NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 287. Fix Your Franchise: Cincinnati Bengals

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

0:00 - Intro 4:50 - How we got here 24:00 - Team Building woes 32:50 - Potential Coaching staff changes 38:25 - Roster overview / team needs 45:10 - Cap space / free agency strategy 1:04:00 - 3-round mock

Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, we're back to fix your franchise, and we're talking about an intriguing team. Not necessarily a bottom-of-the-barrel type of franchise, but one that is going to be intriguing nonetheless. We are fixing the Cincinnati Bengals. We'll go into everything that that organization does, how they do it.

We'll talk about their free agency strategy, a draft strategy, the important players on the roster, who you got to build around. We'll give you everything that you need. I'm Trevor Sikama. With me, as always, is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast.

I'm Trevor Sycamore. That is Connor Rogers. Joining you for another Fix Your Fr another fix your franchise episode of the show today a little bit of a highway right normally connor we talk about teams that are cool bottom of the barrel they're bad they need a lot of different changes general manager ownership coaches whatever like there's no hope on these teams and we are trying to fix them from the very bottom floor for this team it's a a little different. You guys have commented and you said, Hey, what about giving some teams that are more like middle of the pack a chance? So a little bit of a hybrid today,

because we're talking about the Cincinnati Bengals. I think this is a team that is talented. It's gone through a lot of unfortunate things this season. They've been behind the eight ball a lot. And unfortunately it just feels like it's not their year. We're going to try to get the Cincinnati Bengals back on track. We're going to give you the history of how they got to this place where they have been disappointing in 2021.

We're going to give you free agency strategies, draft strategies, all that good stuff. Connor, how are you doing today, my friend? I'm good, man. This is an interesting one because you're right. We often do teams that have hit a nuclear crisis, whether it's like, wow, the quarterback they took didn't work. They're going to hit the reset button. New coach, new GM, new regime, or they're acquiring

all of these picks. The Bengals were supposed to be a Superbowl contender this year. And to be fair to the Bengals, it's just one of those things where it feels like it's just not their year where they've lost a lot of these games in very close fashion. Joe Burrow is arguably having a career year. If this team, a couple games went a different way by one score, Burrow's one of the MVP frontrunners right now. That's how good he's been. And Jamar Chase has been unbelievable. And when T. Higgins is healthy, which is always a key factor,

he's been unbelievable. But they've had significant problems on defense. They haven't been able to close out a lot of games. And the good news is you feel like when you go into an operation like this one today, you make a couple of key free agent moves, you nail your draft and the Bengals are right back into being a Superbowl contender next year. Whereas you look at the other teams we do, when you're starting over with a new scheme, you're starting over with a new GM and a philosophy, it feels like it's a much longer road. So I like trying this exercise instead to kind of see.

It's not fixing, right? It's like a little renovation on the bank. Yeah. And, you know, it is a situation where, sorry if people can hear the construction that might be in the background for the first part of this podcast. I think that they're moving away from my house, but nothing I can do about it. We got to power through. It's just one of those Thursdays.

The part that makes it so frustrating is the Joe Burrow part of it, right? Because when you nail it at quarterback, which they obviously have, as Joe Burrow is their quarterback, they've made a Super Bowl already, and he is having one of his best years ever, which is truly saying something. It just makes it all the more painful to sort of swallow this season where you go oh I guess it's you know just not our year as our quarterback has an MVP caliber season and that's incredibly frustrating and so you know I think they have been unlucky in a lot of ways

they're sitting here at four and seven they're picking just outside of the top 10 which we will get to when we do the Bengals three round mock we'll dig into that a little bit more so we'll talk about the record and everything but you mentioned it they've been so close for so many games I mean this game most recently against the Chargers it was right there and they had an opportunity so these two games against the Baltimore Ravens could have gone either way and their season is totally different at that point but it just feels as though at four and seven they're too far behind the eight ball right now with where the rest of the NFC is of course they can go on a run we're not saying that they can't but ultimately this team has not lived up to

expectation this season and we're going to get it try to get him back on track so the best way to do that though I think is really getting into how this team sort of got to this situation and Connor I'll let you start man like I I can get into the history in a little bit and we can bring some more context into it but just your overall thoughts of how the Bengals have gotten to this point over the last couple of years to get to where we're at here in 2024 well I think number one being that you know defensively they've had some misses here the Sheldon Rankin signing specifically looks like a miss, and that was a big spot on their defensive line.

When you talk about a guy like DJ Reeder that was kind of a stalwart up front for them for a while, it felt like, and their run defense has fallen apart this year. And oftentimes, as we see with good defenses, when the run defense falls apart, it starts to leave cracks everywhere else because it leaves you on the field longer. It puts you in more unpredictable situations.

Then you got to sometimes allocate extra defenders to play the run. It hurts your guys on the back end. So I think, and I'm not just blaming Sheldon Rankin solely on this, but as a unit up front, they have fallen apart a little bit. And then when you look on the other side of the coin here,

it's just they've lost a few games that are just unacceptable, and they are typically a slow starting team out of the gate. I know everybody's tired of hearing about the loss to New England week one, but it's just one of those games you can't let it get away from you because you look at the Bengals right now. Yeah, you lost to the Chiefs by a point. That was going to be a tough one. You lost to the Commanders by one score.

All right, you beat the Panthers. You lost to the Ravens in overtime in a game you shouldn't have lost where you scored 38 points. You took care of business against the Giants. You beat the Browns. You get blown out by the Eagles. Those games are going to happen. The Eagles are a really good team. You had to put up, you know, you put up 41 on the Raiders to win

that game. You lose to the Ravens by a point. So you just, you need to find a way to split those division games against the tough teams and your defense lets you down again against the Chargers. But once again, if you beat that new way, that new England team week one, maybe things look a little bit different when your schedule is the Steelers division game, Cowboys, who are in the absolute pits right now, Titans, who you're a better team then, Browns, you're a better team then, and then you're going to have two dogfights

to close out the year with the Broncos and the Steelers where you could still make the playoffs. But you let games like that against inferior teams get away from you, it kind of sets the table for the season where you can't have those games that you lose in heartbreaking fashion to the Ravens in overtime or by one score in the rematch. It just doesn't,

it just makes it so difficult to bounce back from those scenarios. So I think this is a team that the reality is, this is a Superbowl caliber offense. Chase Brown has been an explosive running back this year when they've turned the keys over to him from Zach Moss to him. It added an element out of their backfield for big play ability, pass catching ability. Even when T Higgins was down, they've been able to get production out of the Mike Guseckis of the world, Andre Yosefos and other players like that to step up behind Jamar Chase. So the Bengals, I can't sit here and blame their problems on the offense at all. I think even the offensive line has been capable enough.

This defense has just let them down time and time again this year and needs to be remade this off season. Yeah. And I think it goes into sort of, of where we can bring in the, the Bengals lore of how we got to this point. I mean, you talked about DJ reader,

no longer being there, Jesse Bates. If you go a couple more seasons back. I mean, you talked about DJ Reader no longer being there. Jesse Bates, if you go a couple more seasons back, I mean, letting him walk. And it just brings into... Team veterans, yeah. Yeah, and it goes into sort of this philosophy that it feels like the Bengals have had for a long time that is sort of coming to bite them in the butt.

And it really feels as though, you know, Joe Burrow, picking Joe Burrow has really forgiven a lot of sins. It feels like how they have gone about drafting or taking care of their own players or how aggressive they have been in free agency. And we'll dig into all that. I'll turn back the clock a little bit just to let you know how we get to this point because the Bengals are not like a lot of other franchises. They have not had all this turmoil here and there, okay?

The Bengals, they were formed by Paul Brown after Brown got fired by Modelo. like a lot of other franchises they had not had all this turmoil here and there okay the bangles they're formed by paul brown after brown got fired by modello uh modello i was like wait a second wait a second hey you know what when you piss off big modello you know there's just there's gonna be they show you the door they shut you the door you can see where my mind's at here on a Thursday. Yes, yes. Halfway to the weekend. Art Modell. Who, you know, I don't know, maybe.

Mr. Modello. Also known as Mr. Modello. When he fired Paul Brown from the Cleveland Browns, Brown was already sort of storyboarding this idea for another NFL team in Cincinnati. He ends up settling on the Bengals. He ends up being their first time head coach when the Bengals launched in 1968. He's the head coach until 1975. And then from that point on, he was just the owner and president of the team up until his passing in 1991, in which the team was then handed down to his son, Mike. So Paul Brown

was the president and owner for the entire early stages of the Cincinnati Bengals. And then his son, Mike was his assistant general manager and basically his right-hand man during that whole process. So the idea was always that Mike Brown was going to take the team over and he did in 1991. And it's just been such a small tight knit, kind of like, this is sort of how we do things. And it feels as though the Bengals have been one of the slower teams to just evolve to where football is going and that's not to say that you got to make changes all the time that you got to be firing people and hiring people all the time that's not really what I'm saying but it feels as though there is sort of this old school

mentality in sort of a bad way of being really financially savvy. I mean, Mike Brown is basically the GM. I mean, I know Duke Tobin is sort of the de facto general manager, but Mike Brown is the general manager of this team. He makes a lot of those decisions, and there's just not a lot of delegating. It's basically like what he thinks is the right move. And I think this goes back. The reason why I bring this up is I think this mentality just goes back to Paul Brown. Paul Brown's one of the most iconic coaches in NFL history.

