Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - What we're watching for in Bengals-Commanders preseason game | Right guard questions and depth battles

Starting point is 00:00:00 Injuries are piling up on the Bengals interior offensive line, and we know the plan for preseason game two. Let's break down everything we're watching for. 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,

Starting point is 00:00:26 and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Jake Liscoe, he's James Rapine, and we cover the Cincinnati Bengals. here on Lockdown Bengals and have been doing so since 2016. If you're looking for a daily stop for what's going on with the Bengals, all the latest analysis, all the news, you're in the right place.

Starting point is 00:00:47 You can hit that subscribe button on YouTube or anywhere you get your podcast to make sure you don't miss an episode and you can join all the everydayers out there. And if you're already in every dayer, we appreciate you very much as well as everyone who makes Locked on Bengals their first listen. We've got a bunch of injuries to talk about James on this. the Bengals' interior offensive line as the pressure, at least on the outside, continues to build for the Bengals to make a friggin move to solidify the right guard spot. And we also now know the plan for the starters for preseason game two.

Starting point is 00:01:22 And we'll talk about the players with the most approve and everything we're looking for in preseason game two. But before we get there, James, there are more injuries after they've been dealing with a variety of bumps and bruises along the offensive. line all training camp that came to light on Saturday. Yeah, the Cordell-Voson injury is possibly painful. It really is. And I don't mean his pain. And he's dealing with a shoulder issue that kept him out of Friday's, or out of Saturday's practice.

Starting point is 00:01:53 He's also suffered it Friday. Kept him out of Saturday's practice. He's not going to play on Monday night. And to me, Jake, I started to look. And obviously, we've talked a lot about Lucas Patrick. But I started to look at Cordell Volson as a lot. maybe the safety valve, like the break glass, let's just put him at right guard because we know what he's going to do.

Starting point is 00:02:14 We know what he's going to give us. And maybe the Bengals didn't view it that way, but I do think that with things being unsettled, like Zach Taylor said, at right guard, that there was at least a chance that had he stayed healthy, that he would be able to push and maybe pass Lucas Patrick between now and week one. And now it just doesn't, it doesn't feel like that's the case.

Starting point is 00:02:38 By the way, I'm not saying you should have felt good by that being a possibility. But Lucas Patrick has been underwhelming even if you didn't have high expectations for him. And I think that's where we really need to hammer home, even with that viral clip where he gets knocked over. Chris Jenkins knocks him over. That's really not on Lucas. Fine. But it's still a concern. And it just, it feels like, and this.

Starting point is 00:03:04 This has happened a lot in recent years. Our off-season concerns bleed into the season, and right guard is certainly one of them, and in this Cordell-Volson injury, isn't hurt. It's not helping anything. It's hurting everyone involved, including whoever is going to start at right guard. As soon as you get to the point where you are breaking glass in case of emergency, the solution on the inside of that glass should not be a guard that you have deemed worthy of a pay cut due to performance pay escalators and felt the need to go sign a guy that's been

Starting point is 00:03:34 journeyman who was the favorite for that job to replace. The Bengals were sick of Cordell-Voson. They thought they needed to get better than what Cordell-Voson gave them on the offensive line. They drafted Dylan Fairchild. They brought Cody Ford back. They signed Lucas Patrick. Now you're telling me their plan was break glass in case of emergency.

Starting point is 00:03:59 We're going to pull from behind that glass, Cordell-Voson. the plan behind that glass one should have already been enacted two should not be cordal volson like this should be the glaring Stein in bold neon letters

Starting point is 00:04:17 whatever it is that says hey we're in a bad spot here maybe we need to make a move and Zach Taylor kind of downplaying it talking about we'll see how it shakes out we got a bunch of guys that are day to day that are going to miss a game this that the other thing they're not major injuries. We don't know about Cordell's severity yet, but we haven't seen, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:39 these glaring injuries, but Amarius men's was playing through something. Orlando Brown has missed a day here. Cody Ford on the rehab field on Saturday. Devin Cochran going all the way down the death chart. He's a tackle, but on the rehab field on Saturday with all this stuff piling up, that could be the impetus. I don't know that it is because I don't know that any of these injuries are seen it severe enough to force them to make a move here james but the the way zach taylor talked about it certainly wasn't confident in what they had i have to think that it's glaringly obvious at this point that perhaps they should be exploring their other options and yet it's one of those things that i remain in the boat of i'll believe it when i see it i get it i do and it's because all offseason

