Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Duke Tobin weighs in on Bengals contract questions - What's coming for Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Trey Hendrickson?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Bengals director of player personnel, Duke Tobin, weighed in on the future for the Bengals stars down in Mobile. 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. Well-up, Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Locked-on Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake Liskow. He's your host, James Rapine.

Starting point is 00:00:33 We are Locked-on Bengals. covering your team every day on the lockdown podcast network. We're on YouTube. We're everywhere you get your podcast. So if you're new to the show, you can hit that subscribe button to make sure you don't miss a thing as we will have you covered this offseason with all things Bengals. And there is a whole lot to unpack from Duke Tobin's comments.

Starting point is 00:00:55 As the everydayers know, we will dive into all of this stuff. And of course, we've got to get started with the biggest stories coming out of Tobin's meeting with Kelsey Conway also has some comments on Bengals.com with Butch Hobson, Jeff Hobson. And there's a lot to get to, but it starts with T. Hendrickson, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, the big contract questions for the Bengals star players in 2024, where there is some measure of question for each of those from a contract perspective this offseason. Yeah, there is for sure. And they're in different situations, unique situations.

Starting point is 00:01:35 I think it starts with Jamar Chase, right? If there was not that all three aren't got to have it, right? But as far as if there was one guy that you'd probably be focused on the most, it would be Jamar Chase. And Tobin's telling Kelsey Conway of Cincinnati.com in The Enquirer, it's a priority for us. It's something we feel like there's a framework to work off of, should be a pretty easy framework to work off of.

Starting point is 00:02:00 guys in his position of recently redone contracts. We believe in Jamar. I would expect that we could come together on something that makes sense for both sides. Not the whole comment there, most of it. I agree. They should have gotten it done last offseason. They didn't. It was a weird thing that bled into week one.

Starting point is 00:02:21 But this is the one, like if you're most confident in one of them, to me it would be the Jamar one. Obviously, it's the Joe tie. But it's also Justin Jemper. C.D. Lamb, all these other star wide receivers got their extension after their fourth NFL season. Jamar is no different. Now, what's unique about it is he's coming off of a triple crown season. What's unique about it is he was the best offensive player in football, even if he won't win offensive player of the year. And so, at least weapon-wise, he was. So, yeah,

Starting point is 00:02:52 negotiations could get a little spicy, but I think the Bengals know that they have to pay him. Yeah, I don't think this one is going to be terribly dramatic. It was dramatic last offseason. It bled into training camp, and there were issues all the way leading into week one. If that happens this year, we will be raking them over the coals for it. They cannot repeat that mistake this year. They should not have done that last year.

Starting point is 00:03:17 They should have gotten it done last year. It was a bit more forgivable that it didn't get done last year because it follows the Justin Jefferson plan, and Justin Jefferson did handle it differently in Minnesota than Jamar handled it in Cincinnati. and it almost got across the finish line by all accounts. And there were issues over cash flow, was a reporting at the time. That seems very silly in retrospect.

Starting point is 00:03:44 It was a mistake from the Bengals' run office to not get this done last year. I don't think there's any way around that. But at this point, Tobin telling Jeff Hobson, if he's the highest paid non-quarterback in the league, we accept that. So that is a man who's come to terms with what it will take to keep Jamar Chase, understanding the season that he's had, understanding that it is not last year anymore. And perhaps regretting, I don't know if he's regretting,

Starting point is 00:04:17 not getting it done last season. I imagine that you would have to because due to inflation of the salary calf and the season that he had, I do think that the numbers go up a little bit. but like you said he also said we know what it looks like referring to the structure that they did get very far negotiations last year so that shouldn't be the big obstacle for the bengals this off season no it's it was basically done it was a guaranteed money thing and it was because and part of partially because of six years it's hard it's hard to be like

Starting point is 00:04:55 all right well on both sides to commit to six years jemar is obviously going to want a lot of guaranteed money over that six years if you're committing to that. Now it's five. Now the precedent is there. And it's going to be a little bit more than Justin Jefferson. I don't think he's getting 10 million more per year than Justin Jefferson. So that's where it'll probably end up, whether it's a four-year 150, four-year-154, somewhere in that range. I've seen four for 160. I'm not sure he gets there. Maybe he does. But it's probably in that 150 to 160 range, which would make him the highest paid NFL receiver. No real doubts there. And I don't think people got frustrated on social media about the Jamar comments as much. But it was the other

Starting point is 00:05:36 ones. And I think that that's, I think it's interesting regardless. And let's just pretend. And I'm sure a lot of our listeners and viewers have seen the comments. But if they didn't, the Trey Hendrickson one, I think certainly is the one we should hit next because he's the guy of the Of the three, if you're ranking them, I think it would go Jamar, T, then T. And that's probably if the Bengals had a board where it would go, priority list-wise, not necessarily in order of what deals get done when. But Tobin was asked by Kelsey, do you plan on giving Trey Hendrickson an extension? And he said, you don't just give an extension.

