Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - WINDOW WASTED? Cincinnati Bengals Must MODERNIZE Offseason To Maximize Roster Around Joe Burrow

Starting point is 00:00:00 Every year we talk about changes the Cincinnati Bengals should make in their offseason front office practices to modernize. Let's get into the 2026 Bengals front office, locked on Bengals wish list. 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, the number one sports podcast. podcast network. He's James Rapine. I am Jake Liscoe. We are locked on Bengals and we have been since 2016 in the same spot anywhere you get your podcast. And for those of you everydayers that watch

Starting point is 00:00:48 us on YouTube, shout out for the everydayers out there who make us part of their daily routine. Today we dive into the topic we've been teasing for a couple of weeks now here, James. The list of things, we've talked about some of the specifics that we would like to see the Cincinnati Bengals change in terms of the way they structure their contracts and approach a salary cap and generally go about doing business this off season to maximize this roster and really put their best foot forward using all the resources available to them to try to get this roster in a place where it needs to be to go compete in the playoffs when Denver's beating Buffalo in the divisional round and the AFC. I mean, I don't know about you, but

Starting point is 00:01:35 this. I was watching that game. I was just thinking, man, the AFC so wide open this year, just reinforcing that frustration. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Every game day during the NFL playoffs. FanDuel is giving customers more ways to get it on the action. Visit fandwell.com to get started. And James, before we dive into our wish list here, did you share any of that frustration or you kind of passed it at this point? Every additional bit of evidence we get, every additional occurrence in the NFL for me reinforces that man it's really too bad they couldn't get this defense right and joe couldn't stay healthy or they couldn't win a couple games without them because they would have been fun in this tournament this year for sure like we're recording

Starting point is 00:02:19 this before houston you don't think that they could beat houston even with that defense like i do you don't think that they would be confident going to new england or going to denver with Joe Burrow and not Jake Browning. Right? I mean, they were confident going up against the bills and it took two ridiculous crazy turnover plays to lose that game. Like, that's, that's it is. Yeah, flaws in all, they would have been around.

Starting point is 00:02:46 I'm not saying they would have made the run, not even saying they would play this weekend. But that should be the standard. Like, I think it's hard to be like, okay, well, I expect to win the Super Bowl every year. Like, that's, that's a tough thing at all. But during Joe Burroughs tenure, it should always be divisional round. Like, you're in the divisional round. You're a couple of wins away from a Super Bowl appearance. And whatever happens after that, like, it may happen and it may go your way.

Starting point is 00:03:15 It may not. You may have some unfortunate timing and fortunate injuries, whatever the case is. But I think that's sort of the minimum for me going into 2026. And we'll see if they get there. But yeah, I look at it. I don't think anyone is like elite. There's no real juggernaut. And there might be units that are scary.

Starting point is 00:03:34 But Joe Burrow T. Higgins, those guys are scary too. By the way, happy 27th birthday to T. Higgins. Just another reminder that the clock is tick, tick, tick. That clock is ticking. Jake, let's go. 27 is crazy. 27.

Starting point is 00:03:50 Yeah. Time just goes. 21 is when he was drafted. 21, man. It's crazy. Time goes. Speaking of the playoffs and the Bengals standard and things like that, I think that's a good transition to standards that the Bengals front office could hold themselves to be more competitive at this time of year. And that has to do with the way they structure contracts, the way they approach free agency, the way they manage their resources.

Starting point is 00:04:23 and that includes their negotiating resources who need to be able to do more than just negotiate with T. Higgins and Jemar Chase at a time, you need to be able to, one, get that done faster and not have it drag out, and two, you need to be able to aggressively have your attention available for the start of free agency. And I just wanted to point out as well

Starting point is 00:04:45 that the teams that were playing this weekend, a lot of them at the top of the cash spending list for $20, Denver, Buffalo, New England, Chicago, all in the top part of the cash spending bucket in the NFL. So just, you know, a data point to remember spending money can help you win games, can help you maximize your roster. Obviously, you need to spend that money in the right places. But for our everydayers, you know how we reacted when we saw these structures for Jamar Chase and T. Higgins that, essentially save them no money against a salary cap last year. And typically when players sign extensions,