Starting point is 00:05:35 long, that's what they've told us. Every move they've made or haven't made, it's been, oh, well, yeah, we've figured it out. We have Scott Peters, we'll renegotiate with Cordell, we got Dylan Fairchild, we didn't need this guy in the draft, we didn't need to go get someone more proven or more established or just better at their current stage of their career than Lucas Patrick. We'll see. The other thing here is Lucas has been knicked up in this camp. Lucas Patrick has multiple braces on. This guy is not a spring chicken either. And it made sense if you're like, all right, well, one of Cody Ford, like, I see why.

Starting point is 00:06:16 They'd be like, one of Cody Ford, Lucas Patrick or Cordell Volson, like, they'll be a solid backup. Well, now Cody Ford is your swing tackle. It doesn't seem like they're really confident Jalen Rivers at guard. Cordell Volson is injured. and Lucas Patrick has become a punchline on Vangel's social media. And even if that's unfair, there's real concern there for a good reason. That's a tough, that's a tough pill to swallow, especially when you look at it, you're like, oh, well, the wildcards, Matt Lee, like hasn't really taken place in team drills

Starting point is 00:06:49 and is someone that is working his way back from injury. Seth McLaughlin, well, he's coming off of a torn Achilles. And so where, where's he at? He's an undrafted player out of Ohio State as a rookie. Like, what are we talking about right now? It's just, it's a lot of like even the, the upside swings that I think some fans are in on. And rightfully so. It's a fifth round rookie.

Starting point is 00:07:13 It's a guy that's undrafted and then a former seventh round rookie or seventh round second year play. I mean, that's, that's a pretty rough spot, Jake. none of those are solutions that any reasonable NFL team relies on. And I get it. It's tough to find quality offensive line play in the NFL. It is not something the Bengals have been particularly good at for a while. We just looked yesterday at all the guards that signed during, you know, the peak of free agency where there are big money deals being given out.

Starting point is 00:07:46 And you can understand why the Bengals did or didn't make all of those moves. It's not like there was a. bona fide no-brainer move out there outside of kevin zitler that the bengals passed on but i mean in terms of long-term alice kappa like deals that wasn't really out there this year i would argue i think that's probably pretty fair to say when the bengals got kappa as an ascending player who before he got hurt was pretty good you can understand why some of those moves didn't happen but then i you don't understand why some of the moves that they could have made athletes all the big spending was done didn't happen,

Starting point is 00:08:25 and that they landed on Lucas Patrick, who hopefully goes out there and just shuts up all the doubters against Washington, right? And we get this strong performance from Lucas Patrick in the second preseason game, and we'll look back on this, and ideally it's like, oh, we were really overreacting to that couple weeks where Lucas Patrick wasn't going well,

Starting point is 00:08:49 but it's been a couple weeks, and that's all of our exposure to him. So it feels like we're once again at a point where hope is a plan and you know how we feel about that if you're an everyday or for this podcast. It's yeah, maybe, maybe he surprises. But there's a reason and expectations were expectations the way they were. And find backup, but they signed a bunch of backups and none of those guys are. realistically average to above average starters. They're not.

Starting point is 00:09:27 And that's why we're having this conversation. It's a conversation that's going to continue, Jake, into Monday night. And there are going to be plenty of other storylines as well. I expect Lucas Patrick to start at Right Guard on Monday night. How long will Joe Burrow and the rest of the starters play? We'll dive into that coming up next. This episode is brought to you by Better Help. These days, it feels like there's advice for everything.

