Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Trey Hendrickson's Likely Departure, Comp Pick Scenarios and Coaching Changes to Bengals' Staff

Episode Date: February 15, 2026

The Bengals didn't suddenly repair their relationship with Trey Hendrickson in the last few months, and their history unfortunately tells us that they're willing to play the comp pick game. Jake Liscow and James Rapien break down why they still expect Hendrickson to depart this offseason, even though there's a strong argument that he'd make them better, and how there's barely a path to receiving a compensatory pick for Hendrickson.Plus, we recap Zac Taylor's coaching staff shuffle, where tight ends coach James Casey interestingly picks up the run game coordinator title.Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans.Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclubJoin the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!TurboTaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today.FanDuelUse 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 FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started. IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast.ZocdocStop putting off your doctor’s appointments and get the care you need.Go to http://Zocdoc.com/lockedonnfl to find and instantly book a top-rated doctortoday.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We've talked a lot about Trey Hendrickson over the years on this podcast, and as it looks like his time in Cincinnati is coming to a close, if he walks, say to a familiar face in Indianapolis, are cop picks really in play for the Bengals? Let's get into it. 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, the number one sports podcast network in the land. He's James Rapids. I'm Jake. Let's go. We've been covering your your Cincinnati Bengals here on Lockdown Bengals since 2016, your best one-stop shop for all things, Bengals. And we won't probably be talking about Trey Hendrickson for too much longer on this show. We've been talking about him for the last couple of off seasons. And of course, since the Bengals signed him, which now feels like an eternity ago.

And he became the best free agent signing in Bengals history. And signs continue to accumulate that point to Trey Hendrickson in the Bengals parting ways. Nothing changing there but a report from NFL network's Cameron Wolfe indicating a little bit of new news. There's potential interest from the former Bengals defensive coordinator, Lou Annamo from Hendrickson's former defensive coordinator and former defensive line coach over in Indianapolis in pursuing Trey Hendrickson. And guess who's on the Bengals schedule next year? And well, one thing that we haven't done, James, is we haven't examined the real likelihood of cop picks being a possibility either. That's something that we'll get to a little bit later in this show. But first, a report that tells us and I guess publicly covers what we've suspected or thought to be the case the whole time,

which is that the relationship between Trey Hendrickson and the Bengal is still highly fractured and doesn't appear to have magically mended so far early. in 2026. Yeah, not shocking at all. I think that that's the biggest, almost misconception. Like, I'll get asked this out wherever. Like, hey, love, love the show. What's up with Trey? Like, don't they need to keep Trey. Shouldn't they keep Trey? Why? And we see it in comments, too. Why do you guys want to get rid of Trey? It's like, well, it's not really that. What it is is we kind of know this has run its course that both sides have gotten more and more and more and more and more and more frustrated with the situation.

There was one point last year where Mike Brown was confident enough to say in front of everybody in July, hey, we think something's going to get done with Trey, which really took me by surprise that Mike said that and was that blunt and straightforward about it after back-to-back off seasons of trade requests and all of those things. And then what happened? A long-term deal didn't get done. They gave him a pay raise. He had four sacks in seven games.

didn't play again. The season kind of crumbled with that Jets loss that just never should have happened. And it went from there. And I think sometimes things just kind of run their course. This feels like that. And we wouldn't say what we're saying if we weren't pretty certain that that was going to be the case.

And so the past few weeks, it has been interesting with at least some speculation that he could potentially stay in general. I don't see that happen. I don't see a path of that period. Ian Rappaport, by the way, may come out with that Sunday night that, oh, well, there's a real chance. Trey comes back. I don't think I'll believe him because I'm close enough to.

I just, I would be surprised if that were to happen. So when Cameron Wolf reports, what he reports, I'm like, yeah, that tracks. Talk to someone. I don't know who it was. You talk to someone that appears to be in the no. And so, yeah, I would be first and foremost, why have we covered it the way we've covered it, the way we've covered it. It's pretty simple. I don't think there's a realistic path for Trey to be in stripes playing for the Bengals in camp this season at any point in 2026.

