Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - FUN PRESEASON FOOTBALL! Bengals Wide Receiver Depth POWERS Dominant Preseason Victory Over Bears

Episode Date: August 23, 2026

The Cincinnati Bengals got big plays from Colbie Young and Dohnte Meyers as their wide receiver depth showed out against the Chicago Bears as the Bengals cruised to a smooth victory on Saturday night. Jake Liscow and Joe Goodberry break down a strong preseason performance highlighted by Josh Johnson, offensive tackle depth concerns that linger, and spotlight rookie defenders like Landon Robinson and Tacario Davis. Plus, the hosts dissect Dan Pitcher's impact as play caller, discuss surprise roster contenders, and question if a roster move at tackle or running back is imminent before Week 1. Photo Credit: Joseph Maiorana Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! Where you'll get updates directly to your phone and be able to text the hosts, check it out at: https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengals Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Gusto Try Gusto today at gusto.com/LOCKEDONNFL, and get three months free when you run your first payroll. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM to play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season.   KALSHI For a limited time,Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10. Square Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl! #squarepod Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.   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.

That's the most fun I've had watching a Zach Taylor game in the preseason. Was it because Dan pitcher called the plays or because the wide receiver depth is that good in Cincinnati? Let's get into it. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. All about Bengals fans. And welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. He's Joe Goodberry.

I'm Jake Liscoe. The Bengals dominated the Bears. in preseason week number two, which I could give or take a care about the actual result of this football game, Joe, but it was a lot of fun to watch the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday night. And like I said, I don't recall having this much fun watching the Bengals in the preseason in quite a while. Part of that was that they got more than passable quarterback play from Josh Johnson, especially also Sean Clifford acquitted himself quite well in the second half. I think Part of it was the wide receivers were making plays in this game.

Let's get into the wide receiver conversation to start today and up. So brought to the people by Fandall. You can join all the action of fandle.com to play daily dingers make your free pick on who's hitting a home run this baseball season. And Joe, you told me before we started recording that you think this wide receiver room is solidified. And then we proceeded to get into a little debate. But tell me what you think is going on with this wide receiver room. Yeah, first of all, great day for not just the guys competing for those final positions, but the depth, even shout out to Noah Thomas, who we haven't brought up or even talked about

much since he had that crazy catch. I think it was day one of camp, right? But he goes out and runs a stutter and go absolutely kills the corner and catches a touchdown. It's like, whoa, that's a big guy making a move like that. Very impressive. After he almost had a touchdown week one, too, on a very impressive graph. Shouldn't say almost. He was way out of bounds.

still nice one-handed grab. This receiver position, though, has been a lot of talk, a lot of who's wide receiver three, how many do they keep, who's number four, five, six. This would be probably something we talk about until the regular season starts and probably into. But when Colby Young plays like this and makes a vertical touchdown grab,

really great release en route and got on top of this corner, he looked fast. And he catches that touchdown. I go, yeah, he can do that. He can help you that way. And he has shown that all summer that he can be an outside vertical threat. And then to me, the real question is Dante Myers for that last spot. And can he be the return man?

I thought he looked good in return game today. They gave him a ton of chances to do that. Didn't mess up. Had a 29-yard kick return, which is nice to see. Had a couple nice punt returns. I mean, nothing crazy, but did his job. And then the way they used him on offense. almost spoke to me that he is part of the plans or they understand what he does or at least

they have a vision for what he can do. He's a faster shift year guy that they believe they can get some yak opportunities with, right, whether that's jet motion two preseason games in a row, giving him that handoff, got 13 yards and then nine yards or was it 10 this week either way. And then some wide receiver screens, stuff from the slot, stuff from the boundary, opportunities to run after the catch. they really don't have another guy like that on this roster. If you're not keeping Dante Myers,

this like game plan for, how much you game plan for preseason, but just those few first drives, it really seemed like they wanted to see what he could do. And I think he answered it in a big way. Yeah, I think the most impressive guys, for most people coming out of this game,

Noah Thomas is going to be a great practice for a candidate and wide receiver. But the touchdown for Kobe Young, I think is going to stick out to a lot of people, making a big play in that moment, winning on his release, doing a great job of knocking the pressing hand of the corner down

and winning outside, stacking the corner immediately. And he's been really good in general when he has shown up when he has flashed in the vertical route tree, part of the wide receiver duties in the NFL. He's good going vertical. He's good working back to the line of scrimmage,

again in that vertical route tree. And Dante Myers, by contrast, is great on slam. his elusiveness and smoothness in and out of his breaks really stands out, especially for a guy that was a CFL signing. And shout out Dan Horde on this podcast when he made that call. When we talked to him a month plus ago, said Dante Myers is his guy to watch in training camp.

