Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Joe Burrow tours Radio Row to keep pressure on Bengals front office

Starting point is 00:00:00 Joe Burrow ran the gotlet down at Radio Row in New Orleans and made his expectations for the Cincinnati Bengals front office this offseason crystal clear. Let's break it down. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake Liskow. He's your host, James Rapine, and we are locked on Bengals. your team every day on the lockdown podcast network.

Starting point is 00:00:39 We're on YouTube. We're everywhere you get your podcast. If you're new to the show and you want to know what Joe Burroughs says when he says it, well, you're in the right places. We will analyze Joe Burroughs doubling down, tripling down, quadrupling down, whatever number we're on of his expectations for the Cincinnati Bengals, keeping some of their players this offseason. And you can subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode.

Starting point is 00:01:03 Welcome back to all of you who make us podcast. part of your everyday routine. The everydayers are a key part of the lockdown Bengals community, and we appreciate all of you very much. Today's episode brought to you by Fandall where if you bet $5 and you win, you'll get $200 in bonus bets. Download the app or head to fandul.com to get started. James, it was interview after interview for Joe Burrow on Radio Row.

Starting point is 00:01:28 It was a lot of the same questions and a lot of these stops, but interesting comments along the way that highlight. a number of different angles that underline what Joe Burrow has been talking about now for a couple of months with this front office needing to keep it starts. Yeah, let's be honest here. I think that it's very, very clear at this point that Joe Burrow has a plan feels confident that the front office can keep these guys and plans to keep these guys. And by these guys, I mean T. Higgins, T. Hedronericks, and Jamar Chase all long-term extensions of this offseason. And it feels like he's trying to make sure that they go through with it, that there are no snags,

Starting point is 00:02:11 that there are no hangups, that nothing happens. And that might be a stretch for some, especially the national audience. I think the national audience, and obviously all of these are national interviews that he's doing, outside of maybe Kay Adams, expects T to play elsewhere. Doesn't expect the cheap Bengals to get it done in Joe straight-faced as Stephen A. Smith sits up there and says, listen to an addy. And in all of the the things that come with these national shows, the personalities, you know, I mean, he's talking to Craig Carton, who's had the worst, the worst Bengals takes in the history of Bengals takes for the past two years, or whatever, he returned to national TV. And so he's going on this

Starting point is 00:02:52 gauntlet, as you describe it, and it's straight-faced. Oh, yeah, we got to keep those guys, better keep those guys, all of those things. And then the quote that stood out the most to me is the first take quote. And it's the, not the discussion. We've known they've had discussions, but this specific nugget, we've had the discussions that the guys are going to get paid that need to get paid. And that's what's interesting. Who's we? I wish they would have followed that up there. Who's the we? But it does feel like the front office and Joe are on the same page here, and Joe wants to make sure that it actually gets done. This is that quote to me an indication that they've talked about, as you reference,

Starting point is 00:03:42 the plan to keep the guys that need to get paid. And it could be a reference to his conversation with Duke Tobin, that Duke Tobin said they have every offseason. Could be that simple. I hope it's Mike and Katie and Troy to be there. That's what I was going to say next, is that it could be with ownership. It could be with Mike. I can guarantee you that Joe Burrow talks to Mike Brown.

Starting point is 00:04:01 Yes. Look at the history of the players that have been. or Cincinnati for all of the, and we'll talk about this probably more later, all of the hand-wringing and rightfully so, I think, and stories we've heard about the front office not communicating with their players. We also hear from ex-players often that they love Mike Brown. And so Joe Burroughs certainly in that caliber and tier of player that he's talking to the owner, I think pretty obviously.

