Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Kenny Moore SHOULD Be An Interesting Veteran Slot Option For Bengals

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Cincinnati Bengals have a full roster, but should they be considering the recently cut Kenny Moore or other veterans who have expressed interest in playing with Joe Burr. 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. He's James Rapine. I'm Jake Lisco, and today we're going to be discussing some veterans that may or may not make sense. for the Cincinnati Bengals. And I think our opinion on some of these guys may vary from the opinion of those running the team. And that happens a lot.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Let's be honest, James, a lot of times there are guys out there that we think the Bengals should be interested in. We're not seeing eye to eye with the front office or the way this team would like to make us personnel decisions. Sometimes we are aligned. And that came to a head with Dalton Reisner last year, very notably. We've been pretty on it with where the Bengals have. been looking to go in NFL drafts in recent years. But with Kenny Moore's release from Indianapolis and the Bengals having a neat a neat at slot cornerback and some veterans that have in interviews in recent weeks

Starting point is 00:01:17 talked specifically about Joe Burrow, we're going to talk about some of those veterans that may or may not make sense for the Cincinnati Bengals. In today's episode brought to the people by GameTime. You can get the GameTime app. Use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase of tickets. and James, let's get started with Kenny Moore. The Bengals have a competition at Slot Corner, which could also be heard as have a need at Slot Corner.

Starting point is 00:01:45 And Kenny Moore is on the wrong side of 30. He just turned 32 in January. He was a New Year's Day baby, January 1st birthday for Kenny Moore. At 32 years old, he's been a really good slot corner for a long time and would bring a veteran presence to whatever team goes out there and signs him would allow the Bengals specifically to keep Daxil and DJ Turner outside and bring to Carrio Davis along at whatever speed is appropriate for him. On paper, it makes a lot of sense if the money works.

Starting point is 00:02:16 And I think that is a big part of the question. And then the other part of the question is, do the Bengals think Kenny Moore still has it at 32? That's where it starts, right? Can he still play? Even before you get to the money, I think that's it. How much do they think Kenny Moore? How much does the NFL think Kenny Moore can play? I think on paper, you're right.

Starting point is 00:02:36 It's a guy who is established in the league, has played well at nickel, and the Bengals could use a nickel. You have Daxo wanting to stay outside and never go inside again. No indoors, Dax always outside in the elements. And that would be great. And Kenny Moore on paper fills that void, fills a major need. At the same time, there's a couple of things at play here that stood out to me. One, he's been available for months, which fine.

Starting point is 00:03:03 contract, poor contract, no one wanted the trade for him. I get it. But did you notice some of the nationals in the reporting around this? They mentioned safety and safety Keny Moore. It was mentioned. And I think that that's an interesting thing because you think of nickel corners that may have lost a step. And with all those little quick receivers that they have to deal with,

Starting point is 00:03:29 with the speed that they have to deal with guarding slot receivers, transitioning to safety can happen and we see it happen. And safety is that play in the slot and that nickel spot sometimes just transition back. And I do wonder if that's Kenny Moore. That's where he ultimately does end up. But I just thought it was interesting because like Ian Rappaport was one for sure that wrote safety in one of his tweets. And I wonder if that's the next phase of Kenny Moore's career, at least to a degree.

Starting point is 00:03:56 Doesn't mean the Bengals couldn't use that, right? If that's the case is a guy that can do both. but I do wonder how they view him and how the league just views Kenny Moore in general. Here's what I will say, though. The fact that he asked for his release gives you an idea that he thinks that someone's going to want him in the near future, how much he has left TBD and are the Bengals interested. But am I interested? Would I want to meet with Kenny Moore and talk with him and see if he can be an upgrade to what the Bengals have right now in that nickel spot,

Starting point is 00:04:29 which is, let's be honest, it leaves something to be desired, even if you like Jalen Davis, even if you think Jazeera Taylor can be a special teams contributor or help you at that nickel roll, or you think that Josh Newton is going to suddenly be that guy. Adding a dude that's been there, done that in that spot, I think it's really easy to see the fit in an ideal world work anymore still has something left. Yeah, and Moore did deal with an injury last year. He missed week four to week six for the Indianapolis Colts. And the safety thing is bizarre to me.

