WEBVTT - Bengals Booth Podcast: Big Decisions 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:06.559 Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:11.200 the Bengals Booth Podcast The What Do You Want Me 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:20.560 to Do? Make all the big decisions for you. Addition, 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.160 as my broadcast partner Dave Lapham joins me to discuss 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:28.360 the draft, free agency, NFL teams and salary cap hell, 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.520 the possibility of a Bengals Ring of Honor at Paul 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:36.480 Brown Stadium, and much much more. The Bengals Booth Podcast 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:41.280 is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game, and 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:43.760 here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:47.559 edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:52.160 or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:57.880 or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since starting the seniors. 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.200 This week was the final of the regular season for 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:04.680 many college basketball teams, meaning it was Senior Day all 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:07.640 over the country, the final home game of the year 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:12.200 where teams honor their seniors. Many coaches taken a step 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:16.199 further by starting all of their seniors, including the walk Ons. 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:19.520 Florida State did that this week, and the walk Ons 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:23.160 included Jason Lindner, whose dad was one of my high 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:27.199 school teammates, Jason scored an early basket in a lopsided 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.920 Seminoles win. Of course, when you start the reserves, you 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.280 run the risk of getting off to a slow start, 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:36.680 and that happened to you see last weekend when coach 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.640 Brannon started two walk ons against Memphis, quickly fell behind 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.920 six nothing and wound up losing by six points. But 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:47.880 in my opinion, it was still the right thing to do. 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:51.880 Walk Ons bust their tail at practice and help teams 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.960 get better despite rarely getting the opportunity to play. For me, 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:59.800 starting the seniors at their final home game despite their 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:05.080 gill level is one of the great traditions in college basketball. Now, 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.920 let's get to football. Much like the Bat signal, I 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.120 shined the lap signal into the nighttime sky this week. 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:14.600 In other words, I asked if you had any questions 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.440 for Dave Lapham on Twitter, and you had a bunch, 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.800 mostly about the draft and free agency. But I started 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:27.320 our conversation with a topic of NFL quarterbacks asserting their power. 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:33.040 Let's start with some recent NFL developments. Deshaun Watson launce 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:36.320 out in Houston. Russell Wilson hasn't gone quite that far, 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.520 but he has named four teams he would be willing 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:42.160 to go to if Seattle wanted to make a deal. 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:47.440 The Cowboys, Saints, Bears, and Raiders. Here's my question. Is 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:51.799 this the start of a movement where superstar quarterbacks call 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:56.000 the shots? Yeah, it's pretty amazing, Dan. I mean, it's 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.959 like when I start hearing what's going on and see 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:02.919 what's going on, It's like, man, back in the day, 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.880 guys wouldn't even never thought about that. But it's it's 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:10.880 all about money and money's power. And I mean back back, 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:13.280 you know, when I was playing, coaches made more money 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.720 than players. Today, not really the case, you know. I mean, 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:19.720 the players are making a ton of money, uh, and 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:24.080 quarterbacks in particular. So it's it's almost like so foreign 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.840 to me when I hear guys saying, oh, he should 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:31.480 have a say and who they hire and how they 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:34.880 put things together. I mean, not the game plan. Yeah, 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.760 I understand that, but I mean, you want to be 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:40.880 a GM and a quarterback, you want to be a 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.400 director of football operations and a quarterback. I don't know, 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:48.680 it's it's it's almost gotten to the point where you 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:52.760 know there's a power shift going on. I just wonder 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:57.040 how far that PowerShift will go um and it's becoming 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:59.000 more and more like you know, the NBA, I mean, 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:03.440 the NBA player can dictate I want this guy, want 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:05.480 that guy to come with me, and we'll make a 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:06.880 Big three and we're going to try to win a 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:10.720 world championship. And the quarterbacks obviously the most important position 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:14.920 in football and maybe the most important position overall in 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:17.800 all the team sports. So they've got the power and 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:20.520 they're being compensated that way now. So it's not a surprise. 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:24.280 I guess do you expect Watson to get traded, Wilson 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:29.200 to get traded? Both or neither. I don't think Wilson 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:33.680 will get traded this year, but you know, obviously, if 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:38.760 there's enough, if there's enough noise being made, and obviously 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:41.720 it depends on what happens this year, depends on what 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.760 kind of changes are made within the Seattle organization that 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:50.880 might pacify Wilson. Obviously, he's tired of getting hit. He's 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.480 been sacked the bunch. I mean, he's like, he gets 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:55.760 hit and sacked more than any quarterback in the league 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:59.000 over the last nine years. It's crazy. You don't realize it. 