Starting point is 00:09:53 Cold plunges, gratitude. journals, screen detoxes, but how do you know what actually works for you? With so much information online about mental health and wellness, it can be overwhelming to figure out what's true and what's actually going to help. That's why talking to a licensed therapist through BetterHelp can make the difference. You get real personalized guidance instead of just guessing based on something you saw on social media with over 30,000 therapists. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform serving more than 5 million people. It's easy to fit it into your schedule. You just click to connect. You can even switch therapists at any time if you need to. It's busy season for me,

Starting point is 00:10:29 but guess what BetterHelp is going to be convenient, whether I'm on the road, whether I'm at home, talk it out with BetterHelp. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash locked on. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash locked on. All right, Jake, outside of the right guard battle, I think a lot of us, I know I did, I expected, especially about a week ago, I would have said, oh, well, the starters, they're going to play probably a half. They're going to play a half against the commanders. They have this really long stretch of practices and get a good half of work in. And then camp is pretty much over for the starters.

Starting point is 00:11:07 It doesn't sound like it's going to be the case. Zach Taylor implying that it's pretty much the same plan as it was against the Eagles week, one of the preseason that Joe Burrow and the starters set to play about a quarter, which I think is interesting. What was your reaction when you saw that? Yeah, I wondered what it was reacting to because it does seem like the plan changed. And I wonder if it's because of some of the injuries they've sustained on both

Starting point is 00:11:30 sides of the ball where they're feeling a little bit shallow at certain spots and don't want to risk exposing guys for that additional quarter, they felt comfortable with the same amount of playing time essentially as we saw in that first preseason game where they got out of it relatively okay. Geno Stone had the injury, of course. But outside of that, they were okay. I wonder if it is an injury-related thing. I wonder if it's a product of where he thinks the team is.

Starting point is 00:12:01 I wonder if it's just because, according to reports out of Washington, the starters for the commanders are going to play a few series, according to head coach Dan Quinn. I wonder if they're just trying to line things up there. That was tweeted by Zach Selby on Saturday morning that the commanders are planning to play their starters for a few series. So it could be alignment there. What were your thoughts?

Starting point is 00:12:28 One would have been surprised, but I talked to a veteran this week. And he was like, man, a starter. He was like, man, hopefully we could do just like we did game one. And so I wonder, he's on offense, by the way. So it's not like he's on defense trying to get out of the game. just to be clear. It's because they were dominant game one. And part of that was that,

Starting point is 00:12:55 is that they got in, got the work in that they needed, got two long series where they got enough plays, ran enough plays. And so I think that's sort of the mindset. I don't know if they're going to go up and down the field against the commander starters the same way they did against the Eagles backups. But that was when my ears started to,

Starting point is 00:13:14 I was like, oh, well, maybe they don't do a half. Like maybe. So that was the first sign. He wasn't sure to be clear. It was just kind of him tossing out what it was in his mind. So I think it was kind of discussed a little bit.

Starting point is 00:13:27 I'm not sure if it was any one clear thing. But the good news is it's going to be against starters. The good news is it's going to be against one of the top teams, at least on paper in the NFC. And these guys are going to get tested at a level that they weren't tested last week, both on offense and defense. And I do think that that's the most important thing, regardless of how many snaps. Like Joe Burrow can go out there and beat third and fourth stringers that aren't going to make the roster and aren't going to make the practice squad

Starting point is 00:14:00 on any of these teams at any point at any time. But the quality of reps is certainly valuable. And I think that they'll get some quality reps on Monday night. And I wonder if on defense all the starters are going to play for Washington at this point didn't have a chance to check what's going on with them from an injury perspective, But Von Miller is on that team in terms of a challenge in the trenches. Duran Payne, Javon Kinlaw, Johnny Newton, some interior defensive line challenges. And then in the secondary, they add Trey Amos in the second round,

Starting point is 00:14:34 Marshawn Latimore on that team in the secondary. Mike Sanrychal on that team in the secondary. So a step up compared to what they saw in week one for sure. From an offensive perspective, though, I could totally understand cutting things back to a quarter. They were very efficient in that first game outside of the T. Higgins drop. You had the penalty. You want to clean those operational issues up, sure. But the offense looked good.

Starting point is 00:15:02 And so getting them a little bit more of a test and getting them out there against some starter-level players does make sense. But when Orlando Brown missed a practice this week, Amarius Mims is still dealing with whatever he's dealing with with his hand. They've got Lucas Patrick playing through injury, Cody Ford, not practicing on Saturday, although he wasn't mentioned by Zach Taylor as a player who wasn't going to play. Those were specifically named as Gino Stone, Cordell-Bulson, Mike Kisicki, and I'm forgetting one. Which am I forgetting? Miles Murphy, yes. So we'll see about Cody Ford.