Starting point is 00:05:32 when they have a relatively large cap hit on the books for the years they signed those extensions, teams use the pro-rated opportunity, the opportunity to pro-rate money to convert some of the salary that that player is owed in the current year, put it in the signing bonus and spread that salary cap hit out into the future, when the salary cap will go up and lo and behold, the salary cap will go up this offseason as NFL revenues continue to climb. The Bengals didn't do that. Jamar Jason T. Higgins had a cap hit that was in the end oversized for the first year

Starting point is 00:06:07 of an extension. And it's not like they did that to save a ton of future money. Their cap hits in 2026 or $26 million each. And so while that might be, you know, a million dollars or $2 million lower than it could have been this year, last year, it was significantly higher than it had to be. And they could have instead spent that cap space on other players to try to improve their team. And this goes back to a theme with this team, which is like the cap really doesn't matter

Starting point is 00:06:38 to them. They approached the cap secondarily to cash spent. And they spent a lot of money last year. I'm sure they feel on those extensions. But the way this team approaches a second. salary cap is incredibly conservative. We've talked about this over the years. They try to avoid dead money like the plague, and they took some on with Logan Wilson

Starting point is 00:07:01 last year. And as a result, they never end up, at least in the Joe Burrow era, as a top cash spending team, because that is their constraint self-imposed more than the salary cap is a constraint when you look at the teams that really push the salary cap. And the bottom line is, is how they, they view it is like, we want to keep this window open as long as possible. But their lack of aggressiveness has put them in a position where the window really hasn't been open. But, like, this is such a flawed AFC. Like, if Zach Taylor really is the guy, like, if you really believe in him as a head coach, you should have done way more last offseason because you'd still probably be alive.

Starting point is 00:07:48 You would have won games with Joe Flacco at quarterback. You would have been able to have a roster that was capable of getting stops. Maybe at Lambo, third and eight with a chance to give the ball to back to Joe Flacco. Obviously the Jets game. Obviously the Bears game when you're up late in both of those games come to mind. The Patriots game. Another one where they go toe to toe with the Patriots. Yeah, that Patriots team that's playing later today for a chance to go to the

Starting point is 00:08:14 F. championship in Denver for a chance to go to the Super Bowl. Like they were in it and that's without Burrow. And so that's what sucks here is they've almost taken this long-term approach. And it's a short-term league. Windows are small. We just said it 20. Teag is 27.

Starting point is 00:08:35 Joe Burrow is going to be 30 this year. 30. Like it's been a while since the other day, Jake, I pulled up. maybe it's because of the 2016 reminiscing or whatever it is. I don't know. But I pulled up. I made sure I had Jamar Chase's post-draft news conference. It was on Zoom from the draft.

Starting point is 00:08:57 And then I went and I found Joe Burroughs post-draft Zoom. Just so I had it because I've had multiple computer since then. It was early Zoom days. I wasn't posting that stuff on YouTube. And I did. I have a link of Joe Burroughs pre-draft or pre-draft. post draft when he went number one from his parents living room. I saved that and I have it on YouTube just because I don't want to lose it because it was so long

Starting point is 00:09:22 ago. And the point is, is you could say, oh, well, this window is going to be so long and you're going to have so much time. The Bengals can't approach it that way. And they have. Like in their minds, they know if some people want them to go all in and they're like, well, that's stupid. We want this to be, we want to preserve our future as much as our present.

Starting point is 00:09:42 Sustainability. Yeah, like the sustainability part. What part of the past three years feels good? Sustainable, fun, anything. Jamar Chase has felt like a loser for the past three years. He thought the past two years before this season, it was losing seasons. They went nine and eight. They weren't losing seasons.

Starting point is 00:10:01 And Jamar Chase is mine. They were losing seasons. And I think that's sort of the disconnect and the approach that needs to change. And it has to change. And I'll continue to say it. And we need to continue the conversation. This front office needs to know that the time is now. That's it.

Starting point is 00:10:17 You can't worry about 2029 when it's 2026. It's 226 right now. You have space. You have cash. You have the manpower. I'm not even that worried about, do they have enough people to juggle everything? Juggle it. Sleep a little less.

