Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - PRESEASON PERFECTION: Dohnte Meyers and Rookies SHINE as Bengals Finish Undefeated And Healthy

Starting point is 00:00:00 The preseason is over for the Cincinnati Bengals, and it's fair to say mission accomplished. Do I mean that because they went three and oh or because they got out of the preseason with no injuries? Well, I'll leave that up to you. Let's get into the Bengals final preseason game of the 2026s. 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. He's Joe Goodberry. I'm Jake Liscoe. We're your host of a locked on Bengals. And for the first time since 2006, the Bengals go undefeated in the preseason. Of course, there were more preseason games then. The Marvin Lewis led Bengals in 2006, finished four and oh in the preseason. And this year, the Zach Taylor Bengals for the first time in the Zach Taylor era, not only finished with a winning record for the first time, but also for the first.

Starting point is 00:01:05 time since 2006, finished with now defeat your record. But that's not the most important story tonight. And we will get into that. We're going to project the 53-man roster a little bit here at the end of the episode and talk about the toughest decisions facing the Bengals coaches in front office. We're going to talk about the honestly quite impressive preseason from this Bengals rookie class and what we've seen from them in the preseason. That continued on Friday night.

Starting point is 00:01:30 But I want to start with this idea that Dante Myers played in this game, thoroughly dominated for six naps and then left the game after we all tweeted at the same time like okay we don't need to see anymore and then the bengals apparently agreed didn't see any more from dante mares he didn't need to play tonight guys he was impressive again that's awesome that's great the story continues dante meyer said need to play tonight show no he did not and he has kept off a very fun probably the most fun story in a very fun preseason i think for the bengals uh the son where you're talking about a CFL guy, a zero-star recruit, you know, coming out of high school, had to pay for his CFL tryout, $100.

Starting point is 00:02:14 I learned this on the broadcast. And he goes from that to being not just making the roster, Jake, which I think he's a slam dunk now to make the roster, but he should play. He should play minutes on this offense in probably the strongest receiver room in the entire NFL. What a great story, Dante Myers is. And honestly, man, the guy is so quick, runs his route so crisp from the slot, transitions from a runner or receiver to a runner in a flash.

Starting point is 00:02:45 And I think that could be used in a lot of ways after the catch. I think he should play at some point on this team. And hopefully it's week one. He is the latest in a tradition, quite honestly, of Bengals receivers showing out in the preseason, but perhaps with the strongest effort is comparable to what Mitch Tinsley did for this team of the preseason last year before, as you mentioned, before we started recording Joe. So this is a Joe Goodberry point. This one I can't claim by myself, but Ms. Chensley didn't play in that final preseason game last year. And Dante Myers barely played in this final

Starting point is 00:03:18 preseason game this year. So to me, wide receiver four right now backing up two positions in particular. He, I think Troy Walters might have said he can play any position. I don't think he's going to be the first guy off the bench if they need a sub for T on a given play for whatever reason. for what Jemar Chase does, for what they want to do out of the slot, whoever it is that's in the slot on a given play for a lot of the gadget plays that they might want to run. That is a player that you want to put on the field. And that's pretty exciting.

Starting point is 00:03:48 It does make the wide receiver roster math kind of challenging. And we'll talk about that later in the show when we're talking about Mitchell Tinsley again and his status on the bubble after he wasn't bad by any means. But the guys that were fighting for that final wide receiver spot on this team being Kishon Williams, Charlie Jones, and Mitchell Tinsley, were all pretty good in this preseason game, as were the guys I thought that were battling for those final spots on the offensive line. And that is something that we should talk about, Joe. What did you see as you were watching Javon Foster at tackle and Jalen Rivers at tackle?

Starting point is 00:04:22 Jalen Rivers finishes the game at guard, which is a very interesting note that we'll circle back to when we're talking about the 53-man roster projections. but honestly, I thought both of those guys played pretty well at tackle in this game. I thought the offensive line in general played really, really well. They had a great run game performance today. I thought they kept both quarterbacks pretty clean. Josh Johnson had another nice day. Sean Clifford had a good day. Honestly, Jake, can we take a minute and just say, yeah.