Starting point is 00:04:30 So, yeah, it could be Mike Brown too, right? and I do think that since we first heard about some of this stuff, since T-Changed agents and all these things, yep, the rumbling or the feeling or the suggestion has been that there is a plan, obviously, to keep Jamar Chase, to make an offer to T. Higgins, to try to keep T. Higgins, to make an offer to T. Hendrickson to try to keep T. Hendrickson. Mike Keseki's name thrown in there today. We'll talk about that a little bit, too. That's an interesting nugget from Joe Burrow that came up on Thursday. But having a plan is one thing. There's a reason that despite having a plan and despite the conversations Joe Burrow has had with ownership and that the players have had with each other about wanting to stay together,

Starting point is 00:05:22 that we're still talking about it, that Joe's doing this today. Joe's not going through a bunch of Radio Row interviews that he doesn't have to do unless he has a reason to do it. And that is to keep that pressure up to issue not so thinly veiled threats like you better get this done. My will is going to be publicly known. And consider fan sentiment right now, James. I did a informal Twitter poll. What's your level of confidence in the Bengals front office right now? I think 90% of the answers were low or very low.

Starting point is 00:05:59 Players are going to, or not players, fans are going to be supporting Joe Burroughs side of this and the players side of this right now, unambiguously. And so he has this platform that he has. And in the past, the Bengals Front Office hasn't really cared. I wonder if this time that's different. And certainly, like I said, they've had these conversations already. There is a plan, and this is don't fumble the plan. Yeah, it's, it don't fumble the plan.

Starting point is 00:06:33 And I don't know that the Bengals should really give a damn about what the fans think, to be quite honest, or what we think. But they should care what Joe Burrow thinks because he's more important than any of them, more important than any of them. He's the most important person in that building anytime he walks in. There's a reason why, you mentioned him doing interviews. There's a reason why it's not like we've had, you know, Joe Bro unlocked on Bengals three times in his five seasons. He's not doing interviews all the time. And so I do think that that's interesting.

Starting point is 00:07:02 He obviously had a sponsor, get him into New Orleans and all that stuff. Joe Bro doesn't need the money. He's not taking every dollar that's thrown his way. And so, yeah, he's being paid to be there and do these appearances. But I agree. I think there's a design here. And it's by design. He knows what's going to get asked.

Starting point is 00:07:19 He knows that going on with Craig Carton or Stephen Hay Smith or some of these these talking heads it's it's a way to get his message out there to to another degree and to make sure that the expectations are very very clear i mean i've i've said it over the past few weeks like my expectation is for them to get all three done and i think we'll go through phases here where oh well should they really keep i think we're kind of seeing it this week and we will continue to it. It's just part of the offseason. Should they really keep T or could they, could they trade him? That'll come up at some point. Trey Hendrickson, oh, he's 30. Maybe you trade him instead of side them and we'll get into the alternatives and the different paths. Joe is not

Starting point is 00:08:07 viewing it that way. Joe is saying the defense wasn't good last year, but the only reason it was remotely competitive a lot of times was Trey Hendrickson. Our strength is our wide receivers. Of course we would keep both of them. Why wouldn't we try to keep the best tight that I've had since I've been here in the league with Mike the Sicki. Like all of these things to him are, duh, why wouldn't we do that? And they have the cap space. And he's done the research and the homework on making sure that what he's saying is realistic. And that probably goes into the conversations element of this as well.

Starting point is 00:08:44 The other thing that I don't want to get lost, and I do think it's kind of our job to to educate at least the everydayers on the restructuring portion, we got to get to the restructuring portion because that kind of made the rounds on Thursday morning when he said, of course, he's willing to restructure. You and I both know he was willing to restructure. He didn't need to say that. So I think we need to get into that as well. I don't want to forget that portion. Yeah, what exactly does it mean to restructure a contract? It might not mean what you think it means for every dayers that have been listening to us for years know exactly what a restructure is, because I've talked about it several times on this show.

Starting point is 00:09:21 The Bengals have never done it, to be clear. And we will talk about what exactly a restructure means, the rest of Joe Burroughs' comments, because not only has he talked with the team and there's a plan with the team, but there's also the element of the players organizing this soft season a little bit more, too, that I find interesting, James, and the conversations that the players have had on that side of things.

