Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - SHOWTIME: Bengals CONFIRM Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, Dexter Lawrence For Preseason DEBUT

Starting point is 00:00:00 The bumps and bruises are piling up for the Cincinnati Bengals in training camp. Luckily, nothing major, but the stars will play against Detroit on Thursday night. 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 Liscoe. We're your host of Lockdown Bengals discussing some news about the Bengals

Starting point is 00:00:34 first preseason game, who we expect to see. We're not going to get into a full preview today of what we're going to be watching for and what we hope to see that will be tomorrow. But today we're going to talk about the training camp practice that was forced inside by inclement weather in Cincinnati as a pretty severe looking storm shelf rolled through the area. And what Zach Taylor had to say is he's priming reporters and fans for what to expect from the Bengals in the first preseason game, which will include Joe Burrow, Marr Chase, Dexter Lawrence, all the big stars as Zach Taylor is priming fans to see some of the

Starting point is 00:01:12 really exciting players that will be part of this team this year. Feels like that's the real selling point. He circled back to that a couple of times during his press conference after the practice today of, yeah, there's going to be some players missing from this game. We know some players are out. We'll get to the whole names of everyone that didn't participate today and someone, a few players we haven't seen in a couple of days like Jayland Davis. But Zach wanted to really assure that, hey, if you're coming to this game to watch preseason football, at the very least, you'll see the stars.

Starting point is 00:01:42 You'll see Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, and Dexter Lawrence. And, you know, I get it because it's preseason and you got to sell something. But, you know, I hope that there's no pressure to play these guys because of tickets or anything like that. That was my first thought. The other thought was they were going to play anyways. And even he admitted it's hard to tell if playing in the preseason has had any impact last year to their start. to the season because it's all things that you really can't verify, right? You're just hoping for the best. Yeah. And when you look at the correlations between preseason production and regular

Starting point is 00:02:14 season production, preseason records, regular season records, it doesn't really exist. This is a conversation I've actually had with my dad over the years. He's like, well, they're 0 and 3 in the preseason. Don't you think that's bad for the regular? And then I went and looked at, you know, the past few years of preseason champions. And there's really not a significant correlation with the regular season. We looked at the tackling numbers for the linebackers yesterday in the preseason. That didn't hold off in the regular season because you are dealing with really small sample sizes for most of these players. Most players aren't getting to even a hundred snaps in the preseason and those that do generally aren't playing a lot in the regular season. They're

Starting point is 00:02:53 probably on practice squads or bouncing from team to team on waivers because that's the way the NFL works. But the Bengals will play their starters. This is something that Joe Burrow really likes. I think is something that Joe Burrow has been advocating for for years. This is something that we know about him. He likes to go out there and feel the game move at a game like speed. And people always talk about the difference in practice speed versus preseason game speed versus regular season game speed versus playoff game speed. And I do think that there's something to that.

Starting point is 00:03:22 I think it's a little bit different in each of those spots. And obviously the level of competition the Lions will be presenting won't be very high because the Lions are so injured. they're missing starters in the first place and they're also not planning to play most starters. There might be some guys that are in competitions that we'll see some of for the lions. But that should mean the Bengals should be able to go out there and have a little bit of fun on offense and maybe score quick touchdown. Maybe six, seven plays get in the end zone. Get off the field because I assume that most of the starters on the offensive side of the ball will play.

Starting point is 00:03:58 The exception to that might only be Eric All if you consider him. to be a starter. He is someone that explicitly will be held out of the game in addition to Connor Lou, not due to any particular injury or concern, but because they're just easing those guys back in. And you might see them later in the preseason per Taylor in his presser on Tuesday, but they will not be playing in preseason game number one. And Conner, it was important here because we also have a note that he was taking reps with the starters as Ted Carus was held out. Sounds like a veteran day. You know, there's a few of that. We've seen that with Jonathan Allen. We've seen that with Dexter Lawrence. Other guys that were out today

Starting point is 00:04:34 were Brian Cook. We know he's dealing with something. We're assuming it's a hamstring. Cassius Howell, which was a new one. And Zach kind of mentioned it was something their day to day with and just want to see how he responds before committing to whether or not he would play on Thursday night. But of course, Dax Hill's been out as well with that hamstring. Ticario Bobo Davis. We're going to try and call him Bobo, just like the team is calling him. He was going out for practice it looked like doing individual stuff and position stuff. Next thing you know, we get an update. He's on the sideline with his jersey off.

