Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - How Bengals' cap management approach exposes them to major risk

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

Is the Cincinnati Bengals' salary cap approach suited to building winning roster? Jake Liscow and James Rapien revisit Duke Tobin's Senior Bowl comments that may reveal flawed thinking about the cap a...nd cash spending. In a year where they face three decisions on potential monster contracts for their own guys, those contracts don't have to significantly hamstring the salary cap - if the Bengals structure the deals right. But they do reveal how the Bengals are costing themselves by trying to be risk-averse, thus exposing themselves to more risk, in their approach ot certain contracts. Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.Turbo TaxReady for stress-free taxes and the most money back, guaranteed? Head over to TurboTax.com today and get matched with your Expert. Only available with TurboTax Live Full Service. Real-time updates only in the iOS mobile app. See guarantee details at TurboTax.com/guarantees.PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelSuper Bowl 59 is here, And there’s no better way to make every play more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. New customers can bet just FIVE DOLLARS, and if you win, you’ll score TWO HUNDRED BUCKS in Bonus Bets. Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started.  Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of Super Bowl Fifty-Nine.  FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The Cincinnati Bengals have a ton of cap space to play with this offseason, but where do we think they see their cap situation? Let's weigh in on some comments from Duke Tobin and talk about what the cap reality is for the Cincinnati Bengals in this 2025 off season. 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 Locked On Bengals. Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake Liskow. He's your host, James Rapine, and we are locked on Bengals on the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. We're on YouTube. We're everywhere
Starting point is 00:00:45 you get your podcast. So if you're new to the show, you can hit that subscribe button, and you'll be kept up to date on all things Bengals throughout this offseason and into the future. And we're excited today to talk about the Bengals cap situation. As we've talked a lot about, a lot of the extensions of Bengals have to do, we went in. into some of Duke Tobin's comments from Mobile, Alabama at the Senior Bowl last week, but there's still some meat on that bone that we haven't gotten into yet. And started to get to it yesterday, James. I ranted about this risk aversion paradox that the Bengals have that ends up costing them more resources than it has to.
Starting point is 00:01:22 On yesterday's show, we're going to revisit that topic today as well. This episode brought to the people by PrizeFix. You can go to PrisFix.com and use promo code locked on NFL to get $50 instantly with your first $5. play. And before we dive into this Duke Tobin quote where I would like to start the show, James, I'd like to thank the people who've been sticking with us for the last six plus years. This is my sixth year of locked on podcasting. My start at locked on coincides exactly with Zach Taylor's introductory press conference on February 4th all those years ago. And so appreciate everybody who's been along for the ride with me and appreciate Lockdown for giving me this opportunity
Starting point is 00:02:04 you to do this for all these years. Happy anniversary. Six years. How about that? Happy anniversary. It's flying by. I remember when Zach Taylor was introduced, and it's funny that that your date lines up with that because it's really easy to remember.
Starting point is 00:02:20 It was kind of planned to do our first episode when they introduced Zach because we were just kind of waiting for it. Remember waiting for the Super Bowl, waiting for the Bengals to make it official and all those things, but sorry to interrupt. No, no, no. I just, it's much more memorable than my first blackdown episode, which was after Trevor Simeon carved them up. I would much rather it be post-Zach Taylor gets hired than Trevor Simeon carving them up at Paul
Starting point is 00:02:47 Brown Stadium at the time. Can you imagine that? I can't imagine that. And yet that happened. So, happy anniversary, money. Thank you. It doesn't sound like a fun time to start covering the Bengals. Good Lord.
Starting point is 00:02:58 Although the first year for us was pretty bad too. And then I was like, it's about to get good. Joe, get the heck out of here. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And Joe Goodberry, by the way, not Burrow. I said, Burroughs coming back. So am I.