He's really shown that he moves like an NFL player moves. He's been reliable catching the football. He was reliable today in the return game as well. So they have these two guys that are very different. what they do and yet you really have to make a good argument for Mitch Tensley not to be active in week one right now. And one answer that we got very clearly is that Andreosovash's wide receiver three. If that was a question for you, I feel like we tried to talk about this a little bit over the last week, week or two. Andreos Walsh didn't play tonight. The next three guys did play

tonight. There were very clear shifts with the wide receivers. It was Mitch Tinsley, Colby Young, and Dante Myers to start the game. Those seem to be the next three guys right now. Charlie Jones entered after all three of those guys left. Charlie Jones entered with Noah Thomas, the guys that are pushing for practice squad spots more than they're pushing for roster spots. Does that mean Charlie is out of a roster spot?

I'm not convinced yet, but I think that does mean something. And so when we look forward to week one, and you're thinking about, okay, if these are your three or four backup receivers, if you include Charlie Jones, the one that I can make the easiest case for being inactive in week one early in the season is going to be Colby Young.

For all that he's shown us in terms of his ability to contribute on offense, he plays no special teams, he's not going to get on the field unless there's an injury where for some of these other guys, you can see either a special teams role or a clear role in the offense that we've seen for them in the preseason that indicates that they could be part of a game plan, even if everyone else is healthy at wide receiver. because Mitch Tinsley played special teams and he did last year, right? So that is a big part.

Plus, it seems like they've used him more in the slot this year, which is why we're seeing Kobe Young on the outside, you know, getting these vertical shots that Tinsley was getting last year. That, you know, those aren't there. Tinsley did show up with a nice catch as, was it Sean Clifford at that time or Johnson? You know, by the way, you need to apologize to Josh Johnson after the comments you made last week. He is a rosterable quarterback. I did.

at the beginning of the show, I said Josh Johnson was more than Adam. You give him credit, but you didn't acknowledge that you were like, I can't watch Josh Johnson. It was, it was bad last week. It was much better this week. And I tweeted it. I said he was playing some football. I tell you what. He was very good. He killed reference. Yeah. And, you know, for, so look at this. So if I think this receiver room is pretty wrapped up, I'm actually taking Charlie Jones off of it and saying, I think Mitch Tensley is a valuable part of this team. I think they do still like him. I think because he plays special teams on punk coverages and other things like that, kick coverages, he'll be active. I think Dante Myers, as long as he doesn't mess up

in the return game at any point, I think he's going to win it over Charlie Jones. Now, having said that, I do think Charlie will find a way on another roster in the NFL because return game importance is big, because of his ability to be an explosive return man. I still think he's faster than Dante Myers. I think so. But the agility and things you can do and already being a part of the offense at a higher level that Charlie Jones has almost never been. Charlie's never even had a preseason game like this. He's at moments. He was open deep last week. Still, it's always felt like just a little bit missing from his game to make the connections on these plays. I would slot Dante Myers over him.

And I bet the listener would too, Jake. And he had a nice play tonight, did Charlie Jones on a play action boot. I mean, let's talk about maybe Dan pitchers element. Yeah, he did. did on the sideline. We talk about Dan Pitcher's impact tonight, too, if we think he had one. I think that's something that'll be clear on film review. But, yeah, I mean, the way that these guys were out there, the way that they were used, the fact that Charlie Jones didn't get reps until after all three of those guys we mentioned earlier left the game, I think that speaks to where they are.

I think Kishon Williams is also great wide receiver depth. So, like, you can get to wide receivers eight and nine and still feel good about the depth. Williams was good as a returner for this team last year. He's shown up this year again. No reason to believe that the returning ability has diminished for him. Another guy that would be great to have on the practice squad. Because if you needed to call up a returner, say you don't get Charlie Jones through waivers, there's your call up for return man if they needed that.