Starting point is 00:04:51 Well, no, not Josh Johnson this time, but sure, yeah, fine. But I was going to say, can we take a minute and just, I think we have talked so much about how deep this roster is and the question keeps coming up about is this the deepest roster of the Joe Burrow era or we even had people ask us recently. I think it was on a subtext. Is this the deepest roster the Bengals have had since 2015 or does it surpass that? Can we also think of this coaching staff right now because this backup offensive line not only plays well. They functionally look very good out there. They can get things done in the run game and in past protection. And that's not normal in preseason. If you don't typically watch

Starting point is 00:05:34 preseason or really pay attention to it, it's sloppy. It's bad, especially on the offensive line. The Bengals were not sloppy or bad this preseason at all in all three of these games. Shout out to Scott Peters. Honestly, the receivers were that we're talking about receiver number five, six, seven, eight as guys line. Yeah, Noah Thomas as guys worthy of a roster spot or a practice squad spot. Shout out to Troy Walters. And then to get Sean Clifford and get Josh Johnson to play the way they did. Brad Craig Thorpe take a bow. And meanwhile, it looked like Dan pitcher may be calling plays again there. You know, Ross Tucker mentioned it during the broadcast. If you're watching that one, as they go up to the booth, there's Dan pitcher calling plays. Like the offense was good.

Starting point is 00:06:20 And they scored 30 points again today. And I even think we could extend that to some of the defensive coaches as well. Because I thought the corners had a very strong. from preseason. But, you know, just in terms of offense doesn't typically look like this in preseason. And they were very, very good this summer. And it's not like they're doing anything crazy exotic out there. It's not like Dan pitcher's calling the plays. And because Dan pitcher is calling the plays, he's like, oh, I'm going to show Zach up. Right. Now I'm going to go crazy and call exotic. No, they're like doing some of the same stuff. This is like developmental type coaching when we talk about coaching. And it's like over and over and over. They're

Starting point is 00:06:53 spamming the same stuff. They're not doing anything crazy out there on offense. Also, the one, One guy that I don't think you called out by name, Justin Hill, the running backs coach. We've been waiting to see something from this running backs room all preseason beyond they're hiding it from us. That's why. And for whatever reason, we can't see Jamal Haynes until this final preseason game. Even tonight, according to initial charting that I'm looking at here, he only got nine snaps, carry the ball on most of those nine snaps.

Starting point is 00:07:22 But he only had one carry, one touch in this preseason coming into this game before he had perhaps the best run of the free season in the NFL, certainly the best run, one of the best plays we've seen from the Bengals offense in the preseason period, an electric touchdown run to seal the game as if the result of the game really matters. It does these guys, right? And it was like, should have been a tackle for loss play where he makes a guy missing the backfield cuts back and makes probably five more guys miss without too much hyperbole. I think it was actually in that neighborhood of actually forcing five guys to miss a single play

Starting point is 00:07:54 and takes it to the house. Really good run from him. And Kentrell Bullock, the Bengals other undrafted free agent, also with a very productive night as the Bengals four-minute offense looked really good. Offensive line gets credit for that, as you mentioned earlier. So do the running backs. Yeah, that's it. Like everyone on the offense, even the tight ends, I thought they, you know, I'm thinking

Starting point is 00:08:15 of the preseason as a whole here, right? Like, what position group on offense really didn't perform as expected or better? I would say they all looked good and had their moments. And then, you know, today Kishon Williams having his moment. And great read and protection and change up by, you know, Sean Clifford to get to see what's happening and to check the play and get it, get them into the right protection and right route combination. But then Charlie Jones had a couple catches.

Starting point is 00:08:41 And these are two guys we haven't seen really get the ball thrown their way. So we've been kind of waiting for it because if the Bengals are going to keep that last receiver to be just a return man, and we'll talk about this. cap gymnastics are going to have to figure out if that's what it's going to be it was nice to see the ball get thrown their direction and both guys you know made plays today so have a trivia question for you joe how many targets did charlie jones and quichon millions having this preseason each oh it felt like six i would say oh and that's not each total three each no between the two of them so you think you think three each yeah target this three season

Starting point is 00:09:21 It made probably got four. It doesn't feel like he got a lot. Charlie Jones was third on the team in preseason targets. This doesn't include, no, this doesn't include tonight with 10 targets. He had 10 targets. He only caught four balls. He had 71 yards on those four catches. Kisholm Williams caught seven of his nine targets.