He's one of the most iconic people in football history. And so Brown, as longtime head coach of the Cleveland Browns and then first coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, the guy thinks he knows what's right, right? It was like a Belichick situation, except for the fact that along with head coach and general manager, you're also throwing the fact that you own the team on top of that. So Mike, understandably so learning from his father, it was just like, okay, yeah, I know best. I I'm not just this backseat owner. I'm

going to control the team. And most of the time when owners are like that it doesn't really work out very well but in cincinnati's specific example sometimes there can be too many cooks in the kitchen right we've talked about that before there's like no cooks in cincinnati they are a skeleton staff as far as an nfl organization goes because it's mike brown who i just mentioned de facto general manager it's du Brown who I just mentioned de facto general manager it's Duke Tobin who's been the director of player personnel since 1999 Duke Tobin's been there for over 20 years and he's not an old guy he's fit he's 54 damn really yeah like it's like usually when you hear that someone's been there since the 90s like you're assuming they're in their 60s or 70 years old duke tobin is just turned 54 he was 28 yeah

duke tobin is not an old guy he got into that organization at a very young age he became the director of player personnel at 28 29 no it's spoken about. Brother, when he writes his book, I will read it. Who was I? He he was playing Fortnite and when I was 28, this guy's running the Bengals. He played Arena League football. Shout out to the Orlando Predators in 94 and the hell. Yeah, brother. Memphis Pharaohs in 95 after a college career it's amazing amazing after playing college for illinois and colorado and after that two-year arena career there's like a three-year gap and he's running the bengals and he has done that since again i was doing raids in destiny one when i was 28 and this guy's out here running the cincinnati on comms yelling

we're dropping at super score we are dropping at damn anyone up for prison damn is underrated damn was under it was a sneaky goat drop nobody had had the cajones to go to damn what was it airfield was that what it was called airfield on like the top right part of the map i'd drop airfield sometime because you're a lunatic well there was no cover so it was basically like all right who drops first who gets the gun who aims better but that's a good point all it's kind of nice to decide your fate early it's all talent right yeah either i get a couple of kills early on or we're back in the google it's the asante samuel of drops in call of duty it's like i'm grabbing this interception or damn i just I just gave up a 60-yard touchdown.

That's literally how it goes. Oh, I didn't think we'd get an Asante Samuel Jr. Warzone drop, but where else are you going to get that other than the show? That's why you subscribe, people. Smash that sub button. So, all right, getting back to it. Duke Tobin, he's director of player personnel,

and it was basically kind of just like them running the Cincinnati Bengals, right? And it has been for the majority of the time that they've been there. I will say that from everything that I've read, it sounds like running the Cincinnati Bengals, right? And it has been for the majority of the time that they've been there. I will say that from everything that I've read, it sounds like during the Marvin Lewis era, Brown did start to delegate a lot of the day-to-day stuff to Marvin Lewis and his staff, which was, I think, a good thing,

a progressive thing that they have needed. But Lewis, for as much as there was the playoff potential every year and obviously them making it into the playoffs, it just didn't feel like the team was ever at a place where they were really competing for a Super Bowl. From a lot of what I've read, just a lack of discipline on the team. It wasn't going to get there. They needed to make a change.

They ended up doing so with Zach Taylor in 2019. Getting back to how this is formulated, it's Mike Brown, it's Duke Tobin. Connor, they had one full-time scout. One up until 2023. It's Mike Brown. It's Duke Tobin. Connor, they had one full-time scout. One. Up until 2013.

Or sorry, 2023. Right, yeah. One. Now they have, they had one scout and three scouting assistants. Now they have three because they added two scouts. So they at least have three full-time scouts, which incredible job. Tripling your output. We'd love to see that.

To think that you could run a franchise properly with an owner who is also the GM, the director of player personnel, a head coach who you really don't delegate too much to, and then one scout? How is that a recipe for success? How do you think that that's going to work out? Well, it makes it more impressive what they've done. I was going was gonna say and it kind of did for like a 10 year stretch and uh

you know that's sort of where we're at right now though i think that mike brown's daughter if i remember correctly she and her husband sort of handled the contracts but you know that's sort of a situation where it's like all right we're gonna have family people handle the contracts i don't know man it's just it's it's a little bit of a slippery slope when you just go like, oh yeah, everybody who's in our family obviously knows how to do this the best. It's kind of dangerous the way that the Bengals have sort of operated with that mindset throughout their, uh, throughout their history. Yeah.

It's, it's very rare. It is very rare. I mean, you just go to the team page, right? Like the Bengals front office staff. And you see, I mean, once again, like this actual scouting title. I bet it loads quick. I bet the page loads pretty quickly. Well, they got.

Not a lot of this loading. The thing is with them, their front office staff page, there's a lot of names on it, even though there shouldn't be. Like the box office manager is on here. Me and you on there? We didn't make the cut. Oh, all right. The managing director.

Control. These are made-up job titles. Controller. Voice of the Bengals. Dan Ord makes it. Shout out to him. Shout out to Dan. No offense to these people.

They're not working. Why are they on the front office page? I have to comb through a lot of names to tell you who's on the actual scouting staff, like who actually is going to college games and making a big board. And they're not together. They're not one by one. I'd like command F Duke Tobin to find. He's just thrown in there. He's not at the top or the bottom.

Duke Tobin is just thrown in there. Oh, there's a director of player personnel next to the financial analyst? A financial analyst could be like a 21-year-old at a hardware store. Is it at least in alphabetical order? Is that why it's the way that it is? It is. Okay. All right.

Okay. Okay. It's dumb, though. No, no, no. I'm not against you. I'm not against you. We would like a little bit of hierarchy here, you know? You can't navigate this thing. you can't navigate it at all the warehouse manager is six spots above the guy that picked joe burrow hey hey you know it's a team it's a team effort it's fair

the bengals organization it is a it is absolutely a family organization literally we're just having fun with the bengals obviously yeah but I I do think that that sort of mindset that they have operated under is sort of what kind of goes into our team building and draft woes section of this show and analyzing this franchise because you know we'll get into some of the more recent misses with free agency in the draft but this has notoriously been a team that is for for lack of a better word, cheap. They're not trying to pay their guys a ton of money over the market. They're really reluctant to sort of set the market, as we're seeing right now with Jamar Chase,

where the report that I had read right before the season is that, okay, they had gotten to the number that made Chase the highest paid wide receiver of all time. But then the reason why he didn't sign it is because I don't know what this means. okay, they had gotten to the number that made Chase the highest paid wide receiver of all time. But then the reason why he didn't sign it is because I don't know what this means, but the structure of the deal was bad. The structure of the deal was not something that he was going to agree to. So even when they're able to get to that number, it feels like they're reluctant to sort of do what they need to do to keep their talent. And they're not really a team that's going to spend at the deadline

because they're going to keep a lot of those late-round draft picks because those are cheaper players. I understand that that's the core of your team. You don't want to get reckless with trading a lot of those things away. But sometimes it has felt like over the last five years, the Bengals are in position to be able to do those things, and they don't. I want to say this, too. Hindsight is 20-20, of course.

And we understand that we're sort of criticizing this team when the things haven't gone well. And there are a couple of moves that they have made. Certainly some of the draft picks they have made where you go, okay, that's nice. You want to hat tip what they've been able to do. But clearly at this point in time, it was a little bit too much to where I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but dude, key pieces on the roster Joe Burrow, T. Higgins, Jamar Chase, Trey Hendrickson that four you got four one on the defense side of the football one and you've had DJ Reader you've had Jesse Bates like you've had

dudes on this team that are no longer here and if you turn back the clock it feels like it has been a constant with the Bengals. You know, I remember Carson Palmer and Chad Ochoacinco. I remember hearing stories about how there were some struggles and lacks of communication with the front office when it came to their new contracts. And those guys ended up going elsewhere. Kevin Zeitler, Bengals fans like to talk about all the time, where that's a dude who should have never got out of the building. He not only gets out of the building once, but then when he hit free agency not long ago,

Bengals approached him again, and they got outbid. They got outbid once again for his services because they were like, all right, nope, this is the number we're comfortable with. And I understand that sometimes you got to really have your principal there, but sometimes you just got to go get good football players. You got Joe Burrow. He's playing at an MVP caliber level.

Sign the damn players. Make the Super Bowl runs. Come on. Andrew Whitworth was the same way. He plays for this organization for 11 seasons. They let him out the door. They thought he was washed. He goes to the Rams.

Has another All-Pro. Ends up winning a Super Bowl in his final year. The Jesse Bates who I brought up. The DJ Reader. You know, him not coming back to the team. There's just... And now, obviously, we have T. Higgins and Jamar Chase who are the most recent example. There was talks of Trey Hendrickson wanting to hold out for a new contract. And I understand that it's always a give and take. There's always give and take to

these situations. As an organization, you don't just want to bend every time that a football player who's really good on your team demands more money. You've got to have your principles and you got to have the right approach. I'm not trying to say that you can't, but it feels like too many times the Bengals have chosen not spending a lot of money over doing what you need to do while you're in a winning window. And that's the criticism of the Bengals. Not that their thought process is completely wrong. It's that you got to recognize, you got to put your foot on the gas sometimes. And it feels like that has been an issue and it's crept up on him. And I think really come back to bite him this season.

Yeah. And let's not forget, you know, Trey Hendrickson, one of the foundational players of this team, which was a great move by them in free agency a couple of years ago, he requested a trade last spring and because he's significantly underpaid and that's the thing man i i think i don't mean to cut you off no no go ahead because i'm looking up some more info on that's all this you shouldn't be in a situation where a guy's got two years left on his contract and he's just like requesting a trade this is a cornerstone person this is a cornerstone person. This is a cornerstone player

on your franchise. And again, like you've got, it feels as though the common report that we hear from a lot of these top tier guys is that the communication is not there from the front office. And when you have a super small front office, I can understand that happening, right? I can understand that happening with this team. You're trying to do so many things. Duke Tobin's trying to have his finger on the pulse of the potential free agents and the guys that are going to be trade pieces, but also managing this roster and the practice squad and other teams' practice squads.