So there is a little bit of contingency there if they do feel like they have to waive Charlie Jones in order to keep Dante Myers. Because at this point, I don't say this often. because I think most guys that get cut in the NFL don't get claimed. But there's a pretty slim chance. I think Dante Myers makes it through waivers with the preseason he's had. It's always hard to predict that, right? And yeah, even Noah Thomas, after that route and touchdown,

I was like, you know, I can see a team wanting to develop that. That last development guy, that sixth receiver, some teams will keep seven. Those are development guys that are inactive on Sunday, why you're talking about, you know, Colby Young in that way. because unless you have a full package for him or he's part of the offense, you might as well stash him, let him develop. And maybe another team looks at a guy like Dante Myers or even Charlie Jones or Noah Thomas. This receiver room, Jake, is extremely deep and strong.

We did not get such clear answers about the third tackle spot on this roster, which remains one of the biggest questions that this coaching staff and front office will need to answer. I think we'll also have to revisit. is it running back three based on what Taj Brooks did in this game is the third running back on the roster right now. We'll discuss those topics. And Dan, pitcher's impact is a play caller in this game coming up next. Today's episode is brought to you by Gusto.

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I think people love to get off of the Zach Taylor train as fast as possible. I think we should save it for just a second here because the offensive tackle position and swing tackle position has to be addressed. While we feel better about wide receiver, not that I ever felt bad about it, but getting some clarity maybe a little bit. I'm arguing that they are getting clarity at receiver through the second preseason game. They're getting clarity at offensive tackle number three, but not in a good way. It's clear that they don't have a guy on this roster that's good enough.

The conversation, one of the topics this week was that Jalen Rivers is going to play in left tackle. Cody Ford's going to be playing guard. This is Rivers' chance to show that he can do this. He's been a tackle in college. He was there last year to start his rookie campaign before, you know, things fell apart. But let's give him that chance. Let's evaluate it. and man, it was probably two drives in, and I'm just like, he's the guy getting beat.

He doesn't look good. And it was Cody Ford as well. Both guys had penalties. Both guys were beaten on a particular play together at almost the same time that flushed Josh Johnson out that I did not like at all. A cross-chop move beating Rivers. He just looked like his feet were in cement. And I'm concerned that they don't have an offensive tackle, a swing tackle on this roster right now. The two primary guys, we thought we're competing for that job.

I guess this week were Cody Ford who was he out of the competition. He didn't move to tackle eventually in this game for a bit, right? No, he got taken out of the game first, like as if he's the sixth guy. Oh yeah, you're right.

He was just removed. That's right. He was removed. And then they put Koker in it, right tackle move. Javon Foster to left tackle. That's right. And Foster was probably the best tackle

out there today for the Bengals playing both tackle spots in this game. But the two guys that we thought, might be in competition, I guess, because Cody Ford had been in that role all of camp until this week. And Jalen Rivers finally gets that opportunity this week were the two worst offensive linemen, at least in the first half. Brian Parker did not have a very good second half when he started moving around. They moved him to right guard. They moved him to center.

I thought he had a really good first half at left guard. And then every time I looked at him in the first half, I thought it was good. A few times I noticed him in the second half and holding out for dear life. a little bit, including a couple of reps at left guard before he started moving around. And they had some different guys next to him. He was working better, I thought, earlier in the game. He did have a brace on his right elbow in the second half. I don't know if you saw that.

That's worth watching and good to note. But there's not an answer that we saw a tackle in this game. Unless it is, Javon Foster. He played the same amount of snaps. In the end as Jaylen Rivers. Maybe that's how that shakes out next week. But you don't want to go into preseason game number three, trying to figure out who the heck the first tackle is off the bench. And right now,

your next three, I would say, best offensive linemen after you're starting five are all guys that are interior players only. Two of them might be center only in the NFL if Jacob Bayer is a center only in the eyes of the Bengals. He did play a little bit of guard again. I thought Jacob Bayer was really good again. I don't need to see Cody Ford. I would have like to have seen Jacob Bayer getting those guard reps, quite frankly, early in the game, because he's been the better player in the preseason. But Cody Ford has the staff's trust to at least some degree. He has a lot of experience in the system.