Starting point is 00:05:05 We didn't get an update on that. We'll have to see. And of course, BJ Hill and Shamar Stewart weren't available either. And while you were talking, Jake, I was thinking, this may be the only game we get in the preseason where the starters play or Joe Burrell plays because you have that joint practice coming up with the bears. That may simulate some game action and in a controlled environment, right, where they can't hit the quarterback, that may take place of the number two game.

Starting point is 00:05:32 And then by week three, preseason game, which is pretty much replaced that last preseason game where almost nobody ever played, I wonder if this is all we're going to see. So if you wanted to see Joe Burrow in action and the stars, I guess this is the game to do it. Depends on how the joint practice goes, perhaps. I wouldn't be shocked if we see the starters for another drive or two in preseason game number two. I think they played two games last year, right? they did play in that second game as well.

Starting point is 00:05:59 Am I remembering that correctly? I only remember the commander's game out of all the games, to be honest with you. I remember him playing in that and then I do not. Because they played a lot in that game because remember it took them a while to get going. The offense wasn't, you know, clicking right away. Burrow had to scramble around, make some plays. He got sacked on a play. But he ended up throwing a touchdown to Charlie Jones because the backup started getting in there.

Starting point is 00:06:21 Mitch Tinsley was getting rotated in before we knew who Mitch Tinsley was. So I remember specifically that game, but I do not even remember who they played in the following two. And that was actually preseason game two. Preseason game one was against Philadelphia. And the starters played 16 plays against Philadelphia. And so they didn't play. Nice back shoulder play to Jemar Chase on the left side line. That's right.

Starting point is 00:06:44 I remember this. Tanner Hudson caught a touchdown. In week two, the starters played 28 snaps. So they played longer against Washington and preseason week two. Preseason week three against Indianapolis. Like you said, like that's the old preseason game for where it's the guys battling for practice squad spots, the guys battling for that 50 second, 53rd roster spot. And I mean, even guys like Jermaine Burton, Jalen Rivers hardly played in that game. They were really trying to get to see, for example, a lot of Andrew Coker, Jackson Kirkland played 60 snaps each.

Starting point is 00:07:14 Caleb Etienne played 40 snaps. Tannerick-Lachlan played 46 snaps. So like Desmond Ritter, that was a Desmond Ritter game played 42 snaps in that game. So that's what you probably expect in three. But last year they did play their starters to the most significant degree in preseason game two. So thinking about the way they used to do it in four preseason game schedules was the first game hardly played all, maybe a series. Second game, a quarter, third game a half, fourth game, not at all. And that first game is gone.

Starting point is 00:07:48 So you're kind of seeing a hybridization there where maybe the first game is just a drive or two. Second game maybe is a quarter. and we'll see what the Bengals plans are because like you said, the big difference this year is that they do have that joint practice with the bears. And I wonder then how much they feel compelled to play their starters. I imagine there will be some dialogue between Zach Taylor and Ben Johnson about this and they'll try to feel each other out and see what they think is useful. And that often does occur.

Starting point is 00:08:13 I think it's rarer to see something like this or I think it was the same because Philly last year where you don't see any starters on one side and you have starters on the other side. And Zach did call this preseason game coming up on Thursday night that it would be a limited series for starters. And what does that mean? It probably is depending on how that first drive goes. If they go three and out, like Joe Burroughs going to want to go back out there and redeem himself, right? So I think there is a little bit of that where he can't be, he can't declare exactly what's going to happen because how can you? But on the other hand, he probably wants to control it, limit it, get in, get out, and be as clean as possible with something he kept harping on.