So I just want to hammer that home before we dive into all the minutiaiaa what could happen, who goes where, if they could get a comp pick if he leaves in free agency, all of those things. And I think people want to, to your point, know why we're not talking about the return. well, that's the why, but like, should the Bengals be interested in bringing Tray back? We haven't really had that conversation just because it's such a far-fetched possibility at this point. And we've talked about trading for Jeffrey Simmons. So maybe we should have talked about, you know, should the Bengals want Tray back? Because should they want Jeffrey Simmons?

Yeah, I think that's just about as unlikely as Tray returning because I don't know that Jeffrey Simmons is going to be remotely available. And the Bengals trading for him would be sure. shocking in a way that they have shocked us, to be fair. They have surprised us in recent years, but it would be something that really comes out of left field, like the Orlando Brown signing, I would say. It would be that level of thing where it's just like all of a sudden out of nowhere, it's like, oh, the Bengals did what? And that's kind of, Trey returning is more far-fetched.

Should the Bengals be interested in returning Trey Hendrickson? I think he would make them better in 2026. I think he would be the best pass rush around the team in 2026. I don't think that he would have a precipitous decline. I don't think he would suddenly hit a wall. There are injury concerns. That's part of what's going on here in addition to the contentious negotiations they've had over the years. Should the Bengals be interested in tagging and trading, Trey?

Yes, they should be. Do we think they will? I think I'm less dismissive of that than the idea of them negotiating a return for Trey Hendrickson. But I would still be surprised. This is a team that has shown us in recent history. that they are comfortable with letting guys go at the end of their contracts. They did it with Jesse Bates. They've done it with other players in the past where they haven't tried to recoup value.

And I remember it driving fans crazy every time. Like, you're just going to let that guy walk and get nothing? Yeah, the Bengals are more than perhaps some other teams in the NFL. Kind of okay with that. They got their contract value out of Tray. Trey played for the team. He's no longer under contract. And sometimes those guys just walk.

And that's why we look at the compensatory formula. That's why we'll look at it today and try to figure out how many players the Bengals might be able to sign to try to go get a comp pick for, for Trey, which is possible. Now, we've dismissed that in the past too, James, right? Like, oh, they better not be qualifying for compic. But in doing so, we haven't actually looked at, like, the math behind, might they get the compics?

We'll do that today, too. But I just wanted to throw out there, like, yeah, the Bengals probably should be interested in bringing trade back. We were of the opinion last year that the Bengals should have gotten a multi-year deal done with Trey when many thought they should have traded him. Now, in hindsight, should they have traded him given that they didn't get a multi-year deal done? Yeah, in hindsight, you can say that now.

Sure, they had a really bad season. But if they had a multi-year deal done, then potentially you have a really good pass pressure on your for 2026 too. Yeah. Well, that's it. You got to pick a lane. and they didn't pick a lane. They picked a half late, a half step, a half measure.

And that Band-Aid didn't work. The Band-Aid got ripped off. He only played seven games. And now it's like, there are people that think, like, oh, Tray's not going to get more than $20 million per year on the open market. I got news for you. That man's going to get paid if he gets the free agency. Pay-A-Aid.

And it's going to look really, really pretty. Three years, even if that third year is fake, it's going to be a three-year deal. And it's going to be a whole hell of a lot of money. And that's it. Why? Because that's how free agency works. So his deal is going to look really, really juicy.

And that's part of what he wants. He wants that that Max Crosby looking like deal that now you look at Max's deal. And it's like, man, that's kind of a bargain for the Raiders. Why would they want to move on? They got him under contract for the next four years, all those things, that three year, 105. That's what Tray is going to be on the hunt for. and I think he will. If he hits free agency,

I think he's going to get high 20s to 30 plus million dollars per year in average annual value. So we will see. But spoiler, if Trey gets the free agency, he will certainly count against the cop pick formula and help the Bengals in their quest to get a comp pick. Also,

I'm just going to point it out now before we get to it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it because we're spelling out to the Bengals. here's how you can maybe get a cop pick. And I'm at, uh,

whole boy, please don't be thinking about cop picks. Please don't be thinking about compics and free agency. I don't want to think about that. They shouldn't be thinking about that. But if you get there and that's the reality you're in, you have to think about it. It's just one of the many things.

