Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Is the ONE SEED in play for the Cincinnati Bengals? | How Joe Burrow can do the heavy lifting in 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Cincinnati Bengals offense is poised to carry this team. Maybe even to a playoff by. At least so says the FDN Almanac. Let's talk with the writer to break it down. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What up, Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:35 I'm Jake Liskow, he's James Rapine, and we're your host of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, bringing you daily coverage of your Cincinnati Bengals since 2016. So if you're looking for that one-stop shop for all things, Bengals, you are in the right place. And welcome back to all the everydayers out there. Welcome back to those of you who make Locked-on Bengals your first list. And we appreciate those listening habits very, very much. And today we're joined by Robert Weintraub, Cincinnati Magazine, columnist, and writes for the FTN Almanac,

Starting point is 00:01:09 which you might recognize by its former name as well, the formerly Football Outsiders Almanac, which has been a fixture for years, for people who love to get ready for the season, taking in every bit of content that they can find. And today we'll break down why Robert and the Almanac are bullish on the Cincinnati Bengals in 2025. Today's episode brought to you by game time.

Starting point is 00:01:33 you can get the game time out, create an account, and use code at Lockdown NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Robert, before we started recording, I asked you for a bold take, a spicy take around which we could structure the beginning of our conversation about the Cincinnati Bengals. And you feel,

Starting point is 00:01:53 and I want to let you brag about your predictions last year that came to fruition, that this offense has done enough, is good enough, led by Joe Burrow, and it stars to carry the Cincinnati Bengals despite questions on defense. Yeah, spicy take and Louisiana hot sauce take that perhaps the offense is good enough

Starting point is 00:02:13 even to get them to the one seed. Now, I should preface this by saying in the FTN Almanac, it didn't necessarily play out that way. As you know, we play the season out a million times and the sort of the 9 to 11 win range is where the Bengals generally landed. But for various reasons, starting of course, with the re-signing of T. Higgins along with Jomar Chase, bringing back Mike Gaseki,

Starting point is 00:02:37 the recent addition of Dalton Rizner just yesterday. You know, looking at the team and the way their offense is structured, and the way they left a lot of stuff, surprisingly enough, even on the field last year. Nobody had more drops in the NFL than the Bengals did, surprisingly enough. Part of that was the volume of passing, but also, you know, there were just a lot of times that the Bengals, as hard as it is to believe, underachieved a little bit last year in offensive. on their offensive side of the ball.

Starting point is 00:03:04 Chase Brown for a full season after last year being one of the best backs in the league in the second half of the year. I think only two other running backs had more yards from scrimmage than he did in the second half of the season. And, you know, just it's the time of year for optimism. Last year I was a lot more pessimistic, I think, because of all the noise around the team that dragged into the season, really left the bad taste in all of our mouths. And, you know, I even managed to predict that they would lose. that opener to New England, which, as I called at the time, Chekhov's defeat, it loomed all season, and sure enough, it came back and shot the team in the butt, right, the worst possible time,

Starting point is 00:03:42 cost him a playoff berth. And just think how the entire narrative around the team would be so much different if they had just taken care of business and won that, you know, highly winnable, eminently winnable home game to start the season last year, not to mention the games they tossed away at the end against Baltimore, twice, Kansas City. You know, there's such an overwhelming feeling that the Bengals are a certain kind of team, which is, you know, good offense, crappy D, always managed to find a way to shoot themselves in the foot and come up shy in the big situations over the last couple of years. And really, I think it's the opposite. And going into this year, maybe it's my more optimistic side being a Bengals fan.