Starting point is 00:15:40 But given the state of things on offense, getting them out of there after a quarter, could certainly make sense. On the defensive side of the ball, I am less opposed to letting some of those guys run a little bit longer, especially if it goes sideways against Jaden Daniels in a very good offense. On defense, it begins. And much like last week, I'm so excited to watch 97. I want to see Shamar Stewart. He's going to get in with the ones.

Starting point is 00:16:06 Obviously, part of that has to do with Trey and Miles. I'm not sure it, but should matter that Trey isn't there. And Miles is nicked up. And this is Shamar's chance to grab the start. John. I truly believe that. I think if he goes out there and plays at a high level, and maybe it's not start every week, right? Like, it could be like a running back situation where he's just playing a ton of snaps, even if he started a level snaps, even if he isn't getting the actual start. Cam Grandy made like six starts last year, just to give you an idea. So,

Starting point is 00:16:35 maybe that's the case. Regardless, though, huge, huge game for Shamar Stewart to continue to show to show everyone else what I've seen really throughout camp. I mean, he's been really darn good. Beat Cody Ford with ease on Friday, Jake. Come on now. Not everyone's doing. Wow. Amazing.

Starting point is 00:17:02 But in all seriousness, like, I do think he's had a good camp. Yeah. And considering where things were entering camp and like the conversation around him, he's done exactly what I think everyone needed to see, which is just kind of show that he can be that versatile chaos causer. And so will that continue against a good Washington offense? I'm really, really excited to see that. There's a lot of things about this defense that we'll be looking at,

Starting point is 00:17:28 but that's near the top of my list. Yeah, because Samar create that havoc against Jane Daniels that they couldn't create against Jane Daniels last year when Daniels looked like the best quarterback on the planet. And it turns out he's pretty good. but he certainly looked at another level in that game in particular. The quote that stood out to me that Mike Petralia tweeted, the power that disruptiveness, you feel his impact.

Starting point is 00:17:50 He's a guy who has made an impact on me, said Zach Taylor about Shemar Stewart. So excited to see him, of course. We'll get into all the things that we're going to be looking for, all the players that have a lot to prove. The other thing that I wanted to note here are what was some of the questionable designations from Zach Taylor, and that was mostly DJ Turner who was on the rehab field on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:18:12 So Gaseki, Murphy, Volson, Stone not going to play. DJ Turner questionable. Camp Taylor Britt and Dax Hill expected to play. Noah Fant expected to make his debut for the Bengals. So those are all guys that we may have some thoughts on. I have some thoughts certainly about Dax and about Noah Fant and how they use those guys. And we'll see what the roles are for them. and how they're looking in this offense and defense, respectively, in this game.

Starting point is 00:18:43 So we'll get to the things that we're looking for and the guys with a lot to prove in preseason game number two coming up next. This episode is presented by Yahoo Fantasy. NFL kickoff mean it's time to play fantasy football. And I've been playing Yahoo Fantasy for years and years and years. My first fantasy football league ever was in Yahoo Fantasy. this is either going to age myself in an old way or a young way. I don't care.

Starting point is 00:19:12 I'll tell you. I was torn between taking Bengals Chad Johnson or Bengals T.O. in my first fantasy league. I went with Chad because he's always open. I finished second in that league. It didn't finish great. But Yahoo Fantasy has something for everyone, including awesome new ways to play. And if you're playing Yahoo Fantasy like me, well, get in on all.

Starting point is 00:19:37 all the fun. And by the way, maybe you're looking to join a league for the first time. Yahoo Fantasy, like it was for me, is perfect for you. And to celebrate 28 years of fantasy football greatness, Yahoo Fantasy is dropping 28 big new features over 28 days throughout this month.

