Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - NO DEAL: Bengals and DJ Turner NOT CLOSE to Contract Extension — What's Next?

Starting point is 00:00:00 It looks like the Cincinnati Bengals are just going to play things out with a bunch of extension eligible players, including DJ Turner. That doesn't sound close and that adds to the pressure that already exists for the 2026 season. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What up, Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. He's Joe Goodberry. I'm Jake Lisco. We're going to talk today about Joe Burrough's appearance on the Chasing number one podcast with Jamar Chase.

Starting point is 00:00:40 And so things that really stood out from a football point of view, Joe Burrow talking about some of the intricacies that go into getting to the line of scrimmage with the Cincinnati Bengals that stood out to Joe and myself. And we're going to get started with the report from Jeremy Fowler that DJ Turner and the Bengals have no chance to get an extension done before the regular season starts. and does that apply to the rest of the players that are extension eligible for the Bengals? Will we see a surprise last minute extension for a Dax Hill, a Miles Murphy, a Chase Brown? And if they don't get any of those done, what does that mean for this season? What does that mean for the cap publications for future seasons? Because we've been talking about these extensions all summer expecting that one or maybe even two might get done. The Dexter Lawrence trade throws a bit of a wrench into that conversation.

Starting point is 00:01:31 but that's where we are going to get started today, Joe, in an episode brought to the people by GameTime. You can download the GameTime out, create an account and use code, locked on, you'll get $20 off your first purchase. But at this point, I'm not terribly surprised, but I am disappointed, Joe, that we get a report from Jeremy Fowler that says there's virtually no chance

Starting point is 00:01:49 for the Bengals and DJ Turner to get an extension done before we quit. And we've been hoping. People have asked because we're in that, what, 11th, 1130 hour, you know, it's before midnight strikes here of getting a contract done before week one. And, you know, all summer and even into the spring felt like momentum was on the side of getting an extension between DJ Turner and the Bengals. And now we get this report right here on this, you know, in this final hour that virtually not going to happen, that it isn't close. And I think the last part of this report that, you know, makes me think is, when he says the franchise tag is what they'll that they could use next year and how it could be

Starting point is 00:02:35 very similar to the Jesse Bates situation where they don't see that they're close maybe it's guaranteed money maybe it's structure whatever it may be right and you float that we could use the tag makes me feel like this comes from the Bengal side of things or maybe Fowler talked to both sides but you know I shouldn't put that past them but when you float that out there that the tag could be used. Oftentimes, that's the team applying pressure back on the player of like, hey, this offer we've had out here a couple months ago, we'll tag it if you don't come closer to our number. I think that's a bit of the bet the Bengals are taking here, right, is they have done in the past this kind of behavior where they don't want to pay a player off of a short-term

Starting point is 00:03:19 performance. And that might be how they see it with DJ Turner, although it's much easier to say that there's this trend in the right direction. We've seen DJ Turner getting better and better and better than he had this breakout year last year, but it's not like it came out of nowhere. And so I'd be curious to know what the rationale is. Maybe they're just looking at it from a purely financial perspective, and DJ Turner is asking for $30 million.

Starting point is 00:03:38 And they're thinking, we're not going to pay you like at top of the league corner. And DJ Turner, conversely, is going to bet on himself and go out there. And I think the Fowler indication that the franchise tag is a possibility is just as well could be based on the fact that they did it with Jesse Bates. that's what he invoked in the article itself as they've done this before with Jesse Bates. They franchises tagged him and then he walked. But that obviously should be a lesson to the Bengals as John Shearren wrote.

Starting point is 00:04:05 Like how much more painful can a lesson be than that one was for you to learn that when you have an ascending player, you should probably pay them. And maybe this would be less of an issue had they knock on out there and traded for Dexter Lawrence. Maybe they're anticipating that Dexter Lawrence could need a new deal in the immediate. a future as well. If he plays really well this year, and by all indications, that's how his training camp has looked.

Starting point is 00:04:28 It might be right back to the situation he was in with the Giants where he is suddenly very underpaid because while the Bengals gave him one more year, he is underpaid compared to his peers if he plays at the level that we've seen him playing at in training camp and where expectations are for him. So when you look forward, you can start to see it from the Bengal side a little bit. They have so many free agents next year, this Dexter Lawrence situation potentially brewing, although not necessarily that may or may not happen, right? But many, many free agents next year, the limited track record, this was an issue with Bates too.