Starting point is 00:06:17 You have to agree to an extension. We would like to get Trey extended. Would we like to get Trey extended? Yes, he's an important player that played well for us. We can't have guys at the top of the payroll in every position. We'll do what we can. And then he went on and said, it's agreeing with somebody on an extension, not giving. So doubling down on that.

Starting point is 00:06:38 He has earned a pay raise and a bump. He has, and we're cognizant of that. We will give that to him. But whether we agree on what that looks like is to be determined. My translation is they want to pay Trey. They don't want to make Trey the highest paid defensive end in the league. and hopefully that there's some middle ground there. What do you think?

Starting point is 00:06:58 Yeah, I think that that's reasonable. I think that there's some posturing from the Bengals here. I know a lot of Bengals fans were upset about the way Duke Tobin used language talking about this extension, saying that you can't, you know, essentially they're reading that as Duke Tobin making excuses for it potentially, eventually not getting done is how a lot of Bengals fans took. those comments. And I think there's a couple things there. One, he's openly saying, we know that he deserves more years and more money. And we're going to offer that to him. And he's trying to maintain

Starting point is 00:07:41 some negotiating posture, knowing these comments will go public and not give away all of your negotiating leverage through public comments before the negotiation has really gotten underway and saying we're going to do whatever it takes to give Tray two extra years to make sure he's in Cincinnati. Like he's never going to say that, right? But people were upset about the language. Yeah, he shouldn't because there is a game to it, right? There is a leverage thing.

Starting point is 00:08:09 And it doesn't necessarily dictate what's going on in negotiations, but he doesn't have any reason to have his comments thrown back in his face by an agent or back in Katie Blackburn and Troy Blackburn's face by an agent and say, hey, look what you're director of player personnel said in Mobile Alabama, he's going to try to maintain some of that negotiating posture in his comments. Now, could he have said it in a different way? I think he was probably or apparently annoyed with the phrasing of the question, given extension versus whatever he thinks,

Starting point is 00:08:43 in acknowledging that that's not just a Bengals decision. Is this point there? Is that there is a negotiation? And the Bengals love to emphasize this. And you're going to hear it again when it comes to T. Higgins. They love to emphasize this. But there's also this equally important acknowledgement that he deserves more money. He deserves more years.

Starting point is 00:09:09 They would like to get that done. They will try to get that done. And again, if they don't get it done, they're in a different world and probably will deserve a ton of criticism depending on how they handle it. And there's a leverage portion of this that I want to point out because a lot of people are just going to say, same old cheap Bengals. Oh my God, you're not going to. And so I wouldn't get to that.

Starting point is 00:09:32 And I don't think it's pro Bengals. I think it's reality of the situation and reality of where Trey is and reality of what he's been over the past four years. So I'll share those thoughts. We'll continue. And obviously we have Duke Tobin's comments on T. Higgins as well coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by game time. Whether you're going to the big game, whether you're planning on going to one, two, three, maybe five concerts this summer. Jake, let's go, probably a big concert guy.

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Starting point is 00:10:49 off. download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Jake, the leverage part of this is unique. And this is why Duke isn't going to say, oh, yeah, well, we have to keep Tri-Hendrickson. He agreed to a one-year extension. Well, two Julys ago now, in July of 20203. That's this year's extension. And so the Bengals have gotten two different contracts done with his agent. He's under contract for this year. And they're saying, yeah, we want to give you a raise. We want to give you an extension. You've earned that. But why would you say, oh, we want to make you the highest paid. And that's what that was with the star comment. We can't have highest paid

Starting point is 00:11:35 players at every single position. And so that's where I would probably be, too, is we love you, Trey, we want to make you much more richer than you are currently. At the same time, let's find middle ground here. And Trey Hendrickson has zero, he better find the middle ground. I think that's where the Bengals, when you start to talk about the negotiations, you don't have leverage because your Asian agreed to that one year extension. So find that middle ground and get that long-term deal done. This shouldn't be that.