Okay, now he's got to think about maybe contracts as well. Now he's got to think about value. Same with Mike Brown. He's got to be the general, now he's got to think about maybe contracts as well. Now he's got to think about value. Same with Mike Brown. He's got to be the general manager. He's got to think about the draft class. Okay, what about the help from the scout? Oh, the scouts. Oh, you mean the scout?

One? Singular? Okay, yeah. That person's going to watch 450 players and come up with the Cincinnati Bengals big board? Sure. You hope that you have chemistry and continuity there, but it's so much work.

And it feels like they default to not spending what they need to, to make this team what it is. That's just my opinion. No, I'm with you. I think it's been an issue with this team and I think it's been a very public issue. So,

and unfortunately they're probably going to deal with the same issue with Hendrickson again, because he's got one year left on his deal that he, and you know, we'll get more into this during the free agency, but he's got one year left on his deal and he and you know we'll get more into this during the free agency but he's got one year left on his deal and he's he'll be a 30 year old this offseason and want to get the contract that he deserves at that age and it you know could create another interesting scenario with the Bengals and a player that they should keep long term but

sometimes let these guys out the door yeah they're in a very interesting spot um you know so I want to look at some of the draft classes now because as we're sort of talking about team building woes, the 2020 draft, so Zach Taylor gets hired in 2019. Lou Anarumo comes with him. So those two guys have been on the team as offensive play caller and defensive play caller since 2019. This is obviously a team that made it to a Super Bowl in the 2021 season.

But just going back to specifically 2020 fantastic draft for this team, a tone setting draft for this team, Joe, Joe Burrow, one, one, you nail, you know,

congratulations. You tanked in the right office. You tanked the right season and you were able to get Joe Burrow one, one. I won't take it away from you. I don't know how much credit I'm going to give you, but Joe Burrow one, one in the right season, and you were able to get Joe Burrow 1-1. I won't take it away from you. I don't know how much credit I'm going to give you, but Joe Burrow 1-1 in the 2020 season. You get T. Higgins in the second round,

and then you get Logan Wilson and Akeem Davis-Gaither, who when they added Jermaine Pratt as well, certainly during the 2021-2022 seasons, this was a really good linebacker trio. So you nailed it with those first four picks of the 2020 draft. Khalid Kareem, Akeem Adanji, Marcus Bailey, they were after that. 2021, this is where it starts to hurt. Jamar Chase at five.

Objectively good selection. Obviously one of the best receivers in the NFL. Him and Joe Bur burrow the connection that they've had he's unbelievable and they deserve credit for that because yes there was a lot of conversations about all the players at the top of the track they got one of the best ones i've given them more credit there with joe burrow then it's jackson carmen in the second round who didn't work out a tackle or guard then it's joseph osai who has been a very limited impact player in the third round cam sample tyler shelvin dionte smith evan mcpherson in the fifth who has been very good i

know as of late i know some people might yell at me but he has been very good for this team but you hit jamar chase in the first round and then rounds two through four nothing yeah absolutely nothing for this team 2022 you draft dax hill who i still like me too i think dax hill could still be a good player in this league cam taylor brit who is up and down but he is a starting caliber corner i think zach carter coldo volson not much the rest of that draft and then it's like those two drafts i feel you needed more out of, especially 2021, because it felt like they were leaning on specifically Jackson Carman and Cordell Volson in those two drafts along the offensive line. And it has kept them from really achieving what they have needed to achieve. So in those two

drafts, I think I'm not as harsh on it as some other people are, but there are definitely misses in there that, man, they were big swings and misses that for a team that doesn't want to spend a lot in free agency, it's hard to have those misses and be able to survive, especially along the offensive line. Right. You need to hit depth in your trench picks in the middle rounds at some point. and that's and i listen i liked

cam sample a lot i thought where they got him like he had a chance i mean i mean we could even keep going to that because this goes on into 2023 like the miles murphy pick to me does not look very good right now no i wasn't a fan of that when it happened yeah miles murphy was a weird one like where you go in you watch summer scouting and you you see traits and size and potential and then he did nothing his final year of college to get any better right i'm i'm hesitant to totally lump 2023 in there because even though i did not like the miles murphy pick you miss on picks it it does happen i do like dj turner i like jordan battle chase brown like you mentioned at the top of the podcast gives them some dynamic work at the running back spot adre yoshivas is

productive for them and he was just a six rounder so yeah him and brown were good picks where they got them so i did actually like that hall and then last year's hall i liked as well amarius mims chris jenkins jermaine burton taking the flyer on Jermaine Burton. I didn't love McKinley Jackson, but you get him in the third, whatever. Eric Hall looked like he was a real good player for you before he got hurt. Josh Newton's playing decently well. You drafted Matt Lee as well, who I like in the seventh round. He is a good depth player.

So to me, it goes back to the very beginning of when we were talking about this podcast. This team isn't horrible. No. They just missed a lot on specifically the 2021 and 2022 draft classes as a whole. And then I'll say this too. I want to at least give them their credit for this because in the 2022 offseason, they needed interior offensive line and

they went out and basically got the best combo you could have wanted in alex kappa and ted caris they paid for it which was right right it just alex kappa didn't exactly take that next step cordo volson hasn't really proven that he's a viable starter in the league. And that by proxy, I think brings down Ted Karras. So now the interior offensive line is just not good. They went out and they got a relay into Brown. So again, I want to give them credit for that. They've drafted Amarius Mims, who I have some faith in. So I don't, I can't be too hard on them there, but it was just, it was, it was the 2021 to 2022 drafts and then sort of missing on interior offensive linemen. Like they had a chance to be in the running for Joe Tooney. Joe Tooney ended up commanding a lot of money.

So the Bengals probably weren't going to be there when it was all said and done. But you look at that 2022 free agent class and you're getting Karis and Alex Kappa. That's not bad. You're making the changes you need to. They just didn't take that next step. So I think that I think those those moves are really what brings this team down into where they're at right now. Yeah, I think that's a fair assumption.

And sometimes with the Bengals or organizations like this, you have little room to miss where you do allocate the money because of how selective you are with your money. And the glass half full of this is that the bangles are in a healthy cap situation like really really really healthy because the reality is the bangles are maybe the least likely team in the nfl to give out long-term guaranteed money when they pay people even when they went out and got sheldon rankins as a short-term deal like even when they structured structured trey hendrickson's first deal before they redid it and added a year onto it, there wasn't a ton of guaranteed money on the second half of that deal.

They, they don't give out. So while that's frustrating, it does give you a healthy short-term window to keep working with year after year to solve your needs. By the way, until we prepped for this pod today, I didn't realize Mike Brown is 89. 89. Yeah. Wow. So, I mean, obviously, and it's, you know, it's different because, like, Jerry Jones is an older executive of the team he owns. He's 82. But we hear from Jerry almost every day.

Literally, like, the man does radio hits. Like, he's one of us. Like, you're not getting that from Mike Brown. But Mike Brown, I know his his children including his son-in-law are very very involved so this is like we said at the top of very family-run organization top to bottom right i think that well actually all right before we get into coaching because we'll have the zach taylor conversation here but uh before we get into that i'm gonna pay the bills a little bit here best part about football season folks checking out the postgame stats. Which wide receiver scored more than two touchdowns?

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See terms at, at, uh, pick six dot draft kings.com slash promos. All right. So head coaches, I'm going to be honest with you. If you came here looking for us to suggest head coaches to you guys,

I don't think they're firing Zach Taylor. Unless they go catastrophic in the month of December, there is nothing about the Bengals' history as an organization. The fact that Mike Brown's owned the team since 1991 the fact that Duke Tobin's been the de facto general manager since he was 28 years old the fact that Marvin Lewis was obviously the head coach for as long as he was they do not do anything rash and we are four seasons removed from them being in a Super Bowl. And I would think that they are probably going to tell you

that if things were a little bit different this year, they'd still be in their Super Bowl window. I cannot see them firing the head coach that has them currently where they're at. For as much as you and I have criticized Zach Taylor for some of the timeout management some of the play calling some of the overall offensive philosophies things like that I've been right there with you I just don't think it's happening I don't think they're going to move on from it's just never been the Bengals way well also yeah I am fully lockstep with you on that also on top this, Zach Taylor was extended two years ago.

He's under contract through 2026. I do not think this is an organization for a guy where things aren't, you know, DEFCON 1. That's the highest alert one, right? Yeah. Here we go again. We did a whole episode about this defcon one yes where they feel like we just got to get this guy out the building like it's not like that with zach taylor sure we can nitpick at some decisions and the team having a bad year

they owe him two more years of money and he's still a solid coach i think they're a type of organization that will ride it out and see how 2025 goes. If the Bengals miss the playoffs again in 2025, okay, we have one year left of money. We're going to get him out the door and pay a new coach. It's just, I'm with you. We got on before we taped this, and we're like, this is not the episode where the coaching combo and definitely not the GM combo happens

because they're not going to change anything in either of those spots. And I'm okay with that, by the way. I'm okay with them riding this out into next year. I am too. And I think people might be mad at that. If you honestly think that Zach Taylor has got to go, I mean, like let us know in the comments.

I, I just don't think that it's happening. The only coach that I would see it happening for is Bill Belichick. And the only reason I would think that Bill Belichick would be an option for them is because one, he's obviously got all sorts of experience in the NFL they feel like they'd be hiring you know like one of the greatest coaches that could ever become available to think about Belichick in New England dude wanted dude wanted less people involved with

the football operations now this might require Mike Brown to sort of give up a little bit of power here but if him and Belichick have a good relationship, Belichick is not only familiar with, but like it is his go-to to just have a small staff. Like just, he makes a lot of the decisions. He's lockstep with the scouts. There's not all these different people giving him his opinions, whatever.