But man, that cannot count for much when you're getting these kinds of performances from him and from Rivers. Both of those guys with the penalties, I think, is a big part of this. And not just getting beat as past protectors, but the penalties on top of that when you're supposed to be the veteran in Cody Ford and you're in your second year in Jalen Rivers. you're the ones dealing with the procedural penalties that is something that the coaches can't be pleased with because during the Zach Taylor era they've been a low penalized team one of the least

penalized teams almost every single year right so they probably weigh that even harsher like you can not have these pre-snap penalties the procedure penalty so yeah i agree with you that you kind of uh glossed over it though that means Connor Lou played today guys if you didn't pay attention the first couple of drives uh Connor Lou got in there didn't fall on his face I didn't notice anything crazy either. We'll have to watch the tape. Obviously, we're recording this now before we're getting that evaluation, which, you know, may change our opinion on what he looked like, but I didn't see anything particularly bad. And it also, we should mention, Eric All played for the first time in two years, which was nice to see. Again, I didn't see anything crazy with him. I didn't see anything bad.

There was a lead swing pass where he didn't get anyone. There was three defenders there. He didn't get, you know, you got pick one and go. It probably's not going to go for much more than it ended up going to anyways, but I'm not going to be overly critical. Nice to see. both those guys out there and participating. If you had any concerns recently or just, you know, if these guys are going to be active week one, I think they will be at this point. Good to see Connor Lou, though, of them all for me because this is a guy that's

supposed to be center of the future. And we just, we needed to see him. And I think he is going to enter the years of backup center. They, there were some comments from Zach Taylor after the game that they've learned from the course of this preseason that Brian Parker can be their emergency center. He's not in the running for, a primary center backup.

He's not going to be the first center off the bench. The way Zach talked about, emergency center is Brian Parker, but I thought he's been okay at center in the preseason. He's definitely active on Sunday, though. Yeah, Brian Parker's active on. Brian Parker might be your first interior offensive linemen off the bench.

Now, if you're asking me, if you're asking the coaches, it might be Cody Fordren, which. You know what brings something else up then? Who's the jumble? Who's the sixth offensive lineman? We haven't seen that in preseason. season, right? They're not going to show that. But it's normally been Cody Ford. So I'm now,

as you say that, I'm like, huh, could it be Brian Parker? Could it be someone else? There was a period of time last year where it was Matt Lee before injuries got Matt Lee. Or was that two years ago? At some point, Matt Lee was because Lucas Patrick did it too last year when he came back and Dulton Reisner had won the starting job. Maybe that's that how Jalen Rivers makes a team. He's probably the best suited for that role, right? Out of all the guys they have his backups, It's like the things that get Brian Parker and Connor Lou tend to be power. And that's the one thing that Jalen Rivers clearly brings to bear that those two guys don't, right? Yeah.

We're just thinking out loud here because this is not something we planned on talking about. But yeah, but I do wonder, though, if Parker has the ability to play all five, like they keep saying. Maybe they just don't do it. Maybe they're just not going to go to that jumbo stuff so much because they're all these tight ends. We're not even going to get to talk very much about tonight. Jack injuries, I wonder if his roster spots. in peril or not the way that the tight end rotation looks like, is he really fighting for a roster spot here? Are they going to keep that extra linebacker that's going to kick him off

the roster? They're going to keep an extra offensive line that's going to kick him off the roster? I mean, these are questions that I think we're going to be talking about as we're trying to boil down the 53. But after Tanner Hudson had a good night, right? Yeah, and continues to play ahead. And tonight, too, Cam Grandi played ahead. And we didn't see as much of Jack Andrews on special team. Something we'll have to go back and check on. I'm not sure. Maybe he played more special teams than we noticed, but that's going to be something that we're going to be looking at because injuries did not have quite as big of a night tonight. And Cam Grandy and Tanner Hudson both clearly ahead of him in the rotation. If you are to read into the time and place, these guys were

being used tonight. And there's more to talk about Jake. Well, I want to get to the defensive guys. The defense as a whole had a good day and the Bears did come out there with some start. and have a drive and they held and kept it to three points. But the hype is going to be through the roof on Landon Robinson, two rookies we're going to talk about. And then Ticario Bobo Davis at his first exposure to the NFL game. We're going to talk about that and in pitcher calling plays coming up next. We're brought to tonight by Home Chef.