Starting point is 00:05:00 He quote unquote wasn't an all pro. So the Bengals didn't want to pay top of market there. And we see how silly that is in retrospect. Yeah, that it, well, that's a thing, right? There's always been a clear divide between like the Bengals cornerstone players. They're all pro level, even their Pro Bowl level. And then the T. Higgins level, the Jesse Bates level. And while we love those guys and we want those guys.

Starting point is 00:05:22 to stay. Well, T. made a proble last year and Bates did promptly after the Bengals, you know, lost them in free agency. But you could see that there's a little bit of a line between the Joe Burroughs, right, and Jamar Chase's. And I wonder, I don't want to see it from the Bengals perspective, to be honest, Jake. I kind of want to see it from our perspective and like pay these guys. Like, we've made the arguments that they're worth it. You pay them early. It saves money on the cap. It saves money because all these other corners are going to get paid. There's many ways to look at the benefits of it. And the franchise tag is such a stick in the mud next year.

Starting point is 00:05:55 It's $23 million. And that's just what the cap hit is. If they're going to franchise tag them next year, we're already talking about them being a bit of a cap crunch this year and next year, even if they roll over the $18 million or so that they're going to have this year. $23 million is a big chunk of what their projected cap would be for next year if they don't get the extension done. Yeah, the projected to be like at 32 before rollover. So 23 is going to cut, what, $60?

Starting point is 00:06:20 percent of that right away. That's tough. And you're right. It's such a binding and unflexible number because if you extend him, you could have them for a cap number of, let's say, $14 million next year. It doesn't have to be $23 million. But seeing it from the Bengals perspective, like I said, I don't want to. But let's say where. I do think the track record has something to do with it. And I even think it's different than Bates because Bates came in, won a starting job right away. If we go back to this day last year, D.J. Turner was not a starter. that was one year ago, and we know the year he ends up having. So while they've praised him for bouncing back and, you know, getting his mind right and finding

Starting point is 00:06:59 ways to, you know, still win that job and then play really well after week one, they still at this point last year did not believe that he could be this guy or didn't see it enough to think they should start him week one in a game that was way too close for comfort and turnaround of making a play at the end of that game. But my point is, I wonder if they even see him that way. If they even see him as a guy that's worthy of $25 million a year. And they're saying, you know what? Here's another point.

Starting point is 00:07:30 You know what? We're not paying anyone on defense until you guys turn it around on the defensive side because you've been that bad. DJ you've been here for three years. The defense sucks for the last three years. It's not DJ Turner. I'm not saying that. But in their minds, I could see a little craziness going on.

Starting point is 00:07:46 Like nobody deserves an extension until you guys turn the last. this thing around. They might just be waiting to see who is most deserving of the money, too, because when you consider all of the different extension candidates, because the natural follow-up question will be, well, if they're not close with T.J. Turner, well, then they better get Dax Hill done or they better get Miles Murphy done, or they better get Chase Brown done, or they better get XYZ player done, on lower level deals perhaps for Jordan Battle or probably not Andreosovash. I don't think anyone's asking that in the fan base, but the Bengals. A year on Ted Harris, maybe. In the back of their mind, Ted Carrish, sure, yeah, some of the veterans

Starting point is 00:08:18 out there. They did an extension with Orlando Brown. So why not Ted as well? Ted's a little bit older. He'd be 35 next year, I think. But I mean, it's a conversation to have because of the relationship, I think, between he and Burrough if he continues to play at a NFL level, which we've seen from him consistently. But all of these players that we're talking about, these young players up for their first contract extension, do not have a very long track record, at least in the Bengals eyes, right? Like, If you had seen two years of what DJ Turner just did, lots of a conversation. You have a clear top of the NFL corner

Starting point is 00:08:54 that has a two-year track record of doing so. That's a player you want to lock up. Dax Hill hadn't had an ACL injury and had gotten to outside corner earlier in his career and showed, yeah, I can play really well here. Well, maybe you do have that true Michael Johnson, Carlos done that situation where both guys get an offer and maybe Dax takes it, right?

Starting point is 00:09:12 Maybe he doesn't, but maybe he does. If you had the two-year track record for both of those players, If Chase Brown's a lot of running back, maybe it's a different conversation for Chase Brown. If they're all these guys that just don't have the track record, but the question still stands to be like, what does it mean if they don't get an extension done? Or what do they pivot to if they're still looking to get an extension done? I think those are the questions that we should tackle here, Joe, coming up next. There are more live events worth seeing than ever right now.