Starting point is 00:12:09 It shouldn't be that hard. It really shouldn't. I think this one should get done. I don't really know why it wouldn't because it's not like Trey. He could do the trade route thing again. That would be silly, I feel like, because he blinked in like 10 minutes last year. And he's under contract. And the Bengals want to pay you more money and they want to extend you.

Starting point is 00:12:30 And unless they're offering you a million more per year, they wouldn't do that, by the way. Then it should get done. Yeah, the concern here would be just their history with paying players on that side of 30. I think that's something that is in a lot of fans' minds. But that's not in Duke's comment specifically. Duke's comment specifically about this player, you read them earlier, are that he's earned a pay raise in an extension. Will we like to get Trey extended?

Starting point is 00:12:59 Yes. But whether we agree on what it looks like is to be determined. There's always that language from Duke, whether it's leverage or negotiating posture, or just always loving to remind fans that it's a negotiation and it takes both sides. They've done it before with Trey. They got it done before.

Starting point is 00:13:17 It was a one-year deal then. If they try to go the one-year route again, we'll trade bulk at that. We don't know. We don't know the specifics of what the Bengals plan is here. And again, if they downgrade their defensive line because they blow this thing up somehow, that will be a problem.

Starting point is 00:13:38 But we know based on this that there is very clearly, a plan to negotiate an extension with Trey Hendrickson. It was also interesting to me, James, when you put this side by side with another Duke Tobin quote before we get to T. Higgins. He was asked earlier in the interview, where does retooling the defense start? And Tobin's quote in response to that question was, how many top guys at every position can you pay on a team? That's what we're going to have to decide.

Starting point is 00:14:04 How much of that money gets funneled into the guys that really produced for us this year, which to me would suggest Trey Hendrickson, and away from guys, that didn't. And those are the tough decisions. And here he's talking about reallocating money from underperforming players. And there are clear cuts coming.

Starting point is 00:14:24 And he talked a lot about cuts throughout this interview. This is probably the first, maybe one of the first times he suggested it or implied it. And redirecting that money, right, to players who produced for us this year? Well, who produced for them on defense this year

Starting point is 00:14:40 that is due for any kind of money reallocation. It's really just Trey Hendrickson. One guy. Really? Like Logan's still got multiple years on this deal. That would be the only other player in my mind. The other guys, there's no other extensions that you would really be thinking about this offseason. So it's Trey talking about reallocating money away from guys that didn't produce, two guys that did produce.

Starting point is 00:15:07 So you throw that quote into their, into the context too. And where do you distill the bottom line? It's very clearly that they think that they value, I think that they value Trey and want to get more money to Trey Hendrickson. And then it's just a matter of whether they get it done the way they were able to get it done when they did the one-year extension previously. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:15:32 I think that's, it's a hell of a point by you because this is why they should keep all of them. Spoiler, they should keep T2. There's no one to pay. They're paying their fifth best player in Orlando Brown Jr. And their best player in Joe Burrow. Right? Jammar T. Well, it'd be Jemar Trey T in that order, two through four if I rank the top five Bengals. Why wouldn't you pay those guys?

Starting point is 00:15:58 You have no one else to pay. Sam Hubbard, cut. Gino Stone, I would just cut them. Maybe keep them around. Sheldon Rankin's has been cut for months. They just haven't officially done it yet. And there are a bunch of other guys. Like you're, you could take half of Rankin's salary, half of that, and you put it into

Starting point is 00:16:19 tray, and that's it. Now it's done. And you do it for the next three years. This year, you give him a raise, and then the next two. It probably lowers his cap it this year, which is fun, because then you can move things around. Like, I, uh, it, it's a good point because it's, it explains, the obvious vision that they should be in like in in the past i really think like for for jesse bates

Starting point is 00:16:47 i think they were so overwhelmed by the thought of burrow and what that was going to be that it that it messed with them a little bit which is not an excuse by the way no like they'm not making it an excuse they should have kept that up yeah okay no no doubt i mean because then you'd have Just making sure that listeners understand. Yeah, it's one of those things where now you don't have, what's lingering? Like you know what Jamar looks like. He's on pretty, pretty calm there. You know what it's going to be.

