Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - The Next Era of Locked On Bengals | New Co-Host REVEAL + 2026 Expectations!

Starting point is 00:00:00 We're getting ready for the future here on Locked On Bengals. And I've been keeping it a secret. So I'm going to reveal and be joined by the new co-host of Locked on Bengals in just a second. 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. I'm your host, Jake Liskow bin, host.

Starting point is 00:00:36 in this show for over seven years. And if you're tuning in and you've missed a few episodes, you might be wondering what the heck is going on. Friday was James Rupin's final episode on the show as he leaves for the wonderful pastures of the big screen, the television screen and his new program. And today I'm going to introduce to all of you, our new co-host of Lockedong Bengals. Some of you have been guessing over on the Lockedon Bengals insider text

Starting point is 00:01:06 group and I've been given some hints throughout the day. There have been plenty of guesses out there on social media and in the chat right now as we're doing this thing live. And well, I gave the hints that this is somebody that I think you know. This is keeping with the tradition of lockdown Bengals, a monosyllabic name, which is not a word that I know that I've pronounced correctly just now, but a one syllable name. So somebody that you've seen on the show quite a bit, somebody who has plenty of work done in the film room. And, well, we have a tradition here on Lockdown Bengals. So you can only host this show if your name starts with a Jay. So welcome back to Lockdown Bengals. Joe Goberi returning to co-host the Locked On Bengals podcast. If you

Starting point is 00:01:57 don't know, Joe, I'm going to let him introduce himself as he's now back. And will be with me daily on this podcast. Thank you, Jake. I appreciate that. I'm getting a little emotional, actually, here, because I am excited to be back. I'm excited to be back with you, Jake, and with all the listeners of the Lockdown Bengals podcast.

Starting point is 00:02:16 If you don't know, Jake and I hosted this thing together after I was a pretty consistent guest with James Rapine when James was solo before the Zach Taylor era. Jake and I took over as partners and we co-hosted for, to me, I always said two years

Starting point is 00:02:31 because I think of draft. And it was two drafts that we did. And then I was in 2020, the Bengals drafted Joe Burrow. And I said, you know what? I just want to enjoy being a fan. And I did. I did really for about a year and a half until people wouldn't let me retire. Wouldn't let me get out of the business, really.

Starting point is 00:02:49 And everything exploded for all of us. So I know we have a lot of new listeners and watchers on the podcast now. A lot of people that joined in around that time when I was trying to take a step back. That's why a lot of my stuff started blowing up and opportunities grew for me. as well. And in the meantime, you guys, the listeners, and Jake and James, turn the lockdown Bengals podcast until one of the most successful in all of football. And I am very, very excited and happy to be back with you guys. Well, the last time we talked, it was coming off of a terrible season for the Cincinnati Bengals that culminated in the drafting of Joe Burrow. And a year later, after Joe

Starting point is 00:03:24 Burrow tore his ACL and what was not an ideal rookie season and calls for Zach Taylor's head were quite loud and not entirely wrongly so with the record that he put up in his first two years as a head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals. Then in 2021, you were saying after those years, yeah, this is Bengals Super Bowl window. It's time. And I don't know how many people remember that. I don't know how many people remember you getting ridiculed and ripped by just about everybody. I mean, you had a big following then, bigger following now, obviously, as that's how growth works. you're consistent and good of what you do. And one of the reasons we're excited to have you back here.

Starting point is 00:04:04 But that was the second year in a rookie quarterback contract. That's where that window for a lot of teams starts. That's when you're looking around the NFL this year, when people who know I do this podcast seem to me like, who's going to be good this year? Who's going to surprise people? I look around at the second year of quarterbacks. And the only one that really stood out to me this year is Jackson Darton.

Starting point is 00:04:27 We'll see about what's going on for. the Giants, but that was a bold take that you had in 2021. The Bengals have been dreadful under Zach Taylor, and then it was, yeah, no, this is their Super Bowl window. Turns out they went to the Super Bowl. They went to the AFC championship the next year. Things got off track after that, but now the question is, we're going to start this with a little bit of Bengals talk.

