Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Should the Bengals Swing a BIG TRADE for Minkah Fitzpatrick to Address Safety Need?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Cincinnati Bengals need a safety. Mika Fitzpatrick could get traded. Should the Bengals trade for Mika Fitzpatrick? 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, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day in the number one sports podcast network in the land.

Starting point is 00:00:35 He's James Rapine. I'm Jake Liscoe. We're your hosts of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, bringing you daily Cincinnati Bengals content, analysis, news breakdowns, going all the way back to 2016. Your best place to get all of the information you need to keep up on your Cincinnati Bengals anywhere on the internet. And shout out to all the everydayers out there who make Lockdown Bengals part of their daily routine. Today's episode is brought you by Fandle. You can use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. play your game with Fandall, the official sports betting partner of the NBA.

Starting point is 00:01:09 And today, James, we dive into something that will be fun to speculate on Fandul, I think. And that has to do with where Mika Fitzpatrick will go. Well, he be traded. Well, the dolphins end up just releasing the veteran safety as they try to recoup value. Much in the same way, the Bengals found a trade partner at the last minute when they were ready to release Joe Mixon a few years ago. the Miami Dolphins going through organizational change, releasing a bunch of players. We're also going to touch today on some potential cap cuts or potential free agents that have ties to Bengals' defensive coaches as we're gearing up here for free agency, James, and starting to hone in a little bit on who some of the Bengals' potential targets could be.

Starting point is 00:01:53 But speaking of potential targets, James, let's start with Mika Fitzpatrick. This is a player obviously a little bit infamous in Cincinnati, but, because of his time in Pittsburgh, but a player who between the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers, has been a really good safety throughout his time in the NFL and has played a lot of different roles, has played a lot of deep safety early in his career. And in the last year was more of that Swiss Army knife

Starting point is 00:02:16 playing all over the place kind of safety in Miami. So a very versatile piece who could do a number of different things for a defense. He's still good, even though he's 30 years old, has about 15 and a half million. Is that right? Or is it 16 and a half million on his deal for the acquired. team in 2026 and then no deal after that. So potentially need to negotiate a new deal there, but not a David Mulligot, get a client.

Starting point is 00:02:40 So the Bengals got that going for. So some things that could point to this being something the Bengals should explore. Yeah, first things first. He's still good. He's still good. I wrote about this on Wednesday. And I think that there are a lot of people like, oh, he's washed up. No, no, he's not washed up.

Starting point is 00:02:54 Do you know who he got traded for last year? That Jalen Ramsey guy who had to switch positions after Jamar tossed him. Jalen Ramsey's washed. Mika Fitzpatrick is not washed. The Dolphins won that trade, even though they stuck last year. And so pointing that out just to throw it out there because I think it's important to point out. Two, Jemar Chase has no problem with Minka. And I pulled up a 2024 quote about that.

Starting point is 00:03:16 Obviously, the double bird from that 22 week one game where Jamar Chase played 100 snaps. The Bengals lose because their long snapper gets hurt. Joe's coming off of appendicitis and weighs as much as I do. All of those things were factors. And so I kind of analyzed every step of this because this isn't possibly trading for Jalen Ramsey, a guy that I don't think Jamar likes. This is a guy that I think Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, respect. You pointed out the other element of this. And it's a great point.

Starting point is 00:03:47 He's a Swiss Army knife. He fits. You want Caleb Downs? Fits. Brian Cook can fit. He can fit. He can help you on defense, make your defense better, give you a proven. piece that can do a bunch of different things.

Starting point is 00:04:02 And so are you in on the player? I think that's the first thing in these situations that I look at. Like, is he still good? Are you in on him? The answer is yes, at least for me. Okay, well, you're right about the cost, $15.6 million. There's no guaranteed money on that deal. Of course, he would want some guaranteed money.

