Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - What We HOPE to Hear From Duke Tobin + Zac Taylor OUTLASTS John Harbaugh In AFC North

Starting point is 00:00:00 Despite what you might think, every time Duke Tobin addresses the media, we learn a little something about the inner workings of the Cincinnati Bengals. Let's break down what we're hoping to learn from Duke Tobin's first post-mortem media appearance this Friday. 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. number one sports podcast network. He's James Rapine. I'm Jake Liscoe. We are your host of Lockdown Bengals, bringing you daily Cincinnati Bengals content

Starting point is 00:00:45 going all the way back to 2016. That's 10 years ago since this podcast started. We're approaching 10 years ago. And today we break down a tumultuous day that occurred on Tuesday. They concluded with John Harbaugh's firing by the Baltimore Ravens and the juxtaposition of what's going on

Starting point is 00:01:05 in the AFC North with what's going on with the Cincinnati Bengals and the retention of Zach Taylor. We haven't discussed Zach's last media appearance of the season, his Monday press conference. And of course, we'll hear from these guys throughout the off season. But we get a post-mortem, meaning a reflection post-season media appearance from Duke Tobin on Friday, James. And that's where we will start today and discuss what we're hoping to learn because I think a lot of fans are really keying in on this presser. this new thing the Bengals are offering up with Duke Tobin for the first time here. Not a combine appearance, not a pre-draft appearance, but a postseason reflective appearance for Duke Tobin. That's where we'll start today.

Starting point is 00:01:48 Today's episode is sponsored by Prize Fix, where you can get $50 in lineup after you play your first $5 lineup with promo code locked on NFL in the Price Picks app. James, you're going to be there. You were there for Zach Taylor. He spent about 30 minutes with you guys down at Paycour Stadium on Monday's. And this Friday, Duke Tobin at 1 p.m., a lot of the same media will be there. I know you'll be there. So let's start with your perspective on this because you're going to be in the room. What are you hoping this presser with Duke Tobin gets to the bottom of?

Starting point is 00:02:23 What are you hoping to turn up in this conversation with Duke Tobin on Friday? I hope that Duke acknowledges how short they've come up in free agency. and how that's impacted what they've done or what they haven't done and really impacted them when they're in the middle of the season and they're facing the adversity that Joe Burrow posted on Instagram about. But 2025 is adversity. And good teams, when they're hit with adversity, they find a way to win some games.

Starting point is 00:02:58 And this Bengals team hasn't been able to do that. They did do that in 2021 when we interviewed Zach Taylor during the buy, going into the buy, they had lost two straight. And Zach Taylor comes on our show and we're like, hey, you're confident, you could turn it around. Yes, I'm confident. Here's why I'm confident. Deep down, he didn't know if they were going to turn it around or not, but guess what?

Starting point is 00:03:18 They responded to adversity well. And I think it's a very simple thing. They haven't had enough talent. They haven't had enough talent because they haven't done enough in free agency. And so I want Duke Tobin to acknowledge that, damn it, we got to do exactly what Joe said on Sunday, which is make our weaknesses a ton better. and that's what I'm hoping for. And if he does that, and he should do that, by the way, Friday isn't for us.

Starting point is 00:03:46 It's for Duke to be very, very clear. It's not for the media. It helps the media for sure because we can actually ask him questions instead of ask Zach questions and say, Zach, we don't get to talk to everybody else, all of those things. Like, we get that. But it's for the Bengals to make it perfectly clear what their intentions are this season. error this offseason to make it perfectly clear why they believe that they can get it right

Starting point is 00:04:12 and do something that they've never ever done, which is win a Super Bowl. Like that's what Friday is for, as much as anything. That's why you make Duke available. It isn't to appease James or Paul or anybody else that's going to be in that room or Ben or Kelsey. No, no, no.

Starting point is 00:04:29 It's to set the record straight and hopefully set the tone for what needs to be. You know, we've had multiple times over the past few years. You made fun of it the other day, or maybe you didn't make fun of it necessarily, but you said you're not going to call it the biggest off season in Bengals history. Well, no, this is a, it's a prove it off season. This Bengals organization needs to prove it.

Starting point is 00:04:51 I'm a big equity guy. I say equity all the time on this show. And their equity's gone. The equity should be gone with Joe Burrow. It should be gone with Jamar Chase. and they need to find a way to get it back. And so that's one of many things I'm interested in is the moving forward. There's a lot of stuff in the past that I'd be curious about learning Duke-wise.