Starting point is 00:09:41 We'll finish up with Joe Burroughs comments. And then we've got to get to Trey Hendrickson, too. It was a busy day for the Bengals, busy 24 hours of drama on Radio Row. We'll go to those topics to continue the show next. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. What are some of your relationship green flags? We often hear about red flags.

Starting point is 00:10:03 We should avoid what if we focus more on identifying the positive signs in our relationship. Green flags. If you're not sure what they look like, therapy can help you identify them, actively practice them, and even embody that green flag energy yourself. Whether you're dating, married, building a friendship, working on yourself, therapy can help you form relationships that love you back. Therapy provides tools for managing conflict in ways that strengthen your connections rather than break them down. And it helps you develop healthy boundaries and improves your communication skills.

Starting point is 00:10:37 Discover your relationship green flags with Better help. Better help makes it easy by offering online therapy with over 30,000 licensed therapists to choose from. And if you need to switch therapists, you can do so at no extra cost. Get started today by visiting betterhelp.com slash locked on to get 10% off your first month. And to BetterHelp, help.com slash locked on. Joe Burrow was asked if he would be willing to restructure his contract. As the players have clearly discussed, their willingness to stay together. Joe Burroughs talked about everyone wanting to stay together,

Starting point is 00:11:12 but everybody also wants to get paid what they're worth and what they deserve. is the constant line we've heard from the stars at the Pro Bowl and what we've heard from Joe Burrow and Trey Hendrickson this week. We'll get to Trey Hendrickson in a little bit more detail. He talked to Pat McAfee, and that was yesterday's news after we recorded our previous show. But to talk about this restructure idea, that isn't Joe Burrow talking about taking a pay cut

Starting point is 00:11:39 unless he also doesn't understand restructure in the specific way that it applies to NFL contracts. Maybe he is. is talking about taking a pay cup. But typically what a restructure means in the NFL is taking base salary, unpro-rated money. It could be a roster bonus as well. But Joe Burroughs base salary for 2025 is $25 million. And what NFL teams can do is they can go to a player and say, hey, Joe, and the Eagles do this all the time, the Browns do this all the time, the Saints do this all the time, we would like to create more cap space for this year. So we would like to take that $25 million

Starting point is 00:12:17 salary you're owed and convert it into a signing bonus. You get paid the same amount of money this year, but what we get to do then is we get to take that $25 million of a cap hit out of your $46 million cap hit that is owed to you on our cap expenses in 2025, and we get to spread out where that's accounted for over up to five years. And so you can take that $25 million, and And Joe's still getting the same amount of money this year, but now that cap hit is reduced up to $20 million this year at the expense of future years because it will increase cap hits in future years. And when you do it with void years, it's going to leave a big old cap hit when a player is no longer potentially with the team. And you're going to see this with teams like the Eagles and the Browns that use these max restructures and use void years very aggressively. Now, that is sustainable if you do it intelligently.

Starting point is 00:13:10 it's not necessarily handicapping your future. But the reason that this is very important to understand is one, to understand that Joe's not talking about taking a pay cut, most likely. I think he's talking about a restructure in the traditional sense of what an NFL restructure is, which is simply converting non-prorated money from a salary cap perspective into pro-rated money to spread out a cap it. And by the way, just to be clear, he shouldn't take a pay-up. cut. He's, if he was a free agent today, he would get paid way more than he did a few years ago.

Starting point is 00:13:46 Yeah, which is the whole point of paying these guys early, by the way. I see that a lot like, oh, well, Tom Brady did this or no, no, no. This is Joe's first deal. He shouldn't need to take a pay cut. And he doesn't want his teammates to take a pay cut. And they shouldn't need to either. It's his boy. And the Bengals have the resources to make sure that that doesn't have to be the case. And as he's pointing out, the cap is just going up. And the TV deal. are coming. Like, he's aware of the future of the salary cap that will very soon be well over $300 million. I mean, it's going to keep going up. Unless there's another crazy event that shuts down revenues in a significant way, there's nothing stopping that NFL train anytime soon.