Starting point is 00:19:51 And they just dropped Yahoo Fantasy guillotine leagues. It's a new way to play where the lowest scoring team gets eliminated each week. And so there's one team left standing with the season around the corner. Try a guillotine league. I haven't done that yet. I'm going to this year or maybe you want a traditional league, head-to-head private leagues, a public league, get on all the fun, and stay tuned for killer announcements and start playing Yahoo Fantasy football now at Yahoo! Fantasy.com slash locked on NFL.

Starting point is 00:20:19 What we're looking for in preseason game three, I did look up who is not expected to play for the commanders while we had a little bit of time there. Bobby Wagner, Zachertz, Von Miller, Laramie Tunzel, obviously Terry McLaurin, Sam Cosby, and Marcus Marietta, who is backing up Jane and Daniels, will not play in the game. So no Von Miller, no Laramie Tunzel, which is exciting for Shamar Stewart to do some flashy things. And a few playmakers missing on that offense for the commanders. But that doesn't really change a ton in terms of what we're looking for from the Bengals in this game. And starting with the starters, James, the thing that we kind of finished the last segment with that's exciting is getting our first look at Dax Hill.

Starting point is 00:21:08 in a preseason game, getting our first Liga Noah fan in a Bengals uniform in a preseason game. Yep. Really excited about both of them for Dax. Honestly, he's just getting his legs under him coming off of an ACL, getting that much closer to football shape. I think that's as much as anything what you're looking for, how they use him. I think they're going to use him all over the field starting in that nickel spot, but really all over the field. He's going to guard tight ends. He's going to blitz. He's going to do a lot of things. So I'm not really, it's interesting to see, but I'm not going to draw to too many conclusions on where he lines up and all of those things on on Monday night.

Starting point is 00:21:45 But he's going to start for this team. And so getting his legs under him is going to be important. I'm just interested to see if they use him inside outside, if they are moving him around or if it's you're going to play in the slot. If it's like exclusively slot or if he does get those reps outside. I think he's going to play outside some for sure. I that's what I think too that's why I'm interested to see like doesn't play out that way I'm just not sure they'll do it in preseason game one I don't know if I would I necessarily I mean we'll see but there's no Terry McLaurin I mean who's there I mean Divo Samuel

Starting point is 00:22:20 Noah Brown yeah Luke McCaffrey yeah but all of those guys are probably slack Noah Brown's not I guess but uh yeah I regardless though it would be interesting if they did both in pre because if they do both on monday then they're going to do both in the regular season i could also see them going the other way and saying all right you're going to play 12 snaps in in the slot see your week one you know i just i don't know i don't know how it's going to go interesting nonetheless with no a fan i wonder how much they show us he's been really not i don't even want to say featured over the past week, but you've definitely noticed 86 more over the past week.

Starting point is 00:23:04 Different play calls for him. You got a touchdown during Saturday's practice in the red zone is someone that, like they're going to have specific packages for number 86 in ways to get him the ball in space. How much do we see that? Do we see it? I don't know how much they're going to want to show, but it is going to be cool to see him make his Bengals debut. And I do think he's going to matter for this offense.

Starting point is 00:23:30 So to get him out there, get his feet wet, it's going to be big. And you talked about the way he's been used, run after catch opportunities for him to use that athleticism, use the size speed combo, getting the ball on the screen game. How much of that we see, like you said, in preseason game number two, not sure. The Bengals weren't necessarily shy about opening up the playbook on offense, though, in their first preseason game. A lot of undercenter play action in that game, for example. And the playbook goes deep. We've talked about how they've got all this continuity with the skill players, the coaches, obviously, the quarterback, obviously. The system hasn't changed.

Starting point is 00:24:07 We've talked about how Noah Fant, and it was a quote from Dan Pitcher, was trying to pick up a 600-level Joe Burrell offense, which, you know, the graduate level starts at 400. 600 must be PhD level. I'm not sure if universities actually have 600-level classes. But the point is, there's a lot of complexity and a lot of time that's been in. into this offense. So it goes deep enough that they could potentially open things up and not be giving too much away. Probably not going to be any of the new wrinkles, but it will be interesting to see how he's used. Jermaine Burton, also a TBD for this game. If he does play, obviously interesting to see how he will emerge in preseason game number two after he didn't have a ton of opportunities on offense in preseason game number one. Charlie Jones seems to be going away wide

