Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Ja'Marr Chase and the Bengals' Wide Receivers DOMINATE Red Zone Practice | Training Camp Day 3 Takeaways

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

Joe Burrow connected with Ja'Marr Chase for a one-handed touchdown catch to highlight Friday's practice that was littered with wide receivers converting red zone opportunities. Jake Liscow and James Rapien break down the big day, from Chase's highlight to Tee Higgins, Jermaine Burton, Andrei Iosivas, and Isaiah Williams, as depth showed up. Plus, with Lucas Patrick leaving practice due to a leg injury, the guys discuss the apparent need at guard, and what's next for their pursuit of Noah Fant. 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!Yahoo FantasyPresented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Play Now at yahoofantasy.com/lockedonnflRugiet150,000 men have made the switch →https://Rugiet.com/LOCKEDONNFLUse code LOCKEDONNFL to get 15% off your order!BetterhelpThis episode is sponsored by Betterhelp. Your well-being is worth it. Visit BetterHelp.com/lockedonnfl today to get 10% off your first month. GametimeDownload 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.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get $150 in BONUS BETS when your first $5 BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Bengals wide receivers dominated the red zone period on Friday, and there's a Lucas Patrick injury to discuss. Let's dive into Friday's training camp practice. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Well, up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Jake Lisco. He's James Rapine, and we are your host of the.

the Lockdown Bengals podcast covering your Cincinnati Bengals since 2016. We're on YouTube. We're everywhere you get your podcast. So if you're not an everydayer, shout out to the everydayers. You can hit that subscribe button and make sure you don't miss an episode. Again, YouTube, everywhere you get your podcast makes it easy to make Lockdown Bengals your first listen every day. And we appreciate all of you who have those great listening habits. James, today we dive into day three of training camp that featured a lot of Red Zone work,

a really impressive throw and catch with Joe Burrow and Jemar Chase in the play of the day, but a good day for the offense in general and a number of wide receivers showing out on Friday. Lucas Patrick walked off with a leg injury. We'll talk about that one a little bit and discuss whether that will potentially push the Bengals toward a guard move. I don't think so, but we'll discuss it. Wow. We'll get there.

Let's start, though, with what the Bengals did in the first. red zone. I thought it was an interesting day schematically in the red zone as well, but certainly the top of the list is just about every wide receiver that you can think of made a play in the red zone for the Bengals on Friday. Yeah, you're right. It was a

session dedicated to me. And Zach Taylor told me before practice, he came up to me, he said, James, this is going to be your practice. And it is. And it was because the wide receiver showed up, showed out, and performed at a really high level. Favorite play of the day. It might be the best play of camp. And it was just wild, but it's the Joe Burrow. It wasn't a no look, but it was like a half look, a quick look, a glance throw off of his back foot to Jamar Chase in the back of the end zone. Really good coverage from, I believe it was Jordan Battle who swore. Jordan Battle and Cam Taylor, but it swore that Jamar Chase was out. I posted this clip on social.

literally anywhere. But if you're on X or Instagram or whatever, it's there. He was in bounds. Jamar Chase with a left-handed snag up against his body, but he used his left-hand only, put the ball against his body, gets one foot down, the other foot down, just barely in bounds. That would have been a touchdown.

And there's nothing they could have done. And I think that that's an element here that I really want to highlight early on because people are going to say, all, well, the offense is doing well, clearly the defense stinks. I thought it was good coverage. I just thought that Joe Burrow put it in a place where only Jamar could get it, and Jamar made an outstanding play. And when those guys are doing that, it's going to be really tough to stop.

But you're right, it wasn't just Jamar. T. Higgins had multiple big catches. Andrei Yosevash is well. Germaine Burton is someone that we saw with Jake Browning multiple times, get open and score touchdowns during the red zone period. So it wasn't just one unit. It was multiple guys, multiple units, multiple quarterbacks, and these receivers did step up and make big plays really up and down the depth chart.

Yeah, don't forget Isaiah Williams in that mix as well to put him in the list of guys making plays. Let's go back to that Jamar Chase play for a second. And then I want to talk Jermain Burton and Isaiah Williams actually a little bit more as well. That first play, the Jamar Chase play that you're described. that if you haven't seen it on social media, go find it. Everyone has it. James has it in multiple places. It was easily the highlight play of the day because it's a one-handed catch.