Starting point is 00:04:20 He would want an extension because he could either get released or get traded regardless. He's going to want some money on that. And I get it. And you would trade for him with the idea of wanting Minka Fitzpatrick in 2026 and probably 27. And that's where I think it gets interesting is we've spent this offseason, Jake, talking about Caleb Downs and all of these different safety options. We did a mock earlier this week.

Starting point is 00:04:46 And it was, oh, well, could a safety option be there in round two that the Bengals really like? There are a lot of free agent safeties. I'm not sure the market is going to be crazy for Minka, even though he's a big name, still playing well can be that chess piece can play deep for you if you need him to but can move around which i think is valuable because he fits with jordan battle for example like he he fits you can plug in make it fitzpatrick where gino stone was obviously he's going to do different things but i mean from a a strictly play style perspective he can do what you're going to ask him to do i i'm not sure he's going to fetch a ton for the dolphins but he may have a little value and that's where

Starting point is 00:05:24 if you're the bangles you have to weigh is it worth giving a up, even if it's a minor asset, an asset for this guy versus what's out there in free agency. And you have to answer that question before you go all in and make a deal for Mika. Yeah, I think figuring out the extension part of it is there too. Like, what does that actually look like? Mika doesn't turn 30 until November. By the way, he'll be 30 in the 20, 26 season, which is why you might see that it's going to be his age 30 season.

Starting point is 00:05:49 He's currently 29. So you're talking about maybe getting his 29 to 31 seasons. Like he'll be 32, maybe by the end of that deal. keep them for a couple of years. You maybe have to put some money in the third year that at that point the contract is cuttable. How much guaranteed money does he need? Does he need future guarantees? These are questions that the Bengals will have to tackle, of course, and whether or not that fits what they want to do versus what's out there on the safety market. But you said it, James, safety is a pretty deep position in free agency this year. And we talked a little bit with,

Starting point is 00:06:20 earlier this week, we talked a little bit about the free agent class in general. Everyone you talk to who's like, yeah, a free agent class is not very good. And I think the one exception to that is safety. So this could have an impact, like you said, on Mika's market, both if he were to become a free agent or as it relates to the trade cost for Mika Fitzpatrick, because some of you, I'm sure, are wondering what it would cost to acquire Mika Fitzpatrick. And there's a reason that I brought up Joe Mixen a little bit earlier when you have a veteran who's due to get paid, who needs a new deal, who is going to get cut otherwise,

Starting point is 00:06:56 in a talent rich market, right? Safety is a Bengals problem for sure, but less of a problem for the rest of the NFL lately. That seems like there's a ton of talent every year hitting the free agent market at safety. Maybe not every single year, but most years. And this is certainly one of them, not to mention the draft class like you said,

Starting point is 00:07:14 where there's potentially four top 50 guys at safety, three certainly top 50 guys at safety. Could be- And none may be available. The realistic ones might not even be available at 40. I'm just going to say it could be two or three in the in the first 40 picks not necessarily the first 50 picks if you're banking on Emmanuel McNeil Warren or Dylan Thieneman in the second round you know that that's a long way to wait for those guys so you could just go get a veteran who like I said has played all over the place in the NFL multiple different schemes

Starting point is 00:07:46 just just out of curiosity I looked at the miss tackle rate for Minka over the course of his career it's a 12% over the course of his career it was much better the last couple of years. He was in Pittsburgh, and I wonder if Pittsburgh made me, maybe think back to our talk yesterday. Does Pittsburgh have a tackle boss on their roster, coach in their defense? I don't know. Mike McCarthy is a new coach now. So the missed tackle rate did go back up a little bit for McA Fitzpatrick almost 16% in Miami in 2025. Just throwing that out there because it's interesting because of how much we're focused on tackling for this team. But I know you have an idea of potential trade compensation. So what do you think that this could look like for the Bengals? Yeah, I think it isn't as much as people think. And I think that's where if you're saying no to this