Starting point is 00:08:52 He said we're past installs right now. Now there shouldn't be the mistakes with the starters. We should be clean. We should be executing at a high level talking about the operation should be clean. I think that's a real big point of emphasis for Zach Taylor. Yeah, because they're doing like a game plany install kind of thing instead of the wide open. Here's everything that we might do this season install. It's a limited selection of things.

Starting point is 00:09:14 And when you have veterans out there, that was a big point of emphasis. It was like, for the guys that you're not evaluating, you don't need to see anything from Joe Burge, Marcee, C. Higgins in these games, you don't need to see how they're playing against the lion's backups. It's not going to change anything for you in the regular season, but he does want to see the veterans go out there and have a clean set of plays, no delay of games, no false starts, especially because you're at home. Can't have that. And you want to get through your operation clean in the first preseason game with all the veterans you've got out there. Cassius Howell is an interesting one, Joe, that you mentioned. Zach Taylor called him

Starting point is 00:09:51 day to day. Hopefully we get to see him because that's one of the guys were most excited to see, but we will be talking more about that a little bit on tomorrow's shows. We're talking about what we're hoping to see. And coming up next to Bengals, it did in fact have a practice. Didn't do a whole lot. Some under center issues have persisted for this Bengals offense that showed up again today in the Bengals indoor facility. So we'll discuss the practice that occurred on Tuesday

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Starting point is 00:11:39 We did get one other update before we talk about some of these practice reps that we saw today is that Jalen Davis, we've wondered where he is because we've seen a lot of Jaseer Taylor. We've seen a little bit of Brailin-Lust. getting mixed in as well. Zach, complimentary of both guys, saying both guys fit in really well and have progressed well talking about Lux, you know, from year one to year two. But Jaylon Davis, we've missed them the last few practices.

Starting point is 00:12:02 And we just assumed he's dealing with something. Zach made it sound like it was day to day as well. And they just don't want to push it. They're kind of treating him like he's a starter, right, Jake? That's the feeling you get when these guys are, okay, you tweet something. You're not really fighting for a job. We're not worried about it right now. Take the rest.

Starting point is 00:12:18 Let's make sure we have you from the brief. real game start. So it was today with no Dax, no Brian Cook, limited action for DJ Turner, felt like they were just putting him through the paces and then saying, listen, we're not going to push you in this practice. Let's let all the backups go out there because there was other guys like Jonathan Allen that, you know, didn't participate once they got there out there in 11 on 11th. So it was all backups plus no Ticario Davis. I mean, you would think the offense would have their way today. There were some big plays for the defense as well. Jordan battle with a deep interception. And this is again, we're going to talk about a couple of plays here under center play

Starting point is 00:12:53 action. And Burrow goes for the single, against the single high safety. Jamar Chase is open deep, maybe lays it a little bit too much inside inside the hashes. And this is the look you want. We talked about this all off season. Why go under center more? Why use the play action? Because you want to get the explosive plays downfield. You want to get rid of the two high shell safeties looks that you're getting. And they got it. They got Jordan Battle in the middle of field and he made a nice play on a deep ball that I thought was laid in a little bit too inside. I wonder where the ball was meant to be if it wasn't meant to be where it was because Jamar is clearly inside the corner's leverage there, which I assume the corner, I think

Starting point is 00:13:31 Josh Newton on that play is giving Jamar because he knows that Jordan Battle is shading that way. I mean, it almost looks like Jordan Battle is cheating it a little bit, like as soon as Joe Burrow comes out of the play action fake and says to throw battles on his horse. and breaking toward the throw. And it's a really good play for Jordan Battle. Don't get me wrong. But I'm not sure what the target is meant to be there for Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase. Probably just an ill-advised throw, probably just trying to see what he can fit in there against that look.