Starting point is 00:09:37 Wow. I am shocked. This free season. It shows how much. I love free season, but it shows how much I'm paying attention. If those guys got 19 targets together, Jake, I'm shocked. Well, it's how much you're feeling them on the field and seeing the plays they make because I kind of noticed

Starting point is 00:09:52 Kisham Williams a little bit more. And maybe some of these are touch passes because he did have either end of rounds or maybe their jet sweeps. Dante Myers catching 11 of his 13 targets for a buck 20. Wow. In this preseason,

Starting point is 00:10:02 very productive when the ball is thrown his way. His yards per route run tonight. He ran six routes, I think, and had like the 57 yards or whatever it was. Whatever the number worked out to, it was eight and a half yards per route run for Dante Myers. The rookies in general, though, had a great preseason.

Starting point is 00:10:18 Joe, let's discuss what we saw from those guys. as they wrapped up their first preseason in the NFL coming up next. Sometimes life is too busy to have dinner ready to go when you need dinner ready to go. And if that's the case for you, because you're covering a Bengals football game and it's past midnight, well, Home Chef is going to take the stress out of meal time by delivering fresh ingredients and easy to follow high-quality recipes right to your door, whether you're looking to eat healthy or save money on, takeout or spend less time grocery shopping and meal planning. Home Chef makes cooking at home simple, convenient, and enjoyable.

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Starting point is 00:11:38 dessert. There are certain flavors that instantly feel like summer. And for a lot of people, those classic red, white and blue freezer pops are right at the top of the list. Sweet cherry, lime, blue raspberry. It's one of those nostalgic summer flavors everybody recognizes. Now, five-hour energy is bringing that flavor combination into a new firework freeze, five-hour energy shot, blending sweet cherry, zesty lime, and electric blue raspberry into one refreshing shot, inspired by those iconic summer freezer pops. And Jake, I can already tell I need a five-hour energy right now. It's probably too late. We're recording this after the game, so it's after midnight, and that'll keep me up for far too long.

Starting point is 00:12:18 So I'll save it for tomorrow when I will definitely need that energy shot. You can ignite your taste buds with the flavor of summer. Get a firework freeze, five-hour energy shot today. For more information, visit five-hour energy.com. Jake, as we were preparing the second segment here, we want to talk about the rookies. And then we started talking about Kentrell Bullock, and we started talking about Jamal Haynes and, man, what a run by Jamal Haynes.

Starting point is 00:12:44 Those are two rookies. And I, you know, I'm looking at the rest of this class. So I was going to save, you know, our talk for them. But then we got a little excited because how can you not talk about that? Jamal Haynes run the rest of the class. I could not take my eyes tonight off of Jack, injuries blocking. And I know he didn't like, like the world on fire receiving this preseason. But man, his blocking was really impressive.

Starting point is 00:13:06 I had at least five plays that I stopped and went back and recorded. I think I only posted a couple of them. But I went back because it was a lot. lot of move blocks, inserting and climbing to the second level, some lead blocks, getting to linebackers. He crushed and drove defenders into the ground at least three times tonight.

Starting point is 00:13:27 I was started thinking, like, if something happens to Eric All, let's, you know, knock on wood. We don't want them to miss any time. We want Eric All to be a big part of this offense. But the next guy I could see playing that role in doing these things. After this, these three games is preseason, man, it might be Jack Endries.

Starting point is 00:13:43 And I think that's how he gets on this roster. It's not so much as receiving. I expect him to get better at those things as he grows. I'm really impressed with the blocking so far. Yeah, it looks like the game's going maybe a little bit fast for him in the receiving game, which is kind of weird. Usually I expect for rookie tight ends for that to be more in the blocking game, but he's looked quite comfortable doing that stuff.

Starting point is 00:14:04 And he had some great blocking tape in college. He has some good receiving tape in college. So you do expect that to come along. Tight end, we've talked a lot about the transition. for tight ends in the NFL, it can take a little bit of time for them to fully understand everything that offenses ask of tight ends in the NFL. But another trivia question for you, Joe, how many targets do you think Jack injuries had in this preseason? Nine. Nine is correct. He caught six of those passes for 43 yards. He was second among

Starting point is 00:14:34 Bengals tight ends in this free season in yards per route run behind only Tanner Hudson, who, by the way, did not dress for the Bengals on Friday night, which is a very, very strong indication that Tanner Hudson is once again on this team. And there's a little bit of a question, I think, about Jack Andrews status on this roster that we'll talk about in our third segment tonight. But I think very strong preseason for entries. He had the fumble. It was bailed out by a penalty a little bit.