Starting point is 00:05:03 I'm going to be honest with you James. There's a guy that's 5'9, somewhere between 180 and 190 pounds. Did you see that? You saw that, right? I saw it because I saw fans saying the Bengals don't need a safety. When I tweeted about Kenny Moore as a slot corner target, I was like, why are people calling him a safe? That's how I saw it.

Starting point is 00:05:21 I didn't actually see the nationals calling him a safety. I think that's quite weird. It doesn't really line up with where he's, played. Yeah. Well, and that's where the response came from, for sure. Yeah. No, he's, he's never played there. And maybe that's the transition. Maybe he's open to it. And so what does that tell me? Let's say he's open to a position switch where you're not going to make a lot of money switching positions, Kenny. You never played there. I'm not really interested if he's a safety depth piece either, like changing positions undersized. Like, that's not really moving the needle for

Starting point is 00:05:54 me. Well, don't change positions come here and play for whatever you're thinking you may have to play out for safety anyway. Right. It is that that that low end contract where you can be part of a contender. And like I, I just mean if he's willing to switch positions, well, maybe he's willing to not for for whatever money the Bengals would would give up to get him. And that's it. Like, can he be better? Is he today better than Jalen Davis? Yes or no? The answer is probably yes. Probably. Probably. Now, now, isn't super young either. You know, he's also 30. He's 30. And now how much better is he? and what's the difference in price. And so all of those things are

Starting point is 00:06:30 talking points when it comes to him in the Bengals. That's why I say like what does the money look like? The Colts take a $6.5 million, I think, dead cap hit to release him. $6 million, $6 million and $50,000, not $6.05, $6.05 million cap pit to cut him this year to avoid having to pay him what he was due this year.

Starting point is 00:06:51 I think that was what, like $10 million or something? It was a $10 million APY on a three-year. deal. It's probably the most of that cash in the final year of the deal, just looking at it quickly. I wonder what is left in the tank for him. Last year was his worst year in terms of yards per catch allowed since his rookie season in the NFL. He played less outside corner than he ever has in his career. He started actually as an outside corner as a rookie when he last had the really bad yards per catch number in 2017. Since then, he's been a primarily slot corner, but he's had between

Starting point is 00:07:27 100 and 250 snaps on the perimeter at corner most years as well. Last year, just 28. So he's really relegated last year to a different role where they're playing him exclusively in the slot. They're much less comfortable with him playing outside. And so

Starting point is 00:07:43 that potentially points to that, you know, early 30s, there's an injury involved here. Potential step back in terms of the athletic tools that you need to, like you said, deal with. with the change of direction, the two-way goes, the agility requirements, acceleration requirements,

Starting point is 00:08:00 in the slot at corner. But still a good tackler, still a good player in run defense. I should say last year was probably his best year tackling, an adequate tackler, more than a good tackler, but a strong player in terms of run support. But last year was a step back, I think, by a lot of the numbers around coverage for him.

Starting point is 00:08:19 And so that's where you would have to ask. It's scary. Yeah. How much of that is predicting the future. sure how much of that is due to injury and how much that came after the injury, how much did you think he was impacted by the injury? Because a lot of the bigger games that he had in terms of giving up big plays came after he returned from that injury last year. So it's hard to know how much it affected him, not covering the Colts closely. I want to run this scenario by you. Let's

Starting point is 00:08:47 just say he is closer to wash than not, right? I still think there can be an argument for him and what he would bring. And so let's get to that. The Kenny Moore conversation continues, and then we'll dive into some of these other free agents that are thinking about Joe Burrow and like, man, I like that fit at the Met Gala. Let's link up in CENCES.

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Starting point is 00:10:34 All you have to do is go to Indeed.com slash podcast. Again, that's indeed.com slash podcast. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs. All right, Jake. So let's say that Kenny Moore is 2023. Yes. last year was the first year without Mike Hilton.

Starting point is 00:10:59 So, so 2024 was Mike Hilton's last year. Let's say he's 2023 Mike Hilton, right? Where he's maybe not the guy he was in 21, but I mean, Mike Hilton was still playing. There was still a role for him. He didn't lock down that nickel spot from a coverage standpoint. I think we were certainly worried at times about Mike in coverage. Does that help this defense now? Is that something that you're open to adding?