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Starting point is 00:10:38 Again, create an account and redeem code, L-O-C-E-D-O-N for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today. Take the question. when you read this report is who are you going to pay? You have $18 million right now. We've kept talking about, you know, swing tackle, going out and dipping back into free agency. Are you really satisfied at Slot Corner? What about running back three? Veterans like Naji Harris get signed by the Giants, right? So all summer, we're looking at this and kind of saying, if you're not making these moves, there's got to be an extension. But you're just going to roll over $18 million in a year,

Starting point is 00:11:17 when Joe Burroughs like now do or die, now or never, let's do it, let's raise the stakes, let's, you know, go for this championship level season, and you're going to sit there with $18 million in the cap space to roll over. It doesn't sit right with me at all. I want DJ to be extended, no doubt about it. But if they pivoted and said, you know, we're just guys, he's asking for too much. It's just, it's not feasible because I do have some reservation about paying a corner because I see a lot of teams in, you know, since I've been doing this and really looking at this thing closely,

Starting point is 00:11:51 a lot of teams get through with good cornerback play, but cheap cornerback play, right? They find these guys that are 22, 23, 25 years old, and I skip 24 an accident, wasn't on purpose. But the point is they're usually young players, first contract players. And then once you pay them in that 26, 27, 28, things get dicey. And one injury or someone falls off just a little bit. And easily they're not worth that. $25 million cap it that you could have for these guys. But if they pivoted and said, all right, fine, we'll pay Chase Brown.

Starting point is 00:12:23 Here's a one year of extension for Ted Karras on the cheap because he's not making anything really. He's one of the most valued, best valued centers in the league and then said, Dex Hill. Like if you could say you could take that money on Dex getting 18, Chase Brown getting 12 and that's up to 30, I would understand that tradeoff. Would you? Would you be in favor of that?

Starting point is 00:12:45 I would get it mostly because it includes Dax Hill. I love Chase Brown, just a running back. And paying running backs is challenging, even though the fit is perfect for Chase Brown in this offense, the way he's developed his skill set, really molded his approach to the NFL around what would be best for the Bengals office. I think you should value that,

Starting point is 00:13:05 but ultimately he's a running back. And that makes it extremely hard. But when you put Dax Hill into that equation, I'm still very excited for what Dax Hill can do for this team this year and into the future as a corner. That movement skill set that he has, the physicality that he plays. But the DJ Turner actually doesn't have,

Starting point is 00:13:22 there's a little bit more versatility with Dax Hill. And then the idea of seeing that little slide by to get around blocks and pop back on his feet to tackle guys on screenplays or runs that bounce outside, I can watch that for a few years. That'd be a lot of fun on an aesthetic note, a really fun approach to defeating blocks that Dax Hill brings to bear that I haven't seen from anyone else on the Bengals.

Starting point is 00:13:43 but I think that it kind of boils down to like do something. Rolling over 18, what do we say it is, 18 and a half million dollars. And there will be a few more practice squad players are going to be included here that will lower that number a little bit. It'll probably be closer to 17 million when we account for Josh Johnson and Tanner Hudson and the rest of the practice squad guys that signed yesterday. This only includes the first 11, not the last five. That might be another $1.5 million, $300,000 each or so, depending on how many veterans there are in the mix.

Starting point is 00:14:17 So that number will be a little bit lower. But over the last couple of years, they haven't been in the double digits for rollover. People love to talk about, oh, the Bengals are going to roll over $20 million. So they haven't done that for a while. The last couple of years has been $5 million to $9 million, I think, in rollover.

Starting point is 00:14:33 Those numbers aren't exact. That's a ballpark number. So if I'm slightly off, please forgive me. point is, is this a lot less than what they're set to roll over right now if nothing happens. And they restructured Joe Burrow. And I thought that was something they had to do at the time to make sure they were going to be cap compliant all season long. They have a couple of cuts. So there's a little bit of cap savings with Cody Ford getting cut, for example, not a ton, but a little bit because he left a dead cap hit behind.