Starting point is 00:15:05 I think it was a fumble. We didn't get a replay of it. So maybe there's a chance, the ground, force the fumble kind of thing there. I didn't get to watch that play a second time, Joe, but I thought that he looked reasonable as a receiver, if not necessarily smooth or super comfortable, but he looks like a plus blocker in the role that they had him in as a blocker.

Starting point is 00:15:27 And that's pretty tantalizing as a rookie tight end that has receiving upside that you got in the seventh round. So I'm still excited for him. Really hope he makes a team. We'll talk about that one a little bit more in our third segment. But besides that, It was another strong start for Landon Robinson as I think the fatigue kind of caught up to him. The Bengals only had six defensive linemen up for this game.

Starting point is 00:15:47 It's again, Antoine Pal Ryland playing the entire game kind of thing with Isaiah Foski playing the entire game kind of thing for those guys for the second straight week. Essentially, Cassius Howl not playing once again. But very start of the game, you got a splash play for Landon Robinson, winning as a pass rusher and helping Ticario Davis to log a pass breakup. Ticario later has a great jam eventually gets an interception on that plan and Bacai Lemon drop. So a strong night for those guys. And once again, another really impressive effort from Bobo Ticario Davis getting downhill and tackling when those opportunities were there for him.

Starting point is 00:16:25 And really looking like the kind of corner that's going to be a hitter. And that's been somewhat rare for the Bengals outside of Mike Hilton. No doubt. That's to me, I mean, I thought Ticario was excellent in his, it looked like he played a half, right? He was still out there a little bit late into the second quarter, so I assumed it was a half

Starting point is 00:16:43 because I didn't see him afterwards. But we watched the tape on him. Jake, was that last week? Yeah, because I was on the game he played the Bears game. And he looked really good on tape on balls that weren't thrown his way. Obviously, he had a bunch of tackles,

Starting point is 00:16:54 very physical, forceful tackles last week. He had one again this week. And I thought his two plays on the ball. So he had one pass breakup where he, it's a bench route, I think, maybe a corner route, I have to remember on the release, but Bobo turns his head, makes a play on it at the high point. Mikey Lemon never gets his hands on it.

Starting point is 00:17:16 It's a great effort. It's exactly what Ticario Davis did in college, right? His ball skills, his length, he can disrupt you with a jam as well. The tackling part, we saw it in flashes when we watched this college tape. This looks really good. This is like how Endry's blocking looks really good right now. I'm like, man, these could be assets for you. And again, this is cherry on top of a great preseason for this rookie class that I don't think we've ever seen a Bengals rookie class from pick one to pick seven or however many from, you know, second round to seventh round.

Starting point is 00:17:50 All perform well or have their moments, have their flashes, or confirm what you saw on tape where you're walking away and saying that's exactly who that guy was. That's exactly how he was used in college. They understand it. The vision is clear from top down for personnel to coaching. This is exactly what you should do. And we should, hey, also mention Connor Lou had a couple really nice, like dropping anchor and stonewalling the defensive tackle and pass protection. We mentioned this offensive line looking really good.

Starting point is 00:18:19 Jacob Bayer again, really good. Brian Parker had his moments as well. A couple nice physical finishes to some run blocks, which is great to see. That's what he did in college too. But for Lou, who kind of looked thin to me, I think the first time we saw him in camp, I did not feel that way anymore when he, was really setting up and not letting guys get through him physically. That is nice to see.

Starting point is 00:18:41 Every single pick that we've seen from the Bengals in this preseason looks exciting. And while there's not necessarily that huge college-free agent impact, we do have Dante Myers to show for it. There's a different pathway for him. Jacob Bayer. Very similar avenue. Jacob Bayer, another similar pathway. The Bayer conversation gets really interesting when you start to look at the 53-man

Starting point is 00:19:02 roster decisions because he's buying for one of the final spots. he's been impressive. Every single preseason game has been consistent in that way. And for all of the guys that we're talking about on the bubble of this roster, he has probably been the most consistent among them. It's just that they're so desperate

Starting point is 00:19:19 for tackle depth that it gets a little bit hairy when you're looking at the 53 man roster. But good shout on the offensive line. And Brian Parker once again, I think he bounced back a little bit this week. I did. It was more consistent this week. He was good in the first half last week of left guard looked more comfortable at right guard this week, which is where he wanted to get the work in.