So to me, the only real coaching option that they're going to consider is Bill Belichick you could say Ben Johnson but I'm sorry Ben Johnson's not going to come to the Cincinnati Bengals he's not going to come to an organization even with Joe Burrow which is a massive sell like I will not like undersell that part of it I understand that's a massive draw for Ben Johnson to get to go to an organization with Joe Burrow. But the way that the Bengals, again, have handled their free agents, have sort of pissed off their top players and how they have let great players go out of the building. I don't think Ben Johnson's going to sign up for that. I really don't. There's a chance Ben Johnson is just running a giant scheme on us. He's going to interview

at three places this year and then go back the lines again sure stack rings brother i don't know whatever anyways that's that's sort of our thought i i will say just to you know make sure it doesn't look like we're totally glossing over this part we didn't do our research so dan pitcher is the offensive coordinator now for the cincinnati bengals brian callahan was the offensive coordinator before but now he's the head coach of the Tennessee Titans. Pitcher doesn't call plays. Obviously, Zach Taylor is the one who calls the plays, but Pitcher's been there since 2016. Again, they like him a lot, and I feel as though, again, a situation that I could actually feel is realistic for the Bengals is if they hire Bill Belichick, defensive-minded head coach, because

they're trying to fix the defense, and basically they tell him, hey, we're going to hire you as head coach. Pitcher is now going to become the offensive coordinator. He's going to be the play caller. We want the continuity that he has had with Joe Burrow because he was the quarterback's coach for a little bit before he was sort of in that offensive coordinator position. So that is a – if it's not Zach Taylor, that's a realistic avenue I can see them going. that's a realistic avenue.

I can see them going. Yeah. It's almost a compromise. A little bit, a little bit there. I don't know what happens to Anna Rumo at that point, but you know, Belichick would be running the defense. I love Anna Rumo, but Hey, I would love to hear from bagels fans. Y'all are passionate about everything that goes on within that organization.

I think the bagels fans are one of the more underrated ones in the NFL when it comes to like how much y'all care and how passionate you guys are like about the draft and the team and the acquisitions and everything. So I know you're watching and listening. We would love to hear from you about what you think about just the overall front office and coaching staff for this team, which brings us into our team needs portion of the program. I kind of teased it already. Key players, we start out with this every time we do one of these fixture franchises. Joe Burrow, T. Higgins, Jamar Chase, Trey Hendrickson. Right. One of them's a free agent. Two of them are on the second to last year of their deals.

And they're both pissed off. So you got one guy that's hitting free agency in hit that's hitting free agency and t higgins who's not happy with how things have gone clearly with negotiations and you got two other superstars on both sides of the ball that seem to be pretty disgruntled as well not a great start i'm gonna be honest with you connor not a great start here but do you see anybody else's like key players on this defense or offense i should say just team overall not in financial situations right that not in a sense of like okay they need to find a way to prioritize prioritize this guy for the long term a lot of them would just be like i think the development of chris jenkins is really important for this team yep and i think

he's you know i think he missed a lot of the summer. I know he had a thumb injury. I think he's been fine. I don't think he's been great, but I think he's been, you know, he's a developing defensive lineman where, you know, I know McKinley Jackson has really struggled for them. There was a reason Jenkins was drafted much higher than him. He, he would be somebody to me. That's really important. I guess you could argue i mean logan wilson's a really important player to this team so but logan wilson the good news for him he already signed a four-year extension like you don't have to i'm just saying he's a key player but he signed a very team-friendly extension that runs him until two through

2027 so so when we say like key players i want to make sure that everybody out there knows like we're not saying that you should cut everybody that we're not no it's like cornerstones i would say essentially like these are truly the key players on both sides of the boat which all right we'll run through them right now because i think it's a little bit easier jamar chasen t higgins on the wide receiver side of things very obvious yosuke's really nice day three type of a player for you jermaine burton i wish that he would work out but who knows if if jermaine burton you really think it's just not going to work out for you all of a sudden wide receiver becomes a little bit of a need like

you're probably going to be drafted another wide receiver because i got charlie jones i got trent nerwin but i don't think those guys are going to be heavy contributors for you josephus could be it's like a wide receiver three wide receiver four but but if Burton's not going to be a wide receiver three, you got to think about adding one Orlando Brown jr. He's entrenched to the left tackle spot. Cordo Volson, Ted Karras, Alex Kappa.

I think that the two guards are replaceable at this point. And I feel like, you know, Ted Karras, I like him as a player. I really do. Like, I think he'd be strong if the guards play was a little bit better next

year. Run blocking needs to improve on that offensive. They've've been a i know they've graded out poorly but also like they've they've been a poor run blocking unit who uh hold on i'm looking at their free agents because they're not those guys aren't free agents this time around are they in 2026? Alex Kappa, Ted Karras, Koldo Volson are all three free agents in 2026. So they all have two years left on their deal. So I guess we'll see. Maybe they're just going to roll the dice.

Not much guaranteed money, though. I'm not saying just go cut them to cut them. That's not what I'm saying. But if they needed to change a spot, they have the flexibility to do so with the structure of their contracts. that's fair uh we'll dig in free agents in a little bit amarius mims you drafted you hope that he's the long-term right tackle so you hope that you've got your tackles on the roster long term maybe there could be some

flexibility on the interior guys um tight end i mean mike is like he's a free agent coming up but it's not like he was like a staple player drew sample tanner hudson i mean you could upgrade a tight end they have eric all who when he's he's healthy i think was like a staple player, drew sample Tanner Hudson. I mean, you could upgrade a tight end. They have Eric all who, when he's healthy, I think he's a really good run blocking tight end, but you could entertain another tight end. They're probably not over their other draft needs, which we'll get to.

I like chase Brown. They traded for Khalil Herbert. Maybe you bring in another running back in there, but I think you're okay in that spot. Sam Hubbard has been bad. I don't think that I don't think that you could really count on Miles Murphy stepping in for Sam Hubbard if you cut Sam Hubbard, which you do have the opportunity to do so.

Probably need to upgrade from both of those guys. I know they're going to give Murphy more of a chance because he's still young. But Hubbard, I don't think he gives you any juice as a pass rusher anymore. He has struggled, yeah, and he's about to be 30, I believe. So you could save $6 million by cutting him. BJ bj hill is a free agent you got chris jenkins behind him but you know sheldon rankins as well as the other defensive tackle there's the three linebackers right logan wilson

you mentioned jermaine pratt uh akeem davis gaither i i think that though i still think that's a really nice trio like they they've they've not been what they were in 2021 and 2022 but i think you're all right with those guys maybe you're drafting another linebacker um because you want to sort of get ahead of things josh newton i like as a backup outside corner um depending on you know dax hill is obviously injured so i think he could garner one of those spots cam taylor brit i think he's fine as a cb2 i know he's up and down i know people hate that but i think i think you're okay with cam taylor brett i'm not dying to replace cam taylor brett i'm i'm not either i i like i like the way that you put that there mike hilton's a nickel been a great nickel throughout his career yep he's kind of losing juice as a coverage guy he's still physical in the run game yeah they cut

some of his snaps i feel like this year well they've been rotating him with because i mean they had hill and turner sort of playing inside out a little bit so he's been a little bit of a rotational player but i don't think you're not like in a hurry to get rid of mike hilton at all whatsoever safety is geno stone has not been what you've needed him to be von bell is you know obviously in the in the later years of his career i like jordan battle but is jordan battle going to become the starting strong safety for this team not so sure safety is just an area where they've really got to think about upgrades if they if they present themselves during free agency of the draft so that is my sort of like 10 000 foot view of the roster there anything else that you would want to add? No, I think that was a really, really good rundown.

We kind of went back and forth on areas that we think, you know, need the improvement in areas that don't. I think you got to, when you go into free agency, I don't know if this is a team where you're like, give out this five-year deal, give out this five-year deal. And five-year deals rarely even happen in the NFL anymore. They like to shop in the market of short-term fixes, although they have, I think before we even get to external free agency

with this team, their internal free agency is more interesting than anything they have to do on the external market. 100%. Yeah. So the cap space for this team right now, if you are looking at it over the cap, they have the eighth highest effective cap space in the NFL at $51 million dollars if you

were to move on from sam hubbard which maybe they do uh you're saving an extra six so you're getting closer to um 60 million maybe there's a couple of other guys that you might be able to cut um bj hill's a free agent t hagens is a free agent oh mike helton is a free agent i didn't realize that okay so mike helton's a free agent akim davis gator is a free agent mike gasecki is a free agent i didn't realize that okay so mike helton's a free agent akim davis gator is a free agent mike gasecki is a free agent von bell is a free agent i don't know how many of those guys i'm really prioritizing like right i'm maybe bringing back akim davis gator and t higgins obviously we'll talk about that yeah that's that's the big one i don't really know if there's anybody else that you would cut i don't think there's anybody that's major cut candidates i mean rankins has been bad enough this year that you cut rankins like rankins is due his cap number next year is 11.5 million he's

been really it's been really bad for the team they would only carry 2 million of dead money you'd save 9.5 million he's oh yeah okay they're cutting sheldon rankins okay so then we're probably talking about if you moved on from Hubbard and you moved on from Rankins, you could move on from Drew Sample as well. He's got three more years left on his deal, but none of it isn't guaranteed money. So I forgot they low-key extended Sample.

Right? Yeah. Because he was a draft pick for them a while ago. Right. Yeah, this is not his rookie contract. I mean, if they cut him next year, it's... It's literally pay as you go with him. Yeah, it's like $2.7 million.

So I guess that you could be pretty flexible with that. So it seems like we're right around like $65-ish million in free agency money that they will have to spend and if you move on from Rankins and Sam Hubbard which of course like if you do then you have to factor that into who you are signing because if you cut Sheldon Rankins BJ Hill is also a free agent so are you moving on from both of those guys you could say to yourself all right will we expect Chris Jenkins Jr. to make the jump he's only one guy and the interior defensive line already was sketchy with him as a rotational player in there. So that's just something to think about. If they've got $65 million in cap, Connor, where does your mind go first? Are we starting with the guys on their team that they need to sign?