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Go to homechef.com slash lockdown NFL. That's home chef.com slash lockdown NFL for 50% off your first box. free dessert for life. HomeShuff.com slash Lockdown NFL must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. Joe, we've got a couple of rookies to talk about on the defensive side of the ball. We will maybe not get to the tight end conversation in as much stuff tonight. Let's talk about Dan pitcher. Dan pitcher, according to Zach Taylor after the game, called the entire game.

And there was an inclination. There was an indication from Zach Taylor that pitch would call a little bit of this game. And coincidence or not that Dan pitcher is calling for. plays with the Bengals score 27 points in a preseason game. And we have fun watching the offense. And the quarterback's played well, which is important to any NFL team. You got to get your quarterback to play well. And you got Josh Johnson and John Clifford. Honestly, I had moments where I'm like, hey, this guy can be on a practice squad if they absolutely needed it. I think it's coincidence. I do believe in Dan pitcher as far as an offensive coach. And I like that he's getting the experience.

this isn't the first time it's happened. He's done other pre-seasons before. He's done drives before. He did the Broncos game last year. So we're feeling really good about this one. Do you remember which preseason game it was last year? I don't remember which one. I want to say commanders,

but I don't remember specifically. Joe Burrow played into the second quarter against the commanders. They scored 14 points with Joe Burrow on the field. I'm wondering if Zach would let pitch call plays with Burrow on the field or not in that context. I have to check then. You mentioned the Denver game, but they did score 31 points in that game against the commanders last year in preseason week two, 14 of those being with Joe Burrow on the field.

Well, that's pretty good then. So, yeah, they get in the backups to play well again in that one. Maybe that was last time Jake Browning played well. But yeah, and then we bring up that Broncos game. That was a disaster. I mean, we were at low, at the lowest point of the season. I think in those following weeks after Burrow went down. So it is what it is.

So I'm just saying good for Dan pitcher. Good that he's getting the chances. He's probably going to go on to. bigger and better things next year after the Bengals win the Super Bowl this year. Does it mean Zach Taylor is going to give up play calling because this preseason game? No. If Zach Taylor's voice goes out and Dan's got to call some games or a drive or whatever, does he have the experience to do it?

Sounds like he does. So great. Let's get to the defense here, Joe, after one of the more interesting and hilarious to me, tidbits from the press conference, I believe Zach Taylor said they got Cam Grandi a long snapping snap in this game. Wow. So that'll be something to go watch for on. And he's making this roster, Jake.

On your special teams film review. We'll have to see if, because I believe he said Cam Grandy. Maybe I'm wrong. And he said Tanner Hudson, who I thought was the emergency long snapper. Yeah. But that'll be something to check on when we watch a special team state. Let's talk about this defense show. The defense had really good results tonight, holding the bears to nine points in this game.

Landon, Landon Robinson playing a ton, second most national defense. I think Isaiah Foskey might have played every year. single snap. He looked at this game. He was very effective when he dropped into coverage, which is not something I thought I would ever say about Foski. That body type and the way Foski played. But we also got Bobo Davis, Ticario Davis's debut for the Bengals.

No cash is how tonight. Zach Taylor said after the game, just holding him out. He's gotten a lot of reps, said Zach Taylor in recent weeks. He didn't reference the potential injury that HALS sustained. continue to practice against the bears in that joint practice. So I would assume that this is precautionary. It doesn't sound like it's anything serious to be worried about with Hal. But we didn't get to see how tonight,

got to see a lot of Foskey, a lot of Landon Robinson, and quite a bit of Takario Davis as well. And if there was a question, I think, about Josh Newton getting back into this corner competition, not that we have to talk a ton about Josh Newton here. I think that question kind of goes away after tonight. He did not have a great night.