Jamar's backhand is being held a little bit by Jordan Battle trailing him. I don't even think Jordan Battle is the primary in coverage there. I think Jordan Battle picked him up coming across the field. And Cam Taylor Brits trailing and Jamar gets both of them trailing. I don't know if that was the intent. of whatever bracket they might have had design for Jamar Chase there. But a few trends and then specific design on this play that are like, one, it's an under center play action play.

And, you know, this is going to be the third year in a row. We're talking about under center play action, making an appearance for the Bengals and training camp, and then it being a relatively small part of their in-season program. But it's always noteworthy when this is a thing they're doing. And Joe Burrow looking very comfortable with it, like you said, looking left the entire time before. he flicks his head back, right spots Jamar Chase very briefly.

Like, sees it, throws it at the same time. It's not sees it, then throws it, gets his eyes over there. The ball's coming out immediately. So the timing there, really good. The accuracy on the throw, immaculate, great catch from Jamar Chase on the other end. But also on that play, you have a little fake jet motion from Andre Yosevash. I think that's a cool element that was built into that play as well. So, well, it's hard to see exactly what was going on.

I kind of piece together a few different angles to find all that out. But under center play action with a little bit of a fake jet motion where Andre is coming across the formation, slams on the brakes, goes back out into the flat on the left side of the field, the side he's coming from. It's kind of some cool play design that you're seeing. And that fits into the trend that featured a target for Chase Brown on a wheel route. Shout out Geno Stone making another play, another PVU for Stone on Friday. otherwise could have been a touchdown, but a nice way from Gino Stone to save it.

But you're seeing them use the Red Zone, I think, in an interesting way, at least on Friday, where they're doing things perhaps a little bit differently in the way they're attacking the Red Zone at this point in training camp. And, you know, they're still hitting T. Higgins on those little glance routes where he gets the inside leverage on a slant glance, whatever you want to call it and beats the defender to the post. But there's more in the way of crossing routes that we're seeing and using all of the end zone in different ways. I thought that was pretty cool. Yeah.

It was certainly pretty cool. I think this is what you're hoping to see red zone-wise. Because of the continuity. I think that's a big difference here. Defensively, and we said this coming into camp, you want the defense to have its fair share of wins. And even today, and I said it yesterday, the offense jumped on them a little bit, but the defense made their fair share of plays, too. And I like seeing that. I like what I saw, Miles Murphy, for example, first play of 11 on 11. So this isn't red zone. 11 on 11. It gets pressure

on Joe. Joe has to roll out. Looks really good, by the way, still, rolling out and moving just to keep a theme going through the first three days. His pocket movement looks great right now for this. stage or training. And just the way he's seeing it throwing on the move, he found Drew Sample. Like it was, it's one of those plays where it's like, oh my God, this is going to be an eight-yard sack. And it wouldn't have been. Like he escaped it. I don't think Miles in a game setting would have got him. And yet it was a win by Miles. So you feel good there. And then you feel good about Joe of how he was moving and what he did. So the past couple of days, it's been a good battle. it's been really good competition.

And I think that's really fun. Jermaine Burton makes a catch in the back of the end zone. Tyson Anderson swiping at it, really trying to make a play on the ball. And Jermaine Burton says, nah, my vice grips are right here. And then he throws the ball at Tyson. And it would be,

because it was getting a little, it was getting, I don't know if you saw that clip. I did. I tweeted one. Dax Hill puts a little, a little thump on Mike Gisicki. And I called it a love tap, but like you could see like day three the emotion starting to build up a bit more.

And so I'm excited for it for the pads to come on. They won't come on Sunday. They'll come on Monday. But yeah, these guys are they're competing. And I think early on in camp right now, you want to see the celebrations. You want to see some of the taunting. Jake Browning screamed at Dejohn Anthony after throwing a touchdown. He's like, you can talk all that you want to talk.

I showed Jake the, the video afterwards. He was like, I just blacked out. So blackout Jake is a thing. He said, I just blacked out. I was like, ah, don't worry. I'm not going to post it. He was like, you can. You can.

But it wasn't like he was bragging afterward, right? It's just, that's the on-field competition. And that's what I want to see at this stage of training camp, because that means that both sides, the offense and the defense, they're getting better from going at it for two hours on the field. Speaking of play action of Miles Murphy, just to close the bow on that conversation. in Joe Burroughs pocket movement. Dan Horde has this clip up of Joe Burrow on a play-out-out-of-the-shock.