Starting point is 00:04:20 But, you know, I think the narrative is swayed too far to the other side now and that they really had a lot of bad fortune last year and a lot of just, you know, ill-timed plays that cost them so severely. I mean, they had essentially in terms of the point differential, one point per game different from Kansas City, you know, in terms of it was like a 21 point difference over the span of a 17 game season. That's basically a point per game. And yet the chiefs turned out into six more wins and the number one seed and obviously a Super Bowl birth, whereas the Bengals missed the playoffs entirely. I mean, that kind of, you know, those numbers just aren't sustainable probably on both ends. So we should see the

Starting point is 00:05:01 Chiefs fall off a little bit this year, but that's a different podcast. I definitely think the Bengals will certainly top double digits and win this season, barring obviously the dreaded injuries to the key players that we all know about and don't want to think about it anymore. And they're going to be pushing right up until the end for that one seat. And it's such an advantage to have it, as we all know, that it would be nice for once to see the Bengals not go on the road for a big game. And, you know, the Bengals have never actually even won more than 12 games in a single. season. And it occurs to me, maybe that's my bold take. This is the year they set a franchise record for wins in a season, the 17 games schedule helping. Of course, it puts an asterisk

Starting point is 00:05:40 on that. But I think they can get the 13 wins. And if they do that, they'll be right there for the one seat. Oh, yeah, that is spicy. 13 franchise record for wins. That is that spicy. I think. Had to put it some way that really grabs you. Yeah. And that's a, you might take. It does. Yeah, it does. I mean, if they do that, one, it would be great for me personally, because I would prefer to not travel for AFC championship games of the playoffs. So if it was here, it wouldn't be mad. I'm at Paycor now. But before we get to more on Joe Burrow on the offense,

Starting point is 00:06:12 you picked the Patriots last year, week, one. We're 10 days out as we're talking. Sounds like you're picking the Bengals to go to Cleveland and handle business. Let's put it this way. They're not breaking the franchise record for victories if they lose in Cleveland. That's for darn sure. And, you know, the Browns always do give the Bengals trouble just because, regardless of the merits of the two teams.

Starting point is 00:06:33 But given their quarterback situation, given the level of talent, they've already had injuries of their defense that are, you know, killer to some of their starters, Emerson and the Joker. And, you know, they're obviously playing for next year, and there's no reason to give them other than to get their draft pick higher. There's no reason to give them, certainly this victory. And if the Bengals don't take care of business in that one, we have to reassess entirely what they've been.

Starting point is 00:07:00 been doing. I don't see there's any way that they lose this game. But, you know, knock it on wood. When you think about the whole fast start narrative and the way that it's gone for this team in the first couple of games of the season, obviously you can point to

Starting point is 00:07:16 and we have on this podcast many, many times, the series of unfortunate events that Joe Burrow has gone through every single preseason it seems like. Besides maybe his rookie year where it was all weird. It's COVID year. What do you point to?

Starting point is 00:07:32 Is it as simple as Joe Burroughs had weird preseasons? Is it as simple as Joe Burrow needs some ramp up time? Do you think the playing in the preseason thing helps? Or is there something deeper, you think, there with, it's not something that we could actually point to that isn't just like, oh, Zach Taylor can't get guys ready for week one. What are your thoughts around the fast start idea? Yeah, I actually wrote about this today in my column for Cincinnati magazine.

Starting point is 00:07:55 So get that little promo in there. Yeah, I think you hit the basis. part of it. There's two prongs to me. Obviously, the Borough Health thing is the single most important portion of it. I think the 1 and 11 thing is wildly overrated and a lot of it, almost all of it, stems to the fact that, you know, A, you

Starting point is 00:08:12 have Burrow ramping up from injury or, as you mentioned, as rookie, you're not even having a preseason, essentially. And, you know, they lost a couple of those games in fluky fashion, as we just alluded to in the last question with the Chiefs last year. You know, they lost a game.

Starting point is 00:08:28 Burrough's first game. know, when they missed a field goal that would have tied the game, had the ridiculous AJ Green penalty that cost them victory. You know, I mean, there's, there's been a lot of flukiness that led to that one in 11. But I think overall, more to the point is that it's almost by design, and I approve of it, that the Bengals want to be better in the back half of the season than they do in the front half.

Starting point is 00:08:49 And that goes back to, you know, Bill Belichick, among others, have sort of framed the season the same way, not to the degree of losing every time in the first two weeks necessarily, but But they always, you always want to be better after Thanksgiving. That's when your team is really ready to roll. And the Bengals have done that. They're 23 and 8 in December and January under Taylor. I'd much rather have that than worry about the one in 11 over the first two weeks of the season. And they've designed, you know, maybe not deliberately, obviously.