Starting point is 00:08:36 and over the past seven minutes, you've been like, there's no way they should go after Minka. Well, you might be thinking fourth round pick or something of that ilk, which makes sense on paper because he's an all pro. It's a three-time all-pro, five-time pro bowler, had that first round draft pedigree has been a really good player, has been a Bengals rival. I don't think it's going to take that much, Jake. In fact, you may be surprised at how little I think it takes because he's a true cut candidate

Starting point is 00:09:05 because of that guaranteed money. I'll give you my trade proposal coming up next. Today's show is brought you by Fandul. Fandle is a one-stop shop for all things, sports, and have you ever wanted to experience the NBA finals in person? Of course, you do. I know I do. I haven't. I've been to an Eastern Conference Finals game. Check that off my bucket list last year.

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Starting point is 00:10:01 Use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for a chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. Play your game with Fandall, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Jake, I don't think it's going to take a ton to get Minka. I really don't. I think he's a prime cut candidate, and this is going to be a theme of the show from a cut candidate standpoint. I think he's someone that makes the Bengals better.

Starting point is 00:10:23 And so if I'm the Bengals, what I would do is I would offer a pick swap and see if you can get him that way because you are going to have to give him a new contract, which a lot of teams aren't going to be jumping at doing. He's probably, honestly, I think he would love the idea of coming to Cincinnati, love the idea of playing for the Bengals. As weird as it was when he was in Pittsburgh, I bet he's like Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase T. Higgins, let me go to Cincinnati and be part of the face, part of the fix of a defense that desperately needs an infusion of. talent. So I would offer Miami a pick swap. The Bengals have two sixth rounders. They obviously moved back from round five to round six and the Joe Flacco deal. I would start with the lower sixth rounder, 18th overall in the sixth round and say, hey, we want your seventh Miami, which is, I believe, the 11th pick of the seventh round, move back 25-ish picks from the sixth round of the seventh round. Let's do that. We'll take on Minka. They may bulk at that. They may laugh at

Starting point is 00:11:19 you. Fine. I don't think they're going to have a ton of suitors. And so they can try to hype it up and do all of those things, I would be willing to go the early sixth round pick that the Bengals have, which I believe is eighth in the sixth round, back to 11th and the seventh round. So now a whole round with far more value there, I'd probably still be willing to do that to secure Minkett Fitzpatrick. And in the other element of why is, like, this doesn't take you out of the Caleb down sweepstakes, but it does give you a proven guy that can bring some stability and some attitude

Starting point is 00:11:51 and a mindset shift in a defense that I think we would both agree needs that. Yeah, I think important point there about not eliminating drafting Caleb Downs at number 10, even if they were to trade for Mika Fitzpatrick. That should not remove the possibility of drafting a potential elite player at the 10th pick just because they played the same position. You could, in fact, get Mika Fitzpatrick, Caleb Downs, and Jordan Battle on the field at the same time if you're worried about Jordan Battles playing time. And if that's something the Bengals are worried about, there is a package for all three of those guys through the versatility and the way you can use Nicky Fitzpatrick and Caleb does.

Starting point is 00:12:27 Both of those guys, I think, highly versatile players that can do a lot of different roles for you on defense. Neither of them are Nickyman Worry, neither of them are that 220 pound overhang kind of defender. And Kyle Lewis is a guy that I'm going to bring up again sometime between now and the draft talking about that role in the NFL because that's just like stuck in my head at this point. But yeah, should not prevent you from drafting Caleb Downs. If that's something that you're worried about out there, like Caleb Downs might be the best player available to them at 10. What if they side or trade for Minka and now they don't want to draft him? Shouldn't be the case.

Starting point is 00:13:02 They should still be open to that. Now, might that push them in another direction? It could. But then it's maybe pushing them toward, say, one of the great corner prospects in this class. And I know there's probably some groaning when I say that from from our audience, James. but if you can get a really good corner at number 10, that's because you put yourself in position where you can draft BPA. And that's also a good thing to do in cornerback,

Starting point is 00:13:30 obviously a very valuable position. I wanted to throw this at you. Yeah. Talking about a pick swap. What if it just straight up took the Bengals early sixth round pick? And it just straight up, we're going to send you, we're asking for the eighth pick and the six round straight up.