They've got Dylan Fairchild pulling across the formation trying to pick up Miles Murphy on the edge, a little trap protection on the play-action play. Burrow is able to step up because Fairchild just barely gets a little bit of a shove on Murphy trying to push him around the arc. Burrow, again, I think he evades the sack steps up and immediately finds Remain Burton coming across the field on that one. and that would have been a pretty big play. That's easily a first down, maybe a little bit more.

So just highlighting pocket movement, Miles Murphy trying to turn the corner there to get Joe Burrow down, Jermaine Burton, who had a big day. It was this play, it was three plays in the red zone, and if Jermaine Burton can keep that trajectory going, that's a great piece to have in the arsenal. And that also doesn't mention Isaiah Williams, whose red zone contribution came from, I believe, Joe Burrow.

So we'll wrap up with those wide receivers and get to the Lucas Patrick injury that is really underscoring more than anything the need for a guard. So we'll do that to continue this show coming up next. Today's show is brought to by Game Time. Game time is, well, the app you need because game time is going to make things much easier. If you're going to our Reds game this weekend, it's Reds and Rays at Great American Ballpark. And just because you don't have tickets now, doesn't mean you can't get them, boom, like that. Maybe you're hanging out downtown and you decide you want to go to the Reds game.

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use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again created an account in redeem code L O CK E D O NFL locked on NFL for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guarantee all right Jake let's dive into Well, honestly, I think the story is Lucas Patrick. I don't really have any other thoughts. You have any other thoughts on the offense or anything else you want to hit on before we dive into the offensive line depth conversation? Yeah, still Cody Ford, right guard out there. I just wanted to make sure we're highlighting that Isaiah Williams is working in with Joe Burrow.

That was, we threw that in there at the end of that first segment there. But I think that is notable as Isaiah Williams is looking likely to make the team. Meanwhile, if you're wondering about Charlie Jones, haven't said his name in, man, I don't know. know how long on this podcast. He's back there working on kicks, said he's feeling really healthy. Kick returns. Have you seen anything from Charlie as in the receiving portion of things? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is why I can't wait for you to get here. Yeah, he hasn't had any big highlight plays. He's caught passes from Joe, too. He's working in that rotation. And that's what I like about Camp 2 is I think that they've clearly,

like Germain, Isaiah, Charlie are all working with Joe some. Yeah. And there have been times when it's Joe, those three, and like Mike Kosicki on the field as his weapons. And why does that matter? Well, you just want him to get as much rapport with those guys as possible. So, yeah, no, I don't necessarily think Isaiah Williams is past Charlie Jones. Charlie Jones had some nice catches on Thursday. I didn't notice a ton of them on Friday. But, yeah, I think that that's more of a rotation than anything.

I wouldn't read into it too much at this point. But Isaiah Williams, man, I do think he's. He's really intriguing and he's just going to be a slot only type guy. But if he can be a returner for you and a slot only, that's fine. That could be good enough to make the club if you can pick up the offense and get to know it. And like you said, he's working in with Joe. So that's good to see. It's just a skill set that they don't really have with their other receivers.

He's a smaller guy, a different style of wide receiver than they have with the rest of the depth chart. And so that's why he's especially interesting there. But those six guys are certainly doing. thing early in training camp we also haven't really talked about the tight ends very much we've talked about no affant we'll talk about no event what's going on with him in a few minutes here as well but we'll we'll keep an eye on those things as training camp develops uh one development from friday's practice was lucas patrick walking off practice with a limp james you saw him in the locker room afterward with a sleeve on that a leg leading to suspicions that it's some sort of muscle

issue, lower leg muscle issue. Can they sign a guard? I mean, is this going to push them to make that move? You got Matt Lee dinged up. You got Andrew, Andrew Rame, is that his name? Rame out there. So they have another center to snap the ball, but is this a push they need, Jays? What do you think?

I hope so. And I also hope that Lucas is fine. Obviously, he had a sleeve on that right calf area. But even if he is fine, like it just underlines, right? Like it underscores the depth issue there, right? Preach into the choir. I mean, this is a six-month process that we've been talking five-month process, almost six months, literally since Kappa pre-Kappa release,

but certainly after Kappa's release, it was like, yeah, you got to do something. And I think it's a good point to highlight. I did talk to Matt Lee, for those wondering, talk to Matt Lee on Friday. He's doing fine. He's going to be fine. They're being very cautious. He's chomping at that. He wants to be out there right now.