Starting point is 00:14:28 So should the Bengals restructure Joe Burrow this offseason, I would argue no. Because you go back a couple days ago, James. I talked about how the Bengals can extend T. Higgins, extend Jamar Chase, extend Trey Hendrickson at a net cap hit of $2 million in 2025. Where is that impact? It's in future years because all of those cap hits for T, for Jammar, for T, for T, would hit in future years. They can lower the year one impact of those cap hits. And so I don't think we should really be talking about a restructure for Joe Burrow this year. And I've hinted it this before.

Starting point is 00:15:04 It's future years. It's 2026, 27, where they might need to pull that leverage. to create cap space with Joe Burroughs contract. That shouldn't be necessary this year, in my opinion. No, it shouldn't because, heck, you did it when you were looking at all what they could offer certain guys, and you're like, well, they actually kind of want Trace Cap hit to go up this year a little bit and balance it out. But you have to think a couple of years from now, let's say T. Higgins is in year three

Starting point is 00:15:33 of his extension and playing really well. And Jamar Chase is in the second year of his extension on top of his fifth year. option this year and Amarius Mims is eligible and you want to go big fish hunting for for another guy. Well, that could be the time that you restructure Joe's contract. I don't know. The next Sequin Barclay becomes available and you really do become the modern day eagles. The point is, you save that for when you need it. And I do think the Bengals know this.

Starting point is 00:16:01 I just think it's important for fans to know this because if the Bengals don't restructure Joe Burrow, it has nothing to do with whether or not they keep these guys and add to their roster as well. And so I don't, this is more of a Bengals decision, not a Joe decision. And I think a lot of people say, well, Joe, you've got to be willing to restructure your deal. And they think it's a pay cut, and it's not a pay cut. And he shouldn't need to take a pay cut. That there's no reason why that that would need to happen for them to keep and add, keep their guys and add. I want to be very clear on that because it's not just about keeping what they have. It's about adding to the roster. They can do all of those things and then save that Joe Bro restructure for when they need it because they will need it.

Starting point is 00:16:43 And the nice part is, is if you save it and the cat continues to go up and then you do it, well, then it's going to be much easier to digest and might give you the flexibility that you really need when you really need it. Especially if they use void years and really push it out as far as they can. Or there's another extension involved with a potential restructure. That's what you want. Yeah. another extension because he's playing like an MVP.

Starting point is 00:17:06 And just to underline it, I think it makes our lives harder if they restructure Joe this year because all of those future cap hits go up. And that, I think, is more of the Bengals concern right now than the current year cap. I think the 2025 cap is, and, you know, if we need to, I'll do a live stream at some point and show this because it's not really something that we can show in the podcast. but the 2025 cap is going to be, should be, very easy to manage and to get as much done as you need to get done this year. But I do think it's those future years that right now

Starting point is 00:17:44 the Bengals are looking at and thinking about the multitude of cap hits that they might have to deal with and then fit a roster around. And then the idea of needing to add players in the future to round out those rosters, needing to potentially add. So I think that, again, making that research, structure decision this year makes their lives harder in the future. But I did find it interesting, James, how Joe Burrow emphasized that the players have talked. Not only has he talked with the team, but the players have talked, they all want to stay together. They all want to be in Cincinnati.

Starting point is 00:18:18 This is something that has been underlined by the players themselves when they've talked by Joe Burrow, this organization from the player perspective, not something that I recall really seeing in the past. And that really does put the ball firmly in the Bengals court, right to get that done because here's a bunch of players saying, hey, we want to be there. Just pay us fairly. That's all they're asking for. Yep.

Starting point is 00:18:40 Pressure all the way up. It's like when you get in the car, like this week, we've had weird temperatures in Cincinnati, Jake, and it's cold again. And it was like 63 days ago. So you get in your car this morning, you turn the heat all the way up. That's Joe Burrow right now on the front office.