Starting point is 00:05:13 What the hell went on last year when at the combine he said, I don't want to pay more for the same team. And then they ran it back essentially with a few new faces, but not many and some draft picks. Is that Duke? Is that not? I don't think we're going to learn that. I think that's unrealistic.

Starting point is 00:05:28 What we may be able to learn is, hey, we realize we've screwed up the past couple of years. When we were good, we were really active in free agency. We got those purse strings open. They're loosened. And the checks are ready to be written. That's interesting that you're taking the more forward-looking approach. And I understand why. I'm really interested in the reflection part.

Starting point is 00:05:50 And you're probably right. You probably don't get that kind of transparency from due to the year. The way that we didn't get that kind of transparency from Zach. Taylor, you asked Zach, did you have enough talent on the roster to win? Quick answer from Zach, yes. Yes. You got to sign enough free agents last year. Maybe that's not exactly how you phrased the question.

Starting point is 00:06:08 Yeah. Pretty quick answer. Yeah, we were all on the same page. We were all lined, right? Like, come on. And there's no. Zach should have said we didn't have enough talent, right? Like, because he clearly feels that way.

Starting point is 00:06:18 Like, I know he feels that way. He didn't tell me. You just know. He answered other questions that acknowledged that he feels that way, talking about being on the same page as Jemar Chase and expecting to be on the same page as Joe Burrow and having a vision for the offseason. And obviously he acknowledged, you know, that they still need to talk about the things they want to accomplish this off season.

Starting point is 00:06:37 But having an idea, everyone has an idea. Everyone watched this team this year and understands what needs to happen, right? But that's why I'm so interested in hearing Duke talk about what happened last year. Because we heard Zach answer a question from Paul Dana on Monday. And we're blurring these topics now. The other topic today is really Zach's presser and how this compares all these things. But yeah, they go hand in hand. We heard Zach, maybe.

Starting point is 00:07:02 We heard Zach talk to Paul Dana about the benefits of continuity, you know, like now we've got two years with this coaching staff. The coaching staff didn't join us at, you know, in early February when we're putting it together. Like, first off. Early February. You guys can't do an offseason when you don't have your coaching staff together because this just also happened in Zach's first season with Cincinnati. The staff came together really late.

Starting point is 00:07:25 They had a terrible offseason. They didn't get guys. the building that they needed and they were dreadful they did not have the mike rable first year the leon kohen first year in jacksonville or new england or even the mike macdonald first year in in seattle two or i guess two seasons ago last season whatever you want to call it i guess for them the season is still going so what happened last off season or even two off seasons ago when they had to have known they know by the time free agency arrives what the texture of of the draft is.

Starting point is 00:07:59 Going back to two years ago when they drafted Chris Jenkins and McKinley Jackson or last year when they drafted two linebackers, Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter in the second and fourth rounds, they know where the strengths and weaknesses are in this draft blast. They know, roughly speaking, where those guys are going to be picked and what they need. And if you're telling me that, oh, you know what? We actually didn't really realize what we needed at linebacker until we got a year without golden.

Starting point is 00:08:22 Like, that's a huge indictment in the first place. but can we get to a draft without having these pressing needs at weak spots in the draft? Like what's leading to that? That's what I want to know. Like what happened last year? Yeah. Were you guys too tight? Like was it you were too focused on Jamar and T?

Starting point is 00:08:41 Did you really get what you wanted out of that free agency period? Would you like it, Duke? If you guys structured contracts a little bit differently, so you had a little bit more cap space to pay a few more guys, would you like it if your employers, guaranteed more money outside of year one to make your contract offers more competitive with your peers across the NFL.

Starting point is 00:09:02 Those are some of the things that Duke will never answer, but I'm curious to hear. Do you feel like the organization has been on the same page and the powers that B have been on the same page throughout the draft process and the offseason and the player acquisition process? I know he'll answer. I know he'll say yes.

Starting point is 00:09:20 You know he will. You know he will. And so that that leads into, another topic and we can blur the lines because whether it's Zach, whether it's Duke, what the goal for me will be going into Friday. Yeah. And what the goal for me going into Monday and the goal for me going into Joe's interview on Sunday. The goal for those, I think is important as we try to peel back layers, get hints,

Starting point is 00:09:48 figure out as much info as we can because it is a really important offseason. The reason people are pissed off is because it feels like they're wasting Joe Burrow. He's the best quarterback at franchise history. And Jamar Chase is the best receiver in franchise history. And T. Higgins, who's a really darn good player and should be a ring of honor type of player if he continues to play the way he does. So we're going to continue the conversation with that Duke, Zach. Let's blur those lines, Jake, coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Rocket Money.