Starting point is 00:09:18 They want to win some of those games. But they've had softer training camps. They've had, obviously, not playing their starters in the preseason. That's all been part of it. And it's, you know, whether it's like design. or just sort of an overall culture of let's not go too crazy out of the gate, but let's be at our best when the games mean the most. You kind of have to agree with.

Starting point is 00:09:39 I mean, you just have to look at the Marvin Lewis teams for the exact opposite of that. And, you know, they depressed fast start so much. And then they were the Walking Dead come to playoff time. So, you know, it's only exacerbated because a couple of those losses like we were just talking about with the Patriots game last year cost them a playoff ber.

Starting point is 00:09:57 I mean, if it didn't actually cost them a, postseason appearance, then it would probably be talked about much less. And then you wouldn't have Joe Burrow taking hits in the preseason. I also think there's partially, you know, it's almost like Zach Taylor wants to save Joe Burrow from himself, but he can't because Burrough is the most important player in the entire building. And if he says I'm going to play into preseason because I want to take a few hits before we get going, he's going to do it.

Starting point is 00:10:24 And thankfully he didn't actually get hurt. And he, you know, for the most part, look great as we can expect. And that's part of my optimism as well. It's not that he played in the preseason, but he looks like he's just hit a form that he hasn't really ever had at this time of the year in his career so far due to the injuries and the unforeseen offense around him. So, you know, that's, it's the one in 11 part I don't really care that much about. And I think it's an overrated thing. But if it leads to a season long, excellent burrow, then, you know, the ends will justify the means.

Starting point is 00:10:59 Yeah, I think we're going to have more on Joe Burrow for sure, a little bit more on the offense. And then we've got to get to, well, this defense. How good can they be? We'll get to all of that coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Upside. Upside, well, it's going to save you money. I've been using Upside for years now. And if you're still paying full price for gas, well, stop leaving money behind.

Starting point is 00:11:22 Get real cash back every time you fill up with the free Upside app. All you do is download the free Upside app in the app store or Google Play and start earning cash at the pump. today. Use our limited time promo code touchdown and get an extra 25 cents back per gallon on your first fill up. You could make up to $300 a year just from buying the gas you're already needed that you're already buying with the upside app. Don't let this offer drive on by. Download the free upside app and use our limited time promo code touchdown for a limited time and get 25 cents per gallon on a bonus and cashback. That's promo code touchdown offers vary by user and location. Go to a website.com for terms and conditions. We're also brought to you today by game time.

Starting point is 00:12:06 We're trying to save you some money here. The NFL season's back. You're trying to get tickets for the Bengals games or home opener, the Ring of Honor game, and there's nothing better than getting down there in that environment with the game day improvements of Bengals have made. But getting tickets can be a hassle if you're looking for single game tickets between cues and login screens and prices jumping at checkout with those hidden

Starting point is 00:12:28 fees. It's frustrating. That's why game time's here for you. The app that gives the advantage back to you, the fan. It's fast, it's easy. It's back by the game time guarantee. You'll always get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. And all the fees are visible.

Starting point is 00:12:43 The price you see is the price you pay. Check it out right now. The GameTime app, you can create an account. We'll save $20 extra dollars for you on your first purchase with promo code locked on NFL. Terms apply. Again, that's promo code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-N-FL-L-L-L-L-L-F for $20 off your first. first purchase. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download the game time app today. All right, Robert, let's dive into Joe Burrow a little bit more because I think towards the end there, you did hit

Starting point is 00:13:15 the nail on the head. Watching him day in and day out at practice, he's playing the best I've seen him play throughout camp, but the best I've seen him play. And last year, he was awesome, but there were still times where I think he and the offense left something out there on the field, what do you think the next step is for Joe Burrow and this offense as a whole? Because everyone's talking about the defense and focusing on the defense. And I think you're right. It wasn't the best offense in the league last year. There were things they certainly could have done better. They could have finished games better and not put the pressure on the defense. They didn't necessarily do that. What's the next step for Joe and the rest of this offense?