Starting point is 00:14:05 Maybe just a lesson learned there. It is cutting across the middle. So I wondered if they wanted battle to bite it just a little bit to see if that pass is going over the middle. But he doesn't at all. He's on it. And they kept guys in for protection on that play, right? Yeah. So only a couple of guys out running routes on that play, Cam Grandy and on that play, which is a noteworthy topic as well.

Starting point is 00:14:25 But the players on the field for that Bengals defense, I mean, we saw a lot of Landon Robinson with the ones today because BJ Hill is working on the rehab field. Jonathan Allen was off today. Dexter Lawrence was off today. We saw Connor loose napping to Joe Burrow for the first time in training camp as Ted Karras got an off day today. So a lot of veterans not out there today, but you mentioned earlier, like none of the corners are out there. So they're down to Josh Newton, I think was covering on that one. Gray and Lux is because Takario Davis, Bobo Davis isn't even out there.

Starting point is 00:14:59 So you're down your top four corners and you're still producing an interception on defense. At that point, you know, that's one play in a practice. I'm not going to make a big deal out of it. But if that is like the trend, if we see the offense go out there and this is where the offense maybe plays two drives in this first game, right? The first drive, they're just trying to do the under center stuff. They're like, you know what, we got to rep this at a game against a live defense. We're going to get under center.

Starting point is 00:15:24 We're going to run our running plays under center. We're going to run our under center play action game. And if it doesn't work, maybe that's how you get the second drive. And maybe that takes you back to the drawing board because I don't, as you were talking about Jalen Davis being the presumed starter in the slot, it took me back to last year's corner battle. And guys that this. year we're like yeah we don't need to see dax you don't really really need to see dj in the preseason

Starting point is 00:15:50 josh duton is fighting for a roster spot it was very different last year and dax hill took that job and ran with it in preseason last year so where there are some guys jemar chase joe burrow t higgins dexter lones we don't need to evaluate for their starting ability in the preseason just because you're penciling them in for a starting job doesn't mean there's not a competition necessarily there So I think in the slot in particular, even if we're assuming Jalen Davis is the odds on favor for that, John, the game refs should matter at that particular spot on defense. And I know that's a big circle back to a point that that is not as much to do with this play that we're talking about, Joe. It's a great point, though, because Jalen's not above being replaced. Like if these other guys play really well in preseason and Davis isn't out there because they're holding them out because they assume he's a starter. Like if just heard Tara, Taylor lights it up. What if he has two picks, right? What if he doesn't miss any tackles as we're doing the conversation from yesterday? And he's in the right place for every play because as Zach

Starting point is 00:16:52 pointed out in his presser, it's not just like the splash plays you see it. Is he doing his assignment on every play, which is something only the coaches can evaluate, really? Yeah, that's important. Being in the right place, being dependable, because a lot of these guys are depth players that have to be inserted if the starter goes down. Can you run the defense? Can we still function on offense? Can we still call the same plays and use the same section of the playbook. That's really what's important. It's not about them going out and making crazy plays. It's just don't get beat, don't get blown up, don't make penalties, don't look silly out there. So yeah, I don't think Davis is above being replaced. And it kind of reminds me of how we talked about, Zach Taylor talked about McKinley Jackson and

Starting point is 00:17:31 Chris Jenkins. He was asked directly about that. And he says that they've looked good. But the tone of it and the way he switched to the whole defensive line and defensive tackle. is so strong right now. It's not like these guys are losing reps and losing opportunities because they're slipping. It's just that everyone else is so good and they're performing so well and that the strength of the room has gotten so much better. And I thought like, okay, well, those guys are clearly not above losing their spot either, even though it seems like they value Chris Jenkins, right? Like the way they use Jenkins is almost like a roster lock. But the way he speaks about him, maybe that is up for preseason debate. There's probably a bit of a battle.