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Starting point is 00:11:27 Rocketmoney.com slash locked on. We're brought to you today by Fandul as well. Obviously, the wild card round is here. There's some good games this weekend, and the Bengals aren't in them, but Fandul is officially in playoff mode for the NFL. Every game day during the NFL playoffs, Fandul is giving customers even more ways to get in on the action

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Starting point is 00:12:18 So visit Van Duel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL and grab your profit boost pack every NFL playoff game day. We'll continue the conversation with what exactly I'll be looking for on Friday. Like I said, I was referring to Joe on Sunday post game or obviously Zach's end-of-season press conference on Monday. But really quick, wanted to shout out my guy, Jay Morrison, really tough time. I'm not sure if you've heard. I imagine a lot of you have. I know a lot of you listen to the growler, watch the growler, pay attention to Jay's work at Bengals Talk.

Starting point is 00:12:54 His wife passed away in a tragic fashion last month. And Nikki was the best. And so I know Paul Dana Jr. put together this GoFundMe. A lot of people have asked, how can you support? It is up right now. If you're watching on YouTube, there's a QR code. I will make sure that I tweet it and put it on my socials as well. And, yeah, Jay is the best.

Starting point is 00:13:21 That's the best way I can describe him. he's the best. Nikki was an awesome person. They were the perfect couple and it's really unfortunate. So if you wanted to support them, if you were wondering when you heard the news last month or at any point, I mean, Jake, they had like on his official announcement when he announced her passing,

Starting point is 00:13:42 it was like 5 million, 6 million views on X. So it's just, I know the family has felt all of the well wishes. And so, yeah, if you wanted to help support, I just wanted to give that a mention. And like I said, it'll be on our socials as well. And shout out to Paul for putting that together. Obviously, we're thinking about Jay and his family.

Starting point is 00:14:10 And, yeah, there's no great transition here, but we got to get to Duke and what we're looking for on Friday. And the main thing, going into any of these Combine, Friday, pre-draft, post-draft.

Starting point is 00:14:30 When you ask questions, it isn't about the question. Because we get a lot of the, oh, well, you've got to ask tougher questions, and you've got to present it a certain way, and you've got to do this. The whole point is to get a good answer. The question,

Starting point is 00:14:45 and you can ask stupid questions, there are stupid questions, for sure. I've asked plenty of stupid questions, and I will probably ask stupid questions on Friday. It's part of the job. It's like throwing an incomplete pass. It happens. You got to live with it. Taking a bad sack, whatever you want to say, whatever analogy. But you want to get a good answer. You want to get something that we can hang our hat on. Like the Joe Burrell free agent,

Starting point is 00:15:06 it's paramount to our success. Like that's a huge answer because for the next three months, we're going to be thinking about that quote and referencing that. And so can we get the answers that one, people want for sure, that would be great. But the info that we want, everybody wants in as much detail as possible, that's the goal. And so that's always my goal going into these. It's not to say, hey, Zach, why do you, Zach, do you think you should be fired? Like, hell no, he doesn't think he should be fired. Why would I ask him that?

Starting point is 00:15:42 Like, that's a dumb question. Does it mean that I won't ask a dumb question anyway, but it's not going to get a good answer and it's not going to help anything? The talent one, I thought was going to be short, but I still thought it was relevant for him to say, yeah, we had enough talent. Because now we have him on record saying, yeah, we have enough talent, even though we both know they didn't have enough talent. So there you go. That's my goal going into Friday. I think that's always the most reasonable goal. You want to get the answers to the questions that maybe you're not directly asking. And there's ways to prod at the edges of things without being confrontational. And I think a lot of

Starting point is 00:16:19 times fans are interested in the media going in there picking a fight. They see the way that potentially, you know, the environment is in New York City, for example, where there are sometimes more fiery exchanges or more confrontational exchanges and maybe they're watching political exchanges elsewhere, like in a different world entirely than what we're talking about when it comes to football reporting and beat reporting in the NFL. And so I think that a lot of people also think Duke never says anything and I don't really agree with that. I think we talked about that on Monday. You always tend to get some little tidbit from Duke. You can sometimes glean things here and there, but when they don't like your question, when they understand that you are asking them a question

Starting point is 00:17:00 that wants them to admit a hard truth, you get very quick, generally, very quick, brief answers that don't really answer those questions. And we talked about a couple of those from Zach Taylor's presser that you asked early in the show. You just referred to another. Like, Did you have enough talent? Yes. Okay. Why didn't you win games? Like, you know, where's the?