Starting point is 00:13:46 I would, I don't know if the. Bengals would consider that. I would consider it. Here's what I would consider it based on, though. I would want to talk to Minka and make sure a deal was, was implaus. The pick swap part, like, you're like, all right, well, we'll work it out. We'll get that done. I think once you're talking about a full pick, would I do it? I would. But I'm a, I want to be aggressive because to your point, you need to open up that 10th pick. It can't be draft night. Oh my God, Caleb Downs better be there. And if not, do they trade down and take Dylan Dineman or do they take a McNeil Warren?

Starting point is 00:14:21 Like, do they do that? Like, my goodness, I don't want to be thinking about this glaring linebacker need like we were last year, this glaring void in the back end of the secondary. And he fits with everybody. I just, I think that that's such a, an interesting way to go about remaking your defense because of his fit and stuff. So yes, I would. I would absolutely do that.

Starting point is 00:14:45 I play hardball down to the wire. Of course, you know that damn well I would because I wouldn't want to give up that full pick. But if I really had to and I had a deal worked out, maybe it's just a one-year extension on top of this with some guaranteed money next year where you know, you're going to keep them around. Maybe it's two more years on top of this year. I don't know exactly what it would look like. Three years, 40 would be nice if you'd be willing to do that and then basically secure him

Starting point is 00:15:09 for the next two years with a third year, kind of an option year. We'll see. But there are a lot of ways you could do it. Long story short, yes, I would probably do that deal. I was trying to check on his average annual. So his current contract's average annual, which is a pretty short contract. It's one, it looks like restructured year and then this year's salary, 16 and a half. So even if it were to cost something similar, say 16 million for three years,

Starting point is 00:15:35 60 million per year for three years, something the Bengals should consider. I do think it is important to have the deal worked out before the trade for cap implications. And of course, this depends on the timing. of the move, like is this something that's happening after free agency? Is this something that probably not? Miami probably wants to figure this out before free agency so they can clear the cap space, which is relatively minimal. If they do a pre-June 1, if they do a post-June 1 move, they can free up a lot more space.

Starting point is 00:16:01 But after June 1, what's the purpose of cap space at that point? There aren't a ton of uses for cap space by the time June rolls around. So the timing is probably before free agency, right? beginning of free agency if they want to make that cut. And so if that's the case, then you want to make sure from a timing point of view so that you have the maximum cap resources to tackle free agency. And of course, they always had the restructure in the back pocket that we've talked about before for Joe Burrow that would free up cap dollars but not cost Joe Burrow any cash.

Starting point is 00:16:31 You probably want to have the deal worked out ahead of time. That's all from a time. Yeah. Oh, for sure. And honestly, I would do it where you lower that cap hit this year. Right. Just a ton. or at least $8 million, you know, like at least half of it.

Starting point is 00:16:48 And the thing is, Minka hasn't won a damn thing. So he's going to want to come in here. Like I think you could easily get him to be like, yeah, I'm going to be that dude on the back end. And it feel, I don't know, I could totally, let me get 10 minutes with Minka. Bengals work out the deal. I bet he'd be fully about it and I've never talked to him in my life. But I just, I think it would be a really interesting way to go about it. and still not prevent you.

Starting point is 00:17:13 Because like if they if they signed Brian Cook, they may the Bengals may completely rule out a safety at 10, right? Their safety of the first two rounds, the Bengals. But with Minka, he's going to be 30. Like I don't think it completely rules that out. And I think that that's like for them. But it also gives them a higher, certainly a higher floor on the back end and another weapon that Al Golden can use.