Starting point is 00:19:37 So that's great to see. And with all that said, Joe's, the Bengals have mostly avoided injury in this preseason. And in that way, it has been a great preseason. In that regard, we're talking about depth instead of talking about anything to do with starters. Let's take a look at that 53-man roster projection, shall we? And see how things are piecing themselves together. We'll finish up the show there coming up next. Matt Derry here from the Lockdown Lions podcast. You know, life insurance is one of those things. You don't really think about until you have a reason to.

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Starting point is 00:20:55 Applications may vary. Rates may vary. I have first came away from this preseason game, Joe, thinking, I don't know if anything got easier with these roster decisions. And some of this might have even gotten harder. I mentioned the guys buying for that final wide receiver spot. Kishon Williams looked good. His touchdown was a very impressive play. Charlie Jones had a good day as a returner and also made a couple of catches when the ball came his way.

Starting point is 00:21:23 And Mitch Tinsley had a couple of pretty good catches in this game too and has been the kind of consistent. and solid Mitch Tinsley that he's been throughout the preseason. And it's going to come down. He's capable of one of those guys. And that's pretty tough. And let's take a look at the 53 man that we're thinking about here and where that final cut might be. And if you're watching on YouTube, you can see this.

Starting point is 00:21:46 And we'll read it out to if you're not watching on YouTube, few are pretty simple right now in our opinion. Quarterback is going to be Burrow and Flacco, although Josh Johnson has been fantastic. And if they can get them on the practice squad, that would be excellent. excellent insurance. I think Sean Clifford looks like a good practice squad quarterback as well. Running back, I think, is fairly straightforward as well. And that's going to be your Chase Brown, Samajai P. Ryan, Taj Brooks trio. The tight end, it starts to get interesting. Mike Keseki, Drew Sample, Eric, Al, Tanner Hudson. Those guys are safe. The first three are going to have very

Starting point is 00:22:19 significant roles on this team. And Tanner Hudson didn't dress for that final preseason game. Didn't play. He's on the team. Jack Andrews, we think. is on the team, Joe, but there is a small question there. He's highlighted in yellow here if you're watching on YouTube because I think there is a small question that the Bengals might feel like they need to do something else and maybe we'll feel like they cannot afford to carry five tight ends, but we should also clarify that this is something they've done before. Yeah, last three years, they've had five tight ends at, you know, cut down day and they'll make

Starting point is 00:22:51 some moves and they'll massage it over the course of the season. I think, you know, given the track record of not cutting rookies as well, they're, draft picks that they find a way to have injuries as a developmental guy. He's inactive every week and you just, you roll from there. I think he's shown enough as a blocker to warrant keeping and developing him. Yeah. And going to wide receiver, this also is interesting. It's going to be six guys with the wide receiver spot.

Starting point is 00:23:15 So that isn't as interesting, but it's going to be Jamar, T, Andre, Colby Young is going to make the team. There's no doubt about that. Dante Myers is going to make the team. I don't think there's any doubt about that at this point. If you had a doubt coming into this game, I think it was answered. There's going to be a six. I'm not exactly sure if it will be Charlie Jones,

Starting point is 00:23:33 but that's the way I'm leaning right now, Joe. It seems like this is going to be a return man. Charlie Jones, I think, is still slightly ahead here. I think there's a very strong argument to be made for Keeshawn Williams. As if you did need him to play offense, is that a better fit given what else you have in the wide receiver room? He's the more dynamic, shifty kind of gadgety player. And for that kind of wider seeer mold, you have Jamar, you have Dante Myers,

Starting point is 00:24:02 and Keishon Williams is kind of Dante Myers before Dante Myers came along in many ways. They're very comparable in some ways. And it's also a good return man, but Charlie Jones is a guy that's been a consistent return man for this team as well. That's kind of where I default because of the draft status, because of the tenure for Jones, but I do think it's difficult. And that doesn't even mention Mitch Cinsley. I think we can throw out whatever we believe these players can be

Starting point is 00:24:27 on offense when we're talking about the final wide receiver spot. It has always been a special teams or return man. Even when Pac-Man Jones was the return man, they kept Brandon Tate because he was a safe return man. Even when Bernard Scott was the return man, they kept Juan Cosby as the other return man. It has always been a guy who never plays on offense and will be your return guy, Tab Perry. I mean, we can go that far back because Darren Simmons has been here that long. I think it'll be Charlie Jones.