And I think physically could, but they don't want this to be a long-term issue that he's dealing with. So I think it's something minor that happened before camp, and they want to make sure that he's okay for the duration of the season. So that's why we saw Lucas Patrick, and we've seen Lucas Patrick a week at center. But to your point, and it really highlights it now, it's like, all right, well, you have Lee nicked up,

I'm not sure if he's going to be good to go in the next day or two. I think it's soon. But again, they're not going to push it. And why would they? And now you have Lucas Patrick. They're certainly not going to push him. He already wears, like he's a veteran. He already wears multiple braces and things.

You're not going to push him at this stage of camp. It's July. That's what I told Matt. I was like, yeah, I get it. You want to be out there. It's July. You relax now. It's still just July.

And so I hope they do. But if it's for depth reasons, it's probably not going to be who you're thinking. And so that's what I think is interesting when it comes to the severity of this injury. Because if it is semi-severe and he's going to miss weeks, not days, well, then maybe they do look to go that route. But knowing the Bengals, if it's just a day-to-day type thing, then I think that they just kind of try to hold serve and go that way. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. but to your point, yeah, this should be their side to go get a guard.

So then Lucas Patrick is someone that, yeah, maybe he does get some guard snaps this year and plays guard. But he can also be your insurance at center and your insurance at both guard spots because he is super versatile. Because I do think that overall Patrick adding him to the roster, it made sense. And he's nice and versatile and that's great. You can play all three interior spots. but I also think he's the favorite at right guard I think you do too and I think that makes I don't know if I do anymore I no longer do act I was just going to say like this really tilts if it is a more than a week that's valuable time he's missing in a battle with

cody ford and cody ford's been getting the work at right guard so I do think because of the competition I get it but it's still forward out there with the ones and now if if Patrick can't compete, that's a lot of time for Cody Ford with the ones. And so that's when you got to say to yourselves. And I know there's some believers in Cody Ford. And I like Cody Ford. And again, it's similar to Patrick where it's like, all right, it was versatile. He's the guy's going to do his job.

Like that is valuable. There's value. A couple of great secondary pieces there that you're talking about for starting jobs. And that's it. And so give me a layer ahead of that. And I don't know if they'll do it. I talked to a few more people. I don't think Jaylen Rivers is in the mix at guard at all.

Obviously, Matt Lee isn't in the mix at guard right now. They're just trying to get him healthy and back on the field. So, like, yeah, I'd be in. Because if not, who are we talking about? Like, let's go down this. Jackson Kirkland is who we're talking about. And again, it's nothing against Jackson Kirkland. But he's had a bunch of injuries.

And you can't be one injury away from Jackson Kirkland, starting and protecting Joe Burrough. because then you're one injury away from signing a guy off the street you're preaching to the choir man i just i i look at the and really something's got to give it center a little bit like because right now you have caris lee mclaughlin rame patrick

so you have carris and then hopefully lee gets back you know pretty quick and then lee gets back sure and those are your two but then McLaughlin's just kind of like hanging out. Rame is you have him because of McLaughlin's still working out and trying to get back. Fine. But clearly you didn't trust Rame enough early on. And maybe they do now and they were just trying to teach them the offense. But like you just, it just feels weird, even though there's a lot of dudes.

Like there's a lot of names. The other option here at right guard and get ready for it, Jake. Cordell Wilson wouldn't shock me one bit. if we see Cordell Voluson working in even more. He took right guard reps this week if he were to even more at right guard. He should. Absolutely, he should. But I just mean, that's probably the next guy.

It probably isn't Jackson Kirkland. It's probably Cordell Wilson. Yeah, if you're talking Kirkland versus Volson, that's probably advantage Volson. And it better be. Better be advantage, Wilson. Hopefully somebody emerges there. But because we're talking about hope a lot, including hopefully they sign a guy like man it really seems so glaringly obvious that they need a guy

the only time and john sharon pointed this out on twitter great observation like they're exploring the the defensive tackle depth they're looking at no a fan they're looking at all these things how is it not obvious what they have going on at guard and the only times they've had decent guard play is you know the the investments they've made the the the Alex Kappa investment before you had the injuries, the draft pick investments that they've made. I know they've missed at times, but I don't know how you can look at their guard situation right now if you're them and not feel like this burning desire to make it better. There are a lot of free agents that can do that.