Starting point is 00:18:12 on the hands of Chris Jenkins, but McKinley Jackson seems to be back where he was last preseason, which was like very much the fringe of the roster, game day inactive. And maybe I'm reading too much into the few reps that we saw today. We'll see what the preseason rotations look like.

Starting point is 00:18:26 The practice did get rotated into the ones. So that's why I was confused today, why we didn't see Jackson? And we saw Landon Robinson instead. So if Landon Robinson and McKinley Jackson are playing the same amount of snaps, well, that tells you about what they think of a player that's been in the system

Starting point is 00:18:41 been on this team for several years now. If Chris Jenkins is playing deep into this game as well with Landon Robinson into the third quarter, let's say, like, all right. Then you really know that that last defensive tackle spot, or maybe they keep six, is going to be a pretty significant competition. And this is a spot that all offseason we've talked about and speculated about, potentially they could trade from depth there, where assuming BJ Hill is on the right track because he was on the rehab field for the second straight practice,

Starting point is 00:19:11 which suggests to me that, yeah, maybe he's not going to get a whole lot of training camp, reps under his belt, but he's certainly on the trajectory to be ready for the regular season. And we might not see him in the preseason, but I would actually be shocked if we see him in the preseason at this point because of the way they're handling like Eric All and Conor Lou and those sorts of guys who are much farther removed from their surgeries

Starting point is 00:19:34 in both of their cases and working back into football shape. but I think he'll be ready for the regular season. So that's still a trade that we need to keep an eye on. Joe, we have another under center play that we should talk about from this practice and some situational red zone work that we can talk about as well. Connor Lou out there with the ones, it was a bit of a tricky day for Connor Lou snapping the ball from reports and from what I saw in some of the clips we saw.

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Starting point is 00:20:52 and make your free pick on who's hitting a homer, play ball and swing for the fences on Fandul, an official partner of the MLB. Joe, we saw two under-center plays and clips of under-center plays from the Bengals when they went into the indoor facility. It was a light practice again. The last few practices we've seen, we haven't seen a whole lot of plays that have either been light or there was a light media presence. It seems like the busiest practice of the year. A bunch of media were not in attendance for, unfortunately,

Starting point is 00:21:21 so we got a little bit less video than normal. But on Tuesday, it was a very light practice. They've got a game in a couple of days here. And the two under center plays we saw, both had some issues. Yeah, the next one is a very similar play. We've got Cam Grady. at tight end and they motion in Micahecki to help block as well, which I thought was interesting. But it's play action, Burrow fakes it from under center and looks up. And immediately, Paui Maffa, you can kind of tell is coming from the right side. And Cam Grady is behind him like, ah, I couldn't block Boya Maffa. Of course you couldn't.

Starting point is 00:21:56 Number one, I'm not, you know, dunking on Cam Grandy here. But we always talk about like, why do you have tight ends blocking defensive ends? Didn't it look like it was a little bit of a double team? Like Eric Hall maybe tried to chip him and maybe that threw off. where he was where Cam Grady was aiming because it was an error call Cam Grandy on the play on the same side and even a running back on that side and it looks like it was meant to be like a chip and release for all and then Brandy was supposed to slow him down just enough for Joe to get the ball out and that didn't really happen. Yeah, somehow it wasn't communicated or executed at a high level and that may be this difference between like a Drew

Starting point is 00:22:27 sample and Cam Grandy. It looks like sample ahead a day where he had a very light day or didn't practice because I didn't see him and Grandy has been inserted into that spot as we've talked about as he's the primary likely back up to the Y tight end position. But yeah, and then you see Mafia in there. They don't blow it dead. They let Burrow keep running around and scrambling, which he ultimately does pull out to the left and then find Chase Brown in an off script way.