I feel like you have to have the T. Higgins conversation before you do anything. All right, you ready for it? The elephant in the room is that he's no i know yeah i know i know yeah go ahead no no they don't talk to tell me about it the elephant in the room no it's if i was sitting here and i i wouldn't operate financially how the bangles do personally i guess it is it is a trickier conversation than just like yeah just paying what he wants because jamar chase is going to be the highest paid receiver in the league,

and T. Higgins is probably out there thinking, somebody will make me the highest paid receiver in the league. So I think the tough conversation is, Trevor, can you, a team with a quarterback contract, a good one, by the way, like Joe Burrow on a winning team is the most valuable player in football this year, but he's not on a winning team is the most valuable player in football this year, but he's not on a winning team, but by his play, his cap number for a quarterback at his level is, is totally fine, but they're paying a quarterback. Can you pay two receivers top five wide receiver

money? I guess the Bengals have the flexibility where they could, they do. I don't, that's what's crazy. I would say, I would say 90% of teams in the nfl can't i think the bangles are one that can just by actual structure i don't think they will let me make this very clear and we've already heard rumblings of this like it's like from reporters and stuff i don't think the bangles have any interest of of keeping both of these guys long term no i think they'll pay chase and i hope they don't let just let t Higgins walk. I hope they find a way to get something back for the asset that is T. Higgins. But that's easier said than done. Yeah.

Like, if you tag T. Higgins, nobody's going to give you the compensation you want and then have to pay him. People don't do that anymore. Not for non-quarterbacks. Yeah. It's not common. It's a lot.

That's sort of like a utopian dream. Like, sure, let's franchise T and then trade him. For a one. Yeah, especially with, you know, sorry to bring this up, buddy. The Hassan Reddick situation where it's like, oh, okay, we're going to get a guy in the building. It's like, no, no, no.

We'll work out a long-term deal later and then it's like it just goes nuclear and it goes like completely south right it's very hard to hold out in this era although hasan reddick found a way to do that um shout out shout out shout out i didn't think i'd have that on the bingo card today shout out hasan reddick for finding a way to have the dumbest holdout in nfl history um nice job he's gonna get like a never mind I'm not going down this road I'm not getting angry today we almost had him folks I've had such we almost I've had a very calm like heart low heart rate kind of day anyway it's weird I feel like when we do these podcasts is what we would do, but I feel like I want to have an honest combo about the Bengals

and an honest combo about the Bengals. I'm sure 90% of their fans will agree. Like the honest combo is they're not going to have a roster in two years with Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and Tee Higgins. It's going to be Chase and Burrow. It's going to be Chase and Burrow. Because Chase is going to get 36 mil a year. Right.

The price of the brick goes up as they say so like if they were gonna give him 35 last year i mean he's gonna get at least 36 probably if he's signing do you think he's a good investment jamar chase no t higgins sorry i know chase yes chase is getting whatever he wants i think chase is like the yeah he's getting the most money for out of any wide receiver and it's still a good deal T Higgins with the amount of soft tissue injuries he's had over the last half decade yeah I think it's a deeper conversation than well yeah just pay him he's really good yeah he is but I don't know it's an interesting time is he missed can you look that up yep I got you because T Higgins I mean before the season it

felt like his number would have been like 28 mil a year. But again, with the cap going up, it feels like he's going to, somebody's going to, somebody is going to pay him more than $30 million a year. That's what it feels like. I think so too. So last year he played 12 games this year.

So far he's played six, but I know he did play a lot of the games his first three years but he he has had injuries like it's consistently quad and hamstring injuries but i'm not saying he's a bad i'm not saying he's a bad well the thing is too is is i understand that like you can you can manipulate money in a in a lot of different ways, but if you sign T. Higgins and Jamar Chase, you're basically guaranteeing that Trey Hendrickson's playing one more year for you. And maybe that's what you want to do anyways,

because I think Trey Hendrickson's 31 years old after next season, if I remember correctly. He's like 31 or 32. So maybe you just think that anyways. Maybe the plan all along was, okay, we're going to give Trey Hendrickson at the end of this contract, and maybe the reason why there's no contract negotiations with him is because they have no intention of signing him after next season. Right.

So perhaps that's the way that they want to go. But in order, but like, it all of a sudden gets really tough to stomach as a Bengals fan when over the last three years four years I guess it will be at that point you've let Jesse Bates DJ Reader T Higgins and Trey Hendrickson walk man that's it's tough to swallow it's tough i would argue it's very unfair to your fan base so what do you want to do here how do you want to operate this because i think that they i think the jamar chase extension gets done this offseason me too i think it's just he's not going he is not going into next year without a contract they They're signing Jamar Chase. He's going to get like $35, $36 million a year.

So the $65 million that they would have in cap space, you were basically sawing that in half. Now, obviously, again, you can get creative in a lot of ways of like, okay, what's going to hit on the cap this year versus the next couple of years, whatever. But essentially, you got to think that you're going from $65 to at least 40 million in cap right that you're that you're subtracting off of just jamar chase and now you've got to think

about t higgins and how he's also going to command about 30 million you get probably creative with that as well so maybe you're cutting that down to 20 but then if you're moving on from sam hubbard if you're moving on from sheldon rankins if you're moving on from bj hill which is how we even got here any free agents out there outside of this team that really uh tickle your fancy if you will well one key thing i want to mention too is the good thing is not that they're going to really go to their tap into their cap and max it out i don't think chase is still going to play on his fifth year option next year that's fair okay so the extension is not going to be until 2026 that's

21.8 million his fifth year option next year yeah like we don't we don't have to factor in his extension you're right you were right i forgot about that it's a lot of money that's a big difference for sure absolutely because it's already fat because that's the fifth year options already factored in which is even crazy. They owe them a $22 million fifth-year option next year, and they still have a boatload of cap space. So that's good. That's a very good reminder.

I should have thought of that beforehand. So they have a lot more to work with then. They do. And they're tremendous at keeping dead money off their books. Like absolutely tremendous. They have basically no dead money on their books. So external free agency, this is where it gets really interesting because you kind of start to have the conversation of do we think T Higgins is going to be back on this team or not? Because if he's not, this team needs another pass catcher. It would need another. But the weird thing is, Trevor,

isn't it kind of weird to let T Higgins walk but then you're going to allocate money to pass catcher probably for a player not as good as t higgins yeah i mean you you're you're basically well i would say this if you're letting t higgins walk you're basically drafting one in rounds one or two yes you are and this is a pretty good class as it often is it, but I don't like doing that over them drafting interior defensive line or interior offensive line. I agree. I'd want a big body on either of those areas. I think I actually might have even given them

Tyleek Williams on the mock draft I did for NBC this week just to show how important getting beef on the defensive line is. So I think if you're cutting sheldon rankins no matter what your thoughts are going into the draft you need to look at this defensive line class in free agency which we've had this combo with a couple teams before it's not that deep like you know who i would really go after here if i was the bangles because they love playing in the one-year market yep and this is crazy because he's almost 40 years old but he's been awesome this year calais campbell oh yeah yeah yeah yeah if you

if calais campbell wants to play another year i'm taking the chance i think i think calais campbell is going the whitworth route where he's just playing like he's like just he's just riding this thing out i don't think he cares anymore how old he is. I mean, Campbell's been like an absolute marvel at 38. Genuinely good. Genuinely good. And he can play up and down the line of scrimmage. And you're the Bengals where you love these short-term contracts. Calais Campbell would be number one on my interior defensive line signings

if I go with their kind of mindset. I don't hate that at all. I really don't. I'm looking at their depth chart because Joseph Osai I think is a free agent as well so if you're moving on from Joseph Osai and you're moving on from Sam Hubbard if you're moving on from BJ Hill if you're moving on from Sheldon Rankins man we're totally retooling this thing we're going we are we're going Calais Campbell which I'm fine with I mean you could take a run at Josh Swett if you wanted

I was gonna say and then I'm going after an edge player. But who better, by the way, like you have Chris Jenkins Jr. on that roster. You have McKinley Jackson on that roster. You're probably drafting another guy. Who better to have to mentor those guys than Calais Campbell? No, absolutely. I agree with you 100% there. I'm looking at some of the other players. Like, I think some of the familiar faces that we talked about on Fix Your Franchise for Interior

Defensive Line, I really like the way that Bobby Brown's been playing with the Los Angeles Rams. If he really hits free agency, if they don't bring him back, I think he's somebody to bring into the fold. I think that'd be a nice trio with Chris Jenkins Jr. and Calais Campbell and Bobby Brown. We've talked about Puna Ford. I was thinking Puna Ford.

You know, Osa Adigizua, if Dallas doesn't bring him back, I feel like Dallas kind of has to bring him back because they don't really have anybody else. Right. But, yeah, I think those interior defensive linemen make a lot of sense. Maybe Wharton or Purnell from the Kansas City Chiefs, I think gives you that sort of championship experience,

which I don't think is a total cliche. Like, I really do think that that would matter. All of a sudden, that would matter. Um, all of a sudden that would be a really nice veteran group in the middle, in my opinion. So I'm for that. I'm for, I'm for Calais Campbell.

I'm for Josh sweat. I mean, is he so Jolari depends how much he's going to command like a running mate for Trey Hendrickson, basically. And then you can have true flexibility because, remember, the important part here, guys, is you want to have true flexibility to pick the best player available in the draft. And at this point in time, even after free agency,

defensive tackle, edge rusher, interior offensive line, safety, and perhaps a wide receiver feels like the biggest needs that the Bengals have right now. I don't know if there's – do you have anybody else in mind for free agents? That's where my list started because that was such a pressing need for me. I guess if, you know, you said Gino Stone, how much he's been struggling. Yeah. Do you, do you look to get back end help for this?