Starting point is 00:10:32 Drink a little more caffeine. I don't care. It's your job. We will continue the conversation because that's our job coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Ultimate QB. Speaking of jobs, have you ever thought about what it would be like to be the number one pick of the Cincinnati Bengals getting drafted first overall by the Bengals? Well, now you can. There's a mobile game just for you. It's called Ultimate QB Football Legend. In this game, you step into the cleats of the number one draft pick. And it's your job to lead the team to greatness to help turn a failing franchise into a dynasty. And that's just the start of it because you can sign contracts. You can train and upgrade yourself. Build chemistry. evolve with your teammates, build up your teammates, give input to your GM on roster moves, spend that money, GM,

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Starting point is 00:12:50 You'll get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup. That's code locked on NFL for $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup. Prize fix. It's good to be right. And Jake, one of the, one of the things that I hope they understand and they've learned is how quickly it can go by. Like, to me, it very much feels like the 2000. Bengals where like 05 was essentially 21 and 22 like the best two runs two years in Cincinnati

Starting point is 00:13:28 Bengals history is 21 and 22 at this point and after that it was like oh well we're going to bring the band back together we're going to keep it together this happened or that happened or this happened or that happened and you look up and it's 09 and Chad isn't Chad anymore he's still good, but he's not exactly the same guy. They're leaning on Cedric Fentz, like all these things. And they won that year, but it was a much different team. And that was their last run. And with this team, like, I don't think Joe's there,

Starting point is 00:14:00 Jamar's there, T's there. Like, they're still in their prime or entering their prime. But it ends quickly. And usually it ends much faster than you realize. Like in 2009, if you would have told me that Chad isn't going to have another thousand yard season, I would have rolled my eyes. it you. And that was the case. I had over 800 yards next year with Theo and then that was it. He was pretty much done. Did nothing in New England. Done. Over. Like that's what I want them to

Starting point is 00:14:29 realize and all of them were there. Mike Brown was there. Katie Blackburn was there. Duke Tobin was there. Zach Taylor was like GAing somewhere. But everybody else was there. It ends fast. And so stop thinking about 2030 or 2032 or 2034. How do you get the most out of the 2026 Cincinnati Bengals? That's what I want them to do. And I know a lot of this would probably fall on deaf ears at Paycourt. And it's not even asking them to do, to reiterate the Eagles thing or the Browns thing. The seeds.

Starting point is 00:15:03 Yeah. Like we're not, or even the Rams, like the FM picks, trade all your draft pick. Like nobody's asking for that. We're asking for a half step in that direction or a step in that direction, which involves looking at your resources this year and saying, you know what? We can save like $18 million in cap space if we restructure Joe Burroughs contract. And by restructure, I mean literally just converting his base salary to a prorated bonus that goes over the life of his contract.

Starting point is 00:15:32 That's what a restructure is. The Bengals have never done it. It's a no-brainer. And until the Bengals do it, I won't believe they do it. But in Joe Burrow, T. Higgins and Jamar Chase's contracts, they put in these unilateral right to restructure clauses. That means they can convert money to prorated money if they want to. And that means just, again, taking base salaries, which are only accounted for in the current year, pro rating them over future years.

Starting point is 00:15:58 So you can pro rate $25 million for Joe Burrow over the next five years. You could lower his cap it by up to $20 million or so this year. If they wanted to, if they were going to spend. that money against the cap elsewhere, they could do such a thing. And they also have an opportunity to do that with Jamar Chase, guys that are going to be under contract for you for the life of their contract, right? Those are the guys you look at. If you're the Bengals especially, and you say, we can create cap space with these guys. And even if it's a partial restructure, again, like taking $10 million to free up a few million dollars in cap space, that you're just going to account for a little

Starting point is 00:16:34 bit in future years. That is a step that I would like to see the Bengals take this off season because they need to get back to what they did the last time they were successful. And when Duke Tobin was answering questions, what, two weeks ago now, it was, he was asked about, you know, the Joe Burrow window essentially. And the way he downplayed that didn't sit well, you know, this is a Cincinnati Bengals. Yeah, I asked him, do you feel like you're wasting Joe? straight up. Do you feel like you're wasting Joe and Jamar? And he said,

Starting point is 00:17:06 what's the Bengals window? It's not that. And I'm like, oh, yeah. No, it's not, dude. Like, you need to be. He is the window. You need to understand what your, what your driver is and what you did to build the team the last time you had success

Starting point is 00:17:21 in 21 and 22, which was you aggressively attacked the needs you had in free agency. Now, they even structured some contracts back then. I remember looking at some of the contracts. I like the way they did this contract. I like the way they did Mike Hilton's contract. That year one cap hit isn't crazy.