Starting point is 00:04:52 We're going to talk after that about what you can expect from this show going forward because it's going to be different. And we're going to talk about how some of those differences are going to play out and what the goals are for Joe and myself. But I'm going to spend a few minutes here as we start the show. The Bengals back in a Super Bowl window. Joe, have they done enough to reopen that window in Joe Burroughs' second contractor? They finally figured out how to put a team together for a quarterback that isn't on a rookie deal. Yeah, and this goes with the first question of reintroducing myself to people because I do a lot of film study,

Starting point is 00:05:28 player evaluation was my background before I even started writing and getting writing opportunities, which I actually did not like writing, but I did it for a long time. And then it turned into podcasting and then doing videos. I do videos twice a week now, film reviews for the first star logistics YouTube page. If you're looking for film reviews, I have that there. But one of my original paid jobs in the media was scouting players and being paid to scout, which was awesome. I love doing that. And I kind of still do that in a different angle now. But the reason I felt confident enough to say that in 2021 is because I really liked who they were drafting. I liked the players they were bringing in in free agency.

Starting point is 00:06:08 I saw the vision. I saw how they could fit and how they could fit pretty quickly and get this team where they wanted to go. And that kind of goes when Jake, you've been doing this long enough. If the team makes good moves that you agree with, you tend to be a little more bullish on them, right? And it doesn't mean you're right or wrong. I mean, fans have these same exact opinions we have or, you know, or different. but you know what I'm saying. And when the team makes those moves and you feel good about the draft,

Starting point is 00:06:34 you feel good about the free agents they brought in, people may say, oh, you're being too positive about this team. You should, you guys should crush them for this and that. Remember, they still are front-loading contracts or whatever it may be. And then you go the other way, if you don't agree with the drafts, if you don't agree with the players that are bringing in free agency or how they're structuring contracts, people will say you're being too critical of them. But it is, you have to have a basis of where you want to start,

Starting point is 00:06:58 your takes or your thoughts or your expectations for the season. And I felt that way going into 2021 that they were on the verge. And I feel good now again. I think the fan base feels it as well, not just bringing in Dexter Lawrence, but I thought they had a strong draft. I thought they had a very strong free agency. They kept a lot of the core players they should have over the last couple off seasons. And when you do that and the vibes, that's something you can actually feel.

Starting point is 00:07:26 The vibes start going up a little bit. the locker room looks a little happier. Players are showing up for OTAs and we're about to kick all that stuff off. It's hard not to feel really good about their chances of opening that window back again in 2026. Well, plenty of time to discuss the particulars about why Joe Goodberry

Starting point is 00:07:44 and we've talked about it when it was James and I over the last couple of weeks. There's generally positive feelings about the Cincinnati Bengals right now, which before that Dexter Lawrence trade, I mean, wasn't really there. There was some momentum in that. direction, but it was like, man, they didn't get a lineback.

Starting point is 00:08:00 They didn't do enough. And that trade really swung the discourse nationally, for the most part, locally for sure as well, re-energize that locker room in a very significant way, earned Joe Burroughs repeated stamp of approval publicly saying and recognizing that the front office understood the task and understood what was at stake this offseason and an offseason that he called paramount importance to this team's future. And it was to the point, Joe, where like we've called the last few off seasons, some of the biggest off seasons in Bengals history. And I kind of was like, ah, I mean, they haven't done anything. So why would I feel like this offseason is any different? And then finally, if not now, when arrived. And it was now.

Starting point is 00:08:46 And they did make the trade for Dexter Lawrence after requiring players to bolster the defense in ways they really needed to. And obviously the linebacker flaw is still there. You will have plenty of time to discuss what's happening with those linebackers. And maybe we'll talk about it a little bit today. Maybe we won't. But what I do want to make sure we do is talk about how this thing is going to be working in the future. There will be some differences. Like I said, Joe and I, if you've been with Lockdown Bengals since I've joined the podcast, you know that there were some differences when James returned and we don't have anybody in Cincinnati between Joe and I right now. And so I know some of you are concerned about that as well. And we're going to talk about how we're going to approach

Starting point is 00:09:29 this thing and why we're really excited to be working together here again on a daily Bengals podcast. That'll be coming up next here on the lockdown Bengals podcast. The NBA finals have arrived and I think it's been a pretty exciting NBA playoffs. From everything I can tell is a guy who isn't an NBA guy, that Spurs OKC series was pretty fantastic and Fandul will help you get in on the action. Right now, new customers can bet $5. And if that bet wins, you'll get $150 in bonus bets. That's right. You can turn $5 to $150 in bonus bets just for getting started. And maybe you're not into the NBA and you want to look ahead to the Bengal Super Bowl laws where I don't think they were in the top eight the last time I looked. And well, if you're

Starting point is 00:10:20 to that, you can bet there on Fandall. You want to get some money down on Joe Burrow to win the MVP this year and bring home his first MVP trophy. Van Duel has that for you as well. And again, $5. If that bet wins, you get $150 in bonus bets. Head over to Fandul today to get started. Joe, let's talk about how this thing might look when it's you and I and how it will be a