Starting point is 00:03:13 There's only room for one Joe on the Locked-on Bengals podcast, although Joe Goodberry does still come by from time to time. We got to figure out, well, we'll get your return anniversary coming up here pretty soon as well in the next couple of months. And we'll get to talk about that. It's the funniest thing ever. It's probably the thing I dislike the most, but it's your anniversary, so I'm not going to talk about it. Go ahead. Oh, that's the anniversary of which we started doing the podcast together is how I think about it. That's a good way. That's how they should do it. Yeah, that's what they should do. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:45 So on to the topic at hand, we've got some cap math to talk about today. We'll get to that in a bit. We'll get into some of the details. I went through the exercise again last night of putting together potential extensions for Trey Hendrickson for Jemar Chay. and resigning T. Higgins, put them into the over-the-cap-cap calculator to look at what the three-year outlook looks like even with those guys extended. But before we get there and get into those nitty-gritty details, I want to start with a quote that we haven't talked about from Duke Tobin's conversation with Kelsey Conway in Mobile, Alabama at the Senior Bowl last week. And this kind of slid under the radar a little bit. There's been some discussion about it on social media, but it stood out to me immediately
Starting point is 00:04:26 when I read it and we just haven't talked about it yet. This is a quote. we ended up with, I think, the third highest payroll in the league, said Duke Tobin, because we kept those guys together. That's the focus of what we're going to talk about here, but he continued, and I thought this was interesting context. I think the expectation was that keeping those guys together, being the Super Bowl core, would net, and it didn't.
Starting point is 00:04:50 Maybe I needed to influx. Maybe I needed to change more of that going in, but we ran it back with a lot of guys, and it didn't come together. It snowballed on us a little bit. The thing that we're going to have to evaluate going into next year is who's going to play up to that and who isn't. And we're going to have to make changes there. There's going to have to be an influx of young players. We're going to have to reevaluate where the money is being spent and how much is being spent at each position.
Starting point is 00:05:13 So there's a few things there. But the thing that got me to start this conversation, James, is this reference to being the third highest payroll in the league. I saw this. And it wasn't the first time I had heard somebody from the Bengals front office referred to the third. highest payroll in the league in 2024. And that got me really confused because the first time I saw it, I was like, by what measure were you the third highest payroll in the league? And then Joe Goodberry pointed it out.
Starting point is 00:05:40 It was the third highest salary cap spend in the league. But they were not the highest cash spend team by a third highest cash spend team by a large margin. This speaks to the way they're managing the payroll, managing their spend, managing the cap. And I don't think this is a misunderstanding of how. the cap and cash dynamics work, I think that it's at best misleading. I guess you would hope they're misunderstanding it almost, but it's either misleading or they don't understand how exactly payroll works to characterize your salary cap spend as payroll. Those are two very different
Starting point is 00:06:15 things. For sure. And here we go again. Right. Like it's one of those things where, let's say they extend Trey Hendrickson, just to give people an idea of something. we're talking about. If they extend him, his cap number this year probably goes down. And Jemar Chase, same thing. He's going to hit him for a $22 million cap hit right now for 2025. And so that doesn't mean that his pay goes down. His pay will go up a ton if he signs an extension. And so that's what's what's difficult here. And that's why I think the fan base is so leery questions. things, because you can get all of the, fans are smarter than ever. And they pay more attention than ever.
Starting point is 00:07:05 And they look at these things closer than ever. And there's so many resources now. And they don't need, by the way, they don't need to come to Locked on Bengals for them to look up the salary cap and cash spend and all of those things. They can look at the stuff up on their own, on their own. And so that's where this quote, and this is all, you deserve the credit here. You read it to me a second time when we were going over. just the Duke Tobin files from, from Mobile.
Starting point is 00:07:30 And I'm like, what? Like, we're well aware that that's not where they were at in that they, and so if they still view it this way, which clearly they do as of last week, and internally, this is how they discuss it, that would give me the most pause when it comes to then keeping T. T. and also adding to this team the way they need to add to this team in free agency this offseason and beyond. Because in this modern day,
Starting point is 00:08:09 if you view it that way, and you're not willing to take the necessary steps to maximize your cap dollars in cap space, excuse me, by throwing dollars in certain places, restructuring, doing all of the things that most of these teams, certainly the chiefs and the Eagles,
Starting point is 00:08:25 we can use those two teams because they're in the Super Bowl, do regularly. That would be my major concern because there are a lot of people, even though all of those resources are out there, that, I mean, how many times have you gotten this? There's no way they can pay tea after paying Jamar and Trey.
Starting point is 00:08:43 There's just no way they can pay all three of those guys with a $50 million quarterback. Look at, like, so many people do that. And it's like, well, actually, there's like a 50,000 different ways they can make that work and still be competitive. And if they view it, the way they're saying they view it,
Starting point is 00:08:59 well, then those 50,000 ways come back to Earth a bit. And it does seem very much tougher to pull off. And I don't think it will be. And it's not just those guys. It's making the team better in this window with Joe Burrow that I think everybody is concerned about at this point. Yeah, it's not that they can't do anything. And this is always kind of the...