Starting point is 00:17:39 I like the way they did XYZ contract. Some of them were pretty standard Bengals Fair contracts, but some of them at times used some of these cap mechanisms that we're talking about here to allow them to spend more money against the cap in that year. And then they dealt with it in the future and they really have never been constrained. James and I've never sat here and told you that they're in a bad way for cap space. And that's, again, part of how they manage the cap, but it's also equally sustainable. And I know with people out there think that the bill comes due at some point.

Starting point is 00:18:15 There are resources that explain how little it comes to at some point with the trajectory of the salary cap in particular and how you can continue to push money into the future. Like you can do some of these things to enable you to go spend real money in free agency. And again, it's not spending money to spend money. You have to find the players that fit. And you have to find ways to build strengths on your team based on who's available to you and get to the draft without pressing needs. Like, that's what we're asking for here.

Starting point is 00:18:43 We're not asking for the moon. We're asking for them to find ways to build strengths with veterans and get to the draft without, you know, forcing yourself to pick XYZ position at number 10 or number 40 or wherever they pick in the second round. And they're not. And they're not in position to do that right now. Like they should be able to play a game on April 1st. Like with starters.

Starting point is 00:19:08 Now, if Caleb Downs is there and you end up fielding Caleb Downs and he beats out whatever veteran safety or whatever, then that's fine. That's great. Then you feel even better about that spot. But yeah, I just, I don't understand why they wouldn't. And maybe they do. Maybe it's going to change. But why they wouldn't see. that if they do something they've never done,

Starting point is 00:19:33 win a Super Bowl, if they just win one, that whenever that bill did come do, let's say in 2032, they had to reset everything and they win four games, you just won six games. You just had a reset year

Starting point is 00:19:49 in the middle of Joe Burroughs prime. That's embarrassing. And it's the playoffs for three straight years. Like, what the hell? Like, who cares? Everybody would take a four, and 13, and it might be four and 14 when this comes around in 2032 for a Super Bowl next year, I promise you.

Starting point is 00:20:07 Like if it was that tradeoff, who would say no to that? Nobody. Nobody would say no to that. So it's almost the fear of that. And it's like, hey, you guys have sucked before. If you suck and you have that trophy in the case, it's going to feel a lot different. I'll tell you that. At least they would have won.

Starting point is 00:20:24 And there are teams that have done this and have obviously recovered in the time that has taken the Bengals with their quote unquote sustainable approach to just get back to where they were get back to where they were in 2020 yeah in the 90s yeah like I was going further back but yeah to get back to a bad place we'll finish up the conversation here about what they need to to really do this off season coming up next the NFL playoffs are in full swing and championship Sunday is almost here and Fandul is officially in playoff mode and that's the fun Fandwell makes it fun And if you're like me and you're in a bunch of season long leagues and things like that that you're participating in, and you've thought about Fandall, well, now's the time to get in all the fun. Fandall users get a profit boost pack waiting for you inside the app.

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Starting point is 00:22:04 one playoff games every year their their roster building notes that we'd like to take this year what stood out to me as i was watching seattle absolutely stop san francisco last night their midseason acquisitions absolute home runs like all those guys contributing in a big way for them san francisco you know valiant effort just too undermand in the playoffs at that point. But the Bengals just, we need to see them actually have one of those off seasons like they had at the beginning of the Joe Burrow window this year, right? We've talked about how clear the needs are. We've talked about the extensions, right?

Starting point is 00:22:49 That's another thing we'd like to see this team do this year. Get out in front of these extensions. Save yourself money in the long term. Have happy players by rewarding them early and not getting into these drawings. drawn-out negotiation wars that are eroding goodwill. Paul Dana tried to ask this question during Duke Tobin's presser as well, and we'll see if it gets brought back up at some point, didn't really get a great answer there.

Starting point is 00:23:10 But, like, things that the Bengals can do that seems like the layups, right? And I know that some people in Cincinnati, I think Mo Eager is talking about make your layups, right? And instead, you're seeing these drawn-out salary battles and contract negotiations with your stars. after year an opportunity this year again to get out ahead of that in addition to structuring contracts in a way that allows you to increase your cash spend to be top 12 let's say instead of bottom 12 like just bump it up not asking me the the Omar Kans or whatever like the is that no who's the guy

Starting point is 00:23:49 that owns the brands what's his name Jimmy Haslam Jimmy Haslam who's a guy that owns the Jaguars Khan yeah yeah there's a con out there but there's all yeah and then there's also Omar cons the Steelers guy. I was getting my cons confused, but like not asking you to be like the top spending team in the league, right? Just just a step in that direction, a step in the direction of proactivity, a step in the direction of again, like using some of the cap manipulation mechanisms that the Ravens owner is scoffing at in his press conference about Lamar Jackson.