Starting point is 00:10:49 little bit different. Some of the projects that we've talked about that we have in the pipeline, OTAs are here, right? We have a couple of weeks of OTAs, the Bengals have finished up their ramp up of the off-season program, which means that their practices for the next couple of weeks, they'll have one open to the public,

Starting point is 00:11:04 or to the media rather, not the public. And we'll get a little bit of a look at some competitive segments in those practices before mandatory mini-camp in two weeks where they'll all be open to the media. We'll have two, maybe three days. They're scheduled for three days. That third day is often quite light in the Zach Taylor era.

Starting point is 00:11:21 We'll get a look the players then. And so we'll have that to talk about for the next few weeks, but you've been working on some projects that we're going to definitely be fleshing out here on the podcast as it pertains to evaluating the Bengals and the roster and just how good they are. And that's one of the many examples of the kind of content that I think you'll be getting from us over the next month and a half until training camp kicks off in late July. You had a list when we started talking. You sent me a list of a bunch of show ideas and projects that you wanted to make sure we tacked. on this show. So why don't you talk about some of those and some of the cool things we'll be

Starting point is 00:11:57 able to do here in the next few weeks and next month or so. Yeah, because the show will be different. You know, we're not going to hide from that fact that, you know, be maybe a little bit less reporting, not having James in the building every day. We'll be a thing. We'll try to fill in that void as best as we can. And Jake's got a ton of ideas for that as well as how we can fill that in. But, you know, if you're saying, how's the show going to be different in a positive way? It would be we are going to focus more on the analytics, the player evaluations, the data, right? Jake always brings great data to the show and opinions to the show. And Jake and I have always fed off each other really well. And we don't always see eye to eye indirectly. And we will hash it out here and get to the bottom of the point

Starting point is 00:12:39 together in a very cordial way. It's why I was liked working with Jake, because he always brings a lot to it. And I respect his opinion fully. It helps me stabilize myself sometimes when I get too deep, into the film and like, oh, yeah, Brayland Lux should win the nickel's, you know, job. Jake's like, well, you know, let's bring it back a little bit here. Joe, what about this? What about us tackling? What about, you know, and that's a good thing. So we're going to dive deeper into players. We're going to dive deeper into evaluation.

Starting point is 00:13:06 We're going to dive deeper into everything that makes the roster tick, the decision-making, what these players look like, the differences in how they're developing and how they're growing. And hopefully we can, we've had success doing it this. way with a mindset of almost like a GM or scout or, you know, some coaching X's and O's when we talk to Bengal Sands or whatever, he's great at that stuff. But the idea here is to push it in that direction that I have had a lot of success in and just focus on that a little bit more. And we will get to the things that are happening in the locker room as well. Yeah, we're not going

Starting point is 00:13:43 to stop covering the news just because we're going to have an analytical tilt. Those of you that know both of us and have been following both of us for a long time. I already know that there will be a great depth of analysis here. And that's something that we're really excited for. But what happens in the locker room day to day? What's happening on the practice fields when those practices are open to the public? What's happening when the cameras aren't running, that's all really valuable insight that James was able to provide and give us the temperature in the locker room because he was in there. And he was able to see it himself and observe and report as a lot of, it were on what he saw in his job as a beat reporter for the Bengals.

Starting point is 00:14:25 And that's going to continue for him, obviously. And the great thing is that James and I are still friends. I don't know what some of you guys think. But James will be back on this show as a guest from time to time. And he will be sharing when we need that in the locker room presence, that in the locker room perspective. And it won't only be James. We have good relationships with many of the excellent beat reporters

Starting point is 00:14:48 and the local beat for the Cincinnati Bengals. And so we will be rotating through and talking with our friends on the local beat, talking with our friends that are on the beat, but aren't Cincinnati in person, say during training camp, I'm sure John Sheeran, who was one of the many guesses from those of you in subtext and on social media

Starting point is 00:15:08 for the co-host job. And there were a lot of great guesses. And John Shearer, during training camp, might be there when Joe and I can't be there. It might give us some details, and information that we can't get in person. And so we do still have those relationships in Cincinnati. We will still at times be in Cincinnati, of course.

Starting point is 00:15:28 And I think it goes deeper than that as well. We've been in this media space for a really long time now. And Lockdown Bengals is what it is and has grown to the place that's grown because we've been doing this thing for a long time. And Joe's grown his independent Bengals content brand. And he's been doing that for a long time too. and when you've been doing it for a long time, you start to develop those relationships as well.

