Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Why Ja'Marr Chase is holding in again, and evaluating the Cincinnati Bengals' waiver claim on edge rusher KJ Henry
Episode Date: August 28, 2024As Ja'Marr Chase resumed his hold-in on Wednesday after Zac Taylor essentially said he expected Chase's hold-in to be a thing of the past on Tuesday, the drama resumed. The guys break down what it mea...ns that the hold-in is back on, then dive into the waiver addition of KJ Henry, and what's coming next as the club finalizes its practice squad. For your next listen, check out the Locked On Fantasy Football podcast. Get daily insight to the best Fantasy draft strategies so you can win your league this season. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Join 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!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.5-Hour EnergyGo to 5hourenergy.com and use promo code LOCKEDONFB to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Go to 5hourenergy.com today!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply.FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON to get started. 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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
A day after Zach Taylor told all of us that the Jamar Chase hold-in was a thing of the past,
Jamar Chase is holding in again.
Let's see what Zach Taylor had to say and talk about why Jamar Chase is back on his hold-in plan.
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 Locked-on Bengals podcast.
I'm your host Jake Liskow, he's your host, James Rupin.
We are Lockdown Bengals on the Lockdown Podcasts Network.
We're covering your team every day on YouTube, everywhere you get your podcast.
Shout out to the everydayers and all of you who make us your first listen.
Appreciate all of you so very much.
And if you're new to the show, maybe you're also sick of hearing about Jamar Chases.
We're sick of talking about Jamar Chases Holden at this point.
Regardless, we will talk about the other things going on with the Cincinnati Bengals today.
And if you're new, you can subscribe to stay up to date on.
on everything happening with that Cincinnati football team.
James, today's episode is brought to the folks by GameTime
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What time is it?
Game time.
Not game time for Jamar Chesa, at least not yet.
Wow.
He has a week to get back to practice, really.
If he's not practicing next Wednesday, then the,
The red flags, which are already being cranked up the flagpole, let's say,
will be all the way up there flying in full mast.
Yeah, I think when you hear what Zach had to say on Tuesday,
and then it was a really weird time,
so much so that I sent you a message because we're at practice.
Practice started at 2 Easter, and it was in the indoor facility.
We're in the indoor facility,
and the first thing I noticed was Joe Burrow was wearing a white jersey,
not an orange jersey who was wearing a game jersey which i thought was kind of funny and then
jamar watch was on and you didn't see jemar and the indoor is about a block away from paycourt
stadium for those that don't know and so oh well maybe he's on the in that buses maybe he's on a go
cart you know maybe he's going to to come in he's on his way and then it gets to 204 205 the individual
warm-up stop and team stretch is going on i message you like uh jimmarmar
Mark's not here. I'm holding. I'm holding. I'm holding. Because you don't want to alarm people.
That's the thing that we don't want to do. Everyone thinks that my goal is not to alarm.
I want to make sure as long as I can before I actually report what I'm seeing. So I waited to about
210. And then it's like, all right, I'm pressing send. And I press send. And at 2.13,
he walked in clearly not practicing, not participating. And it's something that
is obviously surprising in a way.
At the same time,
Jamar, the way he walked in,
the fact that he arrived late,
the fact that he was clearly arriving,
I'm not going to say he knew that video was going to be taken of him,
but it was pretty easy for us to take video of him when he arrived
because he wasn't arriving with other players
and walking in with other players.
To me it's a message sent.
Like, yeah, I did practice.
I did come back, and I did participate,
but I'm not happy here with this contract situation,
and I want to get something done.
Will it matter?
Will it impact things?
I'm not sure, but certainly Jamar is playing that card right now.
Yeah, we had the return to practice.
Then we had CD Lamb get a deal done.
We had Zach Taylor say he's going to practice.
We're expecting into practice.
He'll be fine for week one.
and then Jamar maybe felt like maybe they're not hearing me.
Maybe they need to hear me again.
I would like a new deal.
That could be all this is.
And it could lead to a deal.
That would be the best.
Could be all it is.
That's a lot, though.
Right?
That's a big.
I guess I shouldn't minimize it.
You're right.