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.279 You know, a lot of it is he holds onto 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:03.640 the football and tries to create an extent and he'll 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:05.520 make great plays doing that, but he's also going to 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.120 take some licks. And when you're out there on your 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:11.040 own doing that kind of thing as an offensive linement, 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.120 i'm your your instruction on a if it's a pocket 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:17.919 pass in particular, you know you're instructed to perform this 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.479 technique and these mechanics to protect the quarterback in that spot, 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.520 and if he's elsewhere, it's kind of on his own, 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.400 and it kind of destroys all of that. So you know, 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:32.240 there's how much of that is a factor in all 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.560 the all the punishment that he's taken. So I mean, 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.960 maybe he wants to change the schematic of the offense 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:42.279 as well as control personnel and he wants to be 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:46.440 offensive coordinator, director of football operations head Scott who wants 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:50.920 to be everything. I guess so to me, you know, 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:55.480 it's if if you can't. Everything's built on relationships and 0:05:55.600 --> 0:06:00.839 trust in really life, never minds sports, but sports. If 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:06.000 you can't trust, your organization is going to do everything 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:09.800 they possibly can to you know, put you in a 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:13.000 position to win. Maybe you don't. Maybe you try to 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:15.680 find a way to get away from that organization. And 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.360 I guess that's what it's boiling down to. Guys just 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:21.080 don't have the faith and the trust in their organizations 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:23.400 that they're going to do, you know, what they need 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:28.080 to do. They're certainly paying them. I mean they're saying, no, 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:31.479 we value you, and here's how we value you. When 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:33.080 you go to the bank, you're going to see how 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:36.719 we value you. But you know, in these players opinions, 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.120 there's more to it than that. And that's what that's 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.040 what everybody's you know, really concerned with. I guess at 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.080 this point in time, they want they want everything to 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.880 be perfect, that's for sure. Everybody's striving to be in 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:52.560 the perfect, perfect spot, perfect situation to maximize their effort 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.719 as much as possible because it's a short career. It 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:59.159 can be a very short career. And that gets interesting 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:02.160 where Joe Burrows concerned because even before he was drafted, 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.280 people speculated how happy he was going to be in Cincinnati. 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:07.880 And I used to scoff at people who worried about 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:11.440 Joe signing a second contract with the Bengals before he 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.960 had even played in a single game in a Bengals uniform. 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.440 And I'm still not overly concerned about those kinds of things. 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.480 But I guess you do have to show a player 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:25.640 of his skill level and potential stardom that you are 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.880 doing everything you can to win. Yeah, I think so, 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:32.600 you know, and and and really, you know what they're 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:36.760 talking about now, the Jets trying to decide, you know, 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:40.120 we do we stay with our guy that we picked third, 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.400 you know, in the draft when he came out of USC, 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:44.840 or do we go for one of these you know, 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:49.880 young quarterbacks Wilson whoever it is, at number two this 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:54.120 year and start the clock again on that multiple year 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:58.080 rookie contract where we can build our organization up and 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.440 have a window to try to go and win big. 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.760 You know, It's it's almost like a double edged sword though, 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.560 because you know, a lot of times, I mean some 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:10.600 some quarterbacks, a lot of them fail. Let's face it, 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.679 I mean, over fifty percent of the first round quarterbacks fail. 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:16.960 They don't they don't end up having the career that 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.440 that you would expect, even even the first pick of 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.880 the draft. I mean, there's there's no guarantee. Over fifty 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:24.960 percent of them don't even sign a second contract with 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.960 the Peen Draft of them these high first round draft picks. 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:31.080 You know, it's that's just the way it is in 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.120 the national football You get to total crapshoot. If we're 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.400 a pure science, the draft wouldn't be as interesting as 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:40.240 it is because it's a total crapshoot. There's no no 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.719 two ways about it. But um, when when you if 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.079 you're going to try to go for the gusto with 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.960 a young quarterback man, years one, two, and three may 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.719 not be the premier years for the guy. It may 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:55.600 take them a little bit of time to adjust, if 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.439 he does adjust at all. So you're you're looking for 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:00.520 the perfect storm. You're looking to draft of the guy 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:05.080 that you've got your totally convinced that this is a 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.200 guy that I can plug and play and he's going 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:09.320 to be able to win for us if we have 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:11.559 the right people around him and then have the money 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:15.200 because of his low contract inexpensive contract to go and 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:17.400 surround himself with all these weapons to go ahead and win. 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.679 That's the perfect storm. I mean that that just uh, 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.080 you know, Vegas will take odds on that every single day. 