Starting point is 00:15:53 So just because neither of us are in Cincinnati, I would reassure you that that doesn't mean that we're not connected to the team. And this goes back to when Joe and I were first doing the podcast, those connections do pop up. They do occur, especially when we are and expect to continue to be one of the biggest voices exclusively covering the Cincinnati Bengals.

Starting point is 00:16:15 This show five days a week, talking about the Cincinnati, Bengals has been the top podcast about the Cincinnati Bengals for almost a decade now. I mean, almost as long as podcasts have existed, really. And I expect that to continue. You guys make that possible in the audience, all of you that are tuned in right now watching live on YouTube or if you're just catching up after the fact. And since we are live on YouTube, I know there's a lot of you in the chat.

Starting point is 00:16:40 I'm just going to give the disclaimer once here in the middle. We will, at the end of the show, which will go up on audio platforms as well, we will be interacting with the chat for 15 to 20 minutes or so afterwards. If you guys have any questions or comments that we'll get to here after the show is done, but you guys make that possible for us. And that's one of the reasons that we're able to provide the information and the consistency that you've grown accustomed to. And I expect that to continue.

Starting point is 00:17:09 The quality standard is what it is. And it's been set for a long time. That is not going to change. And we're really excited to dive into a very. variety of topics here as the Bengals are wrapping up their offseason program in the next few weeks. And we got to finish up this show, Joe. Maybe we get back to the linebackers. Maybe we'll get into a little bit more Bengals talk. We'll finish up this episode of Locktown Bengals coming up next. This episode is Locktown Bengals is sponsored by Indeed. And when there's workplace chaos, there's

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Starting point is 00:18:52 All right, Joe, we got about 10 minutes here to wrap things up. And the world is our oyster. We can discuss the linebacker question here to finish up the show. Or if you have some burning thoughts here about the podcast, about your return, about what it was like for you. Maybe we'll save the linebacker topic. What was it like for you for the last seven years not being in this space? You left. You knew that it was too much at the time.

Starting point is 00:19:20 the work-life balance wasn't working out. And then you, and I told you you were going to do this. And I think you knew immediately almost returned to the content creation space. And now you're back today. What's that journey been like for you over the last seven years? What have you been doing since the last time you were a co-host of lockdown Bengals? Yeah, that was a big decision at the time because the kids were young. Seven years ago, my son's 16 now.

Starting point is 00:19:44 He was nine at the time, right? And I had a newborn. She was one years old. I've got three kids. So they've all grown. My family life has changed. I wanted to spend so much time. They required so much time at that, you know, at that stage of our life.

Starting point is 00:19:59 And then we didn't have the same support that you get now from how many views the Lockdown Bengals podcast gets. We were good, Jake. You and I were doing good, but we weren't doing great. You guys have turned this thing into something bigger than I even imagined. I knew you could. I knew it would be in good hands. But, you know, I wanted to step back.

Starting point is 00:20:19 I wanted to enjoy being a fan. I wanted to get more in touch with that side of my brain. I am two brains about a lot of things. The one is the emotional fan. I love this team. I love the Cincinnati Bengals. I've grown to love Cincinnati. That was a big part of taking that year and a half off as well.

Starting point is 00:20:34 I've made a lot of trips to Cincinnati. I got to party with people, have a good time, meet people, go to tailgates, go to games and enjoy them and not write notes down, right? And have a drink. Like, you can't do that when you're working and trying to treat it like a job. And so I wanted to enjoy the fan side and be emotional. And man, was it a good time to do it? 2021, right?

Starting point is 00:20:54 2022, I had a blast watching this team. But because of it, because I felt like they were so close to walking through that ultimate window and reaching it and getting there. I couldn't help but to analyze. That's the other side of my brain. Why do I feel these emotions? Why am I angry? Why am I happy? Why am I excited to watch this team?

Starting point is 00:21:13 That side of the brain starts to take over and analyze everything I can. and I couldn't help myself from doing that. And I try to embrace both, but I'm glad to get in touch with that fan side of me, too, to merge things together. I think my content is grown because of it. I think the quality of my content is growing because of it, and it's just become more relatable for people,

Starting point is 00:21:35 and I've had to find that other side. So since then, you know, I've been in the film room, I've been making videos, doing shows, I've got subscribers on Twitter where I break every single thing down, to excruciating detail and sometimes even further than what people are expecting. But that's what you're getting when you're getting Joe Goodberry-led content or anything like

Starting point is 00:21:57 that or even anything we are going to work on together, Jake you and I will. But life has changed. You've got listeners here. I've seen comments. I've watched the James Goodbye video, right? And there was people in there like, man, I started listening when I was 12 years old. And now they're growing adults, right? And it's like, yeah, I've got people.