Starting point is 00:13:55 Yeah, I mean, you can sum it up in three letters, MVP, right? I mean, that's what. where that's the ceiling. And that's what the hope has been really for the last couple of seasons. And because of injuries just didn't happen. And, you know, this is literally the first time where you're getting to go out there every day in that Cincinnati heat and seeing Burrow every day through an entire training camp, working on the things that he's had to really spend the first two, three, four, or five weeks of the season before really, you know, working on and doing it in a game setting.

Starting point is 00:14:30 and some of the interceptions he's thrown early in the season and some of the, you know, just kind of ragged play overall that you've seen has been a result of not just the injury and the rust, but the fact that he, you know, didn't get a chance to work on that kind of stuff as much as he probably wanted to during those practices in the training camps scenario. So, yeah, I think now you have a real opportunity for the team, not just for Burrough to be awesome, which he already is, but he can be even more consistent, even more, you know,

Starting point is 00:15:00 kind of a range of weapons that go beyond just the Chase and Higgins aspect of it, where he can be confident in finding a Mike Kosciki or a nofant. He can be confident in dumping the ball to Chase Brown, and he can be confident that the running game will be much more of, you know, kind of offset to his passing attack. And the Bengals defaults so much to the passing game. Last year, they were either last or second or last in terms of, you know, kind of run expectation.

Starting point is 00:15:30 pass that expectation overruns in virtually every split, every situation, you know, in the first half in the second half, on second and long, trailing, leading, it didn't matter, they were throwing the football. And, you know, that's obviously the thing you want to do when you lean into a passing attack that has your superstars there. But, you know, they have the potential, I think, to be able to run the ball much more effectively, more efficiently, not necessarily, you know, getting that ratio of runs the pass to 50-50.

Starting point is 00:15:58 I don't think they ever want to do that. But I think when they do run the football, they can be much more efficient at doing so. And that would really unlock another level to this offense. Kind of like what you see, you know, saw last year in Baltimore, where they ran the ball so well that and so efficiently that the passing game was just unlocked in so many ways,

Starting point is 00:16:19 even though, you know, the receivers weren't necessarily superstars for Omar Jackson. They just, they had to, you know, defend so many parts of the game. of the field enemy defenses that it just made it so much easier for the quarterback. And Burrow already sees the game at such a high level that he's poised to make the defense's pay no matter how they line up if they can be efficient at running the ball as well. So I just think it's all there laid out for them. Talking like this sort of makes it almost inevitable that there will be an injury or something happen along the way.

Starting point is 00:16:51 And of course that offensive line needs to stand up and not get injured and not be winding at playing replacement level guys at, you know, three, four positions. Yeah. Hopefully that stays, you know, they stay healthy, especially because those are the real guys who they can't afford to lose. The interesting thing to me is how that offensive line comes together. Really optimistic about Dylan Fairchild based on the preseason, but it's preseason. You know, we'll see how that translates. We're optimistic now that they have the depth they need at guard with the addition of Dalton Reisner,

Starting point is 00:17:22 to the offensive line stable. We are very optimistic about Amarius Mim's second year, Orlando Brown, when he was healthy last year before the injury was pass blocking with the best of him in the NFL. But you sound maybe a little bit more bullish than I thought you might be about the running game. So combining those two things, where's your optimism coming from for both the running game and perhaps offensive line? Do you think they've finally put this thing together in a way that will hold up when

Starting point is 00:17:51 the plan meets reality? Yeah. It's funny. I'm just thinking when you mentioned to Marius Mims, I live in Atlanta, and he was obviously from here and he's a UGA guy, and there's a regular commercial for Piedmont Hospital down here, and it opens up with a dark screen, and the words, I just say, Amarius Mims suffered a serious injury, and I have a heart attack every time I see it. And then I realize they're referring to his days as a Georgia Bulldog where he went to Piedmont