Starting point is 00:18:55 He's going all the way up. That pressure is mounting because literally at this point, I will be disappointed. and I think our listeners should be disappointed and our viewers should be disappointed if they don't keep these guys. Like that's where I'm at because they have the resources, right?

Starting point is 00:19:12 They clearly can add to the team despite keeping these guys, which means they don't have to make their team worse to get better, which a lot of people view. And Joe clearly wants these guys is going around telling anyone. I mean, he might be stopping in Vegas, going to the Hollywood side.

Starting point is 00:19:31 He might go everywhere just across the country. Joe Burroughs World Tour, pay these guys what they deserve 2025. It's how it feels. And so, yeah, if it doesn't get done, it's going to feel like a pretty big disappointment. And my expectation remains that all three get done. One of those big three is Trey Hendrickson. And he was interviewed by Pat McAfee, like Jake said. We'll get into what Trey had to say coming up next.

Starting point is 00:19:57 Super Bowl 59 is here. That's why we're hearing from Joe Burrow down at Radio Row. At least there's something Bengals-related to come out of this Super Bowl. And there's no way to make it more exciting. Once we get to the game and Joe Burroughs flying apparently for the first half, he's not even watching the first half of the Super Bowl. And I might follow his lead. Then getting into Fandul's sportsbook.

Starting point is 00:20:23 Whether it's predicting the first touchdown calling the MVP, betting on the coin toss, the Gatorade color to be poor, on to the winning head coach, Vandal makes it easy to get in on the action with live betting all game long. You can adjust your bets as the game unfolds and feel the thrill from kickoff to the final whistle. Right now, the favored color of Gatorade to be poured on the head coach is purple. And that's a little bit of a surprise to me. I'm going to be honest. I guess I'm not keeping up on Gatorade colors, but yellow lime or green is second.

Starting point is 00:20:57 And yellow lime, not lemon lime, that's what it says. at Fandall. Regardless, right now if you win your first $5 bet, you'll get $200 in bonus bets for the Super Bowl. Download the app or head to fandrel.com to get started, bet just $5. And again, if you win, you'll get those $200 in bonus bets. That's fandle.com. Bet with Fandul, official partner of Super Bowl 59. Today's show is also brought to you by prize picks. Prize picks is daily fantasy the way it should be. It's the best place for daily fantasy sports with over 10 million members and billions right, billions in winnings awarded.

Starting point is 00:21:31 Prize picks makes it fun and simple to get in on all the action with the big game just a few days away. You can win up to 1,000 times your cash. Price picks, even as a free pick for the big game or Patrick Mahomes only needs to throw one yard to win. I get it. Most of you aren't rooting for the chiefs, fine. But you take this free pick with Patrick Mahomes

Starting point is 00:21:49 only needed him to throw for one yard, pair that with one more correct pick, and you're cashing out. So take Patrick Mahomes and say, oh, well, Seekuan Barclay is going to run for more than his rushing yards projection with prize picks. It is that simple. Download the app today and use code locked on NFL to get $50 instantly after you play

Starting point is 00:22:07 your first $5 lineup. That's code locked on NFL for $50 instantly. After you play your first $5 lineup, prize picks run your game. Trey Hendrickson was the first bengal to make headlines during Radio Row interviews, talking with Pat McAfee. And there were a few things that came out of that. One, he made his wish list very clear. There are two things on it.

Starting point is 00:22:35 It is first, extend me. It is second, trade me. It is, above all else, do not let me play out of one-year deal. Trey Henderson does not want that. Pay me or trade me, baby. He also talked about this theme we've heard about from this Bengals front office, about learning about things through the media, not getting necessarily the communication he wants. I think that there is more to it than that.