I think he needed to have a great night to really reinsert himself into this conversation. DeCere Taylor made a play out there. Ticario Davis, according to PFS initial charting, four defensive stops, very active as a tackler in this game. That's what I was going to bring up. I thought he was clicking and closing on anything in front of him very, very quickly. And this is a guy that looks big, and I would want him to be a good tackler and a physical presence. But he definitely showed that. And we didn't get too many, like, deep ball of targets.

let's see his ball skills, let's see him turn and run type situation. Probably going to have to watch the film to look at him and look at him from an athletic standpoint and look at his agility and his footwork and things like that because the targets just weren't there. But as a physical run defender that made some tackles, yeah, he looked really good. Plus, I liked how he had a little bit of an edge to him. He was talking to the bears and mixing it up a little bit. And I like to see that.

Again, I think you keep Ticario Davis and you keep it just here, Taylor, before your before you're talking about Josh Newton making this roster because we've talked about Newton before. He just does not have the height weight speed of a guy that you just absolutely have to develop. He's not great on special teams. I just just low value there. I always thought he'd be better in the slot. They never gave him that shot. Maybe another team will. I think as it currently stands, as long as they can get out of week three preseason healthy, I think we have our corners. I think that they look good. I think you're strong enough in your first six to feel good about it, DJ Ivy being probably the first guy off the bench, unless just Sir Taylor is

that slot guy, but Jaylon Davis didn't play today. We talked about that battle for a long time. No, Jalen Davis. That battle is over. Number three corner is Jalen Davis again. And DJ Ivy was targeted twice tonight, gave up zero catches. I don't believe he's been credited with the past breakup. He wasn't. Just here Taylor was credited with the one pass breakup tonight. I think he is going to be your first lock guy off the bench. So got those answers. a corner, no competition left for the slot corner job that will be Jalen Davis. I think PJ Jules is going to be your fourth safety as well. He was aggressive, man. He is. He's a bit of a nut. Yeah, he's he's, he's aggressive. If you're

going to describe PJ Jules style of play in one word, I think of all the guys on this defense, aggressive applies the most to PJ Jules. That is a all gas, no breaks kind of player is PJ Jules. But I think he's going to be safety number four. The way it looks at there might still be a little bit of competition there depending on the next week or two. I'd be surprised if it's Russ East or Vajon Anthony at this point. Kyle Dugger didn't even play, which I'm quite frankly thankful for. I don't think we need to see more from Kyle Dugger. I think he showed that he's still a good player.

And I'm glad they treated him much the same way they treated Joe Flacco in this game, right? Like if you don't need to see our quarterback too, we know who Joe Flacco is. We know who Kyle Dugger is. Yeah, I guess both of them, right? I mean, different degrees of un-status for those guys. But good to see for those guys. Did anything else to you shake itself out on defense? I think Cedric Johnson very clearly on this team,

the way Duke Tobin talked about him, especially praising him for special teams work, praising him for his progress as a defensive player, had a really nice pass rush win that I noticed. And he left the game relatively early. I thought that Swayze-Bosman once again had a pretty impressive game. Shaka Hayward continues to be the strong player in the preseason at the linebacker position, but still as a guy that they should be able to get to the practice squad if they need to. And Joe Giles Harris had to leave the game with an injury.

The only injury that we noticed on the night, he was in the blue tent and left the field eventually with a trainer, did not return after that. So with all those notes that I just spewed, what took out to you on this defense? No, you took them all, Jake. That's what you just did. Well, Slater Robinson making the team. less go there. Okay. I got, then I got two good things to still talk about then. So don't let me forget the other one. Landon Robinson. I felt like when I focused on him because I did a lot,

he was out there a ton again, which on one hand makes me wonder, is he going to make the roster? But then he makes so many plays and collects sacks. I will use that word, uh, on purpose, because I don't think either of a sacks for pass rush wins. There was a stunt. There was a long coverage act. I think he and Foskey split after, what, five seconds? It was a long time. So, you know, I don't want to discredit him at all because the hype is going to be through the roof with Landon Robinson. I just, I want to tread this very carefully because I want to watch on film to see if he was as impressive as I felt like he was last week. Last week, when I watched his wins, I was like, oh, yeah, that's something you can replicate. This week,

less of that. I didn't feel like these are things you can replicate. I felt like here's a guy that has good athleticism and speed and, you know, is a pain in the butt. He did draw three penalties, though, or force. What's the best way to say this, Jake? I've been saying draw, but it makes it sound like they're his penalties. They're not. He forced the Bears to get called for three penalties. There may have even been a fourth one.