Jeremy Chin, in my opinion, it's played very well for the commanders this year. They got a plan for him right because chin's sort of that hybrid player yeah yep that's very fair like i i don't think the bagels are going to go out and spend big on a buddha baker that's that's my point like i'm not you know do you did that they should have just signed jesse bates yeah yeah that's just not their their mold once again i think javon holland will be the best he's probably the best safety on the free agent market,

but one, the Dolphins should let him out the door. We'll see. Two, I don't think Javon Holland's going to get massive money. Massive. They might. They might. They're a really, really unhealthy cap situation, the Dolphins. So he might make it to the market.

The Bengals are a weird combo because it almost feels dishonest to sit here and be like, go get this massive free agent. Go get this massive guy. It's just not in their infrastructure to operate that way. You're shopping in a little bit of a different aisle. It doesn't mean it's a bad one, but that's why I started the combo with a Calais Campbell who's always going to be playing on one-year deals the rest of the way. No, I think that's a good call out.

So, all right, let's wrap up the sort of the free agency guys i'd love holland on this team i will say like if they went if they were like you know what we're gonna change who we are a little bit we're gonna go get holland and have jordan battle play strong safety great with it jordan battle started for what four years at alabama and defense basically started as a true freshman i mean the dude the dude's smart i think he could play well if given the opportunity. Yep. So let's do this then. Free agency plan for this team going into the draft,

the three-round mock draft that we're about to do. We're signing Chase to the extension, but that doesn't have to change the cap this upcoming year. We're moving on from Sam Hubbard. We're moving on from Sheldon Rankins. That's creating an extra about 11, 12 mil. So you're sitting around 63, $64 million you got to work with. Signed T. Higgins? Sounds like we're signing T. Higgins? Or are we not? We are. All right. So we are. So we're signing T. Higgins or are we not we are all right so we are so we're signing Tee Higgins this is about 30 mil that you're kind of cutting down there and then we're going after Calais Campbell probably another interior defensive lineman new rotational you know a Puna Ford a

Bobby Brown a Mike Purnell a Tershawn Wharton Turdell Slayton maybe like those guys I think could be good rotational players in there and then I think the other big fish that you would go after is Javon Holland and if you get yourself Javon Holland I think could be good rotational players in there. And then I think the other big fish that you would go after is Javon Holland. And if you get yourself Javon Holland, I think they recognize how much their defense overall has suffered without having that playmaker back there like Jesse Bates was. And if you have the opportunity to go out and get a Javon Holland, I would love to do that.

And I'd get them close to the cap floor, which we talked about. We don't really operate with the Bengals near the cap floor which we talked about we don't really operate with the bangles near the cap floor but to me t higgins a new work interior defensive line and javon holland on this team i think you got the rest of the pieces to be able to play pretty well so i think so too you agree yes all right well we got a three-round mock draft oh yeah we do this is this is the fun part in my that's a fun that's a fun way to set up this team going into three-round mock draft. Oh, yeah, we do. This is the fun part. That's a fun way to set up this team going into a three-way mock. I actually feel a lot better than I thought I was going to going into the three-round mock. Before we pull it up from the mock draft simulator,

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be able to figure out those giant giant buttons trust me if you guys want to sign up we want you to too so uh with this is the updated order bangles are currently picking number 11th overall heading into week 12 uh if you do have a pff plus subscription you can unlock all seven rounds now because we got 280 prospects in there you love to see it what kind of sicko what kind of sicko has almost 300 players in there? Oh! Somebody doesn't see their family very often, let me tell you, brother. Okay, so Bengals are at number 11.

Do we want them to trade up to number one overall for Travis Hunter? You know, I just have to ask that question. It would be the fun route to go. That's definitely... Can you imagine if on the fix through your franchise for the bangles we go all right we're trading rounds one through seven of the jacksonville we're taking travis hunter there you go thanks for watching everybody that's absolutely the fix your franchise that did it to them that's all folks yeah we're done we both put the headphones

hanging on the mic and walk away uh would be memorable all right you ready memorable my head start yes boom there it is oh boy well well would you look at that it is kind of when life gives you lemons yeah travis hunter goes first travis hunter goes number one overall uh mcmillan mason graham jalen milrow ashton genti to the las vegas raiders which is hilariously incredible i mean you can't write a script that great you really can't ah gardner mitchell turns around hands it to ashton genti three are gain and the raiders are trying to cut the lead from 41 24 to you thought ashton genti's usage was crazy at Boise State. Boy, do we got news for you. Boy, do we got you.

Get ready to learn 500 touches, buddy. This is an absolute, like Shadur Sanders is sitting in the draft room, just sitting there going like, and they see a mouth of what the fuck on their camera. How did this happen? What do you mean? The Giants and the Raiders didn't take me? Dude, that would be funny.

It'd be hilarious. Cam Ward's here. Damn. Cowboys didn't even take him. Oh, yeah, you're right. Do we trade out? This is not a big quarterback draft. No.

Taylor Monroe went to the Giants at four, but we still got Cam Ward, Shadur Sanders on the board. Will Campbell's off the board. Will Johnson's off the board. Abdul Carter, Luther Bird in the third, and Nick Skorton are all off the board as we are at number 11. So to talk about the players that Sanders on the board. Will Campbell's off the board. Will Johnson off the board. Abdul Carter, Luther Bird in the third, and Nick Skorton are all off the board as we are at number 11. So to talk about the players that are on the board, Malachi Starks is here, which we mentioned. If they can get themselves to Javon Holland, which it sort of seems like a pipe dream,

to be honest with you. Great. No, I'm full of minutes. It was a pipe dream. But holy cow, Malachi Starks helps his football team. Yes. This is a really nice fit. Really nice fit. Ironically, I had him in my mock draft go to Miami at 12. Mm. Because I thought if they lose Hollander, if they don't,

it's sick tandem. But you're right. Starks at 11. Why the hell not? In the conference you play in, he could play both roles for you no this is i mean this is good i really hadn't thought of malachi starks for the cincinnati bengals because often i'm thinking about um you know mason graham we've talked about before you know there's there's some other dts it's basically every other defense tackle that's still on the board for them kenneth grant ty

leake williams tj sanders walter nolan yeah like all those guys's still on the board for them. Kenneth Grant, Tyleek Williams, TJ Sanders, Walter Nolan. Yeah. Like all those guys are still on the board. You know, Kelvin Banks, you could, you could draft Kelvin Banks and play him at guard. But to me, that's overkill.

I actually like trading out of this spot. That's what I said to you. I was like both quarterbacks on the board. You could easily sell this. By the way, one of the three quarterbacks could be there at 11. Like I want to lose this thought like they're going to go're quarterbacks like guys guys fall so um can i propose something to you please can we do two mock drafts for the bangles yeah let's do two mock drafts with bangles

okay because i want to do one with malachi starks yep just take him here and we'll finish this one and then we'll show the trade out route. Yes. That is what I want to do. So Malachi Starks, we're going to take Malachi Starks at number 11. Wasn't really a defensive tackle or an interior offensive lineman that we wanted there. So we're going with a huge need and hitting safety,

which we think could be heavily impactful for them in a great way. Look at this. Damn. All right. So somewhat top of the second round, they're picking up 43 now. TJ Sanders, who I'm a big fan of.

This might be a sweet spot, man. TJ Sanders, defensive tackle from South Carolina. Really explosive, three-technique type of a player. Fast with his hands, violent with his hands, able to get free. You can see some of the pass rush grades. 88.8 pass rush grade on true pass sets so far this season. I think he's had a great year. But then you even go to edge rusher. Your boyhton gelati is here jack sawyer is still here

jayton's doing below i was here kyle canard is here and even if you want to say to yourself okay one or two of those guys won't be there they won't all be gone somebody's gonna be here yes so i mean this feels like a tj sanders pick to to me, but I, I love the idea of taking Sawyer, but I kind of feel Bengals fans rolling their eyes at the idea of cutting Sam Hubbard and drafting Sawyer. You know what I mean? Nah, you're right. You're right.

And I like Sawyer the player a lot. I really do. I just, I just feel like the Bengals fans being like, are you, are you kidding me? Like, are you playing a joke on me? The only thing that gives me hesitation with Sanders, and I think I'm still down to pick him here, is he is 290.

Like, he's an undersized interior defensive lineman. So is Chris Jenkins Jr. So now you got two smaller interior defensive linemen. Which they tried when they signed Rankins, but he's not playing well. Now, if you signed Calais Campbell, like if you got some beef in there. Pona. Right.

Great. I'm all for this pick. So I'm good with this pick as long as our strategy of going after some beef and free agency still works. Yes. All right. So we're taking TJ Sanders then at 43. 75. 75.

Latham Ransom's still here. Melo Dotson for a corner. What happened to Savania? Yeah, I'm on. I'm lower on Savania than a lot of other analysts are. So he's still here. I know that some people think that he's gonna be like a maybe fringe first rounder so we don't have to operate as if he is here

i think comfortably second booker booker's the same way i'm i'm lauren booker but to be honest with you uh just to be fully transparent with people i watched interior offensive line is like one of my first rechecks like a month ago and booker has been playing better lately he's a good player yeah so i will have it i did not like how he was playing to start the year uh he was really inconsistent to start the year i thought but really over the last four or five weeks he has played well he might be the top true interior offensive lineman in the class depending on what you think of some of the tackles that can shift inside so we can operate like booker's not here either because i think the Booker will go second round.

So we don't, we don't have to do that. I'll be adjusting the big board pretty soon as I sort to start to go through. Derek Harmon will be gone. Derek Harmon will be gone. I guess I'm not the biggest Derek Harmon guy. Yeah.