Starting point is 00:18:18 Hospital for some treatment. Now, saying all that is a way to say that he. and Orlando Brown are obviously just extremely irreplaceable. And all this bullishness stems from the idea that they'll be playing regularly and getting, if not the 17 games, certainly not missing any significant time. You know, I think my bullishness or optimism comes from the idea that even with last year's sort of revolving door on the line and they had so many issues, you saw Chase Brown be really effective. And I think he's the kind of back that, you know, even more so than when they had Joe

Starting point is 00:18:54 Mixon here, who is, you know, a guy you could rely on to be the quote unquote bell cow style back, but really didn't fit exactly what they wanted to do in terms of their blocking scheme and how they wanted to play in the shotgun so much and how they're, you know, he might have been more effective, really, if they had done more under center work than they, than they wanted to doing. And they just can't do that with Burrow. He's so effective as a shotgun player, those splits are so stark. but you just have to go with it. And, you know, unless you dedicate yourself to under center and much more than they have, it's never really going to improve.

Starting point is 00:19:27 But that's a different story, I just think that what they've shown and what Brown showed, and even perhaps what Tage Brooks can give them as a sort of change of pace and a different style, heavier back than they've had than they had all of last year. Last year they really missed a physical presence that Brooks could give them. Yeah, I just think they'll be that much more efficient on offense. and running the football, rather. And when you have that, like I say, it's not the volume, it's not the number of yards. It's just the efficiency.

Starting point is 00:19:57 It's staying out of second and nine and second and eight that they found themselves in a lot until Brooks really took off last year. And, you know, if they can manage to have that all season long and, you know, have at least quality, you know, slightly above replacement level play from both Fairchild and whoever winds up if it's rising right away or if it's, you know, kind of a boule-a-bay is at right guard, whatever, you know, just so it's not the case where it's, you know, causing a deleterious effect on the offense like it did at times last year where we saw with Kappa and Volson. You know, that's really where it's them. I just think they've improved in those areas.

Starting point is 00:20:35 And, you know, it doesn't get a lot of talk because everything always, you know, kind of defaults to the superstars in the passing game and, you know, all to talk about what the defense improved. and, you know, the offensive line is not the Eagles offensive line, but it definitely has the capability to take a big step forward. Starting with Mims, who has that second year, a potential burst out. You know, Orlando Brown was really having an excellent year last year. That also goes kind of unheralded.

Starting point is 00:21:00 He was really playing well until you got injured and obviously came back and played on a broken leg. I mean, just for that, the guy deserves to have the karma of having an excellent year this year on the left side. I just think the line has a real opportunity to coalesce and, you know, be in the middle of the power. Let's just say in terms of offensive lines throughout the league. And if they do that, again, this guy's the limit for this offense. Will the defense be in the middle of the pack? It's time to discuss Al Golden's group coming up next. Today's show is brought to by prize picks.

Starting point is 00:21:33 Prize picks, well, it's daily fantasy the way it should be. And what does that mean? Well, you can turn your football predictions into real rewards. Preseason is obviously in the books. The regular season is almost dear. In fact, NFL football starts one week from today. We're recording on Thursday. And whether you've got your eye on big-name quarterbacks or breakout running backs,

Starting point is 00:21:55 prize picks makes it easy to get in the game. Price picks is super simple. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections. And if you get your picks right, you could cash in and win up to 2,000 times your money. And the flex play option, it's a total game changer. Even when one of your picks misses, you still double or can double your money. Prize picks puts their members first, so all withdrawals are fast, safe, and secure. And so maybe you think Joe Burroughs going to throw for more than his number of passing yards in that projection, week one against the Browns.

Starting point is 00:22:26 Combine that with Chase Brown and boom, you can have your first prize picks projection. Download the Price Picks app today. Use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 play. prize picks run your game. Let's talk about that defense, fellas. The defense is the part of this team that has everybody wondering what they'll be. The preseason didn't really give us much in the way of encouragement,

Starting point is 00:22:57 the way we got it for Dylan Fairchild and that offensive line, at least adding at least one piece. And I do think Lucas Patrick played better in that second game. People don't like to hear it. He did play better in that second game before he got hurt. But on the defensive side of the ball, Robert, they get Trey Hendrickson back in the fold. We know he's going to be playing this year.