Starting point is 00:17:20 You know what Jamar is. You just got to get it done. And in T, you have a pretty good idea. And T, I think you've gotten two deals done with him. His agent's trying to get him more money because I bet Trey is not happy with his agent for doing that one-year extension. So give him some more money, smooth things over, and watch him go sack quarterbacks next year. I mean, in a three-year deal shouldn't scare you because he's playing at such a high level. Even if two of those years are really good and the third one's just okay, think about what you've paid Sam Hubbard the past two years and what you've gotten.

Starting point is 00:17:52 You can live with that with a star that is obviously a star. And they've had a bargain there for a couple of years. They should continue to be trying to add players there where if in that third year, that he needs to be more of a rotational piece for whatever reason. And we'll see what the contract structure even looks like at that point. You would have the guys that have developed. And we'll

Starting point is 00:18:14 talk about what he said about Miles Murphy another day. But it's not like it's just tray in a vacuum the way that it has been. Like they need to continue to get better in the defensive trenches. Duke Tobin talked about that as well. So it's not like it's just tray and nothing. When you talk about two, three years in the future,

Starting point is 00:18:31 that that's another point that I wanted to throw in. And how does this defense significantly improve with a disgruntled Trey Hendrickson or with, let's just say you traded Trey Hendrix? How do you significantly improve on defense? I think it's really hard to do. It's possible, but really hard. Like this would be going back to when they acquired Trey Hendrickson. This would be them zinging when we expect them to zag the Carl Losson-Trey-Hendrickson decision at the time and hitting on a bunch of decisions. And they have to hit on a bunch of decisions anyway. But when you lose your best player on the defense, it does make everything harder.

Starting point is 00:19:08 And there is, like there is a second best player, of course, but that second best player isn't in the same part of the building. It's not even the same room. It's not even in the same part of the building is Trey. Like Joe and Jammar are in the same locker space. There's two lockers. They're right next to each other. Trey is his own corner of the building when you talk about the defensive players. So, yeah, there's that as well.

Starting point is 00:19:32 But we have T. Higgins to discuss as well. Can they pay all these guys? The answer is yes. Don't let anyone tell you they can't. Will they? We'll hear from Duke or at least share Duke's comments coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by prize picks. Prize picks is a one-stop shop for your daily fantasy needs.

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Starting point is 00:21:00 Price Picks. run your game. Before we get to T. Higgins, James, one last bit on the defensive side of the cuts, and this is something that we'll get into more on another day. But that quote that I mentioned about reallocating money continued, we're going to have to make some hard decisions as we move into next year, the dynamic of who is making it and who isn't, and where the young guys and the new guys fit,

Starting point is 00:21:25 that's what they're going to have to decide, talking about retooling the defense here. So obviously an understanding. As we delve more into the rest of Duke Tobin's comments and the big takeaways, which we'll probably do in our next episode. It won't be today. There's a big emphasis on getting better on defense and finding the path forward there. And cuts are a big part of it this year.

Starting point is 00:21:49 Duke Tobin laying the groundwork for difficult decisions to be made. And one of those difficult decisions, James, like you mentioned, maybe shouldn't be that difficult. but for this Bengals' front office, certainly, is keeping Jamar Chase and T. Higgins together. And he was asked by Kelsey Conway, what are the chances you'll be able to keep Jamar and T together? Duke Tobin said, it's going to be hard.

Starting point is 00:22:10 We feel like we have the resources to do it, but it all depends on how the negotiation goes and whether they're willing to accept wanting to come back at a number that makes sense for everyone. And you know what we have to, what we do with T going forward. I've always been very upfront in my desire to have T. Higgins on my team. I've never not been upfront about it.

Starting point is 00:22:32 And that desire continues, but we have to be able to come together with his representation on what that means and what the right number is for his experience, for his playtime, for his production, and find something that works for everyone because it's a guy that we want to have here, and hopefully that can come together. But we have other guys who are trying to take big bites of the apple in other areas. We're going to have to balance those as we go forward. I can already hear the Bengals fans being triggered by the food analogy at the end of this quote, James, distill it for the people. They want to keep tea.

Starting point is 00:23:06 And by the way, they better keep tea. I'm just, I'll set it out there. I'm going to say it everywhere, anywhere, all of the above. They're not paying anyone. This free agency class stinks. I can't give you eight other receivers to go pay. I love receivers. I'm not going to say, oh, we'll go get this guy and you'll be better off.