Starting point is 00:11:28 We can talk about the money in a second, but strictly from a player standpoint, does that help the Bengals? It would, but I think that that's not what Kenny Moore has ever been. He's never been the blitzing, bun supporting linebacker in a corner's body, the way that Mike was and the way that Mike Hilton, I think, helped

Starting point is 00:11:46 was very different from what Kenny Moore would bring. If you're telling me, I get 2023, Kenny Moore, it's a different story. He was really good in 2023. Sure. So, 2023 Mike Hilton was providing his value in terms of run, support, tackle, like, sure, tackler, right? And it's just not quite at that level for Cunning Moore.

Starting point is 00:12:07 The blitzing value was still there for Mike Hilton. He was still making those impact plays. And that doesn't, to me, seem like the best way to use Cunningmore. So because of the specific difference in skill set, that wouldn't do it for me. Now, if you're talking about a cheap deal, and this is where we can talk about the price, and you can come in and compete and be quality death because I don't want to necessarily count on Jalen Davis. I don't want to move Dax Hill. I don't want to count on unproven guys who are competing.

Starting point is 00:12:39 And I want to have, again, the floor raiser. We've talked about this with linebackers and Bobby Wagner, Bobby O'Caricay or, you know, Shaq Thompson, the floor raisers. That's what Kenny Moore could potentially be in the slot. And if you can get that, then I think it's worth it. But I wonder where his price is. You know, you look at Spotrak and they've got it current market value, 5.6 million.

Starting point is 00:13:02 And if it's anything north of 2 million, I can guarantee you the Bengals are out. If it's something that's closer to 1.5 million, then maybe the Bengals consider it at that price. And that's a far, far cry from the contract Kenny Moore's coming from. The Colts also had no takers. at the contract Kenny Moore is coming from even with the dead cap hit that they had to absorb by releasing him.

Starting point is 00:13:27 So I don't think that the NFL is willing to pay him at that level, but I don't know what level they're willing to pay him at either. Yeah, I think that's what's interesting. And yeah, stylistically fine, but like a contributing player that isn't what he once was, but could potentially still help. Like that's it.

Starting point is 00:13:50 So like I would be in there. I get it. Mike is just, Mike was just such a unique player that it's hard for me to do the I mean, you could, you could make the argument that right now Mike could help them in some ways, right, because of those things that he brings. Kenny Moore did have 46 blitzes last year. Maybe I'm undervaluing him a little bit as a blitzer, but I think he did blitz fine. Yeah, I think. Anyways, I think there's a spot for Kenny Moore and I think the Bengals should be interested.

Starting point is 00:14:19 And I, if I'm Kenny Moore, I would be. interested in them. But the Bengals usually aren't in on the older fading. Like they just don't. Like I'm not even saying the 30-year-old thing because I think we've kind of debunked that at this point. I just, to me, they'll look at it. And I really wonder if they say, well, Jalen Davis is the same guy at this stage or

Starting point is 00:14:44 close enough to where we don't want to go that way. I'm not there. And even if he is, you need a second Jailen Davis. Like even if you think they're the same guy right now, we'll call because maybe he does take two million or one and a half million or two million with some incentives that he's probably unlikely to get because you realize you're going to rotate him or whatever. Like maybe.

Starting point is 00:15:08 And that's it. I think the Bengals, we're going to mention some of these other guys that are interested in the Bengals are their face lights up when you mentioned playing for the Bengals. And it's because they should be a destination for some of these guys now. this roster is at the place where we should be looking at it that way because I think they as they is in the league used the Bengals much differently than they did even a few months ago. And I think the Bengals should be making these kinds of moves.

Starting point is 00:15:37 These are the sort of low end veteran, you know, quality low end veteran moves. The guys that are the Noah Fank kind of move, the Dalton Riser kind of move that are just a little bit north of league minimum, him potentially. They could have been interested in Mike Hilton last year. I mean, he was literally coming off the Colts practice squad last year. And he had a clear path to the 53-man roster. He had a bad injury, but he was going to get promoted to the 53-man roster after they exhausted his practice squad call-ups.