Starting point is 00:24:55 I think there's, even though we like Kishan, and he has done well in his opportunities. And I thought he replaced Charlie Jones very well last year and made this at least a discussion. I, everything we've got tells us that Charlie is still the number one return man. And he had a big night. He had one nice kick return. I thought he should have probably got more vertical on some part returns tonight. But it is what it is. That's how kind of Charlie has always been.

Starting point is 00:25:20 They trust him. Plus he can hit the home run. I think he's still the last guy. Yeah. wouldn't shock me if that goes another way, but that is the way that I'm leading right now. Also wouldn't shock me entirely if they end up with seven wide receivers. It's not something that I'm projecting today,

Starting point is 00:25:34 but it wouldn't be a shock if they really feel like they can't expose one of these other guys to waivers for whatever reason. There could also be a trade from one of these spots. Maybe they're showcasing Charlie Jones for a trade if you want to get a little conspiratorial about it. It's possible. Make Kosh Brooks yellow in this, Jake, right? Because I feel like we kind of glossed over running back.

Starting point is 00:25:52 He's not good enough to be green if you're watching. watching on YouTube and you can see what these colors are. He should be yellow. They should be exploring that, especially after a fumble today, which we didn't talk about. That's my, you know,

Starting point is 00:26:01 as we move on to the whole line. And wasn't as good in the ways that he was helping himself in preseason week too. But he's hardly played in this preseason too. Like if they had questions there, like why not run him out there for 30 snaps and really get a great look at him and actually see him as a ball carrier? Like you did with Jalen Rivers. Like you did with Javon.

Starting point is 00:26:24 Foster. Yeah. And let's talk about the offensive line. The five starters obviously set in stone, Orlando, Brown, Dillan Fairchild, Ted Karras, Alton Reiser, Amarius Mims, all returning, all still starting. Brian Parker will be the backup guard for this team. Conor Lou will be the backup center for this team. The question is, who is going to be the backup tackle for this team? And the hint that we got on Friday night is that Jaylin Rivers finished the game. And he finished the game at guard. And part of that is that the Bengals didn't have anyone else to play guard. They only have so many interior offensive linemen on the roster. You're not going to play a backup guard and Brian Parker to finish the game. You're not going to play your backup

Starting point is 00:27:03 center and Connor Lou to finish the game, especially coming off injury as he is. Jacob Bayer also finished the game. There's an argument for him to make this roster too, but Jalen Rivers finished the game. Javon Foster did not finish the game. He exited the game only played tackle in this game where Jaylen Rivers moved inside to guard in the second half. And that points suggestively to the idea that Javon Foster is ahead of Jalen Rivers. I think the tape in this game will be the ultimate arbiter on who makes the initial 53. But I say initial 53 and underline that initial word here, Joe, because there's any place that they could be looking externally.

Starting point is 00:27:43 Tage Brooks is one place. You can mention it with RB3. I think that's a bit of a tougher sell to me than offensive. offensive tackle three, which again, right now I'm leaning Javon Foster, but it's kind of for lack of options. Not to take away from him. He's had some steady games. He's shown some growth over this free season, and he was good. He was good on Friday night. Like he had a good performance overall, but if he had to come off the bench for Amarius, for Orlando, that would be scary hours. And he was drafted in the fourth round for those that don't remember. He's a former fourth round

Starting point is 00:28:17 picked, pedigree carries. Maybe the Bengals also had a third or fourth round grade on him, and that's still carrying, right? So they could see that over Jalen Rivers. But if this is a game of keeping good players, the only one I need to keep out of Jalen Rivers, Javon Foster and Jacob Bayer, is Jacob Bayer. I think he's been the best backup on the entire roster this preseason, good in all three games, and I'll figure it out the rest. And that's why like neon signs are pointing, like keep Bayer and find a swing tackle, make a trade, go back into free. agency, whatever you must do, the answer is not on your roster. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:28:50 And if that's a case, then I think we're probably talking about the final cut here being Galen Rivers. It's possible that it's Jack injuries instead. It's possible that it's a surprise somewhere else that we're not anticipating right now. It's possible there's a surprise I are coming that we're not anticipating because like I said, I think they've gotten out of this preseason pretty injury free. And I think that includes from our Stewart, who I still expect will be good to go for the

Starting point is 00:29:14 regular season. On the defensive side of the ball, I think it's much more clear cut right now. We don't really have any questions here, at least as we're projecting it today. Jazeer Taylor didn't play. He's going to be the backup corner to Jalen Davis. So those are your slot corners. Your outside corners are very clearly going to be DJ Turner, Dax Hill, Ticario Davis, and DJ Ivy. Ivy didn't play.