Starting point is 00:17:23 Not making any coaching staff changes, you know, like. And he was asked as well, like, you know, were there any trends? Anything you can point to? Like, Charlie Goldsmith asked, is there something you can point to as you reviewed this entire season that is why this didn't go the way you wanted it to go? And Zach's like, well, which game? You know, like it was different every week. So even if you ask that question, that immediate follow up, yeah, we had enough. Okay, why didn't you win?

Starting point is 00:17:46 He would answer the same exact way. Well, which game? It was something different every week. And so those questions, the way that the questions are phrased and pointed, will elicit answers based on how comfortable the interviewee is offering up the information. Now, Duke Tobin is going to go into this press around Friday, like you said at the beginning of the show here, with an agenda. And Duke always does this.

Starting point is 00:18:13 He knows what points he wants to get across and will go out of his way, to answer the questions that might be 1% related to a talking point that he has to get across that talking point. That being said, it is the job of the media and it is your job to try to get to the answers to questions that are relevant to the reason that this press conference is being held. And we're going to hear again from Duke Tobin at the combine. Everyone talks at the combine. That's the next time we're going to hear from,

Starting point is 00:18:46 Duke Tobin. And at that point, there are going to be a lot of questions about the future. That's why this one to me, Jen, is so interesting. It's an opportunity to reflect on how they got to this point and how this season went where they didn't meet expectations and where they fell short and why, as much as Duke Tobin is willing to answer those kinds of questions. Yeah, no doubt. And if we can get that, maybe he gives us, he mentions a position. Like, there's just like the little nugget. And then we take that. and we're like, oh, maybe they're looking at this in free agency, or maybe this is what they're thinking, or maybe they would shock the world and make a trade for a veteran that's going to be a

Starting point is 00:19:27 game changer for them. Like, you just never know. Maybe they would decide to trade here, trade there. Because you hit on it earlier, please don't go into the draft with a bunch of weaknesses, like some glaring, like gigantic holes. Because I. The Caleb Downser bust plan. No, like, don't do that again.

Starting point is 00:19:47 Please. No. No. No, it, and by the way, that's dumb. I don't need to watch any of Caleb Downs to say that's dumb. And it's dumb, even if you get him. What if he's just not ready? What if it takes him 10 weeks?

Starting point is 00:20:01 What if it takes him a year? Like, I thought Dax Hill was great right away. And guess what? It took him a little bit. And I think there were reasons for that. And the Bengals certainly didn't help the situation, but sometimes it takes time. I'm fine with the 10th overall pick having a role right away as a rookie.

Starting point is 00:20:20 And it would be nice if he was a game-changing player right away. And maybe it will be. And downs or whoever, right? David Bailey, whoever. But have options to where if you get that guy and he goes in and he earns it, great. But not to where you're penciling him in. Oh, he's got to start for us and be a game changer right away. It's just it's a lot to ask.

Starting point is 00:20:41 It's too much to ask, especially for a team that sure is hell better bounce back next season. And we'll continue the conversation with, well, some wild, wacky fun in the AFC North, 6 and 11. Well, you're staying in heaven. But John Harbaugh, well, he's the bell of the ball. We'll get to him coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Ultimate QB. Ever wish to become a pro quarterback and getting drafted first overall like Joe Burrow by the Bengals? Well, the Bengals have the 10th pick this year.

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Starting point is 00:22:00 for Locked on Bengals listeners. Use promo code locked on. That's all caps locked on in the game store to get a free boost at the start of your career. Ultimate QB football legend. QB1. It's your legacy. John Harbaugh was let go by the Baltimore Ravens. with reportedly three years left on his deal.

Starting point is 00:22:24 Oh, that's a lot of money, honey. I said honey twice in a show. That's a record. Kevin Cepansky, let go by Cleveland earlier this week. It's a lot of money, too. We'll see if Mike Tomlin survives.