Starting point is 00:16:06 He was called up in their first two games with the Colts last year. And then he was going to be on the 53, I think, for them. But Mike Holt was a practice squad guy last year. And maybe that wasn't a realistic option for him to return to Cincinnati. He had the familiarity, obviously, with Lou and Arummo in Indianapolis, didn't know Al Golden as well. Maybe he didn't want to come back to that situation in Cincinnati where he was now going to be dealing with the practice squad side of things instead of being on the roster after years of being on the roster. But those are the kinds of moves that you see the Ravens make all the time where there are quality floor raising type veterans. And sometimes they don't help.

Starting point is 00:16:46 Carl Lawson was an example of this last year for the Ravens where he's on their practice squad and he was called up for them a couple of times. So, like, those are the kinds of moves that the Bengals should be interested in. And maybe that's not getting more, but maybe that's more applicable to some of these other veterans that are still out there here as the calendar goes as it does ever forward into the late spring and into the early summer where we're going to continue to be monitoring some of these veterans out there that we think could help the Bengals even if, like we've talked about, their roster is full at the moment.

Starting point is 00:17:16 Yeah, it's the type of moves that are, are. interesting and could matter. Like, do you trust Kenny Moore, Jaseer Taylor on the road in Baltimore? Got to have it. Right? Like, answer, not rhetorical. Go.

Starting point is 00:17:32 Did you mean Jalen Davis? No. Did you mean Kenny Moore? Jesseer Taylor. Like, are you saying, what should I trust more? Yeah. What's the question here?

Starting point is 00:17:42 In Baltimore? Oh, yeah. Obviously, I would trust Kenny Moore more than just here Taylor. Justier Taylor's a, yeah, fringe, fringe roster play. But so that's what it. like even if you think jalen davis is the same guy right yeah let's say jalen davis gets nicked up first full season where he's playing every game that's it and so that's what the price gets interesting though right because you're not paying significant money to to that level of player

Starting point is 00:18:06 but if you can get those guys on on low end contracts for those solid players like all these other teams do like like i was just talking about then yeah like be all over for sure carloss if you want to come play on the practice squad right now come on bro did you see his training the other day Yeah, I did. I was like, oh. Training videos or whatever, right? Yeah, he's always been a workout. I mean, like it translated on the field,

Starting point is 00:18:30 him obviously early in his career. That guy's like, yeah, he's one of those. He had Andre both, man. He needs to go. Andre, when he's done, but certainly Carl's closer to being done than Andre. Like, you can't be like an, uh, uh, sea level actor in Hollywood built like that. Like there's got to be a role for you alongside the rock and whatever his next movie is where you're like the third henchman that because he's just built that way.

Starting point is 00:18:59 In Zach Efron's wrestling movie, he couldn't have been one of those guys. Like, of course he could have. Just talk to Sierra right about that. You got your contact right in Cincinnati, the undrafted free agent corner that we talked about yesterday, who was in Space Jam, too, with LeBron. Let's go talk to Sierra and find out what it's like. That's fine. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:19:17 Yeah, go talk to Trent and Irwin too, right? No, I'm just kidding. There's levels to it. There's levels to it. I mean, Sierra Wright's like still acting. I think. For sure.

Starting point is 00:19:27 He better. He should still. Yeah. I mean, Space Jam 2 wasn't that long ago, right? Yeah. So, right?

Starting point is 00:19:33 Get it? I do. A couple other veterans out there expressed some interest in playing with Joe Burrow recently in interviews. Weapons. Joe Burroughs making an impression on these guys when he's playing flag football. It's kind of funny.

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Starting point is 00:20:54 Download the GameTime app today. James, obviously we're going to start this segment with your favorite position as Trenchman and talk about Kyle Van Nuys, interest in joining the Cincinnati Bengals, or you can immediately redirect and embrace your roots as a weapons guy and talk about DeAndre Hopkins, your choice. Well, the answer is both. Okay? I'll combine it.