Starting point is 00:29:34 Takario Davis did play deeper into this game than I thought he would, actually. He was not the first corner to depart from this football game. game and Ivy didn't play, but Tari Davis needed the reps, I think, because he didn't play in preseason game number one. And he's battling to be the first outside corner off the bench. I think the other ones that are pretty clear to us, Joe, are your edge rushers, which are going to be Boye, Mafe, Miles Murphy, Cassius, how all insignificant rotational roles from Mar Stewart should enter that conversation if he is healthy, said Johnson, going to be the fifth guy there. I guess he didn't play, right? So I guess he's on the team. I was going to say, maybe you can make an argument there,

Starting point is 00:30:13 but he didn't play. And he's going to be a key special teamer. You want to talk defensive tackles next? Yeah, defense tackles. I think is very simple as well. You got Dexteran Lawrence. You have Jonathan Allen, BJ Hill, T.J. Slayton.

Starting point is 00:30:24 I expect him to keep all four veterans. Chris Jenkins, we didn't see him tonight. That's your sign. He's defensive tackle number five. Landon Robinson played all the way into the very end for the defense. And that means he is clearly behind Chris Jenkins. But this is also the opportunity to get him those reps. I think he makes it as defensive tackle number six.

Starting point is 00:30:44 The only question would be, do they have to keep five linebackers? And then they cut Landon Robinson. I don't think that's happening. I think to get him his reps in preseason, he's likely to be inactive most weeks in the regular season. So at linebacker, you keep four, Barrett Carter, Demetrius Knight, Orrinbergs. And I think Swayze Bozeman, first guy out of the game tonight at linebacker as Joe Jals Harris was inserted next to Shaka Hayward, I think it's clear that Bozeman, who has had an impressive preseason is linebacker number four. Do you know who had the best tackling grave from PFF in the preseason?

Starting point is 00:31:18 It was Swayze Bozeman. Do you know who mistackles for the Bengals at linebacker in the preseason? It was Joe Giles Harris and Shaka Hayward. Yeah. I had a bad allow touchdown in coverage this week. Yeah. So all I care about is tackling for my linebackers, quite frankly, Joe Goodberry, after watching this team last year, that's also somewhat true of safety,

Starting point is 00:31:39 but all the guys vying for safety for have had issues. Is Brian Cook, Jordan Battle going to be your starters in safety? Kyle Dugger is going to be your super sub at safety. A really good backup, I think the Bengals have for both safety spots. And the fourth spot could be Tyson Anderson. This could be a spot that we see a waiver claim. Right now is PJ Jules looking at guys that are currently on the roster. He exited the game first at safety where Yeast, Craig Geist and.

Starting point is 00:32:06 Desjohn Anthony, Russ, Russ, Russ, East. Remember Craig East? Yeah. He was a football player. Yeah, he was. Russ Yeast and Dejohn Anthony played deep into this game. And so the last bit here, specialists, no arguments, Ryan Rico, Evan McPherson, William Wagner, who did have a high snap, assuming it was a nearly fall preseason for them.

Starting point is 00:32:29 Yeah. And it was really well handled by Ryan Rico and Evan McPherson. They end up making the kicks. But if you have a difference from us here, looking at those 53, let us know what that difference is in the comments. And we'll be back with you after the cut down. to 53, a really difficult 48 hours for these coaches, for an office, for players, hard to go out to these guys that do get cut because you can see, especially when you see how deep the roster is this year and you see the number of guys

Starting point is 00:32:53 making plays that are making plays, it does feel harder when you have guys that you're going to have to cut some players here or trade them that are deserving of being on a 53-man roster somewhere in the NFL. And we'll see what those cuts are. We'll be back with you after those cuts on the next episode of lockdown Bengals. Until then, thanks for listening. Houda and have a good one.

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