Thanks. I hate it. Yeah. I get it. I get it. We'll talk about those possibilities how exactly it would have to go down for the Bengals coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Zoc Doc.

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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 Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, Jake, let's dive into this dreaded segment. And I'm dreading this because I don't want the Bengals to take notes. It's like, oh, well, we could fill out our roster some and still have the draft and get a comp pick for Trey.

But obviously, Trey Hendrickson, if he leaves in free agency, he will qualify toward the comp pick formula. Joseph O'Sai is another one that's pretty obvious. He's going to get more than the three-ish million dollars per year. Wherever he goes, he's going to get more than that if he leaves in free agency. So those are the two really obvious standout. That's going to happen. It's going to happen early in free agency if they make it there.

Trey Hendrickson will get signed, day one, a free agency. or of the legal tampering period on March 9th. And Joseph Osai, maybe it's not day one, but it very well could be one of those early signings that get done. It starts at noon, Eastern. I can totally see both guys being locked up by the end of that day. Yeah. And the way the comp pick formula works for everybody who's not aware is it's looking at the

amount of players you sign, the amount of players you lose that are qualifying free agents, compensatory free agents. And then there's a money cancellation chart. This is why the Bengals ended up getting a pick for Jesse Bates because he ended up making just a little bit more than their biggest signing that year. So their biggest inn was just slightly smaller than their biggest out. So they were able to keep a hold of that comp pick for Jesse Bates. Last year, the Bengals lost one free agent that qualified for the formula.

They also signed one free agent who qualified for the formula. So not a whole lot. Thank you, T.J. Slayton. Yep, not a whole lot of compensatory. Sign more. Sorry, I keep trampling on you. My bad. Joe Flacko also interestingly counts against the compensatory formula.

So traded players can count. So something that I learned this year. But the cheapest player last year, the cheapest deal of all these guys last year, the reason James mentioned that $3 million number was with the Green Bay Packer, Eric Wilson signed a $2.75 million deal elsewhere, and that got the Packers a seventh round pick. So that's where the $3 million figure comes from. Trey clears the $21 million mark that was Dan Moore

that is in line for a third round pick for Pittsburgh. So Trey, if he signs elsewhere and is around that $30 million number, you mentioned James, should very easily qualify the Bengals for a third round pick. if they lose enough guys. And so that's where you start looking at them losing enough guys, right? And you mentioned Joseph Osai probably is going to get six plus million. If you just go on last year's deal as a baseline, probably more than that. Just very, very conservatively six plus million.

Trey is going to qualify for sure. And then you look for the other guys that might get big enough deals. Is someone going to pay Gino Stone like $3.5 million? Because that would qualify. Is someone going to pay Joe Flacko? $4 plus million to be a backup quarterback if he doesn't return to Cincinnati. That would qualify. Someone going to pay Jake Browning to be a backup quarterback.

That one might be a stretch, but that would qualify. Is someone going to pay Noah Fant? Didn't have a great season in Cincinnati, made $2.75 million from the Bengals. Can he get around $3 million again as a free agent tight end? Well, maybe, maybe not with all those tight ends projected to go to the combine this year. And then Dalton Riser's another one again. if he doesn't come back to the Bengals. Oh.

And we would like to see him come back to the people. You are just kidding me. Ignoring what we want to happen, right? I know. I know. You don't have to double. I just, I'm reminding people, too.

These are not things that I want to happen. I'm just counting players that could earn enough money. Did Jalen Rivers look that bad? We could get a comp pick if Don leaves. And Camp Taylor Britt, it's the last one. I think that one's a bit of a long shop. but like $3 million to Camp Taylor Britt somewhere, someone taking a swing on a second round pick?