Starting point is 00:17:40 And just so many slot snaps. in his career for Mika. Like, that's a guy that you feel pretty good about if he has to go take slot snaps and be that versatile slot defender that is all the rage in the NFL right now. James, there are some ties to former coaches. Speaking of cut candidates, speaking of some free agents out there that we want to explore. So we'll say on the cut theme and we'll talk about some former players for Bengals' position coaches that could be available this offseason coming up next.

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Starting point is 00:19:16 Kenny Clark, who was part of the trade for Micah Parsons from the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys now being discussed as a cap cut for the Dallas Cowboys. And up in Green Bay, Rishon Gary being discussed as a potential cap cut. And in particular, Kenny Clark very closely tied to Jerry Montgomery. Montgomery credited for the development of Kenny Clark. Roshan Gary obviously played for the defensive line in Green Bay when Jerry Montgomery was coaching up there. But I think Green Bay did have a split in responsibilities between Jerry Montgomery

Starting point is 00:19:48 and an edge rusher coach. So less of a direct tie there, but obviously they were in the same building. They'd be very familiar with one another. I actually surprised myself with my reaction to the potential of Rishon Gary in particular becoming available, James. And I was a little bit skeptical, was a little hesitant to jump on that train. There's been a little bit of a decline for Gary in the last couple of years. what was your initial thought when you thought about the idea of potentially chasing cap cuts

Starting point is 00:20:18 and Rishon, Gary, and Kenny Clark this offseason, if they get. I, yeah, well, first things first, I agree. I would prioritize Kenny Clark. I think it's harder to find. I think he would come in. I think he would make an impact and make a difference. The Jerry Montgomery tie makes sense. Unlike the Minka situation, I look at Kenny Clark's contract, and I just, I think they're going to cut him,

Starting point is 00:20:39 given what they've committed to a couple of pieces. Obviously, they traded for Quino Williams. Adigizua, they extended last year. And that's a really good contract, by the way, that the Cowboys got for O'DiZua. He should have got to free agency instead. Mistake on his part. But regardless, I think I at least forced them to tag him.

Starting point is 00:21:00 Anyways, it doesn't matter. I think that these situations are different from Minka because of that. And both could get cut. both probably will get cut. And it's a lot of the stuff I mentioned with Minka. You're a veteran. You want to win. Neither guy has a Super Bowl ring.

Starting point is 00:21:21 And if you're Kenny Clark, that's what you're thinking about. If you could come here and be a part of that with someone you know and Jerry Montgomery that helped get you there to Green Bay. Why wouldn't you? Same thing goes for Gary. So I don't think Gary necessarily solves it,

Starting point is 00:21:36 but could he come in and help? I would be open to it, but certainly would be pushing for Clark. If I had to prioritize these guys, you get a guy like Kenny Clark, you get a guy like Minka Fitzpatrick, and you really raise the floor of a defense in two spots that were lacking last season. Yeah, I wonder what they would cost if they were to be cut. Like, Kenny Clark is still good. He's not what he once was, but he's probably better than BJ Hill,

Starting point is 00:22:05 who is, you know, solid for the Bengals last year. it costs 15 million for a couple of years per year. Would it cost 12 million? Would it cost 20 million? I wonder what the cost would be. The one upside here for living in realistic terms is that if the Bengals do let Trey Hendrickson walk and either of these guys get cut, like these are the kind of impact players that if they are cut by other teams, you would want the Bengals to explore in terms of the compensatory pick formula, which again, I know you hate it, James. I know you don't want to talk about it. But if you get to that point and you could get to that point. These are things that could be impactful moves that you could make if they

Starting point is 00:22:42 were to become available. Kenny Clark, of course, is going to be turning 31 and 26. It's apparently straight cap savings for the Cowboys to cut him of $21 million, according to over the cap. So big cap and cash savings for the Cowboys in terms of their incentive to move on there as far as whether or not they think they're still a need there. But Kenny Clark would certainly be a veteran piece that could help this team. That could be a big part of your rotation and a floor raiser for the interior of the defensive line. I don't think you're getting that ceiling at this point