Starting point is 00:23:16 Always thought he was going to be playing this year. They add a couple of linebackers. They add Shamar Stewart. They get Dax Hill back from injury. They get DJ Turner back from injury. They get the development potentially for Josh Newton. Are there reasons for optimism in your perspective? What does the almanac have to say maybe about this defense?

Starting point is 00:23:34 Are there reasons to think they can creep back toward average, regress a little bit toward the mean? Yeah, I think, those words that you say again regress toward the mean or just the plexiglass principle where you know teams that are really good or really bad at something almost generally as a rule tend to at least you know kind of cabang in the plexiglass and get toward the middle of the pack a little bit the following year just based on several factors and he listed some there in the bangles case a lot of injuries last year obviously missing lincoln wilson didn't help they had a lot of you know guys

Starting point is 00:24:10 you certainly were on the verge, it seemed like Hill and Turner, particularly of taking that next step and breaking out right before they got injured. And then he had the mysterious case of Cameron Taylor Britt, just kind of forgetting how to play football, it seemed like, in a couple of those games. And, you know, the overall kind of doghouse effect of what was going on with the former defensive coordinator, Luan Arumo. There are just a lot of reasons that you tend to think that the team, you know, is not going to again be the best defense in the league. can certainly move it up there. And one stat that I thought, you know, kind of two of them really pointed out that, you know, showed they played a little bit better than you might think last year. Their pressure rate in 2024 in terms of quarterback pressure was exactly the same as it was

Starting point is 00:24:53 in 2023. They just had a lot less sacks, a lot fewer sacks, I should say. And their adjusted sack rate obviously went down as a result of that, too. You know, think about it in your mind's eye. We go back to that Patriots game again, where they were around the quarterback so many times And it seemed like Troy Hendrickson in particular is going to have a couple of sacks. And somehow, you know, Jacoby Brissette slipped away in that game or how many times Lamar Jackson slipped away from sacks last year, right? So, you know, just a few of those plays, the margins are so small that they can, you know, change entire games.

Starting point is 00:25:27 And I looked at another stat, which was, you know, the Bengals were actually 14th last year in the net average yards per attempt against. In other words, you know, on a down-by-down basis, the secondary wasn't quite. as bad as we all kind of thought it was. The problem was they were at the bottom of the league in both touchdowns allowed and touchdown percentage of passes allowed, which is, you know, the killer. They would play good, play good, play good, and then give up a big play and it all went for naught.

Starting point is 00:25:52 And if you can just a handful of times make those tackles, even in the red zone and force field goals instead of touchdowns, the games look totally different. As we know, all those games, we talked about earlier, were decided, you know, by one score. And a lot of times the key element was that they gave up touchdons, and not field goals. And, you know, all you have to do is just change a handful of those.

Starting point is 00:26:14 And the narrative is different. The team looks solely different. They probably make the playoffs and maybe even win the division last year. So, you know, there's every reason to think that that can change. You know, Al Golden, it's his remit to make that happen. I talked to him. I actually interviewed him for Cincinnati Magazine earlier during the training camp. And, you know, we didn't get into scheme and we didn't get into too much detail.

Starting point is 00:26:37 But the thing that I really took away from it was just. just his overall confidence. And, you know, his particular method of coaching has worked in a lot of different places. You know, I think a lot of Bengal fans don't really realize or care about the fact that he had a hugely successful collegiate career before Notre Dame and what he did as a defensive coordinator there. And, you know, there'll be some growing pains. And, yeah, there will be some times when you'll realize he hasn't actually called plays

Starting point is 00:27:01 in the NFL before. But overall, I think, you know, his track record speaks for himself and his, you know, ability to develop young guys, which is essentially why they hired them is going to be seen. And, you know, all it takes is for a Shamar Stewart to have a decent season, even as a rookie, just, you know, just a first round edge rusher style season, not necessarily, you know, Micah Parsons style rookie season, but just something where he makes his presence felt from week to week and gives them something on the opposite side of Trey Hendrickson. That alone could, you know, give them enough just to change the overall feeling of what we