Starting point is 00:22:37 We'll see what happens in that wild game. Dude, can you imagine if all three. I sure can you imagine. Can't you? It's, yes, I can. And then,

Starting point is 00:22:50 was let me ask you this did you think Zach Taylor was the fourth best head coach in the afc north coming into this year if you power ranked him or now whatever you know i think that probably i think that what's hard about it is john harbaugh in baltimore has had his issues no doubt about it that they they should have had more success in lamar jackson's tenure with all of the players they've had and part of that is that the front office and the organization in Baltimore is seen by most in the industry as something to aspire to, one of the best run teams in the NFL. The Steelers largely have a similar reputation despite doing some business in similar ways

Starting point is 00:23:33 of the way the Bengals do business. They've just been remarkably consistent. Those two guys, Tomlin and Harbaugh, have not been held back by front offices necessarily. And I think Pittsburgh fans will probably argue that their front office has its issues. But Stefanski and Taylor are both sad. with these dysfunctional organizations in different ways, right? And that's where it gets really hard to differentiate these guys. Because I don't think Zach is a bad coach, per se.

Starting point is 00:24:00 But I think that the reception to John Harbaugh's hiring tells you that the industry thinks he is an exceptional coach to the point that some organizations that have not yet fired their coaches are trying to work back channels to figure out if they can secure John Harbaugh before making a decision to move on from their own guys. And Kevin Safansky is also drawing immediate interest. And I can guarantee you that Mike Tomlin would draw immediate interest if he were let go by the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, yeah, I mean, who would you take? Would you take one of them? Would you, would you be, let's start here with the guy that is available. Would if you're Mike Brown, obviously we don't think Mike is doing this. If you're Mike Brown, do you make that call back channel wise? Say, hey, would you come, coach Joe Burrow? I think you have the conversation. I think that. last year, I'm curious about your feelings how to compare to Vrable last year.

Starting point is 00:24:54 Because you were really on Vrable last year. Obviously, I'm Ben Johnson last year. Like last year I would have gone after Ben Johnson and you would have gone after Vrable. And turns out both are pretty good coaches. Yeah. What do you think? How does this compare to Vable for you? Because we've seen Harbaugh up close and we've seen the letdowns for Harbaugh in the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:25:11 But at the same time, like the fumble in the jungle play, a miss kick, a guy that gets tackled on one against the chiefs, you know, Mark Andrews drop it, you know. Yeah. There are all these plays where the Ravens have been right there and how much of that is coaching at that point. What do you think? How does it compare to the Raples and Ben Johnson's of the world for you? It's interesting because it's so fresh.

Starting point is 00:25:40 Like I loved Rable because like I knew, I knew he was going to come back and be this freaking, I'm going to be the incredible Hulk. Whatever job he took, I thought he would have success at. Because he watched, and we like Brian, friend of the show, Brian Callahan. He watches Brian Callahan get that job. And I guarantee he was like, are you guys serious? You fired me to get like, and you would take that personal. I know I would.

Starting point is 00:26:09 Right. And so he interviews in Los Angeles with the Chargers. And they ended up Harbaugh. They hired Jim Harbaugh. So that's another one. Oh, you've got to hire the Michigan. Okay. We'll see in that chip just to get bigger, bigger, bigger.

Starting point is 00:26:26 And so, yeah, I wonder, I would want to talk to Harbaugh and see where that fire is. If it's all the way there still, well, then that's different than like Marvin Lewis in 2018, where it was just kind of going through, you know, they were just kind of going through the motions it felt like at that point. And when you're in a place for a long time, time, it can go one of two ways. Here's what I will say, though, and this is all due respect to Joe Flacco, who I hope is a Bengal next year. John Harbaugh has never had a Joe Burrow.