I couldn't tell who that guy was blocking. Number 60 they called, and I tried to go through the replay. Couldn't tell Robinson was in that mix. So maybe we can get clarity when we watch it on film. I think he's getting these snaps, sort of full circle here. He's getting so many snaps because he's your six defensive tackle and he is inactive on Sunday. So this is the way to get him those reps now because he's on the team and he's for the future. And maybe he's active when they want to play him at fullback, man.

That was another talking point. My thought around the fullback thing, which is kind of silly, but also like, why would you waste your time on that if he's not making the team? that is my like very basic Akams razor. The simplest answer is probably the correct one. Like if they're going to spend the time working him at fullback, why would you bother if you're going to cut him? Maybe because you think you can calm up from the practice squad,

but according to PFF here tonight, just looking at their initial charting of past rush win rates, they had him at 11% on true pass set snap. So out of 18, that would mean he won probably two of them. Then McKinley Jackson winning one of his five, true pass rush reps tonight. They had Landon Robinson overall at 41 pass rush snaps with an 8% win rate,

which is pretty similar, I think, to his numbers from last week. That is. And people were surprised at why it's so low. And Chris Jenkins was the last week as well. But again, if you watch the tape and watch 40 snaps of these guys, you know, there's going to be a lot of neutral plays or pass rush losses. Last guy I wanted to bring up, Taj Brooks, maybe the most flashes we've ever gotten in a short period.

I want to, I want 15 touches for Tash Brooks, right? And we're not getting that. We're getting five or six. It's not enough for me. I really want to see what he could look like in an extended role. And I thought he had one nice run today. And I thought he had one nice catch today.

And that's a little bit more than what we've been getting. Still doesn't look like the quickest or fastest player. But he did also have a tackle on. I want to say it was a kickoff. It may have been a punt. Either way, on special teams. I think it was a punt. But either way.

He is going to work on special teams. That might be his ticket to making the team. The other ticket for him making the team is that none of the other guys that are, quote, unquote, competing for this job. I've really done anything at any point to show that they should be running back three. And Brooks, maybe by default, ends up winning this job. Maybe he's just the best special teamer out of the group. Maybe that's how he wins a job.

And they need a third running back to be active on game day. If you're going to handicap as of August 22nd as we're recording this, after the second preseason game, the most likely waiver claims for this team or the most likely veterans that they try to find somebody to bring in, it's probably a tackle and is probably a running back. Yeah, and maybe they find a trade partner for Jacob Bayer. And that's how they maximize the value that he's shown in the preseason because he's been good, man. I agree. Not a player. And I almost don't want to trade him away because he looks good enough that like he could hope you in some way. I'd play him the entire third preseason game.

at guard. Yeah. At this point. Be sure of it, right? Let's see if he can play guard instead of just this handful of snaps, like a couple of drives at the end of a game that we've gotten the last couple of weeks from him. I'd play Brian Parker at tackle too. Like, let's answer these questions.

Yeah, I mean, I guess the reason why not is time on task in practice and actually getting through the reps. But at the same time, Zach Taylor said in his press conference, again, like, Sean Clifford had like three reps, maybe five reps in all of training camp. Like he's not getting time on task in training camp. He's just going out there and playing after sitting in meetings, watching reps from the sideline. Because with Joe Flacco there, he's getting all the reps with the twos.

And Josh Johnson, when there are extra reps to go around, Josh Johnson's getting those reps with the three. So Sean Clifford going out there essentially cold and playing pretty darn well, considering good for him, nice moment for him, the local guy, to make some plays at Paycor. There will be other takeaways from this game. and we will get into some 53-man roster math. We'll talk about who we think help themselves the most

and how urgent some of these potential needs to make moves feel after preseason game number two. After we've had a chance to watch the tape, we'll be back with you here on Monday afternoon on lockdown Bengals. Until then we can enjoy this quite enjoyable preseason game in which the Bengals offense looked fun, the quarterback play was good. We got some flashes from young guys.

Once again, preseason has been pretty fun so far. And until next time, that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Thanks for listening. Ho da. And have a go.