Starting point is 00:27:38 think about this defense and how they can make a few more stops a game with this offense, that's all you need. So again, I feel that maybe optimistic is the right word because we're on the verge of the season. But, you know, they have holes, they have weaknesses. They have to improve that tackling first and foremost. But I don't feel they're that far away. I don't feel like it's this gigantic, you know, kind of lack of talent that they have out there. They just have to make, you know, it sounds simple to say, and maybe it's a little trite, but they just have to make plays in key spots, which they haven't been able to do really the last couple of years. And that was the real essence of the teams in 21 and 22 that were at the top of the league.

Starting point is 00:28:16 So if they can just get back to assemblance of that, it should be in good shape. You mentioned Shamar, and obviously Amarius was a breakout candidate for you on the offensive line. And offensive line conversation in Cincinnati's never ending or turning into defense, potentially being in that conversation as well, where it's going to be never ending. if Amarius is the potential breakout on offense, is it Shamar on defense? Is there someone else that you're eyeing? Who do you hope or think realistically could break out and be that guy that helps get this Bengals defense back to where it was a few years ago? Well, certainly Shamar is a candidate. I'm always hesitant for rookies to have that sort of, you know, label on them unless they're kind of top five guys, Jamar Chase or somebody. But, you know, for me, it's Chris Jenkins. I mean, you know, he's sort of drafted to be the,

Starting point is 00:29:04 guy who takes that role and is ready to break out. And apparently from all reports, he's at an excellent camp. He's looked really good. You know, I don't really feel like he did much in the preseason games, but I don't really hold that as too much of an indicator necessarily. He doesn't have to be like a guy who breaks out to an all pro-level player either. He just has to, you know, provide them with some stability and some pass rush, if nothing else, we know he can stop the run.

Starting point is 00:29:30 We know he can fill in. And if he's, you know, gets to the point where you're, thinking of yourself, hey, he has to start over a BJ Hill or, you know, play even the rundowns instead of T.J. Slayton, you know, we can't keep this guy, you know, off the field. That's enough of a breakout that could really have an effect on the Bengals defense that'll be noticeable. You know, there's other guys certainly who could fill that role as breakout players. I mean, maybe a Jordan battle or maybe, you know, even Cameron Taylor Britt returns to that level, and that would certainly help the team as well. But for me, it's Jenkins and, and,

Starting point is 00:30:04 You know, just we've talked, and you guys certainly have talked endlessly about how the defensive tackle position is in such a weak point, especially since DJ Reader left, that, you know, if Jenkins can give them even the semblance of, you know, a real bona fide starter in this league and a high end starter, then, you know, again, the defense takes on a whole new look and given his youth, that will give them a real leg up going forward and how they build their defense. around the middle of that front floor instead of the way they've sort of built it around just the edge rushes so far. They have invested so many resources on the defensive side of the ball in the last few years between the draft, between trying to find free agents at times and not necessarily getting the free agents that were the right fits and letting some players go that they needed to end up replacing, I think the key for a team like the Bengals. and there's a lot of talk as we're recording this episode on Thursday about, you know, the way teams are being built with massive salaries for quarterbacks these days and the importance on the draft. And Cincinnati's always been a team that's so reliant on the draft.

Starting point is 00:31:16 So finding those breakouts that you're alluding to, Robert, I think, just critically important this year. We're going to wrap up there. You can find Roberts writing at Cincinnati Magazine.com. You can also find him on social media, on Twitter, at least at Rob Y-W-E-I-N. always appreciate the time and insight from the FDN Almanac Cincinnati Bengals chapter writer Robert Weintraub. Appreciate it, Robert. And that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Until next time, regular season is here.

Starting point is 00:31:46 Thanks for listening or watching. Hootay and have a good one.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Is the ONE SEED in play for the Cincinnati Bengals? | How Joe Burrow can do the heavy lifting in 2025

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.