Starting point is 00:09:22 Every time. The semantics debate, right? Like, it's all, it's never that they can't. It's that they don't manage their cap in such a way that they're interested in spreading cap hits out into the future. It's this risk aversion to future dead cap hits, which are not the worst thing in the world. It's nice to avoid them, but you can overcome them, especially if you use the other cap mechanisms that are available to you. For reference, by the way, James, the Philadelphia Eagles were 19th in cap spend in 2024. The Kansas City Chiefs were 21st in cap spend in 2024.
Starting point is 00:09:58 The Philadelphia Eagles were third in cash spend in 2024. The Kansas City Chiefs were ninth in cash spend in 2024. The Cincinnati Bengals were 19th in cash spend. That's how much money they actually spent. That doesn't equal cap dollars in 2024. We'll continue this conversation, this risk aversion approach to cap management, at the Bengals take, how it costs them, how these contracts can fit in to the Bengals future in that cap picture coming up next.
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Starting point is 00:11:33 Right now, download the GameTime app, create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that's code locked on NFL for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets. Lowest price guaranteed. It's one of those things, Jake, that they do where they'll go get, and I'll use an example here. Like they go get Orlando Brown Jr. which is something we all would have done every single time. And I mentioned Orlando Brown Jr. on yesterday's show and how that kind of came about. But from a financial standpoint, they get Orlando Brown Jr. done, giving him a huge signing bonus up front. So that's an example of the cash versus cap.
Starting point is 00:12:14 So you had a $31 million signing bonus. Boom. That's a lot of cash sent Orlando's way. At the same time, I think there's a lot of people that view it and say, oh, well, they didn't pay Jesse, but they got Orlando. And that's fine if you want to view it that way. But it isn't this either or. My goal for this offseason is to make sure people understand that it doesn't have to be either or. It doesn't have to be either the defense adds pieces or they keep T. Higgins.
Starting point is 00:12:45 It doesn't need to be that. And for so many, it feels that way because the defense stunk for a large part of last year. But it doesn't mean they have to take a huge piece of their office. offensive way. And for example, with the Orlando Brown Jr., yeah, adding a stud left tackle, a pro-ball left tackle, is a no-brainer? That doesn't mean you need to give away the guy that would have been your all-pro safety that hadn't reached his full potential yet, but was really darn close to doing so. You get my point. I think that's the hard part about the Duke Tobin comments, because if they really view it as we were third in the league in spending last year, like, no,
Starting point is 00:13:24 you weren't. And you're not maximizing what you're getting. You're being really inefficient with how you're using those cap dollars. And that's the name of the game is maximizing what you can do because everyone has the same salary cap. So how can you do the most with it? That's the key. And it's one of those things that requires you to have an owner willing to spend money to do it. And so when you see people talking about the Bengals are cheap, they're an average spending team in the NFL. We spent a lot of time, I think, a couple of weeks ago talking about the Bengals' cash spend. I think it was on this podcast.
Starting point is 00:14:01 If not, I tweeted about it or wrote about it. I think we talked about it too. And the Bengals over the last five years are a roughly average, maybe just a touch below average in cash spent on average over the last five years. And the example you make of this not being an either-or thing is if they're make all of their expected cuts this off season, right? And they don't keep anybody that we're on the fence. We're not sure they're going to cut or keep. They're sitting at $89 million in cap space according to over the cap, which is based on a teen salary cap of $278 million.
Starting point is 00:14:38 $89 million in cap space, right? I went in to the over the cap calculator, put in a $28 million per year deal for T. Higgins, a $35 million per year deal for Jamar Chase, which would be $38 million. That was a mistake on my part. It doesn't actually change the cap number significantly in any year to go up three million a year. But if you want to, you know, nitpick at numbers, fine. And I put in Trey Hendrickson for two-year extension for $26.5 million. Guess what the Bengals cap space was in 2025 after putting all those deals in? What? 87 and a half million dollars. It went down $2 million after doing all of those deals.