Starting point is 00:21:23 The answer is both. And the answer is hell yeah, I want both of them here. Because look, we just talked about depth and we spent all that time. And Kyle Van Nuys coming off of a two-sack season where I think he felt like he left a lot out there. And when you see his comments on Kay Adams, he says, I know I'm not part of the long-term plan. I want to be part of the fix. I want to be a fixer. I just think his mindset would be awesome in the Bengals defensive room,

Starting point is 00:21:52 in the Bengals defensive line room, excuse me, and on the Bengals defense. And so from a pass rush standpoint, do I think Cassius Howell could benefit from learning from a guy like Kyle Van Nuoy? Like, absolutely. Do I think Van Nuoy has something left? I think so. And I would be open to it. And DeAndre Hopkins falls into a similar bucket. I think his landing spot is part of why it is what it is right now.

Starting point is 00:22:17 Outside of that year in Kansas City, like Tennessee, that was never going to work out. we knew better. It goes to Kansas City. It was kind of odd there. But then Baltimore, look, I get, I think back to week one when he made that outstanding downfield catch. And it's like, all right, so he can still make contested catches. He didn't have a ton of opportunities last season.

Starting point is 00:22:40 And it's a unique offense. Obviously, Zay Flowers is the number one in that offense. They have Derek Henry, obviously, Lamar Jackson. So it's kind of unique. I would be open to both guys under the right circumstances coming in, being. Bengals. And this is where like these fringe additions that you certainly want to give some incentives to and you'd have to bake some incentives into their deals, they could matter. So the answer for me is both. Yeah, the interesting thing is obviously money to me here. Like both guys

Starting point is 00:23:08 would help the Bengals. But how much do they want to get paid? And how much of a role do they want? And how important are those two factors to them as opposed to how willing are they to be the veteran pieces who have a small but defined role who can help. DeAndre Hafton is at a pretty interesting career, right? He has been paid for a vast majority of his career. And that included when he went to the Titans on a $13 million per year deal. So that was a pay cut for him, but still $13 million per year for two years. And spends part of that time with Kansas City, obviously. Then the league is considerably south on him at that point, right? Because he's a little bit older at this point, and the deal with the

Starting point is 00:23:55 Ravens was a $5 million deal with some void years involved so that the Ravens could spread it out, but $5 million for one year with the Ravens. Cal Van Nuoy was one of those practice squad guys. He saw his star in the NFL fall off a cliff. And in in 2023, he lands on the practice squad with the Baltimore Ravins. Ravens before he's eventually promoted onto the full roster, and he's a veteran minimum guy, maybe a little bit more, $1.6 million in, in 2023 is where he ended up. So a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:24:31 They reward him with a little bit more than a better minimum deal. Then he gets a bump the last couple of years, last 24, 25, around $4.5 million with the Ravens. So what level is Kyle Van Nuoy at now? How far does Yondrey Hopkins come down off of the $5 million number when he just had his least productive season in his entire career and not particularly close, right? He had 330 yards, which is like about half of his next worst season when you look at full seasons in 2024, he had 610 yards, five touchdowns.

Starting point is 00:25:06 Last year only had the two touchdowns, 22 catches. Again, like half of his less than half of his any seasons where he played the full season, but it seems like that ability is still there at some point. and you could obviously do significantly worse if you're looking for a veteran at the back of your room. I think for the Bengals, the Hopkins fit is harder to see because of right now the excitement with Kobe Young.

Starting point is 00:25:30 Like should that stop the Bengals? No. Could that stop the Bengals? Yeah, I think it could because you're already talking about competing for wide receiver four probably. We could see a path to DeAndre Hopkins being a more reliable third option

Starting point is 00:25:46 in a lot of situations. Right? Then even right now they have when you're talking about Andre Yosevash, and we'll see what Yoshi's preseason looks like. But again, when you're talking about the role for these guys, like how much can Kyle Van Nuoy get onto the field with how many guys are going to be rotating on the edge right now? Those are the questions that I would say are big obstacles in terms of realistically trying to project these guys fitting with the Bengals, despite what they said. And DeAndre Hopkins saying, like, yeah, I'd really like to play with Joe Burrow. And Kyle Van Nuoy taking note of the competitiveness of Joe Burrow at the. the flag football events that he's seen Joe Burrow at and telling Kay Adams and yeah, I play in Cincinnati.