That could be what it is,
is probably how I should have ended that sentence.
And it probably is what it is.
I think he's been pretty clear about this from the start.
despite not directly communicating through his agent or to the media himself,
that is what Jamar wants,
and there is still time to get the deal done.
That would be the best case outcome.
And like I said, if by next Wednesday,
we're still dealing with having to ask Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow,
who will speak to the media before week one,
is Jamar going to play,
then we're probably going to have some issues at that point.
For sure. We're getting to that point now. And it's interesting to say the least. And what else is interesting is Zach obviously talked yesterday and then wasn't scheduled to talk today, did talk today for just over two minutes. And you're going to hear every second of his two minute and 17 second session with the media right now.
Far away.
Has something changed between yesterday when you said that you expected Jamar to practice and today him not showing up?
Did I say that yesterday?
I think every day is a new day.
We'll keep working through it.
Not going to make predictions on what tomorrow brings.
At the end of the day, Jamar's a great dude.
That means a lot to this team.
And we'll just continue to take it day to day.
When does this become a distraction?
It's not.
I mean, it's a one-off situation that you've got to deal with.
And again, we'll just continue to take a day to day.
You still expect them to play in the opener?
This is all part of that plan that we've talked about.
So this is just the later stages of that plan.
But I think it's wise for me just to say we're going to take a day-to-day and see what tomorrow brings.
As part of the plan, Zach, did you build in in your own mind the fact that this could happen?
Things could change.
He could maybe not practice.
I think you learn enough to not let anything catch you off guard, you know.
And it's just, again, the smartest thing for us to do is just keep working through it, keep taking it day-to-day.
again he's a huge member of our team and appreciate him and look forward to getting him back hopefully at some point soon
is it very same what you talked to us yesterday that was your expectation that he would be he would go the rest of the
i think i probably put my foot in my mouth speaking too quickly and it's just again this is a day-to-day situation
we'll just keep seeing as that how often do you talk to jama i'll just keep that between him now
does this is going to impact the offensive ability no i think we always we've got really good players
and that that's what's good about us is we have really good depth
and the skill position spot on offense.
So a lot of guys work in at practice and get those reps.
And so, of course, we'd love for him to be practicing and get those reps.
But at the same time, it does give other guys an opportunity to continue to step up in that role
and show us why they're here.
And so, again, you've got to find the positives in this situation.
And there's a lot of positives to get another guy's work.
Is he fully healthy?
Yes.
I have to fully ask for the clarification again.
But just to be, sorry, I think the safest way to say it.
Is that right now it's just day to day.
That's the best way to say.
Are you confident that if Jamar does not practice this week, he would still be able to go in the first game?
Yeah, he'd be able to go.
What are the conditioning?
Like, let's say he doesn't practice between now and then.
He does a really good job staying his shape.
So there's no, like, if he, as a right now.
No, I trust.
He does a good job.
He's taking that upon himself.
He does a nice job there.
Well, there we go.
He does a nice job there.
But to your point, Wednesday.
That will be the time.
And the Bengals do practice Monday as well.
So they'll be back at practice tomorrow, Thursday.
Maybe you're listening to this Thursday.
Then they all have a few days off, practice again on Monday.
But then official game week starts Wednesday where they're going to install the game plan.
And maybe they can install it a little earlier.
But install out of the game plan and start preparing for the Patriots.
It would certainly be ideal to get him back before then as soon as possible.
Get the deal done.
Jamar will return to practice.
It would be very simple in that way.
I do notice a couple of things, so around this situation.
that have been consistent throughout the process.
Players, Ted Care is speaking in the locker room after practice on Wednesday,
are still in Jamar Chase's corner, still have no issues with what's going on,
understand what's going on from a business perspective,
and Zach Taylor continues to have his players back.
Those things have been constant throughout this process.
And when we reflect on this, whenever we get around to reflecting on it,
when it is officially a thing of the past,
we will be able to probably see some of these patterns and trends
and see a consistent story throughout
that while we're going through it is not as clear,
and these things often become more clear in retrospect.
And whenever Jamar Chase gets that new deal in Cincinnati,
it will probably become clear what was happening all along.