Starting point is 00:26:59 And I say this, knowing that Ravens fans are going to see it, knowing that they're going to be like, oh, my God, you are dumb. Look at that MVP. I love Lamar pre-draft. The Bengals were idiots for not drafting him. He's not Joe Burrow. There's a reason Joe's had postseason success. There's a reason Lamar has struggled so much in the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:27:19 in styles are a big factor. Joe can play any style you want. Doesn't matter. Down 21, three, up three, down seven, up eight, down three offensive line, it doesn't matter. Road home, Antarctica, it travels. He can do it. And that's a huge factor in the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:27:41 And so would I like to see it? Sure, if he's got that chip. would have to talk to him. Because it's, it sounds like with the more info that we've gotten, he was kind of blindsided by this. And it's like, it's like going through a divorce after 18 years. I feel like if you're blindsided by it. Like it's, it's a, it feels like a marriage that has just ended. And it's, I don't know if you can recover from that quickly enough to jump back in and be it. Maybe he can. And maybe that chip is there and he's, he's ready to go. And if he is, then yeah, to me, he's one of the best coaches in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:28:22 And it could be very Andy Reid-like. Instead of, you know, mentioned Andy Reid a few times on the pod this week, the Philly to Kansas City transition. And so, yeah, that would be kind of the blueprint to a degree. Obviously, Harbaal won a bowl, but he won a Super Bowl when Joe Flacko was not considered elite yet, right? hadn't gotten a huge deal yet had just gotten it i think and i was still in college so it's been a long time jake it's just interesting to to juxtapose the guys that were let go with the decision to keep zach taylor and the results recently like kevin sefansky's made the playoffs

Starting point is 00:29:02 more recently than zach taylor's made the playoffs and i know the last two years with joe flacco i know the last two years for sefansky have been terrible they have they've won what like six games in the last years. Eight games. Eight games. Okay. I mean, it's similar to how Zach started, right? But Safansky overall in Cleveland won 45% of his games, 44.5. Zach Taylor has won 45.3% of his games in Cincinnati. He's got a 453 winning percentage. Jim Harba, John Harba, John Harba, John Harba had a 614 winning percentage over his tenure in Baltimore, and that's 650 since 2019, since the Bengals hired Zach Taylor. Obviously, they've had their issues in the playoffs. I wonder how much of that falls at the head coach's feet.

Starting point is 00:29:47 Obviously, they had issues this year. And reportedly, it sounds like Harbaugh lost the locker room, lost the quarterback, and there were discussions around his unwillingness to move on from Todd Monkin. So it sounds like there were perhaps some issues internally with the way the offense was going. But Harbaugh made the playoffs six out of the last eight years. They didn't have any terribly great success in the playoffs. But the standards are just different, right?

Starting point is 00:30:13 And I think Ravens fans probably were ready to see this happen too. I think that a lot of Ravens fans are ready to see them try to shake it up. Sometimes you just need to shake it up. But I do think that the standards are different. And the other factor here takes me back to when the Bengals moved on from Marvin Lewis the first time. There's a refrain of like, well, who are the Bengals going to hire? They're not going to pay Ben Johnson $10 million or $15 million or whatever Ben Johnson got from the Bears. They're not going to pay Mike Vrable enough to pry him away from New England and go back to where he played for Bill Belichick and won all those games.

Starting point is 00:30:51 So like what's a point anyway is part of the conversation too, but the comparison of what Taylor has done over his tenure, what Taylor has done lately, 9 and 8, 9 and 8, 6 and 11, missing the playoffs three straight years and keeps his job versus what his peers are doing in the AFC North does stand out and is a bit. charing when you think of it that way. What if the Ravens hired Bill Belichick? I wonder what Belichick would do in the NFL at this point. That's such a mystery to me. Well, if he ditches the 25-year-old, I still think he's a great coach, right? And doesn't let that be a thing, you know, the college stuff, whatever.

Starting point is 00:31:34 But he can be that figure. Because I'm really trying to think, like, from a Ravens' perspective, who gets your juices flow? like i think dan pitcher is a really good coach oh they're real excited for jesse minter i think enjoy i would take harbaugh over minter so there you go jesse mitcher's been linked to baltimore for months now i am curious to see what changes with the cincinn they should have just they should have just promoted mike mcdonald my friend oh yeah bengals bengals dodged that one who what a w for the bengals they haven't taken advantage of it but huge dub when mike mcdonald left i talked about it

Starting point is 00:32:11 a lot on this podcast. I think he is the Sean McVey of defensive coaches in the center in this league. I think he's an excellent coach. I think he's a coach of the year. Got Nickyman Worry, draft crush, Nicky Ben Warrie. I mean, he's a wizard with I mean, that entire defense. Devon Wethers, the defensive tackles, what he's getting out of those defensive ends up. Like the whole thing. But what's going to be interesting now is to see what changes actually materialize was Zach Taylor, talking about his vision for the future, we're talking about his belief in this coaching staff, whether they can reap any of the benefits of continuity

Starting point is 00:32:44 that we've heard them talk about before, and we haven't really seen. But Taylor is sticking now. And so now the question is, what changes actually play out? What lessons does he take away? As he's reviewing his many notebooks reflecting on his last seven seasons,

Starting point is 00:33:02 and what does he take away and change? Last year it was fast starts. This year you're talking about turnovers, turnovers. He talked about turnovers. was one thing that really stood out to me. It's something that he's pinpointed. Turnovers and finishing games.