Starting point is 00:24:57 receiver four right now. So once you get further down the depth chart on offense, James, outside of Mitch Tinsley and Isaiah Williams, the offensive line is really where it's interesting. Figuring out who's going to be playing guard, is it going to be Andrew Stuber and Jackson Kirkland when you get to the twos for the entire game? Do we get a look at Seth McLaughlin in this game? Jalen River is probably going to get some run at guard in this game. But then, you know, who's out there for tackle to, especially Cody Ford doesn't play? seeing what they end up doing with that second team offensive line. I don't know if we're going to get any answers necessarily,

Starting point is 00:25:35 but someone has an opportunity to distinguish themselves in a room that doesn't feel like it's very deep right now. Yeah, I agree. I would be surprised, by the way, on Burton. I think that they'll probably hold him. Maybe he goes. Maybe he ends up pushing to go. But there would be nothing.

Starting point is 00:25:56 you think back to last year where it felt like daxhill was just buried behind dj turner and all these guys and then he goes out and he plays really well and it's just like a freight shrie i would love for one of these offensive linemen to just do that and for it to to go i just how realistic is that right there's no light bulb moment you know there there well there's just no first round it's not like you have a first rounder yeah like you could see miles murphy like that happening potentially you could argue like, oh, well, that could happen if he was playing because he's a former first round pick. I'm not sure they have that right now, at least not healthy. Maybe it's Jalen Rivers.

Starting point is 00:26:35 I think it's a lot. I think he's, he's treading water a little bit, just trying to take it all in from an NFL standpoint, which is normal for a fifth rounder. It's not crazy for a fifth round rookie to be in that spot. And that's why it's tough for them to be in the position that they're in is really, I think the most realistic best case. And again, there's a couple words, realistic best case is Lucas Patrick just gets his feet under him a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:27:03 And that's the route that goes. I, because I, the hope, hope of one of these other guys emerging, it just, it seems unrealistic. If we can get by with Lucas Patrick having like slow losses, no disaster reps against some players that are actually going to like Eddie Goldman, still a player in this league. Like there's actual players on Dan Quinn's defense in Washington. Dan Quinn's a great coach, obviously.

Starting point is 00:27:33 And so like if we can get by without any disaster refs, then okay. That could be a step in the right direction. On the defensive side of the ball, James, we talked about Samar Stewart. We've talked about the DBs a little bit. If Gino Stone isn't playing and he's not playing, that backup safety spot. between Tyson and Dejaume, it'll be interesting. But for me, I'm going to, I've talked about this. I talked about this all last week.

Starting point is 00:28:02 Howard Cross is continuing to take reps early. Seems to be one of the favorites of the coaching staff in terms of their trust in him, especially as an undrafted rookie. And again, just to reiterate, I need to see him do his job better. If he's doing his job right, you need to also be effective when you're doing

Starting point is 00:28:23 what the defense asks you to do. And if he's going to continue to get those opportunities and try to make a push to make this team, I need to see that result outcome as well. In addition to that, the rotation on the interior between Cross McKinley-Jackson, if he's in that mix at all, and Tavon, how they use those guys,

Starting point is 00:28:44 continues to be something that's worth watching because while you have a solid top three, I don't think BJ Hill is playing, but T.J. Slate and Chris Jenkins, B.J. Hill, the other guys that are going to be contributing in that role remain to be sorted out. Yeah. Yeah. It's the Howard Cross thing is just so interesting because is he, has he played his way out of the bubble? It feels like he has. Is McKinley Jackson there? It doesn't, it doesn't feel like it to me, but then you look at it. And if you see 95 in there, but you're not seeing 95 in there, but you're not seeing Well, then that's something. So how does that look?

Starting point is 00:29:24 How does it feel? Howard Cross is one of those. I was just kind of describing the offensive line. It feels like he is a light bulb moment away, a splash night away, from kind of earning a spot on this roster potentially. Like, really, like if he goes out there and you notice him a lot, now he'll still have to do it against the Indy, six days later, five days later. but there's a shot.