Starting point is 00:14:58 But it's a lot of money to not do anything with and to roll over all of that. after you restructure Joe just doesn't really feel like it makes sense. And the Bengals don't always make sense, but getting something done here to be a little bit more efficient with that cap space rolls over either way, I guess. But you can get something from that either for this year or to set yourself up better after this year, because if you don't, then just kind of amplifies the pressure on this year. That's where we started, right? Because if you have Ted Karras and Dax Hill and DJ Turner and Dalton Reisner and Jordan

Starting point is 00:15:33 battle and Andre Yosevash and T.J. Slayton and Drew Sample. These are all starters that I'm going through and Chase Brown and Miles Murphy as free agents next year. And then you get to the backups and Jalen Davis as well, who's going to start for the Bengals this year. Then you get to the backups and it's Andre Yosevash and Kyle Dugger and Samajai Pryne and Jaseer Taylor. And so and DJ Ivy and all this depth that will be free agents next year, starters and depth pieces that are free agents next year. So if you do nothing in terms of extensions or putting more chips in for this year like pick a lane there right yeah then it is quite confusing that they're not going to spend a little bit more of this space maybe not all of it but like another five million to eight million

Starting point is 00:16:14 dollars in cap space this year wouldn't hurt them i don't think too much in the long term and could do something either for this year or to set them up for that future pick a lane is a great way to put it jake i love that because you're right on one hand you're either securing these players for future years and burroughs like let's stop talking about future years right let's worry about this year, so you're not doing that, then spend this money on outside free agents and let's elevate the roster as much as you possibly can. And they're doing neither. So I don't want to be completely negative. I'm going to take it as let's shine some light and be a little positive and say, okay, so over the next week, something's going to happen then, right? It's not going to happen

Starting point is 00:16:53 with DJ Turner based on this report. Jeremy Fowler's been pretty good. So who is it then? Is it Dax now? Step up to the plate. Is it going to be Miles Murphy, bring him back to the table since you and pick up that fifth year option. Is it going to be, like I said, Ted Karras or Drew Sample getting these? I'm almost, you know, I could see it. I could see Drew Sample getting a small extension or Chase Brown. And you know what? Spend the money somehow.

Starting point is 00:17:16 Do something, make some position feel good about themselves or a player feel good about themselves. Give these players something to work towards and for knowing those extensions are there for those B-level players that aren't just the superstars because I think that's where they've struggled. That's the, to me, the lesson from the Jesse Bates thing. The B level players need to be retained. They got too many C level guys, in my opinion,

Starting point is 00:17:37 from that post-Super Bowl era run where they're not good enough. Keep more of the A and B. We can figure out the C&D through the draft. Or is it going to be a Taylor Decker signing? You know, like a big swing at swing tech, probably not. Jonah Williams we talked about. Doesn't feel super. Cam Robinson, you know, the names.

Starting point is 00:17:59 of the tackles haven't changed or is it going to be perhaps a running back three to come in and compete for that job or kick somebody else off the roster. Kenny Moore, yeah, for some slot insurance, especially with the injury to Jaseer Taylor. It's a hamstring, so it's not too severe, but you're right. We shouldn't be too negative about it because we do still think this roster is in a really good place for this year. This is nitpicking, to be clear, but because of the report that DJ Turner isn't going to have an extension, that is not a nitpick.

Starting point is 00:18:29 The nitpick is everything beyond that. Like, why are we floating 8 million extra dollars of cap space? That specifically is the knit we are picking here. And I think it's fair to say because of the way they've approached us offseason, like the pick a lane idea here, they have largely picked a lane here, Joe. They've pushed the chips in for this year. And then there's just this little bit extra that maybe as analysts, we're always looking for that extra thing they can do.

Starting point is 00:18:58 and maybe it isn't always realistic because of skiing fit, because of the players that we think are available, aren't actually available because they're asking for more money than we think they are because of reasons that we don't see. But a lot of times in retrospect, we see moves that happen that we're like, yeah, the Bengals can have made that move. And then some of those work out, some of them don't.

Starting point is 00:19:19 The Bengals are often right when we're not. We're often right when the Bengals are not. And so it goes both ways for sure. and it's just a knit to pick. And that's kind of where we're at here. These last little finishing touches that could happen on the roster. But I do want to get to Joe Burrough's appearance on the new Chasing number one, Jamar Chase podcast.