Starting point is 00:33:16 And we'll see how their off-season approach. Either puts them in position to do that or it looks like more of the same of what we've seen in the last few years. Let me ask you this. Because you tried to write the ship, but I'm going to shake it up a little bit. The Ravens call. We're interested in Zach Taylor. What's the asking price?

Starting point is 00:33:39 they wanted to trade for Zach. No, I'm dead serious. I'm dead serious. I know this won't happen. What's your asking price? I don't know. I have no idea what coaches get traded for. What was the last head coach?

Starting point is 00:33:50 It can't be a one. You can't, would you know? What was the last head coach trade in the NFL? I know they've happened, but I don't remember them. Was it Gruden? Was it? I don't know. Dungy a trade too?

Starting point is 00:34:01 It might have been Dungy. It was one of those. It was one of those. Anyways, come on. Give me something. I don't know, like a third round pick. my price isn't high. A division rival.

Starting point is 00:34:12 Yeah, I don't know. But like the issue is it goes back to like how late they put these staffs together and how much issues they had with the lateness of the process when they hired Zach, when they changed their defensive coordinator and how this apparently threw this huge wrench into their offseason or it was because they had to negotiate with Jamar and T and they couldn't do anything else. Like no matter what it is there, all of that is unacceptable. But they don't have those excuses this year.

Starting point is 00:34:36 So it's got to be better this offseason. And again, I'm going to be curious to see what changes are coming for Zach. And I know he said he wasn't making any changes to the staff, but I'll be interested to see if they hire any additional coaches. They add a pass rush coach or maybe there's a role for Brian Callahan. Speaking of Brian Callahan to return in some capacity if he's interested in doing so. Yeah, I wonder if they'll add anybody. I imagine Brian is thinking,

Starting point is 00:35:05 Hey, Detroit has a lot, Detroit has a lot of weapons. Yeah. You know, if Dan doesn't get picked up, you know, Detroit to me seems like, if you're Dan Campbell, think a little bit, man. Sure. You shouldn't be calling plays, Dan. I like Dan a lot, by the way. Another figure head coach.

Starting point is 00:35:24 Anyways, we could go on and on. I suddenly got all this energy, Jay. We could go on and on. There's a lot here. We still have to talk about the Bengals offseason to do list. We still have to talk about what Duke Tobin is going to see. say and there's a lot to do. Yeah, we've got a lot to talk about here as the off season gets going.

Starting point is 00:35:42 And then it'll slow down a little bit. No way. No, it won't because then the combine is going to be here. Jake does this every year. No, it is about to be crazy. And then it's free agency. And then suddenly the draft is three weeks away. And then it's a scramble.

Starting point is 00:36:00 Yeah, well, once the combine it gets fast. But people right now are like, they need to get Dalton Rise you're done this week. And we're the 36 minute marks. We're here with the everydayers at this point, sticking with us to the end of the show that we're about to wrap up. What do you have a guest on? Anytime you have a guest on,

Starting point is 00:36:16 and it's not me, it goes 36 minutes. So I'm a guest today. Well, we're recording it an odd hour for us. Let's blame it on that. But Dalton Reisner resigning. If he resigns in January,

Starting point is 00:36:26 it'll be the first major deal that Bengals have gotten done in January in recent history. And this happens for most teams. Most teams aren't doing deals, aren't resigning guys until early March, until the combine comes around. So something to watch, certainly, but a lot of Bengals, strangers are like,

Starting point is 00:36:41 why haven't they resigned Dalton Reisner yet? Generally, veteran deals, veteran resignings don't happen until much, much closer to the start of free agency. We'll see if it's any different with Reisner. We'll obviously be talking about Dalton Ryster as part of the to-do list for the Bengals here this off season,

Starting point is 00:36:57 and that'll be a show we get to soon here on Lockdown Bengals. But until then, that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Thanks for listening. True day. And have a good.

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