lucas Patrick probably is. And like, is he going to be, did they add 2022 Alex Kappa?

Clearly no. And so that's what sucks is the moment they cut Kappa, you thought, all right, well, they did this before free agency. They're going to get the next version. And they didn't do that. They didn't do that in the draft in the first couple of rounds. and they certainly didn't do that in free agency. Let's get to tight end. I think pretty briefly, that one's pretty clear cut.

And then we'll have to talk about the mystery that this season has ahead of us on defense as we try to figure out where they better, where are they worse on defense with so many questions that remain unanswered. But no spot where you feel like, yeah, that's an unambiguously better position group based on looking at the depth chart. We'll finish the show with those couple spots coming up. next hopefully our listeners had money on you saying unambiguously seven times today because i think if they if they did then that maybe they'll be cashing in with fandle all right let's uh let's get

to tight end here big payouts on unambiguously today let's uh let's get to tight end here where they bring back mike gisicki love it saw mike last week and uh you still have drew sample tanner hudson Tanner McLaughlin, Cam Grandy, Cole Taylor was the undrafted free agent, Eric All expected to miss all of this year, and then we'll see after that. That's where we're at when it comes to Eric All Jr. Had issues with the ACL, the first surgery had to have it again, is going to miss this entire season. And then it's still kind of a question there. So you said tie down was pretty short.

Looks like the same room to me. How do you feel? I think it's worse because of the loss of Eric All, worse than what they had going into the season. Sure. I mean, same by the end of it. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. By the end of it, largely the same. Except Cam Grandi is a guy that belongs on an NFL roster, and they learned that after Eric all got hurt.

And he's not like a world beat or anything, but as an undrafted free agent, Cam Brandy is a hit. So shout out Cam Brandy. Let's get to the defense here, James, where I think that it is probably impossible to say clearly any of these position groups got better.

and I think that the one that you may be maybe you could argue for a defensive end and I know you want to talk about nose tackling game because I'm saying none of them but maybe you can make an argument for edge rusher maybe you can make an argument for linebacker with maybe some addition by subtraction if you thought germane pratt was pretty bad by the end of his time in Cincinnati maybe you think demetretharice Carter Barrett Carter hit the ground running or in burke's good good depth at that spot I like their lineback or depth much better. But am I saying it's a clearly better position group where you're talking about linebackers

or sorry, rookies that need to make them better? That's tough. I mean, even if it is a second round pick. Sure. It is. And that's that's the position they've put themselves in. And look, I think Logan Wilson will probably be a hot topic at least a little bit. But when you got you and Joe talk about this.

But yeah, after that, it's still quite. question mark. And you hope Demetrius Knight Jr. can just hit the ground running. Oren Berks has to replace a guy in Akeem Davis Gather that mattered. That was a good player. It was a solid player. And so I like him. I think it makes sense. It's not a guarantee that he's going to come in and just be a significant upgrade from what Akeem Davis Gather brought you. And then after that, it's, it depends on what Barrett Carter. What is he ready to do? I don't know. he slides in and they came to have to skate the road like that i think that's kind of interesting now but one thing is clear the bengals really liked knight and carter had day two grades on him

round two grades on them obviously they were waiting how golden was anxiously waiting to see if night fell to them at 49 and uh and then carter fell to them all the way in round four they this needs to be a position that we're saying oh yeah they're clearly better there like a month into the year yeah uh it's working that the plan worked we'll see if that happens i totally get why you would question it we'll see when they make the the germane pratt move that's the other thing that's going to happen still hasn't i still do not have a good answer for anybody as why that hasn't happened my best guess is that they're waiting to finish demetrius night contract get his name on the line and and as soon as that happens maybe that's it but do not have a

a good answer there. I would say that linebackers a position that clearly is better depth than they have before. They added three players to that position group where Mumajong Meadow was another unrafted free agent hit for them last year, a solid player who some Bengals fans I know would

like to see play more on defense. And Shaqa Hayward is probably underappreciated Cincinnati Bengal. I don't know if he's going to make the team. He would be linebacker six, I think. Right now, I don't think he's necessarily They had to move a Jong meta on the depth chart as of today.