Starting point is 00:19:42 I thought there were some interesting bits of football conversation there, the managing the play clock bit, especially stood out to me. And we'll talk about the rest of what Joe Burrough said that stood out from the way that he talked about, this football team to finish the show next. College football fans, it's time to put your knowledge to the test with college football pickum from Fandul. Each week you can make 10 free against the spread picks, finish with one of the week's top pick totals, and you can win a share of 500,000 in bonus bets, 500,000 by having

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Starting point is 00:20:39 Be any of them, and you'll unlock a profit boost to use on Fanduel. For me, it's another reason to stay engaged and watch all of Saturday and make 10 picks before kickoff, follow the leaderboard, and hey, see if you can beat some of these big-name people they got you going up against. visit Fandul and download the Fandul app to play college football pickum for free only on Fandul. That's Fandle.com to get started. Joe, I wasn't sure how much we would get on the nitty gritty of football that we'd like to discuss here on lockdown Bengals when Joe Burrow went on Jemar Chase's podcast. And we talked about that earlier this week, launched with Andy Agar. And I assume they've got a bunch of stuff in the can ready to go for the season.

Starting point is 00:21:19 And they were recording that day when Andy Agar was in town in Cincinnati. maybe it's even a few days, but one thing that really stood out to me the most was when Joe Burrow was talking about the way he likes to process at the line of scrimmage. He likes to use all the time he can because he's reading leverages. He's reading safeties. He's reading defensive line keys that for teams will tell him what kind of coverage. He's likely to get behind those defensive tackle alignment. Something as simple is that that we are necessarily going to know even when we're digging

Starting point is 00:21:48 into the film at the level that we dig into the film, Joe, we're not going to know that, you know, against Tampa Bay, Vita Veas and the B gap they're going to play cover two behind it. But Joe Burrow is going to know those sorts of tendencies. And he's trying to get every bit of time he can before the staff to gather that information. And then he's talking about like, yeah, sometimes you guys are slow to line up or sometimes you guys aren't paying attention after repeat things. And it's like, Jamar's like, yeah, that probably pisses you off.

Starting point is 00:22:14 It's like, yeah, it's a little frustrating. Or sometimes like the play call gets in late. And this is something that we've talked about for years. And it's the Bengals getting out of the huddle late and their operational smooth. this and Zach Taylor's talked about that being something like, yeah, we want the operational part to be good. And when you listen to the way that Joe Burrow likes a process of the line of scrimmage, you understand why that's so important at every second so important when you're dealing with a 40 second play clock. Yeah, this is a conversation we have a lot because even when

Starting point is 00:22:41 people say, oh, Zach doesn't run the ball enough. And then we watch the film and you see Burrow changing the play at the line. They even asked Burrow to give an example of a play call. And he said, we a lot of time have two plays called in the huddle. So he rattled off if, you know, the first play and the second play, something he can kill to and go to depending on what the defense is doing. And so that's a lot of times when we talk about play calling, I think coaching and play calling become like the two biggest things for our evaluation for coaches and Zach Taylor for example here.

Starting point is 00:23:12 But sometimes it's the little things there. Sometimes it's getting the personnel in fast, getting the play in fast, enough to let your guy be your guy. If this team is centered around Joe Burrow, if the whole offense is centered around what Burrow does and Burrow does well, well, then it's paramount to get the play in on time and quickly so that he can decipher what the defense is doing, which we all feel very confident that that's what he does best, right?

Starting point is 00:23:38 The Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady level deciphering pre-snap post-snap. Even the play he talked about the Giants, the long run he had. He listened to that. He's like, I could tell what was happening that it was. man on the back end and they had three down linemen on one side and one end and their blitz and the nickel and the detackle didn't get to the B gap. So I knew I had a free lane to run and I figured we're not going to get it. That's how fast his mind goes.

Starting point is 00:24:00 Like he processes at a superhuman level, but you still need to give him time to do that. I would also like to note that he made it sound like to me when I first listened to it. Like he was going to say, I want to use as much time as possible on that play clock so that he can see these things. And then he went to, well, I need the plays in quick. I need the people to run in quick. I need Jamar to run out there as fast as he can to get to a spot so we can see how the defense lines up.