Starting point is 00:26:23 I like what they've done with their defensive front and Dexter Lawrence and Boy A Mafet and Miles Murphy and BJ Hill. Like he knows these guys. These guys know who Joe Burrow is, obviously. But trying to find the right fit for role and money and projecting that with the Bengals, I think is the challenge realistically. Yeah, I agree. The DeAndre Hopkins one, let me ask you this, before we rank these. the three guys basically that that we've talked about on the show,

Starting point is 00:26:53 would he get more than what Andre Yosevaish is getting this year, 3.6 million? Probably not. I would assume not. I would assume he's in like the one and a half to $3 million range. Especially if he can contend for a Super Bowl, right? Like he joins the contender one more time, gets a real shot. This isn't A.J. Green on the Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:27:13 Like this is DeAndre Hopkins with a real shot at winning. And we saw that with the Ravens last year, I think. his mind, right? And he took $5 million, which was significantly less than 13, but then he wasn't productive. So I think that number goes down again. And so, and this isn't like an anti-Andre thing. It's just like a, what's it at? And if, if Hopkins is willing to do, can Andre do some special team stuff? Absolutely. Will Kobe Young absolutely do special team stuff? Yes. DeAndre won't. Like that's not what you're going to bring him in to do. But if it's if it's that low and there's a week where Jamar's out and it's T. Higgins and Andre and Kobe Young and DeAndre Hopkins and Mike Gisicki, it just it feels easier to do it.

Starting point is 00:28:04 Because the Bengals are built around Joe, of course, but they're also built around having Joe and Jamar and T. and if you miss Jamar, and let's say you're missing Jamar for a week or two, it would be nice to have a few different options. And it's not like you have one A, one B, where it's obviously T and then Tyler. And that's how you do it. And then it's everybody else where Trent and Irwin and those guys. Like it would just, it would feel different, I think, if you had a proven guy. Because who knows about Colby Young?

Starting point is 00:28:34 Who knows if Andre takes a step forward, even though I think he's going to be really motivated to show that he's worth a long-term deal from someone going into a final year. Like I, I like, I buy the, the Andre Yosevaas is going to be ready to go and play well this year. I also don't think you can put all your eggs in that basket, which is why you draft Kobe Young, which is why I'd be open to DeAndre Hopkins at one and a, you're right, one and a half to two million dollars and give him some incentives if it comes to that,

Starting point is 00:29:04 because it, Joe attracts these guys and you might as well take advantage of it, even if you're like, man, look at all of our embarrassment of riches. like that's a great problem to have you you find your path and i do think that dandre last year i mean you look him up on pf he didn't even have enough snaps 334 to qualify for an overall grade which is just so odd to me but it's true yeah i think the issue with hopkins is probably money for the bengals and i think they probably feel like they're deep there i think that they probably think they're deep and wide receiver, you can really see the fit, though, stylistically with Joe.

Starting point is 00:29:46 Like, even if Jabby Hopkins has lost a step and he has, these contested catch guys that are really strong at the catch point really benefit from Joe Burroughs ball placement. And so whenever you're talking about a guy like that, and it's one of the reasons that you can sell yourself on the vision for Kobe Young because he is a good player in contested catch situations, those those fits with the way Joe Burrow plays quarterback and how good he is with putting the ball where he wants to put the ball do stand out as more tantalizing perhaps for a fit with the Bengals and Joe Burrow than the fit with Lamar Jackson. I'd say that Lamar is a good quarterback.

Starting point is 00:30:25 Obviously, like I still think Lamar is good despite everything going on, right? Like that's on a past first offense with a super accurate quarterback. Yeah, it's a different, different style. Like sometimes Lamar does crazy things with the football. in the air. Don't get me wrong. But nobody's talking about Lamar ball placement in the same conversation as Joe. No, it's a precision off. Yeah, exactly. Like, if DeAndre Hopkins covered up, Joe might put it in the one spot if he trusts DeAndre at the catch point. That DeAndre can catch it. And I think if I'm, it's just hard to, it's hard to see the path to like it actually