Starting point is 00:15:20 because if you extend to Mark Chase in a certain way, you can lower his cap hit from $21 million to $8 million. I didn't even try to lower Trey's cap hit for this year. I let it go up because the signing bonus comes into this year and I didn't lower his salary for this year. So I let his salary go up this year. Because it got to the point, actually, James, where for maybe the first time that I've been looking at the Bengals Cap Outlook,
Starting point is 00:15:47 it didn't make sense to push all as much, money is possible into the future. Because if you still have $87 million in cap to spend this year, you will start to have issues balancing this year spend versus future spend. So this is where maybe they put more of that Jamar Chase cap hit in 2025. And it's not necessarily the worst thing in the world. This is why I haven't brought up the idea of restructuring Joe Burroughs contract to push that money into the future yet because I think that will be more necessary next year and the year after that than this year. Where? I don't think it's necessary.
Starting point is 00:16:22 Joe Burroughs cap it goes up to $46 million, but it goes up even more after that. And there will be opportunities to free up cap space in the future there with higher salary numbers. So there's some cap math going on here. The biggest impact on the cap in doing those deals is that it reduces your flexibility in future years. But it still leaves you with $100 million in cap space to get 25 players onto the roster in 2026. leaves you with about $128 million for 37 players in 2027. So that's your three-year outlook. And that's a lot of money to be locked up in a few of your star players.
Starting point is 00:16:58 Don't get me wrong. But you're also going to have a bunch of rookie deals. You're going to add six plus rookie deals this year, probably seven plus rookie deals next year, probably seven plus rookie deals the following year, assuming they don't acquire any additional picks. Yeah. And that will inevitably be some college free agents that stick,
Starting point is 00:17:15 some vet minimum guys that stick. So it's not like it's impossible to manage any of this stuff if they extend these guys. The focus will have to continue to be on the draft. But even with that, they'll be able to sign some big free agents this off season that can make an impact. And looking beyond that, don't even talk to me about it. That's way too far into the future. You're talking about one, two-year windows in the NFL right now before you have to reset rosters. And I think that's the way I'd be thinking about it because I'm trying to win my first Super Bowl upon the Cincinnati Bengals.
Starting point is 00:17:45 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And this offseason preserving it and their flexibility is why they structured Rankins the way they did where he's easily cut. Gino Stone easily cut if you want to. Like these guys, the way they did that, there were basically one-year prove-it deals that they can get out of very easy. Zach Moss, same way. And so, okay, you saw what happens there when you go like to this middle-tiered, journeyman style Sheldon Rankin's
Starting point is 00:18:20 and you've also seen what happens when you get the guy going into a second contract DJ Reader. It's a big difference and it might cost you more but that might be worth it. The third team in three years, Sheldon Rankins, ascending player who's in his prime
Starting point is 00:18:37 DJ Reader might be worth the difference to go after those type of guys and they're going to be hard to get. But cap space whether or not they get that has nothing to do with the cap space. They can keep their big five together, which is how I'll coin it. Joe Burrow, Orlando Brand Jr., obviously under contract,
Starting point is 00:19:00 Jamar Chase, T. Hendricksson, and T. Higgins. You can do that. You just did it with $87 million in cap space to spare. And that is a lot of money that you could throw at these other guys. And it doesn't have to be the high-end guys necessarily, but it can be the right fits that are going into their second contracts that have something to prove not saying go crazy spend wise and i think that's how they say oh we're not going to go crazy not saying go crazy go find the right guys but you know you have the right guys in t higgins tray hendricks
Starting point is 00:19:32 and jemar chase as well so that that's the balance here is can they push their their logic Jake, I think that's a big question. Yeah. And where do they apply where they want to do those extensions? Because we talked about yesterday and we're about to get back into it again, this risk aversion they have for certain second contracts cost them in other ways. It saves them potentially some future cap flexibility and then they spend years trying to replace players with money, with draft fix, and it costs them wins on the field as well. We'll continue the conversation with that topic to finish the show coming up next.
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Starting point is 00:21:24 It's code locked on NFL for $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Price Picks run your game. As we talk about risk aversion and the way the Bengals have avoided committing future cap dollars because they're worried about getting burned and how that's inadvertently costed them, money, draft picks, et cetera, I do want to acknowledge really quick that we've talked a lot in the last couple of days, James, about keeping T. Higgins, Jamar Chase and T. Hendrickson on the team together with Joe Burrow and Orlando Brown Jr. And I would throw Chase Brown into the mix as being a potential core piece for the next two years as well.