And we just don't have the full story yet.
But until...
Yeah, until a deal gets to...
done. We might not find out. And I'll say that Zach's in a tough spot. Rock hard place. The rock
is either Jamar or the Vengel's front office and then the other one is the other one.
Like it is, it's tough. And so for him to be the guy that has to address all of those things,
is it part of his job? Yeah. Does it suck? Yeah, probably, clearly on a day like today.
And so, you know, it would be easy. If he could, are the easiest for everyone,
if he could focus on the football side, which I think he was starting to do on Tuesday.
And the business side of Jamar was like, hey, wait a dang second.
We haven't gotten anything done yet.
So hopefully something can get done.
The Bengals did complete some other business after cut downs,
including a waiver claim to bolster their depth in the trenches.
And the practice squad starting to take shape.
We'll talk about the addition they made on Wednesday,
in addition to what we know about the practice squad.
so far coming up next.
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energy.com today. Cincinnati Bengals made one waiver claim. And on the topic of waiver claims,
I thought it was interesting. There were only 26 total waiver claims awarded to teams across the league.
Are we sure they only made one claim?
No, we're not.
They were only awarded one claim.
There you go.
Sorry.
I want to make sure I don't want people to be like,
why didn't they try to get more guys?
They might have,
but they got one guy.
Well,
and if you look at the list of the players named,
I'd be curious to know how many of them,
that person who is concerned that they didn't try to get more guys
knows on the list of players.
I would bet it's like three out of the 26.
It's not.
There were about 800 to 1,000.
players exposed to waivers over the last 24 hours and about 26, well, not about,
26 of them were claimed in some capacity. The rest of them are negotiating practice squad
deals. Some veterans were not exposed to waivers, signing with 53-man rosters, Samagee
Pirine, for example, landing with the Kansas City Chiefs. He decided if you can't beat him
in Denver or Cincinnati in the last two years, I guess you just joined them. And
go for Samajai Piron, 100 of New York, former rival.
Jake.
you're going to make me correct because I just know people are going to the Bengals did beat them two years ago just not in the aFC championship game yeah but they also lost to them in the game the last game that mattered no doubt but I just can feel that's three times today I don't care about the the semanticists today I'm just trying to make a joke Samajari Piran is not a Cincinnati Bengal he's a Kansas City chief and only about three percent of players that were waived got claimed so remember that the next time
you're really worried about a player the Bengals might cut and try to get onto the practice squad.
And I'll continue to deliver this message year after year.
Players do not get claimed on waivers very often.
They added a defensive end.
They added a guy who, one, they're familiar with because they watched him when they were watching all that Miles Murphy tape.
Two, he was drafted.
His former fifth rounder in 2023, coaching change in Washington had a nice preseason, didn't make the roster there.
And I think there are some commanders fans that are pretty bummed that he didn't make it to their practice squad.
And was one of the players when we were tracking pre-draft contact for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2023,
that the Bengals did have free draft contact with with.
That's KJ Henry, edge player out of Clemson.
He was a little bit older coming out, part of that COVID extra years than college class.
But along with Miles Murphy, where they, of course, had a presence at the Clemson Pro Day.
They did also talk to KJ. Henry there.
and honestly thought that he could have been a target for the Cincinnati Bengals that year.
And you're right, it was a coaching staff regime change in Washington.
Most of their 2023 draft class is no longer with the football team.
And Kandre Henry was one of the more attractive options on the waiver wire period at any position after he had a strong camp and strong preseason.
According to pro football focus, a past rush win rate this preseason at 20.
He had 10 pressures over three games, five of those coming against Miami in the second preseason
game.
He played for the commanders, but a guy that doesn't necessarily have all of the measurables
you would want, that's why he was drafted in the fifth round, but a high motor guy who has
some nice initial quickness to his game and provides the ability to play on the left side.
And where Cedric Johnson is going to play on the right side, Joseph O'Sai primarily was working on
the right side, Joseph Osai in practice today, working more on the left side where
Miles Murphy had been getting work before he went down with the injury.
Henry can play that left side and has a little bit of experience on both sides at the NFL
level, including this preseason, but a pretty good signing as far as you can do on
cut down day.