Starting point is 00:22:49 But yeah, it's just like two of these plays that we get today out of the four or five that we total that we can see on video. It's just like, yep, two under center play action plays dead, basically, or worse. One's a turnover. So not ideal. And we did see in addition to the, under center plays some red zone work and that featured a fourth down conversion to t higgins a

Starting point is 00:23:11 beautiful one-handed catch and it also featured josh newton in tight coverage with jimar chase on a third down play that leads to a pass break up both throws going to the right side of the end zone near the front pylon uh t higgins ends up with the one-handed catch dj ivy in coverage on that one josh newton though with that pass breakup maybe it didn't look like jimar caught it clean it looked like it was maybe like a punchout more than it was like deflecting the pass in the air from from Josh Newton in that remark chase coverage. But the Bengals do eventually score the touchdown there in that red zone work and they're in the shotgun when they do it. And you know, I'm not surprised when Newton's flashes. I feel like whenever he's had them in games or in preseason,

Starting point is 00:23:54 it's in tight quarters and it's when things are in front of him. I think his biggest weakness is his speed. So and ball skills, honestly, when the ball is deep and down the field. So when you don't have to worry about that in the red zone. Like that's when he can play a little bit tighter, a little bit freer, maybe a little more aggressively. It's why I always thought he would be better in the slot. And I'm shocked we never really got to see that for him because I just don't like his speed on the boundary.

Starting point is 00:24:15 But when it's in the red zone, you're not worried about Chase beating you over the top. So good for him to jump on that and make that play happen. And then they go right back to it basically with T. Hagan scoring that touchdown. I want to note from those plays, though, that Boye and Mafe and Miles Murphy ended up on the same side of the defensive line together. and they did not have another defensive end. It wasn't Cassius Howl. It wasn't a three defensive end NASCAR package or anything like that.

Starting point is 00:24:39 It was a base personnel. Yeah. So you have three defensive tackles and then they're moving the ends around. Maybe you're getting there. Sorry. We've seen this a lot last year, right? When they would slide Shamar Stewart down, bring Demetra's Knight to the edge. On one in particular, they didn't do that.

Starting point is 00:24:54 But they did bring Murphy down, reduced him to a defensive tackle spot, and then walked over. You see the linebackers talking. and tell him Maffei to go to the other side. He gets the other side. So it's Murphy and Maffay together, and battle comes down as in the box. I can see him because he had his orange undershirt on under his jersey.

Starting point is 00:25:12 And I said, okay, so that's what they're doing here. They're not immediately putting Demetrius Knight. Night was actually right over the middle here. And that made me feel better about it. But it's interesting look because it's parts of last year that we didn't like. And then I kind of want to see how that would have developed

Starting point is 00:25:24 and how they'll use that against other people because I think Murphy and Mofi together could be exciting. Yeah, just to overlook one side. doing some interesting things with where you're lining guys on the defensive line. It was also interesting. Let's talk about Connor Lou's day. Connor Lou got worked with the first team with Dexter Lawrence having an off day. So it's not like they threw Connor Lou out there.

Starting point is 00:25:44 And he had to immediately go deal with the nightmare that Ted Harris has been dealing with all training camp. Yeah, try to survive against Dexter Lawrence. But there was one rep where I thought he had a really nice rep of he did a good job of standing up to the power that T.J. Slayton or T. Yeah, right? Why am I struggling with names today? I was thinking about it because to Darrell Slayton is his official name, T.J. Slaten. I don't know why to Darrell was in my head, but did a good job.

Starting point is 00:26:12 He was to Darrell all through the draft process. That's what I called him, even with the Packers. It wasn't until he signed. I was like, oh, he's T.J. Slaten now. Yeah. That name changes happen. But it was a good job for Connor Liu on that play. He did have some issues with snap accuracy.