Starting point is 00:23:22 Or pay Mike Gassickey in a dairy. Slighton and you're better off than keeping tea. You keep tea because he's tea and he's better than what you're going to get elsewhere. Anyways, it's, uh, I get the food analogy annoying people because it's pie, now a bite out of the apple. I get it. T is also third in the priority list here. The Bengals will tell us all we need to know about their plans with T with whether or not they franchise tag him. If they, because if you're T's agent, you're not taking a deal, you're trying to get the free agency. And obviously T-switched agents. And I thought on that in a second. You're trying to get the free agency. He's going to get the most money if he becomes a free agent.

Starting point is 00:24:01 If the Bengals truly want to keep tea, they're probably going to have to franchise tag him. Because the moment you franchise tag him, it's kind of like Trey, where you can whine and moan and cry and throw your hands up and demand a trade. But guess what? The leverage is the leverage. And the Bengals would have the leverage. And so that's when they could say, all right, let's get a long-term deal done now. now that you know you're not going to become a free agent and be wind and dined by the Steelers and the Chargers and the Patriots and all these teams that are just salivating about the idea of getting T. Higgins, it's not happening. And so that would be the path. If they don't franchise tag T, he is gone. It's over. There's no chance he comes back. Because he'll get offered like 35 million

Starting point is 00:24:46 and then the Steelers will be like, oh, well, here's 36 or the Chargers or some team. It'll be getting into a bidding war and the Bengals aren't going to win a bidding war. So I think the important thing about the Duke quote is the fact that he said, we believe we have the resources. I know you do, right? I think it's very clear. Like there's no excuses here because they're not paying anyone else and they're going to cut all these dudes to create even more cap and create cash and all of those things or have the cash, not use it on those guys. So get it done.

Starting point is 00:25:21 And I do think the reason this will take time is if I'm Rocky Arsinoe who represents Jamar and T, I'm telling T we're not going to negotiate until we see this franchise tag window because we want to get the free agency. Now, if the Bengals go hard at T with an offer before the tag and say, hey, T, we don't want to tag you. We would just want to get it done. Could he accept it? Maybe I think he changed agents because he wants to say in Cincinnati.

Starting point is 00:25:48 He doesn't want to deal with the David Mulligeta. we're going to go here, then here, then here, and we're going to get you the highest pay the most money. He wants to be in Cincinnati. And so it's up to the Bengals to make sure they get that done. These big money receiver contracts almost exclusively, if not exclusively, happen with the team that drafts a player. They're not hitting free agency.

Starting point is 00:26:10 And there are big, don't get me wrong, there are big wide receiver contracts given out in free agency to second tier receivers. And teams generally regret those. If team makes it to a free agency, he'd be the best wide receiver to make it to free agency quite a while. All the reason that the Bengals should get it done, especially when you consider their other financial obligations this year,

Starting point is 00:26:30 they may be going to have to overspend it a few other spots to try to patch some holes. And when you talk about the free agency class not being the best free agency class, it doesn't necessarily mean that the prices are going to be lower because that's not how free agency works. The guys get paid market rates, because that's who's available for these teams to try to get better. We'll see what the Bengals do here.

Starting point is 00:26:57 Because if I'm the Bengals, talking about the franchise window, James, I'm trying to, as a gesture of goodwill, negotiate as early as possible. Which can be now. It can be right now. Yeah, absolutely. And if T's worried about getting franchise tagged again, because that would be unpleasant for T. Higgins. I get that.

Starting point is 00:27:16 Sure. I would, if I'm the Bengals, say, hey, let's. Let's avoid the franchise tag. Let's see if we can get this done before the franchise tag. See if that gets you a little bit of goodwill from T. Higgins. I also found it interesting, James, the next question, or one of the next questions, Duke Tobin talked about his conversation with Joe Burrow. He talks about Joe every offseason about the football team, tries to get feedback from him,

Starting point is 00:27:40 give thoughts on what can and can't be done. And he said, we're normally on the same page. The next part of that quote is, and yes, it's easy to want T. Higgins back, said Duke Tobin. I want Tee Higgins back too. It's all about finding a contract that works for both sides, and if we're really engaged with this representation of doing that, I think we can get it done. But if there's no engagement to get something done that makes sense, then it's going to be very difficult and we'll have to see what other avenues we have. And this harkens back to Joe Burroughs comments throughout the late part of the season, T is a need. We want T back. We have a plan to get

Starting point is 00:28:17 team back. That's Joe Burrow saying it versus Duke Tobin apparently reflecting on those comments from Joe Burrow, reflecting on his conversation with Joe Burrow going into the offseason and saying finding a contract that works for both sides. And if we're engaged, we can get it done. But if there's no engagement, you know, again, really doubling down on this negotiation angle. What are your thoughts there? It's a shot at David Mulligeta. It's exactly what it is. There was no negotiations last year, not zero. I don't think there were many negotiations the year prior. I think the Bengals offered tea, and it was low, and Moligeta didn't offer back.