When you get a draft pick from a good school who has some good preseason production and
some positive reviews from people who cover the Washington commander,
for continuing to evolve, there's reason to have some optimism for KJ Henry's ability to
contribute to this team.
Yeah, I think it's probably, and I message you this, it's probably the best you're going
to do.
Unless you're going out and you're getting a veteran, and veterans are probably going to want
X amount of money or guarantees and reassurances that they're going to get a significant
amount of playing time.
And the Bengals, they want to give Miles Murphy a significant amount of playing time,
probably starting week five.
the moment he can come back from injured reserve.
I think that's part of it.
And they clearly were interested in KJ. Henry.
And I'm sure there are scenarios where he ends up being a bingo last year in the draft.
Those things, you know how the draft can be.
And so you mentioned that they met him, met with him.
And so to get him, to get someone who played in 10 games last year, had a second
half, had four tackles for a loss.
Like he's been in NFL games.
And now he can hopefully, along with Cedric Johnson,
be some younger rotational pieces that you can use when needed to spell these veteran,
more proven defense events.
More proven.
More veteran in the NFL.
Cajah Henry, not exactly part of the youth movement per se at 25 and a half years old.
He turns 26 in January.
So he was an older rookie just in case, you know, you'd like to correct me when you're
worried about people correcting me in the comments.
People come after you for the youth movement kind of comment.
to Brown KJ Henry.
He is a little bit older
for a second year NFL player.
See, I don't think anyone was going to do that, Jake,
because he's still in his second year.
I don't think anyone was going to come after me either
for my innocuous Samajé Piron joke,
but maybe...
All I know is, is Travis Kelsey fumbled on the field behind me
because Jermaine Pratt forced it
and the Bengals improved to 3 and O
against the Chiefs with Joe Burrow.
That's all that...
I just feel like people would point that out.
That's all. I really wasn't trying to correct you.
I just, I wasn't.
I wasn't.
But you know what I'm going to correct you on?
25 is an old.
No, it's not old. It's young.
I'm 36. I mean, talk about old.
To make room for K.J. Henry on the 53-man roster, there's some roster gymnastics
occurring.
For now, Trayvion Williams is not a Cincinnati Bengal.
Trayvion Williams took to Twitter as people got the news as the Bengals announced that he was
cut, not waived. He is not subject to waivers as a vested veteran at this point.
He was cut to make room for KJ Henry on the 53-man roster. He tweeted that it was just
roster gymnastics, nothing to worry about, said Williams. And that could mean he's returning
to the practice squad, but judging from the tweet, I would imagine he will be back to the 53-man
roster sooner than later. I don't think you're out there celebrating, making light of getting
cut if there's also like, I don't know, $700,000 pay cut.
associated with it,
you probably think he's
returning to the 53 man roster, probably
for good reason, and we'll see what
then the corresponding move
is, and maybe there are some clues out there
with some of the other additions that Bengals are trying
to make to the practice squad. Yeah,
I think, fully expect to get
that press release
Thursday. I would imagine it just gets
done Thursday, and Trivianne Williams
assigned to the 53, and something else
happens. And something else could be
pretty interesting, and it's a matter
of who and when.
But Trevion and I expect him to be back on the 53-man roster,
not the practice squad,
but we do know a decent amount of players
that are on the practice squad.
We will get to them coming up next.
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up. But for the players that we thought they'd bring back, a lot of them did come back.
We'll go through the list. Camp Grandi, a tight end that Zach Taylor has spoken highly of when
given the opportunity to do so back on the practice squad at tight end. The Bengals keep three
wide receivers. I'm sure you're loving this, James, on the practice squad, and Shedric
Jackson, Kendrick Pryor and Cole Burgess. So three wide receivers there. A couple of
offensive linemen and Trey Hill, who does come back to the practice squad after being cut.
the only draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals, I believe, on the practice squad, Trey Hill.
And that is, along with Devin Cochran on the offensive line.
Logan Woodside, the current practice squad, QB.
Honestly, a little surprise there, but Woodside did show some ability this preseason.
I just thought they might go external at quarterback.