Starting point is 00:26:24 There was one of those plays in the red zone that it was a low snap. Joe Burrow had you see him have to stoop down to scoop the ball out, out near not on the turf but you know probably knee level instead of into the numbers where you want to see it and reportedly he also had a snap that joe burrow just couldn't catch at all so uh you do have to watch that a little bit but good to get connor lew the work i think with joe burrow you're going to have to rep that a little bit you want to get at least some familiarity with who is very much i think on track to be your backup center if today was any indication connor lew getting that work for ted carest It kind of makes me think I really don't know if we've ever seen a wild snap from Ted Garris in the entire time he's been here, right? He's been really clean on that. You almost take it for granted, right? That that's a thing that could happen. But Seth McLaughlin last year in preseason and camp, we were told like he really struggled with that. That was something he struggled with Alabama before going to Ohio State as well, which we may see him. He may be the starter for the

Starting point is 00:27:25 lines this year at center because they're beat up so much and they really don't have a plan there. So if you're wondering where Seth McClockland is now, and, you know, does he have a shot that you, if you were Ohio State fan really believed in him, we'll get our first look at him. And maybe he'll go against Texer Lawrence. It won't be Connor Liu taking that bath. It'll be our old friend McLaughlin. Just a couple other things as we wrap up today as we are seeing some of the locker room footage come out. One thing that stood out to me, Joe, is that Cassius Howell said to Mike Petralia, I believe it was, that he expects to play. Nope, it was Jeremy Rao that he expects to play on Thursday.

Starting point is 00:28:01 Can't wait to make his NFL debut. That would be a whole lot of fun. Hopefully we get to see him. Like I said, that's something that we'll talk about tomorrow. Kobe Young also talked about what he's looking forward to in his rookie debut in the preseason. Another thing that we'll talk about tomorrow is Kobe Young and these wide receivers that we're going to be watching. What else did you want to hit today, Joe, before we get out of here, some other things that stood out to you? Zach Taylor was asked about the return man battle.

Starting point is 00:28:26 I assume that's Charlie Jones and Kishon Williams. I assume other guys will get in there, right? Dante Myers, who, by the way, drew a shout out from Jemar Chase in an NFL network interview after practice the other day. Good for him. I would like to see that, actually, because if he can, that could be very exciting. But Zach really emphasized the got to be dependable part of it. He really, you want a guy that can catch the ball and field the ball.

Starting point is 00:28:50 The explosive plays are nice, but they are a small percentage, small slice of what that punt returner is doing a lot of times. And then he went on and say, Charlie has been good at that. And then he said, but everyone will get a chance. But it, to me, felt like it's still Charlie Jones job to lose. But, you know, make a play. Go make a play Dante Myers in the fourth quarter on a punt return. And we'll see how that goes. Last thing for me, though, Jake, he did mention, it was asked about Barrett Carter and Demetra's night, mostly Barrett Carter, what he's seen in development. And he says, Barrett Carter's playing really fast. And he's got great command of the defense right now, which is what you want to hear for a guy that's supposed to be mentally ahead of other prospects at linebacker.

Starting point is 00:29:29 Yeah, we'll get our first look at those guys. That's going to be one of the things that we're watching very closely. And we'll tell you everything that Joe and I plan to watch for in this first preseason game in our first game preview of 2026. Preseason game, sure, but that doesn't make it any less interesting. A long preseason. For the Locked-on Bengals podcast where there are going to be a ton of depth battles that we're watching closely. a lot of evaluation to be done. We're going to get our first look at Cassius Howe, hopefully, assuming that he can go. We're going to get our first look at Colby Young in game

Starting point is 00:30:01 action in that wide receiver three battle, get to see the Bengals rookies in the trenches, the Landon Robinson's of the world, the Jack Endries of the world, who I know you've had questions about, seeing the questions about Jack Andrews. We're just not seeing a whole lot of them because we don't see a whole lot of reps of the twos, but preseason games are where you're going to see a lot of these guys. So Jack Endries will be a topic of conversation. again for us tomorrow as we preview the Bengals first preseason game of the year. Until that, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Ho day.

Starting point is 00:30:35 And have a good one.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - SHOWTIME: Bengals CONFIRM Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, Dexter Lawrence For Preseason DEBUT

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