I just, I just think he goes in the first two rounds. That's fair. Boy, we've had some, we've had some safeties be on the board of these other two picks. It makes me feel good about the trade down draft

that we're going to be. I agree. I agree. What about an interior offensive line? Outside of Booker. I mean, Colby would still be there. Jane Roberts. I like Jane Roberts.

I like Reed Adams too. I got to watch more Reed Adams. I remember, I feel like we talked about him at some point this year together. Yeah, earlier in the year. Very early in the year. He had a couple of really good games you could see to start the year. And in the last four, he has been better as well.

So he's sort of like a younger dude that's got all the tools to, I think, be a really nice. Yeah, he might not. Maybe he doesn't declare. We'll see. He might not. Honestly, Logan Jones is a good pick here. I think be a really nice. Yeah. He might not. Maybe he doesn't declare. We'll see. He might not. You are honestly. Logan Jones is a good pick here. Like I'm,

I'm higher on Logan Jones in this spot. All right. Yeah. If they want a depth on the interior offensive line, Logan Jones, credible athlete. He's put out good tape this year. I'm interested in that one. Maybe he's a fourth rounder in the spot,

but okay. All right. All right. Um, tackle got cleaned up pretty badly the spot, but okay. All right. All right. Uh, tackle got cleaned up pretty badly. Ooh, Armand, Armand Mamou, who is the offensive tackle for Missouri, who I think could kick inside. I think third round's a decent spot for him, uh, to be a potential guard. I think Emory Jones is sort of the same thing.

Yeah. What happened with Emory Jones for you, for him to, is he, he's been that bad this year, huh? Well, it's my thoughts with Emory Jones for you? For him to, he's been that bad this year, huh? Well, my thoughts on Emory Jones, the offensive tackle from LSU, if you go back and you watch his summer scouting episodes, my thoughts really haven't changed on him. I don't think he's an offensive tackle. I don't think he's quick enough.

I don't think he can handle speed at the NFL level. He's a foam boat fighter. I've always felt like get him in a guard situation and he'll kick your ass. So no, he has not had a very good year this year. I think all the LSU offensive linemen have had a little bit of a down year, but I'd be comfortable taking Emory. I've just watched more players. And so now I've got more players on the big board.

And I think that he's, you know, low at 143, but I would be okay with him in the third round. If you're telling me that he's going to play interior offensive line, if I'm judging him as an offensive tackle, that's where I've got him. Right. So until we get into the draft process and I actually get to sort of change things and say,

no, no, no, he's interior offensive lineman. Then he'll probably get up the board into the low 100s maybe even the 90s area because i think that he is a good interior offensive lineman right now if i'm just judging him off an offensive tackle that's why you see his rank so much lower than what you might expect so that's fair yeah all right well what are we thinking here we've've got Malachi Starks.

We've got TJ Sanders. You want to go interior offensive line? Is that where you want to go? Yeah, I do. Because even if they don't cut one of those guys, I think they need to start thinking about it. Or we could go with... I need to watch more.

I feel like I've watched so much of Iowa's run game and I need to focus in more on Colby because I've watched so much Logan Jones and more importantly, Caleb Johnson. Um, you like member member? Membu. Yeah. Membu. Yeah. I was intrigued when you, when you talked about him, I would do Membu.

I think he's playing really, really well. Grades are insane. Yeah. He plays very well. He's a tackle for them, but I think he's going to be a are insane yeah he plays very well he's a tackle for them but i think he's going to be a better guard i i'd be very always has a guy like that every year i'd be cool with picking him and kicking him inside the guard yeah let's do that okay so armand membu from missouri so then this draft no trade down here malachi starks tj sanders

and then armand membu are uh are the three players that we went with here. Now I'm going to restart it real quick. And we're going to explore a trade down scenario. Let's see. Are the quarterbacks all gone? No, the quarterbacks are still here. So it makes sense. Wow.

Mason Graham, number one overall. You love to see it. My bank account would love it because I put a preseason draft on it. You and I, if you don't hear like this podcast goes dark, Mason Graham, number one overall you love to see it my bank account would love it because i put a pre-season draft on it you and i if you don't hear like this podcast goes dark mason grammer number one overall you and i will we'll look different the next time we log on like oh wow i'll have veneers you'll have no reason i'll i'll have like a 22 carat chain on that like if mason gram goes number one overall, things will never be the same.

All right, so let's find a trade partner here. So we have... I forgot about that. So we have... Wait, did Cam Ward go? Okay, Cam Ward went. Shadur Sanders is still on the board. So let's operate like a team.

Could be coming up for an offensive tackle. Could be coming up for a quarterback. Yeah, definitely. I mean, somebody's coming up for Shadur. could be coming up for a quarterback. Yeah, definitely. I mean, somebody's coming up for Shadur. Who? Who? Who, Steven? I mean, I've said for a long time,

Shadur's best landing spot for his future is the Rams. Now, I'm not saying the Rams are going to come up here because they have plenty of needs, but I'm just saying, like, if I'm Shadur and Deion wants to angle where he's going, that'd be the number one place i would want him to be but in this scenario you're right because all these teams have answers at quarterback i would say either we could have the rams trade up for shadur or the falcons are sitting at 20 to go up and get an edge rusher i thought it was like

are you kidding when you said falcons no no no no i wasn't i'm not uh i'm not 100 trolling there yeah no i could see that i mean you know who's gonna go in this draft whether we like it or not he's just gonna go really early is mike cal and like the falcons taking a georgia player where did where so he didn't go right i want to make sure i'm not just like no i'm a little bit lower on him michael williams there you from george edge rusher from Georgia power profile. I'm with you, by the way, I will have him in my next rankings,

probably in the twenties in the mock draft. I released this week. I think I had him go 21st overall. Yeah. To Arizona. But I, I, he feels like a guy,

Trevor, that the league likes more than you and I more often than not. Yeah. Seems like it. But I don't think anybody listening should focus necessarily on like, like be outraged over who trades up. I think the point is if the Bengals have flexibility to get out, what they can do with it.

All right, let's do the Rams then. Let's do the Rams. Let's say, let's say Stafford after the year, like the Rams don't make the playoffs and Stafford's like, man, I've been really going through it health wise. Like I'm'm i'm either hanging it up now or i'm hanging it up after one more year and mcveigh's like i'm gonna stay with coaching i'm gonna go get a quarterback in an advantageous spot because the rams are never bad like the rams are never going to be picking in the top five they're never bad they're too well coached so they have to do they have to do the

the chief's style version of going up to get your quarterback. All right, so... Number 11 overall pick, if you're just looking at the draft chart valuation, $1,250. And the 17th pick is $950, so it's a difference of $300. $300 is like a late second round pick, but it's for a quarterback. It's a little bit of a quarterback tax. And he's the last one of the three.

You want to say a third rounder this year and a second rounder next year? I want to make the picks now. That's the problem. Oh, you're saying, okay, yeah. We have a third rounder that we're getting this year. I think 100's got to be a third rounder, right? getting this year i think 100 has got to be a third rounder right so we're going from 11 to 17 yeah can we get 81 100 and a third rounder in 2026

i don't think this is that's that's a pretty big overpay from going to 11 to 17 let's see if you if you just go off of no maybe no no no i don't think it is no no no no you're no no you're right you're right you're right you're right i'm stupid i'm dumb i'm dumb you're not stupid you just have a lap no i'm dumb no i'm i'm dumbest person alive uh these are, I forgot, these are both third round picks. That's what I'm saying. I was operating like 81. No, no, no, we can do this.

I like the Rich Hill trade chart, for those listening. I think it's a more modernized version. If you want to check it out, Giraffe Tech always has it up. For this instance, the 17th pick is valued at 296 points. The 11th pick is valued at 296 points the 11th pick is valued at 358 so in that instance we are talking about a 62 point swing that they need to make up the 81st pick is valued at 55 points so yes this is an overpay because then the 100th overall pick is valued at 34. It's the overpay equivalent of basically sending an extra fourth round pick.

But you're coming up for a quarterback. So the difference is an extra fourth rounder. Like the tax of an extra fourth rounder is not insane. Remember the Vikings flipped picks with the Jets last year? They paid a tax on that the Jets were at 10 the Vikings were like oh my god Michael Panix went like the quarterbacks are going going going we're gonna flip with the Jets we're going from 11 to 10 and we're giving the Jets a couple like you do pay taxes for quarterbacks and that's a light light tax here for sure no I agree I agree

I think the Rams are gonna want at least another pick back. So I'll give him 185. Sure. Fine. That actually doesn't make up the difference, but it makes it, you know, it tightens the difference because 185 is worth seven points. So now instead you're talking about the tax being the equivalent of about a fifth round pick. So, yeah, that was that was smart by you. Funny enough, Shitter Sanders did not go. We'll pretend he did. But we know that he's off the board. So the Bengals are sitting here now at 17.

We're going to pretend that he went. Don't hate Wyatt Milam at guard, let me tell you. Don't hate it. Don't hate it, but I am really excited about. I'm not like I'm kind of well kenneth grant fits well but yep jamar stewart fits well yep that's coast and loveland is kind of fun in that spot too i'm not gonna lie like look at what gasecki has done in that offense this year i know but if you're bringing back if you're bringing back t higgins though you're not doing that you're not doing

that yes yes that's fair they're not they're. Yes, that's fair. They're not going to do that. They need another edge rusher across from Trey Hendrickson. For sure. They do. Shamar Stewart is interesting to me. I would not hate Shamar. Former five-star edge rusher. Really starting to put it together this year.

Yeah. Rare blend of power and size. I mean, this dude's 6'6 290 this dude and and when you see 290 on there you'd be like oh okay well is he sort of like an interior guy no like he he carries 290 like a superhuman as an edge rusher yeah he's he's got that i would go i would go shamar stewart i i don't mind shamar stewart in this spot your idea with my limit guard is interesting. Yeah, I could be talked into either.