On the defensive side of the ball, Dominique Davis is the only defensive interior player
on the official list of practice squad players, although,
there are reports out of Dallas that another defensive lineman is joining the Cincinnati Bengals
practice squad.
We'll get to that name in just a minute here because it is one of the more interesting external
names to think about.
Along with Dominique Davis's cornerback Jalen Davis, who, after he was cut as a vested veteran,
did not have to go through waivers.
He's back on the practice squad.
Shaka Hayward reportedly turning down other teams to come back to the Bengals practice squad,
Nate Brooks and PJ Jules, the secondary members that make it.
So no Alan George, PJ Jewels the safety, Nate Brooks, the Corner.
And those are the 12 official names.
In addition to that, Justin Rogers, who was drafted in the seventh round by the Dallas Cowboys,
reportedly is joining the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad.
But that one is not yet official.
No, not official, but you like to see it because you need that nose tackle depth.
And we were wondering where it was going to come from.
And I think this could tie together with what happens with travi.
I think there's a real scenario that Justin Rogers gets to town Thursday or Wednesday.
And maybe he's undergoing his physical right now.
Who knows?
And I'm in the building right now.
It's Wednesday at 5.24 p.m.
But undergoes his physical.
You pass that and you get him officially onto the practice squad.
And then you can make room for Treveon Williams on the 53-man roster by exposing a J2FELA to free agency or two waivers.
I assume he would still be waivers.
I think he's the last year he would be.
waivers. I believe.
So, yeah, so I think that could be a realistic possibility where you don't want to be so thin
at defensive tackle and then you cut Tufele to add a defensive end and then you lose him to someone
else. Now if you're exposing him to waivers, at least you have Justin Rogers on the
practice squad, someone that I'm sure they're confident in. Or maybe another move is happening.
I don't know that that two-fellé move is the move. The point is that that could all be tied together
as to why they went with Treveon, a vested veteran,
and they're bringing him back tomorrow.
Yeah.
Justin Rogers, you mentioned the nose tackle depth,
just to give a little bit more information about him.
He was one of the nose tackles in this 2024 draft class.
The Bengals met with essentially every single nose tackle in the 2024 draft class.
Justin Rogers was on that list.
He had a priority-free agent grade from Dame Bruegler,
but folks covering the Dallas Cowboys not very happy to see him go.
thought that he should have, at the very least, been on that practice squad.
And like the promise he showed, he's turning 23 in a couple of weeks,
if you're curious about his age as a rookie.
But 6-3-346, you're looking for a traditional nose tackle body?
There you go.
There you got one in Justin Rogers.
And it wasn't a great nose tackle class.
Some of the other names that we talked about, Jared Clark,
or I can't think of the others right now.
Jared Clark is the one that came to mind because we talked about him earlier today.
Justin Rogers is a fit for what they're looking for from a nose tackle body perspective.
And there's some upside there as a run defender.
So I'm pretty pleased with that move to get him onto the practice squad.
Wouldn't be shocked to see him called up if they need him for certain matchups at certain points in the season.
Maybe week one.
Yeah, we'll see one and if that is week one.
but a solid addition there to the practice squad.
And that leaves three spots after Justin Rogers,
if that one does become official.
And I would expect that they will continue to look at external names there to fill those out.
If they were guys that were with them throughout training camp,
you would expect them to be on the practice squad today.
So if there are some players that you were hoping to see back that were not back today,
never say never, but the normal, quote unquote,
path to the practice squad for players that are with the club,
for the entire summer.
If they're going to be on the practice squad,
usually it is that day after cutdowns.
So I would expect these other three
to be players externally.
And when you consider the positions, James,
I would expect potentially another edge player.
And right now there are no running backs on the practice squad.
So we're looking for running backs.
We're looking for probably some more defensive linemen.
And that could round things out.
When you look at the texture of the practice squad right now
and think about where they may need guys
to be called up when we're looking at practice squad call up players where they're thin
on the 53 man roster.
Yeah, I think the gymnastics over the next day or two, it's still taking shape.
And honestly, that's the beauty of that they're going to practice again Thursday.
They'll probably be able to get these practice squad guys, most of them in Thursday,
get them get their feet wet a little bit.