But solid special teamer when he has been on the field on defense, again, I think he's a solid back of the roster linebacker. So easy to say the depth is better. But whether they get better as a starting group, the guys are going to be on the field on defense a ton, depends a lot on Logan Wilson, like you alluded to. This is going to be a topic. Where does Logan Wilson go this year after the surgery shut down his season

a little bit early last year. And then where Demetriusite, Orrin Berks, Barrett Carter, in terms of contributing on defense? Orrin Berks was awesome in the Philly's playoff run. If he can reprise that for a full season in Cincinnati, he will force his way under the field on defense. It'd be a steal.

He'd be one of the best values in free agency by far. But he didn't get paid as if that is the expectation. It's not, you know, but sometimes guys exceed expectations. And Zach Bond is a great example of this. Staying with the Philly theme. and Zach Bond goes out there as a budget-free agent linebacker and then has a DPOY campaign in Philly.

So not that he won the defensive player of the year, obviously, but it was a great year for him. Let's talk about the edge rusher position, which is the other position where they invested a premium resource. If we assume Trey Hendrickson is there, this is a position where you could argue, again, addition by subtraction, Sam Hubbard retires and was on his last legs

after an awesome career in Cincinnati and just didn't have everything in the tank, dealt with injuries the last two years in a big way. But they keep Joseph Osai after expectations were probably that he would depart. Premium pick in Shamar Stewart, Miles Murphy, a first round pick from two years ago. And then the return of Cam Sample, Sedric Johnson, maybe a late round rotational piece that they got last year in the sixth round. You could make an argument here that expected to, development, adding a first round pick, and being forced potentially to play other guys and Sam

Hubbard in some spots after Sam was really beaten down a little bit, I think, and made worse by injuries the last couple of years that they got better. What do you think? Oh, I think if Hendrickson has signed, like, let's just say Hendrickson signed in a minute, a minute from now, they're better. I do. I think they're better. And that would be one that would be pretty clear to me and not as much of a debate. But the uncertainty around him, and if he's a distraction throughout camp and into the regular season and it becomes a thing, well, then you're not better. And so if you have all in Trey Hendrickson and you've added Shamar Stewart and you take away a Sam Hubbard who is really battling through stuff, and I think

that's why he opted to retire versus continue playing. I think he had some opportunities, but they would have been, let's see if he can make the roster and if he has anything left type of opportunities. I truly do. I think they're better. Now, the question is how much better? How much pressure do they generate? Is Miles Murphy a hit?

Is Joseph Osai the end of last season? Is that the real Joseph Osai? Will he be able to stay healthy? He's had injury issues. Like, there's a lot of questions. But you look at it and, yeah, they are better there, but only when 91 is in the building and he's not currently in the building. And so that's a question mark.

And then the other element of this, and it is true. And I do think that it's realistic to think that Osai and Murphy and Stuart can all be better, one than they were last year for Osai and Murphy's case. But when it comes to better than what they got at that spot in general with Hubbard and the group they have, like I do. I think that that's pretty realistic. will it happen, we'll see, but they should be better there. I think your question is, is it better enough?

And that's, you know, even if they're better, is that marginal? Or is that we're adding 4% to our pressure rate? And it's materially better and it's more disruptive and it's getting the plays when they need them. And Trey might not be better. That's the other element which you guys could talk about. I'm just kidding. Like he may be a half tick worse than he was last year. But not even a half tick, a 0.1 tick.

Well, especially if he's not there. I mean, I'm sure he'll do what he can, but if he's not participating in training camp, we saw how that can impact the elite players. We've seen it with Joe Burrow. We've seen it with Jamar Chase. Yeah. Yeah.