All that is we've been talking about since free agency, essentially. Speaking of free agency, free agents, there is a big fish that is while he's left town. But that doesn't mean he's not going to sign with the Bengals. We'll get to know a fan coming up next. This episode is presented by Yahoo Fantasy. If you're like me, you've been in a bunch of Yahoo Fantasy football leagues. And yes, I'm absolutely playing a Yahoo Fantasy again this year.

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Noah Fant is taking a visit with the New Orleans Saints who have their own issues at tight end. We're going to have two straight years of the Saints taking the tight end that Bengals were looking at in Free Agency. Remember Morel? Oh, man. He's currently dealing with something, which is why I think Noah Fant is going to New Orleans.

Interesting. I, uh, Noah, I'm going to look, I'll look at the camera. I'll just have a message to Noah. And I don't blame him for weighing his options. We all would. Everybody would. And I think, I think the Bengals really want Noah Fant. I also think that Fant likes money like everybody does.

They better pay you a lot, Noah. And by a lot, I mean, the Saints better pay you a lot because situationally it isn't even, they're barely in the same universe. and I get it. There's only 32 teams in the NFL and the money is money and it's important. But my goodness, I just, if I'm him,

you can catch passes. We just, we started the show. How did we start the show by the time? All these receivers, all these weapons, you can be part of that. Or you can go to the Saints for what? Tyler show? Is that a thing?

I think it's Tyler Shuck. I think it's Shuck. I don't know. know his name. The point is no one knows his name. No one's going to know his name. No one's going to remember his name. Everyone knows who Joe Burrow is, including Noah Fant. We talked about his tweet from the AFC championship game on the last show we did. So I wonder who else is interested. But if it is Saints versus Bengals, my goodness, that better be a Brinks truck. They're backing up. I even text Ross Jackson or tweeted Ross Jackson. I was like, Saints better get that Brinks truck ready. Because

if it's close on money, within hundreds of of thousands of dollars, let's just say. There is no way I would go to New Orleans over the Bengals. None. It's not like this is his first deal and he hasn't made any money. One, two, if Jamar misses time or T misses time, like you could be a feature piece at times this year and that has a track record of getting you paid. The Saints, unless you just do enough there to get paid, I'm not sure that that situation. offense is going to lead to you. And maybe it does, you know, maybe the, I forget the head coach,

the former Cowboys offensive coordinator is able to lure him there, the Boise State quarterback. Kellynne Moore. That's right. Maybe Kellyn Moore is able to lure you there with his offense. But I just, if it's between the two, to me, it's really not close. Jordan Schultz with the report, he tweeted that the Fant visit with Cincinnati was described as positive and both sides plan to stay in touch. but Fant is continuing to explore a multitude of options.

I don't know how many teams were interested. I heard it was three teams that were interested, James, and let the subtext folks to join subtext.com slash lockdown Bengals. The lockdown Bengals insiders know when this was initially reported that the initial plan for Noah Fant was to take multiple visits and weigh out the options. It looks like that plan has proceeded here. The Bengals probably realistically had an opportunity to not let Noah Fant leave the city, if they had given him an offer essentially that he couldn't refuse in a good way.

That's not the case here. So fan continuing with his plan to weigh out the options, see what kind of plan each of these teams has in place for him, find out what the money differences are, get a feel for the coaches with the teams that he has received some interest from. And next up will be the Saints. So another one that we're going to have to watch and wait and see. Just like we're watching and waiting to see for Shamar Stewart still haven't talked about that for a few days.

Trey Hendrickson still haven't talked about that for a few days. We'll see if there's any movement on either of those fronts. As far as I know, no movement. Have you heard anything about either of those, James, before we wrap up here? No, I think the lead consensus is that Shamar needs to get his butt in camp. Honestly, I'm not even trying to be, this is not coming from Bengals people. I've talked to zero Bengals people this week about Shamar Stewart. outside of the stuff that was on record with Mike Brown and

and Duke and everybody that we talked with. I can't believe that was this week. That feels like light years ago. And that was Monday. This is Friday. It feels so long ago. No, I'm going to bring something up that you don't know that I'm going to bring up. Would you, would you call Christian Wilkins?