And then they can be in the playbook all weekend long and kind of get settled before
Monday where now you're talking about starting to get to game plan and get things ready to go.
I am curious, though.
I do think running back for sure in defensive line, and the Nate Gilliam one is weird.
The Nate Gilliam one is weird.
I agree.
I'm surprised that he's not back.
Maybe he's waiting to see what else is out there because it is, honestly, it's a crowded
offensive line room.
As much as we talk about offensive line, what's his path to playing?
right? And maybe he's trying to find an easier path to playing because there's just such a stacked
amount of guys ahead of him, which is going to be hard to do because a lot of these, I was talking
to a veteran in the locker room. I don't want to say his name, but anyways, I was talking to a
veteran in the locker room. And a lot of teams, they stick with what they know. You mentioned
the 26 waiver claims. I mean, Jalen Davis, I wonder how many teams really considered that.
Like, he's a quality player. And he comes back to the Bengals practice squad, not subject to waivers.
You don't have to worry about your order.
Just got to sign them to your roster.
And that didn't happen.
Yeah.
And I thought it was notew that Shaka Hayward reportedly turned down a couple of teams as well.
And there is, you could see his path.
Right.
I think it's pretty easy to see.
Akeem Davis Gather one year deal, Joe Batchi, one year.
Like there's a path for Shaka to be a part of the future for sure.
Well, they like him.
Like he was probably one of their last cuts along with Jalen Davis on the defensive side of the ball anyway.
I think those were probably some of the last cuts they wanted to.
make, I do think that Shaka Hayward and
Mumajong meta were close.
And a lot of people apparently
think that's a hot take because people got really
mad at me when I suggested that that might have been
close on social media.
But Shaka Hayward also had a really good preseason.
He just didn't get the hype that Mummajong
meta got as an undrafted free agent
rookie where Shaka Hayward has
been around for a little bit of time.
So glad to see Shaka Hayward
returning and
very curious to see what the running back
name will be. I know,
I know some fans were discussing George Holani.
He returned to the Seattle practice squad.
In addition to that, I've seen Deneeric Prince talked about.
We talked about Israel and Bonaconda.
He was not released by the New York Jets,
but a rookie that did not make it to the Eagles roster
and that did not return to their practice squad,
Kendall Milton is still out there.
And was a player that when I was looking at running backs
before the draft this year,
would not have surprised me as a late round pick
for the Cincinnati Bengals for the kind of player he is 6-1-2-20 a much bigger back he's had good
past protection he was good as a thumper for Georgia before he was kind of phased out of the
offense was not a bell cow for that team that is a name that I think would bear keeping eye on another
one Isaiah Thomas an edge rusher from a couple of years ago in the draft that the Bengals
had pre-draft contact with back in 2022 was released by the Cleveland Browns I do not believe
he's landed on a practice squad as of the time of recording.
Those are some names that you can keep an eye on.
In addition to some other defensive tackles, some other running backs out there,
I'm sure that the Bengals could have interest in.
For sure.
And it's going to be fun to see exactly which way they go.
I think Milton is interesting.
I do remember you mentioning in pre-draft.
So who knows?
Maybe that's one of their external additions.
And the thing about these guys, these external players that they're looking to add to the
practice squad is that these are guys that I think have a very legitimate potential path
of the roster at this point. We're talking about some spots where the depth of the back of the
53 for the Bengals are running back on the defensive line right now is not very proven and is not
necessarily very high ceiling. So for some of these guys, they bring in, especially if they're younger
players, rookies or second year players, potentially third year players that have a little bit of
growth left, so a little bit of development left. If they can get some of that out of these players
this year, you could see them active or finding their way onto the 53 at some point. And that's why
these external spots on the practice squad are potentially very interesting to me.
Or they could just be practice squatters that, you know, do their job and help the Bengals get
through this season by being good practice squatters.
There's no other word for that, I guess.
That is going to do it, though, for this episode of the Locktime Bengals podcast.
James, you have something you wanted to throw in there real quick?
Nope, go.
That is the end of this episode.
Thank you for listening.
Until next time, Ho-Day and have a good one.