So defensive interior. Get him on the fear. No tackle. Like you said, CJ Slate in addition, is better than what they had on paper last. year and nose tackle. Outside of that, a bunch of questions. BJ Hillier hoping is the same player he's been. He's been a very steady player battling through injuries for the last few years.

McKinley Jackson, Chris Jenkins both need to take steps. McKinley Jackson showing that down the stretch in a bigger way to me, but there's no impact player addition on the interior defensive line. So hard to make a big argument there. The safety room is the same. Gino-Sone Jordan battle. Dejan Anthony Tyson Anderson. It's the same. Can't make a big argument that that's better. Quarterback room. Lost Mike Hilton.

Mike Hilton's still out there. So Mike was up and down last year. He found his footing. He was way better down the stretch. He was still a good football player. But Dax's coming off injury. Cam Taylor Britt coming off a rocky campaign. They need him to be the player they thought he was going to be.

need a full healthy season out of Dax and DJ Turner. And then maybe you can make an argument for corner. But as of today, there's no injection of talent in either of these spots that makes me say, yeah, they're better. And the other one would be, oh, well, Von Bell's out and you're going to get more, and so more Jordan Battle.

And so you can. He was slow, but he wasn't that bad last year. I'm just saying, like, that's what people are going to say. Like, that's part of the sales pitch. Yeah. And so, all right. All right. By the way, I think that Lou going with comfort over whatever.

Like, I think that obviously rub people the wrong way. And you look and it's like, well, Vaughn was out of the league. Mike, Mike Hilton, not in the league anymore. Sam Hubbard, not in the league anymore. Now Mike Hilton's going to sign somewhere for sure. Von may sign somewhere. But as of now. And so that, that, that.

would be part of the argument. To your point, real easy to sell, sell us on corner being better if you had signed someone or safety being better if you had signed someone. They haven't. Yeah, like if Julian Blackman is in the safety room, the safety room is better because I think Julian Blackman's a cool player. I think he's good. If Asante Samuel Jr. is in the cornerback room. I don't know if I would be there for Asante Samuel Jr. That would be another body and I would kind of have to see where he's at because I just don't know where he's at. until you say all right well we don't have Marco Wilson on our team we have Asante Samuel

Jr. Well is the Sontes Samuel Jr. You're going to play this year? Like is a player who's playing better than a player who's not playing? Like then you get into that conversation. That's what I'm saying with the Sonti Samuel Jr. Like once I know he's going to play and he's healthy, then sure. Yeah.

Like that's pretty clear. But we just don't know that right now. Yeah. That's all. Yeah. Points the same though. They haven't added. Yeah.

They haven't added to those rooms. And so by the way, I'm not trying to take a shot at Marco Wilson because who knows, maybe he ends up playing this year. Well, believers in that room. Some believers in that in that room, Marco Wilson believers. Right now he's in line to be on the roster and they've had quarterback injuries like consistently. That depth is consistently tested. So a lot of defense the side of the ball, nowhere where they're clearly worse, I think, unless Trey Hendricks.

and doesn't show up, then clearly worse, right? But nowhere that they clearly added players of like, yeah, they fixed this spot. They went out and signed three defensive tackles, and now the interior is going to be solid in 2025. They didn't do that on defense. They added some young players in spots. They added a veteran here or there. And then their questions as to how they fit together, how development occurs.

And so for the next couple of days here on lockdown bangles, we're going to talk about how some of these guys can get better. And that includes some of the better players on the team. How Joe Burrow can get better? How Jamar Chase can get better? How can James get better? And then the whole defensive side of the ball where the offense was really good. So you're talking about getting better on the margins largely on offense. The defense is a whole other conversation that we'll get to as well. And kind of you'll see some reflection of what we talked about today in terms of where there's clarity on offense, where there's less clarity on defense in terms of what will happen, what needs to happen, what could happen. And so we'll get into

those topics a little bit more here in the next couple of days. Again, assuming the Bengals permit us to do so. And no crazy drama occurs that we need to cover. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, Ho day. And have a good one.