Maybe at one, I could see that for sure. Maybe it's Lou and he just keeps going after all the former Bengals. The other one here is that the Noah Phant one, like I get it. The fumble sixes were weird and they were. He wasn't a bad player. Like I could totally say,

like if you told me the Bengals brought him back on the surface, I'd be like, okay. Like that's fine. he's he's fine and I'm not going to let those three plays which were backbreaking they stunk I hate him but guess what they were going to lose to the Vikings anyway on the one that he had the brown's one is the one that probably cost them the game I get it it also helps them because they're picking 10th now so man I wish he would have fumbled a few more times than I gotten them a higher pick but no I actually think no offense still a solid player and I can separate those two

and I think there will be a team that does it, and it may be the Bengals. I'm not like standing on the table for Noah Fant, like I would, Dalton Reisner, like I would, well, that might be it as far as like,

you have to bring this guy back. Tyson Anderson, I think you could get it back as a value signing, but why, I'm not closing the door, I guess, on the Noah Fant experience either. Like some are because of the fumbles,

and I get it. I mean, historically, it's just brutal. But I still think, think he's a solid player so if you count him say don't riser comes back and then they get that done let let's say can gino stone get enough is it too generous to say gino stone's going to get three million dollars somewhere as i mean better in safety 27 years old it ain't gonna it better not be

here what did nick scott get from from uh carolina carolina after he left the bengals he got one year 1.3 did you get but but but But isn't that multiple years after? Yeah. So if it goes the way Nick Scott went, Nick Scott signed for less with the Bengals, to be fair. So he was coming off a contract that was only $4 million per year. And Geno Stone did take a pay cut.

So maybe we shouldn't count Genostom, judging on the Nick Scott experience. So Trey Osai, who else do we even count? Like, do we think anyone else is a really good sure bet? Okay. if we're not counting Geno Stowe, we're not counting no offense like Flacco we would like to see the Bengals resign Lucas Patrick isn't getting three

is he? He's at 2-1 And he hardly played. Cordell won't No Camp Taylor Britt is probably your next best bet Jalen Davis won't like maybe someone gives Tyson one for three or two for six you know like maybe

or it's like one for five and a half or two for five and a half excuse me So say we're generous and we give them Hendrickson Osai, Stone, Flacco, Cam Taylor Britt. That's five guys. That means the Bengals can't go sign more than four compensatory free agents. That's the math they're playing with. And that's failure.

Like if unless it's like, I mean, it would have to be bigger free agents that would then, if it's four, that would then offset it anyway, right? Like if you're doing OA and Maffa and Franklin Myers, and those are your three, well, I love that. And Brian Cook, well, those are your four. That's fine, but those are four of the top, what, 30 free agents probably? I would be stunned if they did that. And then the rest of the guys, you can sign cup players and they don't count against a formula. So if they fill it out with a couple of the premier qualifying free agents and compensatory free agents

and then go get some cut guys for the rest and fill out the roster there for depth. Great. But Cameron Wolse report that we referenced earlier about Trey Hendrickson talked about the Bengals going wide and bringing in multiple players on defense. So if that's their plan, sure does sound like to me, James, that the Bengals are very comfortable with letting Trey walk, maybe let Jesse Bates walk, and fully risking getting nothing in return. They got quite lucky, I think, with getting something in compensatory picks for

Jesse Bates. The Bengals did announce some changes to their coaching staff. James, we saw that coming with the Davis Cutter hire. We'll discuss all the changes the Bengals made to the coaching staff to finish the show coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by TurboTax. With TurboTax full service, you can have your taxes done for you by a trusted local expert, start to finish without the guest work, without the stress. And let's be honest, taxes can be stressful. And it's something that I No firsthand. Jake and I have talked about taxes a few different times because it's that time of year.

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James, the biggest change on this coaching staff, the most interesting one we'll talk about is probably James Casey adding a run game coordinator title. The most important one is the return of Dan pitcher that seems to be now fully official as the Bengals announced their coaching staff. But a number of little tweaks here and there across this staff on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball that we touched on alluded to a little bit when we talked about. the Davis Cutter hire, he'll be doing the assistant wide receiver coaching job. And Jordan Salkin will move from assistant wide receiver coaching to assistant quarterback coaching. Freddie Knighton has departed the staff. Apparently, Salkin had that background in coaching quarterbacks at Oregon before he joined the Bengals staff. But what stood out to you the most as I've hit some of the changes here as the Bengals have

the slight shuffle on their staff? Yeah, I think looking at it, Freddie Knight, who was the former assistant quarterbacks coach, I imagine his contract expired. As of now, we haven't seen him land anywhere. And so Zach probably looked at it and said, all right, well, I really believe in Jordan Salkin and from all accounts that I've heard. They like what they've seen from him and heard from him.