Starting point is 00:24:21 Like, just show that you have the awareness and capability of doing some of this stuff is what we're talking about here, right? To take those steps toward. maximizing your roster and actually building a team that doesn't have a glaring hole on one entire side of the ball. There is a balance. Like the reason the Bengals do what they do is because they think going that way is the way to build a winner.

Starting point is 00:24:45 And some of that is true. So yeah, we're not asking you to go to the end extreme that is so like this happens in the NBA a lot. Like the Phoenix Sons did this. They got a new owner. and he came in and he traded everything, Matt Isbio, he traded everything for Kevin Durant. And it was really stupid because then they didn't have any other resources or assets to put towards things. And there's a cap in the NBA now and it's a hard cap and it's much different than the NFL

Starting point is 00:25:14 cap. And the point is, we're not telling you to be reckless with it, fantasy land, madden land, whatever. But what you're doing isn't working. And Andrew Whitworth is a perfect example of this. He talked about it multiple times. like how when he was a player here it was like how one move away one move away I don't even know if they were one move away

Starting point is 00:25:34 because Andy Don't was their quarterback but maybe they were and they felt like they were and that roster was really good and the Bengals knew it was really good and they should have been willing I remember pounding the table for all these different things

Starting point is 00:25:45 in the mid-2000s even before the locked on Bengals stays and so that's it is the truth is in the middle and they found that out I remember in the 2010, it was like free agency, free agency. And I was trying to push, you win in free agency as much as anything. Like if you're building a Super Bowl team, part of it has to be in free agency.

Starting point is 00:26:08 And I think they know that. And yet the past couple of years, you can't go into free agency and get me T.J. Slighton and Orrin Berks and call it a day. Oh, we hired Al Golden. Great. What the hell else did you do? That's not enough. You think that's enough?

Starting point is 00:26:23 Especially with Trey Hendrickson losing his mind and asking for Tray. Like, what an off season it was. And it was really underwhelming in the moment. They cannot do that again. And it's one thing for us to say it, but you better believe that Joe Burrow, to come all the way back. Joe Burrough is very aware of all of these things. And we're not saying anything that Joe Burrow doesn't know isn't aware of. The people around him aren't aware of.

Starting point is 00:26:50 And that's what really matters because he's the most important person in the building. and he's more valuable than anyone in the building, clearly, because when you don't have him, you can't win games. That shouldn't be the case in 2026. They need a better roster anyway. But my goodness, if they have another offseason like they did last off season, even with retaining the guys they retained, like let's say they re-signed DJ Turner and Dax Hill,

Starting point is 00:27:13 and they get ahead of it on both of those guys. Great. What else did you do? And that needs to be their mindset. That's the only way you can get back into Super Bowl contention is like, all right, well, what else did you do? What else did you do? The answer is going to be more.

Starting point is 00:27:27 It's got to be the offseason of more because they just need, they need a lot. And it's simple. Be aggressive and be willing to push the envelope in a way that will make you uncomfortable. Because if you don't do that, are you going to beat out 31 other teams for the super valuable thing that you've never, never gotten in nearly 60 years of being a team? That's the other thing about it, right? Like, it's hard. Even when you do everything. It's so hard.

Starting point is 00:27:53 It's so hard. It's a zero-sum game out there, man. One team wins. And we've seen it in recent years. You see it with the emotions coming out of Buffalo after they choke away a game against Denver that they had no business being in in the first place, but knocked on the doorstep to take a two-score lead and then win the game in regulation and all those things. It's hard, man. The bills have been right there for years. At least they're getting to the playoffs every year, but like talk about a frustrated franchise.

Starting point is 00:28:23 Yeah. A couple other things stood out as you were talking. One, you mentioned DJ and Dax. Like that's one out of several things to get to the minimum this off season. The list of things to get to the minimum is high. Two, last year you invokes last off season. I don't remember how many times we said it, but we sat here and talked a lot about how the Bengals were trying to sell us on this idea that Al Golden is going to come in and develop these young guys and that's going to be the path on defense. That's what they were telling us. They replaced Louana Rumo with Al-Golden. They went young. They're like, all right, Al is going to develop these young guys.