Starting point is 00:23:01 But it's such a theme with big Bengals departures that we've heard about over the years that that obviously causes alarm bells to go off, ears to perk up, whatever analogy you would like to use there. What were your big takeaways from the Trey news that we had yesterday? Personally, and I get the communication element of it. And people see that. And Trey's annoyed by it. Duke was asked the question,

Starting point is 00:23:30 like you want Duke to tell Trey that he's going to do some interviews at the senior bowl and be asked about, like I, I, look, Trey, I get it. I understand it. And I get why people are annoyed by it.

Starting point is 00:23:46 So Duke should have called Trey and said, hey, we want to give you a raise and we want to give you an extension, but we don't plan on making you the highest paid pass rusher. Like I just, I don't know what that does. They're obviously going to meet in the near future, I would imagine

Starting point is 00:24:01 sometime next week or the week after, and we'll see WLWT's... Wait, who had that? Charlie had that, right? Charlie had it, yep. Yeah, Charlie had it from WLWT. So shout out to him. But it's one of those things where I don't really think it needed to be said.

Starting point is 00:24:23 And yeah, you don't want your dad sending it to you, but it's because Duke was asked the question. and Cincinnati.com posted it or Bengals.com posted it. It's tough. It's one of those things where it doesn't really bother me. I get why it would bother the player. I also think that you don't need to wait after the Super Bowl to do this stuff. And maybe it's because they're so focused on the coaching staff and evaluating their own and all of those things. And then they'll get into the business stuff tomorrow or next week when the season ends. But these guys can be extended any time or signed any time. Teagans can sign right now. Yeah. Jamar can sign.

Starting point is 00:24:58 I agree to an extension right now. So it's not like you're waiting for anything. It's like there's some kind of marker. So I don't, I'm not up in arms about the communication thing, but there is a theme there. And I don't like that, especially if everything we said about Joe is true,

Starting point is 00:25:15 where the front office does plan to keep these guys. Well, then just call train me like, hey, we plan on, we want to keep you, we want to keep you in the fold. We definitely want to give you a raise. You played your tail off this year and do something that simple. And that's where I think,

Starting point is 00:25:28 it could be pretty easy because that's a two-minute conversation, I would say. And probably the chronology of events is that this interview happened in Mobile, Alabama, last week, where Duke Tobin brought up the extension or was asked about the extension. He didn't bring it up. He was asked about the extension. He answered a question about the extension. And then Trey's dad texted him. And then Trey got on the phone with his agent.

Starting point is 00:25:52 And then his agent's like, come on, guys, let's just let's get this done. Let's figure this out. let's get this meeting done because trade doesn't want this to linger either he wants this done sooner than later he wants to know what his future holds which well i understand that would you want to move in july or move now like now's the time if you know if you know you're if you know you're if you know it's better to get it done right and and to know so that's all reasonable and now now there's this meeting and they are going to be talking this isn't necessarily a situation like we've seen in the past where there was just no discussion with the agent at some point.

Starting point is 00:26:26 They well talk to these agents, and that communication will happen. But it is annoying to see the trend continue of Bengal star players complaining about communication from the front office. It's annoying. It's not a good trend. Is it a mountain or is it a hill or is it a molehill? To me, if the communication about this quote or whatever was poor, but then next week or whenever, two weeks, whenever they meet with Trey's agent, it goes really well.

Starting point is 00:26:56 And they come away with, here's a framework that we can agree on for an extension for Trey, everything's fine. If instead, they're like, hey, Trey, we're going to make you an offer to extend you. Then the interview happens. Trey feels like he's been communicated with. Then the offer is a low ball. I think that's way worse. I think the offer they make when they actually engage with negotiations matters more.

Starting point is 00:27:20 because a lot of these complaints in the past we've had about communication are not only communication, but also being insulted by an offer because the offer is so far away from what the player is expecting to get. And then eventually does get because we know that the Bengals are very stubborn about their valuations and have this focus on winning negotiations quite often. And so that to me is the mountain that we have to deal with when we're talking about this front offices. that initial offer can't be a low ball that pisses off the players so much as they are done negotiating with you. Can't do that again. Yeah, I don't, that would be one thing I wouldn't side on the player on ever is who cares if they low ball you, then highball them.