Would you be in on him? I don't know what's going on with him. Super weird. I would be. Of course I would be, but it's super weird. There's a lot of layers to it, right? Like if he's Christian Wilkins, then yeah, sure. But, like, one, I don't know how much offsets are going to impact his next contract.

He has been paid this year. They restructured a bunch of salary to signing bonus. I don't know how that affects the contract he signs if he signs with another team this year. And I say if he signs with another team this year, because I don't know where he's out with that recovery. It seems like there's real questions about whether he's going to get on to an NFL field this year. Now, if you're talking about a league minimum salary kind of deal because there's $20 million in offsets, and he's not going to be ready until week eight or something. And then there's no reason not to do that.

Everyone should take that risk on a player like Christian Wilkins. Like there's no downside. I mean, there's a million dollars of a downside, right? But like if you're talking about offsets where the Raiders are still paying him and as a result, you're not paying him a significant amount this year, it's something that you should explore. But again, like that's if he's going to be able to play at some point this year, which to me is a total unknown to the general public rate.

know yeah he uh he was teammates with t higgins at clemson and just throw that out there i don't know if yeah and i mean david mulligot's the agent but again here's an opportunity where with those offsets if there are in fact offsets and you're talking about the acquiring team much like von von bell when the bankers got him after he was cut where they didn't have to pay him because the panthers are still paying him we'll see what happens there very weird situation with christian wokens The reason I brought up, sorry, go ahead, get your last song, I, yeah, I mean, I just, why not have the conversation, right? I think they should and kick the tires.

Maybe it's known already in league circles, what, what the issue is, why everything's going on with the Raiders, how it is. But on the surface, the reporting of, oh, well, Christian doesn't want to get surgery, the Raiders wanted him to get surgery. That happens a decent amount where guys, like that's not that abnormal, where a team's views it a certain way and the player and his reps view it a different way. And no one wants to get cut on. No one wants to get surgery. And I think we almost become numb to it as we cover it. Like, oh, well, this guy's going to get surgery. Well, put yourself in that. No, you never sign up for surgery.

If you can avoid it. No. And so I think that if there's a realistic chance of him getting on the field this season, the Bengals should absolutely be interested, even if it is a bit more than league minimum. Because he's the type of piece that can, even if it's down the stretch and in the plat, like, could matter. And that's worth the risk of it not working out. Speaking of guys that had surgery, Eric Al was at practice on Friday. It was good to see him out there. I had the right knee brace just a hammer at home. When it comes to that, Eric Al is going to miss this entire season.

Had to undergo basically a second ACL reconstruction surgery. after tearing his ACL last November. So two ACL reconstructions and a matter of months. So Eric Gahl hoping to be back next year, I believe. Nice to see him walking around out there. The reason I brought up, Trey, just to be totally clear about why it came up, is Tony Paulyne had a report that indicated that the Bengals and Hendrickson have the overall money roughly allied,

but Trey is looking for three years of guarantees. That was a report from Tony Pauline on Friday, Getting to three years of guarantees sounds like a significant hurdle to me if they could agree in the middle. And the Bengals can get guarantees outside of 2025. And whatever they're offering for Trey, if they have the money done, that's probably what it takes for this thing to come together. But we will see. I don't anticipate that one being resolved anytime soon. Hopefully the weekend gets Samar Stewart to Cincinnati.

But we'll be back on Sunday. last unpadded practice of camp I will be in Cincinnati I am flying in person perhaps as you're listening to this episode being late Saturday do you agree to buy Noah Fant any of the Cincinnati delicacies

that could sponsor this podcast and then we could say him do you agree to buy him any of those delicacies if he signs at the Bengals would you do that? Of course I'll take it out of our locked on Bengals Insider budget

that'll that's how I'll pay for it You need a couple more people to subscribe so I can afford to buy Noah fans and lunch. Come on, Noah. Yeah, because you know he's picking the steak. He's not, he's not picking the three way. He's picking the steak. We're talking a couple hundred dollars here. Oh, man.

That's going to do it for this episode of the Locktime Bengals podcast. Looking forward to being in Cincinnati. We'll be back on Sunday. Until then, thanks for listening. Hoota. Have a good one.