And given the uncertainty about Dan Pitcher's long-term future, you want to get that pipeline going, much like they had with Brad Cragthorpe behind a guy and Dan Pitcher, who obviously they believed in a quarterback's coach. And so moving salkin over makes a lot of sense. That's part of it. And that's something that we kind of speculated on could be the possibility. It is.

That's exactly what they do. That makes sense to me going and getting an assistant wide receivers coach behind Troy Walters. Makes a ton of sense. And we've talked about that move after it was reported. I believe Tom Pellasar was the first to report about Davis Cutter a couple of weeks back. But you're right. The thing that I think was interesting is the run game coordinator title. And that title wasn't held last year.

Before that, it was Frank Pollack's for a few seasons, for four seasons or whatever it was while he was here. And so it's interesting now that it goes to James Casey. And the thing that is most interesting, one, how much will it impact things from a run game perspective? Two, I just know how well respected he is in that tight end room. And it's every tight end that comes through. Obviously, it's been a pretty much a revolving door. they all love James Casey and his approach and how he teaches them and all of the things that go into it from his coaching style. And so can that impact the run game? Does that impact things? Does that impact

their desire to go get a do it all type tight end at some point, which they don't really have on the roster right now? I think it's all all interesting. But regardless, congrats to James because I think he's well respected and everyone is a big fan of how he coaches. It has gotten some really productive years out of these one-year deals Bengals have made a tight end and has made tight ends help to make those tight ends money that we give Joe Burrow a lot of credit, but obviously James Casey is part of that too. What's interesting about it is that you have a tight ends coach coordinating the run game now. It's interesting for a couple of reasons, right?

First, we talked about last year the departure from a run game coordinator model. And the Bengals went to this much more collaborative approach in the run game where it was running backs coach, it was tight ends coach, it was ironically past game coordinator who's Justin Rossotti and running backs coach Hill. Those guys were just in hell. Those were the guys that were like really driving the run game forward last year. It's Casey Hill and not sulking. Rascati. for Scotty and that I imagine will continue I don't guess that there are major structural changes within the staff for this but making your tight ends coach the run game coordinator is somewhere between unheard of and very rare in the NFL I can't think of an example where a tight ends coach was a run game coordinator somewhere it's probably happened and I'm just not aware of it I have not gone to every single team page to look at this and nobody tracks run game coordinator positions in the NFL, believe

it or not. There's no spreadsheet like he got out there. Mike Clay does this for head coaches, defensive coordinators, offensive coordinators, I think even special teams coordinators. Nobody's doing that for run game coordinators. So maybe someone else is doing this. But it's very interesting to see them give Casey the title after what we learned last year was a very collaborative process with those three guys I mentioned.

And again, I imagine that it were main, very collaborative between those three guys. But it'll be interesting to see if anyone gets to talk to Casey at the Combine to ask him about that title and what that may or may not mean for changes. Pretty cool, unique move for this coaching staff, though, which credits, I think, or reveals where they think a lot of the progress in the run game came from last year. I assume James Casey's ideas and influence led to this promotion. What does it mean for Scott Peters? I think that's interesting. How does Scott Peters fit into this whole thing? I think that's interesting because we also credited Scott Peters with developing the technique in the run game quite a bit, especially.

I think Mike Santaggota broke down the way that they're teaching certain zone concepts. I think specifically wide zone, the way they're blocking those is pretty unique. And I think that that would come from the O line coach because that's a specifically offensive line technique, but yeah, I'm just pretty interested in hearing what that synergy between O-line coach and now tight-ends coach, who they obviously have a lot of overlap, is now doing your run-game coordination. I wonder what that's going to look like for the Bengals going forward. Yeah, yeah, I totally got you. I'm with you on all the little things it could mean or does mean or does show or all of those things. I do want to mention just because I agree with you.