Starting point is 00:22:15 I meant this is going to be my 18th year creating Bengals content. It's not just when we hosted together in 2020, right? It's gone previous to that. 2009 was the first time I ever started blogging, Sincyjungle.com. And this is going to be my 18th season. It's grown so much. It's changed. It's going to change forever.

Starting point is 00:22:36 The media landscape continues to change how you present it. Remember I was making Vine videos that were six seconds long. Those were cool. And then that lasted, you know, a year before that guy. shut down and there was no more of that. So I'm willing to adapt and change and give the people what they're looking for while also maybe giving you something that you didn't know you needed as well. Yeah. One of the things that I think Joe's going to do a great job of and that you can expect to see a little bit more of on Locked on Bengals on YouTube, on Locked on Bengals on the various

Starting point is 00:23:03 social media platforms we're on because we're actually on them. We're on even TikTok, which is, I think, for the kids. And just out myself as very old when I say that. But We do have these platforms, Instagram as well. I think we're on, yeah, we're on Facebook too. And obviously we've got the Twitter account. And I think what one of the things that Joe brings to the table that you're going to see a little bit more of is some of the short form content, the minute long little bite size morsels that will keep you going when you don't have the main show anymore. So I do think that you will get some more content here as we ramp Joe up over the next month or two.

Starting point is 00:23:43 and we're going to be covering, obviously, the news is happening as well, and then we'll get into some off-season topics, not necessarily the most exciting time to follow the Cincinnati Bengals or follow an NFL team when you get to that dead period between mid-June and mid-July, but we're going to keep it as interesting

Starting point is 00:24:01 and as exciting as possible because we think this is a really exciting season for the Cincinnati Bengals, and the potential is really there. And the way that you arrive at that conclusion is by getting nitty-gritty and into the details and into the analysis of how those pieces on the team will help them get there

Starting point is 00:24:20 and what some of the limitations might be that need to be overcome. And we've talked about that, obviously, over the last couple of weeks as well on lockdown Bengals, we talked about the X factors for this season, some potential breakout players for this season, and we're going to get into some of those topics and some of those players in even greater depth

Starting point is 00:24:37 and more detail here because it's one of Joe's great strength. is that he's really honed in on these guys and watching them from that evaluation point of view. And so that's going to be some of the content that we have coming for you as well. One of the things that your subscribers or Twitter subscribers will know is that you've been working on a version of the draft sheet. And the everydayers obviously know the draft sheet. And you've seen this over time and heard James and I refer to it. And that's something that Joe and I started together as a development. process for the draft grades that Joe was already doing to bake in some of the data that we

Starting point is 00:25:17 had. And so what Joe's been doing is he's working on that for the veteran side of things, for NFL players and obviously starting that process with the Bengals. So that's something that we might explore in greater depth on the show for an example of one of those big kind of multi-episode projects that we might be talking about when we're evaluating the strength of the roster over time. So some really exciting stuff that we're going to be able to get to here on the show joe as we're going to be doing it daily together again and i think folks are pretty excited in the chat from the bits i've seen the response on the the lockdown bangles insider group at join subtext dot com slash lockdown bengals where you can directly text with joe and i has been uh pretty overwhelming

Starting point is 00:26:01 and i don't always read the comments but i think i might today you guys were really encouraging and kind to James on the way out. And I'm betting that the hype will be there today as well. Joe, any final thoughts before we wrap up this episode of Lockdown Bengals and get ready to cover OTAs this week and get into that offseason grant? Yeah, I'd say one more thing that this is a big career decision for me in a lot of ways. So it is, I didn't take this decision lately. I'll have more to say about that in the future.

Starting point is 00:26:36 but I expect this is going to be a big role for me and a big opportunity for me to live the dream and do everything I want to do when it comes to covering the Bengals. And I think everyone who follows this team will be better for it. We're going to wrap up this episode of the Locked-on Bengals podcast there.

Starting point is 00:26:57 If you're live and with us on YouTube, you can stick around. Joe and I will be live with you a little bit afterwards. But until next time, That's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Huda and have a good.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - The Next Era of Locked On Bengals | New Co-Host REVEAL + 2026 Expectations!

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