Okay, let's do it. Kenneth Grant would be in play here too. Let's do Shamar Stewart. I think we'll have an opportunity to pick another interior defensive line. I think so too. Okay, Shamar Stewart. That's our first pick in the first round of 17. Now we're back up at 43.

Damn, edge rushers all here. Yeah, they all fell. But I still like Shamar better than all those guys. Yeah. So if we don't get Javon holland this is my guy kamari ramsey i like kamari ramsey man stock up candidate one dude he i think he's really smart i i think that he's still he's still like he's just a redshirt sophomore so there are times when there's like blips in, in how he, how he processes things. But there are also plays where he is the first person to recognize where the ball is going. I just, I think he is a really,

really smart football player and at the safety position outside of Malachi Starks, this is the guy, like, in my opinion, this is the dude that I would bet on. I think he is going to blossom into one hell of an NFL player. So he is here. Kevin Winston jr. Is is here i know he's your boy as well i love jr i mean obviously him getting hurt we'll see what happens he's got a ton of athleticism to him but uh we pick 43 and then it's three picks in the third round so you got to remember that too so we could we could actually take two safeties if we want if we wanted to we also got the godfather here i know the godfather's kind of intriguing in this

spot because he's so beefy in the middle against the run yeah i don't know if the godfather goes top 50. all right mostly i mean hey we could take him if we want. Well, we're probably double dipping an edge, right? I cross my mind if they're not going to pay Trey after next year. Oh, yeah. Because you could take a different, like Shamar Stewart's a 290 pound edge. Now you could take a different kind of edge in this spot. Like Kennard's a little lighter. Yeah, you just show 254.

You could take Mami Mellon. He's going to be one of the most interesting guys in this draft dude he wins with speed every everything he like his wins are you watch and you're like why isn't this guy going top 10 but i know i know there's other questions but like he like when you just watch his hit like his high level plays you're like damn not a lot of dudes could do that. I kind of want to double dip. I kind of want to do Prince Lee. Totally different player.

And this is your NASCAR package. You're on third and long. Let's get Prince Lee out there to rush with speed off the edge from a wide nine. And you can kick Shamar inside a little bit? Yes, that's what I'm saying. NASCAR it up with Prince Lee and Trey on the edges. Shamar kicks inside. All right. Prince Lee. Let's what I'm saying. NASCAR it up with Prince Lee and Trey on the edges. Shamar kicks inside. All right, Prince Lee, let's do it.

Yeah. Double-dipping at edge. We're double-dipping at edge here. Very curious if people are on board without sort of a strategy. So Latham Ransom from Ohio State is still here. A popular choice. Yeah, I think Xavier Watts is going to be in there too. I do like Watts better than him.

But I don't think it's egregious, by the way. They're close. I mean, they're close on the big board for me. I like Watts' range. We also pick five picks from this for the Rams' two selections. So you got to keep that in mind as well. Stowers, I think, is a nice tight end prospect. Carroll Fanny Jr. is here.

Who do we got in interior defensive line? Yeah, that is a need still. Okay. Derek Harmon is here. Darrell Jackson from Florida State. Simeon Barrow. I like Simeon Barrow from Miami. He's having a really nice season.

He's played very well this year for that defense. He's a smaller one. Darrell Jackson is not. I mean, like he is. He's played very well this year for that defense. He's a smaller one. Darrell Jackson is not. I mean, like he is. I mean, he is crazy strong. He's a crazy strong dude. Man, CJ West is good too. Probably if we wanted to wait and pick him,

he's having a really good year for Indiana. People listening, if you haven't watched Indiana's front this year, they are very underappreciated in the country. Him and Mikhail Kamara. Yep. Playing very well. Both those guys are playing well. Wide receivers?

Any wide receiver tempt us? No. I don't think so. We don't need to. That's the thing. We can wait on these guys, though. We can wait on them. Yeah.

Okay, so... So we got two edge players. I think we take one of the safeties. It feels like we're kind of getting a little cheeky. Yeah, let's go with Watts. Let's go with Watts. Yeah, we're getting a little cheeky with that. Really good free safety player.

Had seven interceptions last year. Already has four interceptions this year. Somebody who breaks on the ball really well. He can see things at the free safety and at the robber spot. So I do like that selection with Xavier Watts there. I say we go to interior defensive line now, and I say we go Darrell Jackson. Yeah, I mean, get the two gapping.

He can play nose. Yep, yep. For him, and if we had Calais Campbell to be on the same team, that's some really big beef, some really great depth. And you talked about Calais Campbell being there to sort of like mentor Darrell Jackson and his type of player. I like that. So we got two edge rushers.

We got Shamar Stewart. We got Prince Liam on Miellon. You got Xavier Watts. Yeah, Xavier Watts. And now we got Dar rail Jackson. So this is really a dealer's choice now at this point, probably take an offensive player at some point, but yeah, I think we would need either an offensive, like an, like an offensive tack. Oh, Jane Roberts is still here. Holy cow. I mean,

yeah, it's, you got to take him. Yeah, I think that that's a really good select. Because you could also say him or Luke Kandra as well from Cincinnati. Those are two interior offensive line upgrades that you could go with there. I don't know if Bengals fans are not going to like this with Jaden Roberts. I mean, he's a little bit more of still like a project player, but he is stupid strong, and he would be able to help you in the run game. That's what they need.

They need a better run blocking. He is much better as a run blocker. He's got the good zone blocking grade, good gap grade, the pass blocking grade, the true pass sets. Obviously, that's something that you're going to have to work with, but, I mean, he is huge. Yeah. He's probably one of the strongest players in the draft.

Yeah. huge so he's probably one of the strongest players in the draft yeah i don't i wouldn't hate drafting cornelius and maybe him playing on the interior the offensive tackle from oregon i don't totally hate that yeah i don't mind that either i mean you know you're getting a more polished player and pass pro compared to jayden roberts right now yeah i also like and this would be if we were making one more pick for them i like some of the depth that running back in this class to give chase brown you know a breather here and there so we get jonah coleman rj harvey jonah coleman's like 230 pounds that's the kind of bruiser i would pair with him and jonah coleman's obviously

having a great year he's had a great couple of seasons. The last two years, he's been tremendous. Very, very good. Like I said, though, it's nice that you could cap. Like, we could have got Jonah Coleman maybe with our next pick. Yeah, yeah. I think he could still go running back probably in the fourth round. So, I'm actually, eh, Logan Jones? Yeah, you know how I feel about Logan Jones.

How big is Logan Jones? 293. It's like these Iowa centers come out. Linderbaum played around there. Wind is going Logan Jones? 293. It's like, it's these Iowa centers come out. Linder, Linder bomb played around there. Wind is going to blow this guy over. Yes. No,

I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Oh, well, let's go with your boy.

Let's do Logan Jones center. Like we said, Alex Kappa, Ted Karras, Gordo Volson. They're all three pending free agents. Not this off season, next offseason. You got to get somebody.

Yeah, let's go Logan Jones here. There we go. All right, we got to trade back with the Rams. It was really good to find a partner with them because they had two draft picks that we could have drafted from. Double dipped at the edge with Shamar Stewart,

Prince Lee, Mom Miele, got a safety in Xavier Watts, got a big, massive defensive tackle in Darrell Jackson and Logan Jones. And then the other draft, we have Malachi Starks. We got TJ Sanders. And then who was our third round pick?

Who did we go with in the other one? You said Watts. No, no, no. In the first draft. It was Malachi Starks. It was TJ Sanders. Oh, my God. My brain just melted.

They gave us an F, whoever we took. I saw that. Let us know in the YouTube comment section. That's the best way to get in on the show. You can fix our memory by letting us know who we picked in the third round. And obviously you could let us know which draft you actually preferred here. Really fun breaking out of the Cincinnati Bengals and their entire situation. If you're new here, if you're a Bengals fan,

we would love for you to keep hanging around throughout the entirety of draft season. Hit subscribe on the podcast. We do a lot of different episodes where there comes to mock drafts, the fixture franchise stuff, but we dig into a lot of the prospect profiles really once we get to December, January, all that good stuff. YouTube.com backslash at NFL stock exchange in the comment section is the best way to be heard here on the show. We would love to hear your thoughts on everything, the Bengals entire situation, how they run their franchise, the coaching staff staff the drafts the free agency strategies everything would love to hear from you guys uh also just wanted to shout

this out we're thinking about think about doing a little bit of merch a little bit of merchandise if you guys would rock an NFL SE hat just fire off a comment yeah fire off a comment or or you could like somebody's comment that's like hell hell yeah, I'd buy a hat. Yeah, we're polling. We're kind of like polling here because we want to get a finger on the polls to see if it would be worth it. We'd love to do merch,

but only if you guys really want that kind of stuff. So let us know if that's something that you would be interested in. And if it is, we will keep pursuing it for you. If you're audio only, you can hit us up at Tampa Bay Trey at Connor J. Rogers. That's the best way to get in contact with us as well connor anything else before we get out of here no it sums it up i did see somebody in the comments was like kind of talking about the inverse of a fix your

franchise if we would ever do one of the best teams in the nfl and how they got there and how they got to that point it's an interesting concept maybe maybe, that's our final one. We'll see. The problem is we want to get as many of these done as we can to, to kind of feed, you know, the hungry mentions right now. So. Armand Membu was who we picked in the third round. Thank you.

Thank you. I knew it all along. See, we didn't need you guys. It was just a bit. Everyone's laughing. Yeah. At us. Yeah. Right. They always are. Appreciate you guys watching and listening a bit everyone's laughing yeah at us yeah right they always are appreciate you guys watching and listening to this episode of the nfl stock exchange podcast

for connor rogers i am trevor sycamore saying that we will see you guys next week see you next time.