Starting point is 00:29:00 And that's our plan on defense. And obviously, that wasn't enough. I don't want to sit here and be talking about, yeah, you know what they're telling us, James? That continuity is their answer this year. And that they're going to build on what they built last year. And they're just going to improve with continuity. I don't want to sit here and tell you our listeners that, like, that's what the Bengals are trying to sell you. this off season. It's got to be more than that.

Starting point is 00:29:24 And finally, the last thing that I thought about as you were talking is, I was thinking back to training camp when we were talking about, yeah, man, the defense is getting the better of the offense and I don't care anymore. I mean, we're still going to talk about it. We're still going to tell you what happens in training camp, but we're, it's, it's almost impossible at this point to drive. DJ Turner got roasted in camp. Think about that.

Starting point is 00:29:45 Like, you know, it's one of those. Jamar Stewart was great in camp. Like there's a lot of things that happen in camp. Well, Shamar had like three practices. too. No, he didn't. I mean, it's a bit of an adelishment. Yeah. It was good.

Starting point is 00:29:58 He missed a fair amount of time. The point I'm trying to make is one of these things we say in January, you got to remember in the summer is like, yeah, we're still going to talk about what happens and try to tell you what the coaches are telling us because the coaches eventually pull DJ Turner. DJ Turner didn't win the starting job. And that was something that mattered and happened, right? But drawing broad conclusions about anything in the training.

Starting point is 00:30:22 camp in preseason. Even if the defense is ahead of the offense, and it's Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and a healthy offensive line and all these things. And I just, I don't know. I don't care. I don't care. Yeah, I get it. Camp is camp.

Starting point is 00:30:38 Yeah. Super Bowls are won throughout the season and into the playoffs. They can be lost in August. Can't be one in August. And they can be lost in March, too, if you just sit on your hand. Well, they were lost in March, clearly. Lost, lost completely.

Starting point is 00:30:53 I mean, they gave themselves no chance. Let's be honest. That's it. They gave themselves no chance. And that needs to be the difference. There's a lot of other things this front office needs to do, potential moves.

Starting point is 00:31:06 They might be able to make, obviously, the coaching carousel and Dan pitcher watches in full swing. I keep getting asked this, Jake. Like, oh, time to rest and relax. And I'm like,

Starting point is 00:31:17 NFL, the NFL cycle doesn't, doesn't stop. Even for a Bengals team like this, I think we're pretty loaded up here for the rest of January and into February. Yeah, it's in June is when it really slows down. There's like a week early in the playoffs, but that's about it. Free agency and all the offseason stuff. Here we go.

Starting point is 00:31:37 The combine, the All-Star games, all that stuff kicks up pretty quick. So to summarize, right, get ahead of extensions early, be active in free agency. use a single cap mechanism available to you to push your cash spend in in 2026 so you're not a bottom 20 spending team. Is that it? Are those the things? Don't go into the draft desperately with a need at a position. It kind of fits in with the aggressive and free agency. Be ready to play April 1.

Starting point is 00:32:09 April 1, it should be like, A, if we're rolling out our 53, we're rolling out our 53. The draft needs to be cherries on top, for real, like desserts. Then you can buy the playmaker, but like this year's class, especially, you know. I know. They'll be good players, but you can't say, hey, good player, we're going to instantly crown you starting safety. Yeah. Like maybe downs, right? But like if you're, especially on day two, like they did that with Demetrius Knight.

Starting point is 00:32:37 Like, he knew he was starting right away. Like, that's, it's just a tough spot to be in for him. Shamar, that was their main pass rusher edition. It's a tough ask. It's a tough ask to go doing it that way. Have a complete off season. You're not going to get to a point maybe where you have a complete team with no holes. We know that, but have a complete off season using all of these options and tools available to you that the NFL offers to build teams.

Starting point is 00:33:03 And every NFL team can do it. Every NFL team has the same opportunities. It would be nice to see the Bengals make the most of theirs this off season. That's the wish list. We'll see how many of the boxes they tick this off season. and that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Until next time, thanks for listening. Ho day.

Starting point is 00:33:22 And have a good one.

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