Starting point is 00:28:08 Like if, let's say Jamar last year, they came at him and said offered him 30. Well, then say 45, you know, say 50. Like go the other way. Like, who cares? But you're right. It is sensitive than all of those things. I get. But that's where those things can start.

Starting point is 00:28:26 I agree, though, with someone like T, and T, and Jammar, like the market's kind of set. Like, Trey, you think he's awesome, but you don't think he's in the same tier as some of these, you know, $30 million pass rushers. So what? Does $25 get it done?

Starting point is 00:28:43 There's one above $30 million, by the way, for an edge rusher. Sure. It's going to be two in Miles Garrett. gets dumped to wherever who's the best player in the league, best defensive player in the league. You know, I mean, my point is, is yeah, Miles Garrett's at $25 million. He's underpaid. Trey at 25 is about right, probably.

Starting point is 00:29:00 And so that's probably where he should hope to get to him, and the Bengals should be willing to pay him at. And if you're T, you're probably at 27 to 28. I'd be in on both of those, right? And Jamar, I think we're probably at like 38 for Jamar at this point. I know everyone's saying 40, probably get him at like 38.

Starting point is 00:29:22 40 would break Jerry Rice's record for highest value per year as a percentage of the calf, which, I mean, technically Tyreek did it with that fake. Like the contract was fake, right? Remember when Tyreek was the first $30 million and then he wasn't ever actually going to get the end of that deal and then they redid the deal. It's Jerry Rice's mark. And Justin Jefferson didn't do it. The previous big extensions we've seen from wide receivers haven't done it.

Starting point is 00:29:53 They've been below that mark, 13.7% of the unadjusted cap, which is going to be between $37 and $38 million in 2025. That's, I think, fair expectations. But we'll see what the Bengals get done. Mike Keseki now on the list as well for Joe Burrow. And didn't get to dive into that one a ton. There's also... Real quick, that one is not nearly as...

Starting point is 00:30:17 I know you mentioned Mike Jee. and he wants Mike back. But there's levels to this. He is not in that same level. I saw some people like, oh, he's in the same. He is not in the T tier, I promise you. In the Joe Burrell rankings. And the Bengals don't view him that way either, obviously.

Starting point is 00:30:34 It is just notable that Joe is throwing that name in there this time around in at least one interview on Thursday. There's also James Palmer telling the NFL insider notebook that there's a greater chance the buzz in New Orleans. of T. Higgins returning to Cincinnati than going elsewhere, than hitting the open market. That's another interesting one just on the topic of these players we're talking about. And if the Bengals pull the right levers,

Starting point is 00:30:59 they can't keep him from getting to free agency. And as we've discussed, James, if he gets a free agency, then all bets are kind of off as a bidding work and potentially ensue there. If T. Higgins gets the free agency, he may get, like he's going to get more than A.J. Brown. he will be paid more than any receiver playing in this game on Sunday to give you an idea of Super Bowl 59.

Starting point is 00:31:24 And he has zero chance of coming back to Cincinnati. Free NCB like that. Well, yeah, because these teams are going to over, the Patriots are where the Bengals were with DJ Reeder and Trey Wade. So they'll overpay to get their guy. And there are a bunch of other teams that are probably going to be willing to do that as well. In the division, even. Don't even.

Starting point is 00:31:46 I don't want to do with that. You dare. Michael Scott Voice, don't you dare. I don't want to. I don't want to dare. That's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. An interesting day for the Bengals in interesting, 24 hours of comments coming out in New Orleans for us to get through there. Until next time, thanks for listening.

Starting point is 00:32:09 Ho-Day. Have a good one.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Joe Burrow tours Radio Row to keep pressure on Bengals front office

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