Starting point is 00:24:26 And so even if the play comes in quick, I don't think we're going to see a high-paced offense. I think he's just going to spend more time at the line of scrimmage figuring it out. Yeah, he talked about how often they get into trouble as an offense because he doesn't have time. And they'll run a bad run into a front that he would have checked out of if they had an extra three seconds or he's able to communicate. Also talking about the chemistry that he has with Jamar Chase

Starting point is 00:24:49 because some of these checks with Jamar specifically because they have so much experience together and because they see the game the same way, the advantage that they get out of that is that they don't need to communicate pre-snap sometimes. Sometimes they'll see a coverage. They don't even have to look at each other. They just know this is a coverage just as the adjustment

Starting point is 00:25:07 because they're at that level. I would assume that Joe has some of that with T. Higgins as well. Those guys have been playing together as long as Joe? No, one season less, I guess. than Joe and Jamar played together, right? Because they had two years together at LSU. Yeah. So not exactly the same, but a similar level of experience,

Starting point is 00:25:26 especially at the pro level, right? And they play more games in the NFL, though both guys are why we don't see Myers and Kobe Young and we see Andre getting 800 snaps again. That's part of where I was going. Joe was talking about with new receivers, you have to get their attention and actually communicate with them, whereas with Joe and Jamar,

Starting point is 00:25:43 like Jamar will know to look based on a coverage that he's getting, or know without looking what Joe is thinking. And so I thought that was an interesting little tidbit as well. But as far as using all the clock and getting to the right look, that's something that Burrow sounds like at times a little bit frustrated by, whether it's Zach getting the call in on time, which is something that we've talked about for years. Or, you know, Jamar and Joe were talking about it.

Starting point is 00:26:08 Like, guys not paying attention and Joe having to repeat himself in the huddle from time to time. Not terribly often. I don't think this is like a recurring issue that, It's significant, but when it does happen and you break the huddle later than you wanted to because you took four extra seconds for something that's a wide receiver's responsibility to do with personnel or something like that, then you lose these little advantages. And I just thought it was so interesting how much Joe emphasized like just those four seconds of difference, which is 10% of your play clock and how much of a difference that can make on a given play. think of the times Burroughs really frustrated, either when they have to call a timeout, or think of the couple times where the ref went and stood over the ball, right? And that happens because they're giving the defense the opportunity to change their personnel

Starting point is 00:26:52 because the Bengals changed their personnel late. So when he said, you know, personnel getting on the field quick, a lot of times you see it and we watch it on film, that's one guy. It's Cody Ford running in late to be the jumbo lineman, right? And you're like, okay. Cody Ford catches straight. He's a team. We can use him as an example here.

Starting point is 00:27:08 Lucas Patrick, who you want it to me. But anyways, so the ref goes and stands over the ball. And now the defense is allowed to do their substitution. And remember Burrow, like jumping up and down, freaking out in the back field, like, why are they getting this opportunity to do it? And it's, yeah, because your offense was coming into the field late. Last thing from the show, though, they talked a lot about the vibes for this season, right, and the expectation and how they feel really good about it.

Starting point is 00:27:34 And Joe said, I could feel it in my bones. He's asking, Jamar, did you feel it in your bones? also. And that may seem strange, but they talked about 2019 LSU how they could feel it, how they were like, whoa, everything's just going right for us. All the chips are falling. It's a boulevard of green lights. Like everything looks and feels just awesome that year. And they ended up winning it. And Jamar said, yeah, this year it feels a lot like 2021 also. So these guys have great perspective on what a championship season even starts looking like from the summer on. They've been on it twice, not that they won the Super Bowl in 2021,

Starting point is 00:28:10 AFC championship, fine. Yeah, actually. They know what it takes. They know what it looks like. And for them to say it again right now, they didn't do that in 2023, 24, 25. They're doing that now. And I think that says something at least. And Dexter Lawrence is right at the center of all of it. When they were asked, when Joe was asked, I think, about what he's most excited about this year? What is he most excited to see from all the additions? I mean, he's just like talking about Dexter. He's probably, his hands together talking about Dexter Lawrence. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:28:39 And it seems like those guys have actually gotten a little bit close as well in a short period of time or very close perhaps in a short period of time. This spent a lot of time together. This is pretty widely reported. I think we've talked about it before. But Joe mentioned it again here. It's not just Dexter's leadership. Talked about the defense having that vibe shift overall with the veterans they've brought

Starting point is 00:29:02 in the confidence that has grown on that side of the ball. The fact that they're talking back more. their plays, talking their stuff, something that he's excited about as well. And so hopefully, you know, we've been talking about good vibes it feels like for quite a while now. And those vibes carry into regular season performance. We'll be talking about regular season performances pretty soon. We got a couple more practices this week. We recorded this one before the Wednesday practice.

Starting point is 00:29:25 So if there are notes from that practice or the short walkthrough on Thursday, we'll get those to you for our final episode this week. And then we're into a game week, just like that. Until then, that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Thanks for listening. Good day. And have a good.

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