Starting point is 00:29:00 And again, this is what I think. Pretty confident in. Moligeta just called the negotiations there, and the Bengals, they want to do the back and forth. It doesn't mean they aren't going to go up. believe me they knew I'm pretty sure they knew that that first offer to tea wasn't getting it done um when you go buy a car a lot of times you the dealers in one spot and you're in the other and then you try to find middle ground that's that's kind of how it works in a lot of these negotiations especially after year three I mean I'm going back two years now but my point is

Starting point is 00:29:37 there was not much back and forth between David Mulligetta and tea and who was representing tea and the Bengals. I think Duke is trying to lay the groundwork, so hopefully that can happen with Rocky Arsenal. And if you do have that dialogue, then everything I said about the tag and not waiting and all that stuff, it kind of goes out the door. As long as Rocky's willing to negotiate now,

Starting point is 00:30:00 and T's willing to negotiate now, then there's no reason not to. And you have the blueprint for Jammar. I think for T, I think you make it clear, hey, we are going to tag you if we get that far. Let's avoid it and let's just get it done now. and I would start at like 4 for 100 and it might go a little higher than that.

Starting point is 00:30:19 I know PFF projects them at 4 for 112. Okay, so I was 3 million off per year. If you're the Bengals, that cannot be the difference between saying, oh, well, we couldn't keep Tjo and we could because they can, they should, they better. My expectations for this team are that they keep Jamar and sign them to a long-term deal with the off-season, sign trade or a long-term dealless off-season,

Starting point is 00:30:41 and sign T as well. And maybe that's a three-year deal with T, not a four. Maybe it's a three-year deal with Trey, which would make sense for the Bengals. Jamara, I would expect the four. So we'll see. But that's kind of where the bar is, but they're current guys. And then after that, you figure the rest out. And there's a lot of the rest to figure out.

Starting point is 00:30:59 Because if they bring those guys back, those players were on the team this year that wasn't good enough. And I think that that is, we're too late in the show to get into that now. But that's why you trim all the dead weight that Duke was talking about. You're so much better if you still have those guys and then you have, because you will have other resources, whether it's draft or cash cap, because you've got to structure it right too, to address those areas. It's not hard to upgrade from Rankins and Hubbard and some of those guys. Again, I think there's an entire conversation here that starts for me in saying keeping those guys prevents you from getting worse at those spots. It does not make you better. It makes you better than the alternative, but it does not make you better than 2024 because there's so much other work to do.

Starting point is 00:31:47 And so when we're talking about these apparent challenges to deal with all this money for these star players just to get that baseline and give you something to build from throughout free agency, throughout the draft, throughout any potential trading transactions that may or may not happen, this is a baseline. And I think that that is another topic that I would like to get to. We're not going to have time to do it today. But to me, that's the baseline of saying, we're going to keep our core here so that we can build and get better. Well, right now they don't have a core. Like if those guys leave, they have no core. Right. But I'm saying if 2024 is a comparison, keeping those guys does not make you better.

Starting point is 00:32:33 It's keeping the guys that were on your team in 2024. They need to do a whole lot of other. work to get better. No doubt. Like grab any defensive end in Mobile right now. Yeah. My point is

Starting point is 00:32:47 the bar is so low at some of these spots, but yes, they have to get it right in a bunch of areas. I just mean I will be disappointed in them, which they don't care, but I will be if they don't keep these guys because it's going to be that much harder to be better

Starting point is 00:33:03 if you don't have to. Or tray is traded or or Trey's pissed because you didn't pay him. That's all. Yep. More to get to here with the Duke Tobin comments. You will continue to parse through these and bring you the most interesting tidbits and analysis

Starting point is 00:33:20 as we try to parse Tobinese as Duke Tobin's offered his comments to a couple of reporters, Kelsey Conway and Jeff Hobson down in Mobile, Alabama. That's probably coming to you next time on Lockdown Bengals pending other developments. Until then, thanks for listening, Hoodei, and have a good one.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Duke Tobin weighs in on Bengals contract questions - What's coming for Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Trey Hendrickson?

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