Starting point is 00:23:19 with Kenny Clark. Maybe you get one resurgent year. It's been a while since he was like that dude in terms of a centerpiece of a defense, but certainly still a very quality role player that could, like I said, raise a floor of your interior defensive line, which is a place that I think they would,

Starting point is 00:23:37 benefit from such an injection of talent. I just wonder what the cost would be. That's my big question with Kenny Clark. Like, is that actually worth the money, depending on what the money is? Yeah, two for 20. Yeah. And then you're talking about like a pretty similar contract to BJ Hill. I think a player that like we talked about like I think maybe like BJ Hill plus a little

Starting point is 00:23:58 bit like some similarities in terms of the quality of play there. So that seems like a reasonable way to go. If you have a couple of guys like BJ Hill, that's a pretty good little rotation that you can put together. Exactly. And then if whoever's available in the defensive tackle room and you're like, oh, well, we got to take this guy at 10. Great. If not, you go edge, great. But you've plugged these weaknesses with guys that that make sense. Because how many interior guys in free agency are you like, oh, well, the Bengals should be all in on getting this guy? Like, there's just not a lot. Like, John Franklin Myers, like I'm sure you would want him.

Starting point is 00:24:36 What how many other guys are there? Like there's just not many. And so yeah, Logan Hall is the one that stands out. It's going to be the one that we talk about the most as a young player second contract, descending, pass rushing chops. Like that's probably going to be the guy we talk about the most at defensive tackle. And in the, he's interested in IBM.

Starting point is 00:24:55 But I just think the Montgomery connection and everything that. Raising the floor. That's it. You need some. floor raisers and that would do it and you're right it wouldn't count against the compensatory pick formula i hate that i'm here but you but if you can add pieces and and do that and they don't necessarily count against the compensatory pick formula well uh that would go a long way so yeah i i would love it's patrick and i would love to to certainly bolster the defensive tackle room with

Starting point is 00:25:26 clerk i'm not opposed to rshaun garry either no he's going to be 29 next year he has two years left on his deal. So if he gets cut, obviously you're working with a new deal. He would be missing out on about $20 million in cash in 2026 and $22.5 million in 2027. So it combined $40 million, $41 million left on that deal with Green Bay. So I imagine he'd be looking to recoup a lot of that money if he were to become a free agent if he were cut and we're seeking a new contract. So if you're talking $20 million a year for Sean Gary, maybe that's a little bit more than you'd want to pay. But he would certainly be a guy that is Miles Murphy plus. Now, you talk about drawing comparisons to Bengals players. And if we're talking Kenny Clark and BJ Hill is somewhat comparable players where Kenny Clark,

Starting point is 00:26:12 I mean, they're different players, but just in terms of overall quality, just as a heuristic, like something real easy to understand, if for Sean Gary is a Miles Murphy plus, which is always what we hoped Miles Murphy would be, like follow that path where you can become a plus pass rusher and use your immense physical tools to be a good run defender. Congaree 6527. Having a couple guys like that and having a veteran and experienced player like that, I'm not opposed to that either, but I do, again, I wonder what the cost would be. And if it's reasonable, I think that you should be interested there.

Starting point is 00:26:46 But if it gets to be, you know, 20 plus million, I think that you could probably spend that money a little bit better on somebody younger. No doubt. No doubt about it. And that's that's the dilemma. Like it would basically be OSI, like he would kind of potentially. potentially take Osai's spot. I say that in quotes. He's not coming in and going to be your tray, just to be clear. And I'm not sure the Bengals are going to be able to do that. They may have to

Starting point is 00:27:09 win with a real rotation here where they have a day one or day two edge and Shamar Stewart and Rashan Gary in this example. And obviously Miles Murphy. So we'll see. But I think we're pointing out three guys that either you have a connection with or could acquire without giving up much capital in Minkas situation or in these other two situations, potential cap casualties, and you have that relationship. And that's, it just, it really is valuable. It could help. And the Bengals need to be a destination again.