Starting point is 00:29:52 And yeah, I think that's a really interesting roster battle that I didn't necessarily think was really going to happen, even though that was discussed the moment he signed as an undrafted free agent. But I do think, and I wonder about this with Gino Stone coming back, practice Friday and Saturday, how much of that is, man, I cannot lose my job because he's not playing on Monday, but he's back in practice. He's not going to play on Saturday against the colds. I know Zach didn't want to say he's not going to play against the colds. Why would they do that?

Starting point is 00:30:26 Like if Tyson or Dejon balls out, well, that could go a long way too. So that is a spot that I'm definitely watching. Not that it's up for grabs. I don't want to say that, but you don't want to rule it out because you just, you never know. So I wish there was that kind of, oh, well, maybe that could work.

Starting point is 00:30:45 at guard because it just doesn't feel like there's anyone realistic. Meanwhile, defensive tackle and safety, there are guys that could either play their way onto the roster, who knows, maybe push the penciled-in starter in Gino Stel. There's still parallels between what we're talking about here on defense and guard, though.

Starting point is 00:31:02 You're talking about a college free agent and a late street free agent in Taven, Brian, and Howard Cross. You're talking about a fifth round pick and a seventh round pick in Tyson Anderson and Dejan and Anthony. Tyson's been on the team for four years now and hasn't been able to get on the field on defense all that often. Like you're still talking about the same pedigree of guys, but it doesn't have the same despondency around it

Starting point is 00:31:24 because you've seen what's happened with some of these other options at guard. And it's so visceral and obvious and glaring when things go wrong and you lose those one-on-ones on the offensive line and you're giving up the pressures or you're getting tossed. And it's just bad optics there. I still think that there are some parallels between those positions and the defensive positions in terms of the source of the players,

Starting point is 00:31:50 where the players came from. The last thing I'll throw out there, James, is all the rookies that we haven't really talked about so far haven't gotten a chance to talk about Dylan Fairchild. If he can run back that week one performance and look solid in week two again, we'll feel way better about it. It's only going to be a quarter against.

Starting point is 00:32:05 We're going to have a limited sample size again, but we saw Dylan Fairchild hold his own largely against Ty Robinson, another rookie. And if he can do that again, against some better players from Washington. Confidence, at least in that position, will be improved. And then Demetrius Knight, who continues to be a standout in practices, continues to be a guy the coaching staff loves, would like to see him play a little bit better,

Starting point is 00:32:28 play a little bit faster, see the game slowed down for him a little bit this week, if that's possible to get that from week one to week two of the preseason. Those are some other things that I wanted to throw in there before we wrap up. Yeah, all the rookies are interesting. honestly. I think they're all interesting slash you could look at it and say, all right, well, is this guy going to push? Is that guy going to push? I think Taj Brooks has had a really good camp and continues to play well. One of the best sideline catches ever this weekend in practice. So how does that, how does that translate? And then the fan driven, and I do think it's fan driven more than its reality, but how does Jake Browning play? How much, how many snaps does Desmond Ritter get? Like that, that's a narrative again. And if Browning goes like 8 for 18 and the offense doesn't move and Ritter goes 11 for 18, but the offense moves, never know, Jake. So just a little nugget I throw out there.

Starting point is 00:33:25 Browning does need to play better. This isn't me being a Jake Browning apologist, but I well just say that probably the quality of the third string compared to the quality of the second string, like given equal levels of competition from the other side, Washington's twos, Washington's threes. on the offensive line, I think favors the third team. I think the third team is a better third team and the second team is a good second team. So there is that element there, but no doubt they'll want to see Jake Browning play a little bit more in control, be a little bit more accurate with the football and look more functional in week two. But I'm not going to spend too much time thinking about backup quarterback here when there are all these other pressing issues, right?

Starting point is 00:34:09 Well, sure. That's why it's 35th minute of the pod, right? But yeah, I just, it's worth noting. That's all. It's worth noting. And I do think that Desmond Ritter is mostly playing for. He's trying to play for a roster spot this year, but maybe to be Browning's replacement next year. On that note, let's wrap up this episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast. I understand the desire to find that developmental quarterback. We'll see how that shakes out. We'll be back. after the game on Monday. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Hootay, and have a good one.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - What we're watching for in Bengals-Commanders preseason game | Right guard questions and depth battles

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.