I thought it feels really unique. Eagles just did this as well with former Packers assistant Ryan Mahaffi and I'm sure I'm buturing his name but he's their run game coordinator and tight ends coach sometimes it's also buying back coaches I guess yeah and he's a former NFL fullback so that's interesting the bills apparently did the same it's just yeah so I don't know so not unheard of Rob Boris no I just I googled it like and so Rob Boris and Buffalo, but maybe this is a new thing. And it makes sense because the tight ends are a big part of the run gate.

And there's a lot of things offensive line coaches in general have to focus on to make sure his five are there in instinct. So who knows? But I think regardless, James Casey's been here for quite some time. And so for him to get that title, what does it mean? Does it mean anything? What kind of impact does it have? To your point, it's noteworthy. because it could have a super positive impact.

It could not matter. It may matter somewhere in the middle. So we'll see. But yeah, it's interesting. I'm surprised that we've seen. I mean, two other staffs have done this in the past couple of weeks. So I wonder what the logic was. Regardless, I think we'll at least find out from Zach Taylor

what his thought process was behind James Casey. because with these position coaches, just to peel back the curtain a little bit, a lot of them are just meeting, they're meeting with players, they handle some of the drills that they're tied up. So we might not necessarily hear from James Casey at the combine, but we'll certainly hear from Zach.

Not a coordinator. Well, I guess he's a coordinator now, but not a game coordinator, baby. Yeah. There's so many coordinators. Jerry Montgomery, the run game coordinator on the defensive side of the ball in case you were wondering,

but the Bengals did make a couple of changes on the defensive side of the ball too, not adding coaches the way that we, talked about them potentially adding some coaches, but instead giving titles to defensive assistants that specify what positions they were working with. So we mentioned Mike Moon working with the defensive line. I think when we talked about Davis Cutter being hired to do the assistant wide receiver coach job. He's now officially the assistant defensive line coach for the Bengals. And I think that we knew that that would be Mike Moon's role based on his history.

And now he just gets that title as well. And Ronnie Regula goes from defensive assistant to assistant linebackers coach so i would still have liked to have seen the bengals ad coaches on that side of the ball because it's hard for you to convince me that adding coaches is a bad thing but at least these couple of defensive coaches now do have clear titles as to what they are assisting on that side of the ball so you still have covaks and uh why am i blanking on his name one of the coaches i really like on the defense side of the ball chuck burkes coaching the secondary in two different units. And you imagine if Bengals had had like a full staff of like 500 guys?

Maybe I'd be better names. I'm forced to commit more time to learning names. Charles Berks and Jordan Kovacs remain in the secondary with no assistance because they're only coaching the safeties in the corners respectively. I think that's probably why. And the defensive line and linebackers get some official assistant titles. And that's the Bengals coaching staff for 2026. Just one coach added, one coach removed, and some shuffling, James.

No expansion to the coaching staff this year, the way that they did those minor expansions last year. Yep. It's a sink or swim type of year for this coaching staff. And I think they know that. And hopefully that the Bengals don't qualify for any comp picks because they've added enough to where we can really focus on the staff and feel like, hey, they do have the talent to go make a run if they're a good staff. So that's the ultimate goal, just to wrap up and put a bow on everything we've discussed. Yep.

That's the bow. We will be launching our first 10-minute little bonus episode. Oh. Probably tomorrow morning or maybe it's out by the time you're listening to this. But for the everyday, we listen all the way to the end of the episode. I don't think I did say mock draft. No, you didn't, but it was my way of teasing it. I hear mock draft.

So keep your eyes out for some little bonus content that's going to be popping up in the future here. We're hopefully adding a little bit of content here on a very regular basis. Of course, I'm traveling as we're launching this. So we're going to start it one day this week for sure. We'll see what happens the rest of the week. And we'll get more regular with these extra episodes as we get into the habit here. So a little bit more lockdown Bengals coming your way and stay tuned for more details on all of that. Until next time, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast,

Hoodey and have a good one.