Starting point is 00:21:59 Rookie contract, of course, not a big financial obligation there. But keeping that group together, we haven't talked about the alternatives yet. And I know that there are a lot of people that have seen conversation around trading T. Hendrickson or drafting a receiver at 17 and letting T. Higgins walk and using that money, elsewhere. And we understand that those alternatives exist. We haven't dug into them yet. We well dig into them in the future because there are other paths the Bengals could take that could make them contenders just as well as keeping those guys together could make them contenders in future years. Either way, the path involves spending a lot of money and or draft picks on
Starting point is 00:22:37 those positions to restock either with those guys or with other guys. And then you're talking about trusting the Bengals to get it right. Either way, really. But if you're not keeping guys, you no, then I do think that's a variable. We will talk about that in the future. Today, to wrap up this show, James, I want to circle back to this idea of not paying guys when they have the opportunity to pay these guys. And you can think about the two big receiver contracts that we're talking about with this team right now.
Starting point is 00:23:06 T. Higgins a couple of years ago, you said yesterday would it cost them 22, I would even say $20 to $22 million per year to get the extension done as soon as T was extension eligible. Obviously, inflation in the cap and wide receiver market and T. Higgins' performance have driven that number up plus Joe Burrow comments, right? Jamar Chase, if they had gotten the deal done last year, probably would have been Justin Jefferson kind of contract. This year is probably indexing to the salary cap is probably $38 million instead of $35 million. So Justin, those two deals on an average annual per year basis by waiting an extra two years in the case of T. Higgins, one year in the case of Jamar Chase. You're costing yourself $11 million per year, $9 to $11 million per year. That's crazy.
Starting point is 00:23:57 And you already paid T 22. Like he just made 22. It's not like you got a fifth year rookie contract T. You had to pay him, and that was a direct cap hit. That was the direct one where there was no massaging out and putting some cash in this year and that year. Yeah, that's, those. are the painful decisions. And that's why when you look at the Eagles, especially, throw the Chiefs in there,
Starting point is 00:24:26 I would say, but the Eagles especially, because I just think the Eagles roster is so darn good. I mean, outside of the quarterback where I think there's a clear advantage for Mahomes over Hertz, not that Hertz isn't good, but I think the Eagles are just stacked. You feel great about everything that they've done, whether it's tight end, the weapons, the offensive line, the defensive line's loaded. and it's because they get ahead of it and getting ahead of it with guys that you know are good. Like, was there any doubt three years ago?
Starting point is 00:24:54 Three. So now this is pre-being able to pay T. That T is someone you would want around long term? Like, why wouldn't you? Does his work? Is better every year. Okay, so he gets nicked up here and there. What player doesn't?
Starting point is 00:25:08 Definitely someone you can build around. And the same obviously goes for Jemar Chase. We knew what Jammar was before this year. we knew what he was one year in. And so if you were eligible to pay him then, you pay him then. Obviously, that's not the case. It has to be after three years. But that's something that they have to get more comfortable with.
Starting point is 00:25:29 There's a reason why everyone, everyone expected them to get Joe Burrow done. And it literally took until the 11th and a half hour. Like it was the Thursday before the start of the regular season. The clock is striking midnight. and you find the common ground to get it done. That should have been done months prior. And so that's an example, too, of Joe, regardless, if it was Joe trying to make sure that it was easy on the franchise or vice versa,
Starting point is 00:25:58 you want to get this stuff done early because it gives you a much better picture of where things are. If they did all three of these deals today, wouldn't it be easier to figure out free agency instead of having these deals linger? And I'd be pretty surprised at this point of all three are done by free agency. I don't think that that's going to happen. And is it an issue of not having enough manpower to deal with negotiations for multiple agents? Is it an issue where...
Starting point is 00:26:25 How, though? I mean... I don't know. I'm trying to figure out why it takes so long. And it does take time, but then you look at free agency and these deals obviously come together very quickly in, you know, 24 to 48 hours in free agency. So obviously the capacity to get deals on quickly exists. Or one minute, one minute, Alex Kappa, one minute.