Starting point is 00:27:43 And they can't worry as much about age and free agency if we think Kenny Clark's going to be good this year. And he should be good this year. Minka should be good this year. Rashid and Gary should be able to help you this year. Well, they just did it with B.J. Hill, too. I know he's one of their own guys, but I mean, we're talking about established players at this point. Should they be doing it with Trey?

Starting point is 00:28:04 Well, yeah, they should have gotten it done with Trey too. Speaking of familiarity in former Saints, just to wrap up here, a couple of linebackers that are set to be free agents this year. DeMario Davis and Davidson and Caden Ellis most recently played with the Falcons. DeMario Davis, obviously, has been with the Saints the whole time. Both of those guys set to be free agents this year, I think both of those guys. I mean, 37 and 31 years old, DeMario Davis 37, Caden Ellis 31, both of those guys make a whole lot of sense to me if you're looking for the veteran piece to add to the linebacker group. And again, talking about familiarity, the familiarity with the Bengals linebacker coach,

Starting point is 00:28:44 Mike Hodges, who was a linebacker's coach in New Orleans from 2020 until he came to coach with the Cincinnati Bengals. Those are some other guys that wouldn't be surprising at all if the Bengals are interested in. I don't know if we've talked about DeMario Davis in more than passing on this podcast before. but Caden Ellis also a former saint before he got his break and became a full time start up at the Falcons. Shout out to Joe Goodberry for pointing out the Mike Hodges connection there. A couple of guys that could be interesting targets for the Bengals at linebacker, among others, but just on the theme of players that have connections to the Bengals coaching staff wanted

Starting point is 00:29:16 to bring those guys up. Yeah. And man, that's another guy. Ellis obviously under the radar, not someone we've talked about to Mario Davis. I think a lot of people have put that connection together. And it's like, I know we're covering a lot of these oldies, but sometimes the oldies can be goodies. And DiMario is in that scenario.

Starting point is 00:29:33 He's still playing well. And I'm interested for the right, the right, I just wonder if the Bengals would be like, man, he's, he's older than James or Pene. There's no way we're going to, we're going to go after him. I don't know. But I certainly will love to have a guy in a locker room. How old was Josh Binds when they signed him? Is he still late 20s?

Starting point is 00:29:54 Oh, yeah. I mean, not even close. I mean, nobody's close to 37 in the NFL period. I'm close to 37. I am 37. Nobody's close to 37 in the NFL. Josh Binds is 36 now. When did he play for the bankals?

Starting point is 00:30:07 2020. Yeah, I mean, I knew he's an old guy. He's my age. That was his age 31 season. And then he played for Baltimore for two years. Okay. So age 31 season, though, right? So there's your Caden Ellis comp.

Starting point is 00:30:19 Caden Ellis 31 this year. They're obviously younger guys out there. We'll probably talk about Devin Bush. We're probably going to talk about Leo. and all again. We're probably going to talk about Devin Lloyd as the fantasy. We're probably going to talk about Nacobobey Dean. But there's a bunch of older linebackers this year that can be solid stabilizing, get you in the right place players like Bobby Wagner, Levanté, David, a couple of the other late 30s guys that have been doing it at a high level in the NFL for a really

Starting point is 00:30:44 long time that I think the Bengals should be interested in this year because that's what you need a linebacker this year. You need that guy who's going to be able to bring these young guys along and be a solid player in the process. And I think all that. all these guys are still solid players. Yeah, I think you need better than 20, 20, Josh Binds. Like I get the comp. You need better than that because your goals are much bigger than that.

Starting point is 00:31:05 But there are similarities for sure. Yeah. Let's wrap up there for today's episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Until next time, thanks for listening. Ho day and have a good one.

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