Starting point is 00:31:02 making sense in real life, you know? If I'm DeAndre, I would, if I, if I, if I, I'm DeAndre, I would take league minimum to, if I thought, if I really believed in myself, I would take a league minimum base to come here and compete because I would say, oh, I'm going to beat out those, those guys. And I'm going to be wide receiver three. And even if I'm wide receiver four, I'm going to be good enough to be around and matter on this offense. Out of the guys we've talked about, just talking about ranking them, like you said, I mean,

Starting point is 00:31:31 it's easily Keene Moore to me because I think that's a floor razor at a spot where you don't have a floor razor right now. in the slot and the other two guys is kind of tied. I don't see a huge impact from Kyle Van Nuoy. I don't see a huge impact from DeAndre Hopkins, but maybe because of the way this team goes and the way that it goes through Joe, you kind of default to Hopkins to have a reliable,

Starting point is 00:31:59 a reliable extra pieceer. Because like, how does, like, Kyle Van Nuoy is getting on the field with injuries only, essentially, right? It's really hard to see the path to honestly either of these guys getting on the field. And I would say that any of them is a very low percentage for the Bengals to actually sign a reality. Do you think DeAndre Hopkins could beat out Kobe Young? I think it would be a real battle.

Starting point is 00:32:25 Maybe. Like maybe. Like maybe. Like if Kobe Young, for it to be for him to make it a battle, he would need to be everything they think he is. right now, you know? Yeah, but we're talking about like all the things that you have to do if you're the fourth or fifth wide receiver active on game day, right? And if you're going to, because you're going to have Yoshi active and that fourth guy

Starting point is 00:32:50 maybe needs to play special teams. And I think that's the factor. Well, that's what I was going to see. This is where it gets interesting. I was going, I thought you were just going to say, yes, Hopkins could beat out Colby Young because I think so. And then I was going to say, do you think DeAndre Hopkins could beat out Andre Yosevash? And that would be interesting, but I don't know that like he doesn't have a ton left.

Starting point is 00:33:12 It's just like there's a specific fit that you can sell me on with the contested catchability. And him being a third option. In the red zone, in the red zone, one-on-ones like DeAndre Hopkins could theoretically come here. And if they use him right, have eight touchdowns on 40 catches. Like a fifth of his catches come on touchdowns and they use him that way. Didn't Andre have some seasons? like no doubt. Yeah, he had Ted touchdown his first two years.

Starting point is 00:33:40 Yeah, he's six and then four and, you know, draw obviously in his time. I'm not even making the case against Andre, I'm just, if there is a path, that would be it, right? Where DeAndre says, hey,

Starting point is 00:33:51 I think I'm going to beat out these two and I'm going to be part of this. And man, do I love that Joe Burr and we're going to go try to compete for a, like that, that would be the mindset. Whether or not it happens. It won't. I'd be surprised, but I've been surprised before by this Bengals team.

Starting point is 00:34:10 I think any more for sure would be the priority and should be the priority. I would be surprised if they go that route. It just, it seems, I think we get a veteran linebacker before we get any of these three. They all would make sense in terms of like the low dollar veteran piece to add that we'd like to see those moves. I think they probably feel like they have a lot of depth of wide receiver. I think the only way Hopkins is a lot. I think they feel that way. I think the only way that Hopkins happens is if he approaches them and says,

Starting point is 00:34:43 hey, give me a veteran minimum deal to come to come try to make this roster and play with Joe. Make this roster. Like I think he'd be a wrong. I'd roster lock him. But yes, I got you. I think that would have to be it though for them. If he, if he saw, yeah, they're not going to guarantee him a starting job. Sure.

Starting point is 00:35:03 give me a cheap deal that has a minimal cap impact of maybe $400,000 and, you know, like that's the only way I think most of these are happening, really. Like with the roster being full and the way that they've gone about the offseason, these all feel like real long shots. But again, they're the kinds of moves that the Bengals should be exploring and seeing what they can get done for those low-end contracts that have a minimal cap impact that can be four, raisers. And that's why we're talking about them. Spent a lot of time doing so. That's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast.

Starting point is 00:35:40 The Bengals have an open offseason workout slash practice this week. And we've got the schedule coming up later in the week. So we'll have you covered with all of the news and notes from those two big events this week right here on lockdown Bengals. Until next time, thanks for listening. Ho-day and have a good one.

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