Starting point is 00:26:46 Yeah, I mean, I'm acknowledging the tampering happens, I guess. Oh, no, I'm just saying, no, it came together in one minute. If it only takes one minute for Alex Kappa, you can't get T done in a week. For whatever reason, when they have time, it's like the procrastinating student, right? When you have time, they take time. And sometimes it is a collaboration between the, team and the agent that cause it to take time. It's not always just the team dragging their feet,
Starting point is 00:27:17 just to be clear about that. This isn't only the front office saying, you know what, we're going to take a month off here. And we'll revisit it. You think it's them surveying the draft class, the free agent class,
Starting point is 00:27:32 like getting an idea of what they could protect. Like to me, that doesn't matter with Jamar. It's so irrelevant. Right? Like with Trey, same thing. I mean, you could look at any free agent board. There's not going to be another Trey Hendrickson available. So I don't know, it's tough. It's not like Chase Young is going
Starting point is 00:27:49 to be Chase Hendrickson. I would love to get some more insight on that sometime and find some answers about why negotiations do take so long. And I think there's an avenue as we have to investigate that. So I'll maybe ask some questions and try to find out if there's a satisfactory answer to why some of these negotiations take some of it. Jake and I'm going to call Katie. I guess you're going to just call Katie. Hey, Katie, what's taking so long? Yep, Katie Blackburn is the source. We've been outed.
Starting point is 00:28:18 I don't have Katie Blackburn's number for anyone who couldn't attack the podcast. Just go with it. You're calling Troy. Okay. Troy. I don't want to get in trouble somehow. I don't know how you're going to get in trouble. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:28:32 People misconstrueing who we're talking to. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Mike is calling me right now. Oh, great. Speaking of the devil. You're better at the sarcasm voice than me, I think. That's what's happening here. That's what we're learning on my sixth anniversary
Starting point is 00:28:46 with the lockdown podcast network. Happy anniversary. Hopefully we have to do an emergency pod later today because they sign one of these dudes. How about that? That would be shocking. I don't think it's happening until a couple weeks from now. Oh, I agree.
Starting point is 00:29:02 I mean, I, but hey, strangeer things have happened. That's true. Stranger things. The Eagles, you mentioned, great job of getting ahead of extending guys, saving money and doing so, great job of talent acquisition, exploring all avenues for talent acquisition, great job of maneuvering in the draft, great job of managing the cap. That is the standard, I think, in the NFL for front offices, and if Howie Roseman and the Eagles pull it off this year, they will have won Super Bowls with Nick Foles against Tom Brady and Jalen Hertz against Pat Mahom. and talk about a legacy there, building these rosters without necessarily having the stud quarterback and then taking down some Goliath quarterbacks in the process if he does get that done. And one of many reasons that we talk about the Eagles a lot, not that the Bengals operate anything like the Eagles in so many ways.
Starting point is 00:29:55 We talked about the cash spend difference. We talked about the willingness to restructure contracts and something the Eagles do, the Bengals don't do. even if you don't want to go full Eagles, which of Bengals probably never well, you can take some ideas from one of the best front offices, if not the best front office in football, and learn from it and apply it to your team to make yourself better. And that's what we're talking about when we're talking about the risk aversion of waiting into the last minute. And then, you know, quibbling over Jesse Bates not having a Pro Bowl.
Starting point is 00:30:28 And so he's not that good, right? Like that's the argument they're making. just acknowledge how good some of your players are sometimes get some of these deals done you're probably better off for it than trying to win every single negotiation for sure I like it don't go full eagles maybe you should go full eagles
Starting point is 00:30:43 I mean should yeah but like can they I mean can and will but to your point there are things you can pull and I think there's something that to be said about the draft as well there are a lot of people that view their six picks and like oh they need more picks no they need the right guys
Starting point is 00:31:02 You don't need 52 picks in a draft. You need to get the right guys. Is it hard? Absolutely. But I would much rather come out of this draft with four players that are quality than 10 where you're questioning seven of them. So quality over quantity all day. And we'll see.
Starting point is 00:31:21 We'll see if they can get it done. There's a lot that needs to happen, Jake. The difference there is one player, three players in 10 picks versus four players and six picks. There is an argument for quantity and I get it. This bet is good to take more steps in the draft, but that is an entirely different conversation for another day. Bottom line is they have to get it right,
Starting point is 00:31:37 no matter how many picks they have. Obviously, this episode has alluded to a number of topics that we will get to in the future, including alternatives to the extensions for those free agents and different paths in the draft, all of those topics and whatever news we have that comes up between now and then. But that's going to do it for this episode of the lockdown Bengals podcast.
Starting point is 00:31:57 Ho-Day, and have a good one. Six picks. for a six-year anniversary, Jake. How about that?

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