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:27.600 But you know, you look at a guy like Joe Burrow. 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:31.199 I think Joe Burrow when you look at all the components, 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.840 not just the fisthical aspect, of the mental aspect, the intangible, 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:37.080 all the things that go with it. He is a 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:40.800 guy I think that if you can surround him with 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:44.800 some good components, I think he can win for you 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:46.880 pretty damn early. I mean, I think he's that type 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.000 of player. I think he's that type of football intellect, 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:54.000 you know, that type of intangibles. I really do. I 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.199 think he's one of those guys that you can put 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:59.800 some money on in that regard. So yesterday Ben roethlis 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.480 agreed to a new contract with the Steelers to save 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:06.320 them some calorie salary cap space in terms of their 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:09.960 ability right now, not two or three years from now, 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:12.840 four or five years from now. How do you rank 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:17.439 the quarterbacks in the AFC North Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield, 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:21.680 Joe Burrow, Ben Roethlisberger. Yeah, it's it's it's an interesting 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.880 mix because Lamar Jackson is so different with the skill set. 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.160 You know, it's hard to it's hard to rate him. 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:33.640 You know, He's he's like here's here's the traditional quarterback, 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.280 and there's and then here's these hybrids, you know, these 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:39.400 these different kind of quarterbacks, and he is, let's let's 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.680 put it this way from a football player standpoint, scares 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:44.959 you to death. You know, He's one of those kind 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:48.160 of guys that athletically he is so off the charts, 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:52.480 it's it's unbelievable. Um Baker Mayfield, I think, you know, 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.720 once he got the right head coach and offensive system, 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.520 I think he's shown that he can do the things 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.280 that he did, you know, at Oklahoma. Maybe not to 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.320 the level at Oklahoma because the competition level is so 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:07.520 much more difficult to compete against, but you know, I 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:10.240 think he's I think he is on the rise. I 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:12.840 think he's an ascending player. I don't think he's a 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.280 player that's hit his plateau or is is on the 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.000 on the decline. I think Ben obviously is on the 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:22.320 physical decline. There's there's no question about it. But he's 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:25.880 Ben's the uber competitor, There's no doubt about that. And 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.800 all the all the naysayers that he's hearing in this 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:30.880 soft season, I think the guy is going to be 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:34.599 big time motivated. But honestly, Dan, I think pounce he 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:38.000 retires the offensive lines kind of in shambles. Foster retired 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:42.000 Pouncy retired. They're they're just they're just not what they were. 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:45.240 I mean once, the last time we saw the Pittsburgh 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:48.320 Steelers unable to run the football to the extent they 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.400 were unable to run it last year, unbelievable. And if 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.040 they don't get those things fixed, you know, I think 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:56.920 Ben's at the stage in his career where he can't 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:58.920 just put the whole team on his shoulders like he's 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:00.520 done in the past and say I'm going to take 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.600 you to the Promised Land. So they're going to be interesting. 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.040 I think it's you know, I think it's a time 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:10.480 where you can maybe ease your way past Pittsburgh in 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.360 terms of what's going on with that organization a little bit. 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:16.000 But I put you know, I put Joe right up 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:20.319 there with the other three, the three quarterbacks, the three 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.160 younger quarterbacks in the division of all one Heisman. They 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:27.200 wanted in different ways for different reasons, but they're all, 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:32.320 you know, very capable of trans transposing those talents that 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:34.400 they had in college in the NFL if they have 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.520 the right people in terms of coaching and scheme and 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.800 all that sort of thing. So I would rate I 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:47.000 would rate they're so young, and again Jackson. He's so 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.760 hard to the pigeonhole in terms of the traditional quarterback grade, 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:54.280 but he scares me to death. He probably scares me 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:56.720 as much or more than any of them. And obviously 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:58.680 the way he's played against the Bengals, I mean, he's 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:00.800 got the Bengals number right now. They haven't come close 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:04.080 to finding a way to solve him. Really. Um the 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:05.480 one time he played when he was a little bit 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.280 nicked up, it was it was a little bit different dynamic. 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.880 But when he's one hundred percent physically capable of running 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:16.240 around like he does like a human joystick, he's he's ridiculous. 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:20.040 But I honestly as a player, as a former player, 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:25.880 I kind of like Joe Burrow as a as a 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.600 total entity at the quarterback position more than Baker because 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:35.240 I think Joe's I don't think Joe's is mercurial or 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.360 as you know, up and down personality standpoint. I think 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:43.000 he's more steady, uh you know guy that that I 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:45.960 think you can count on to not lose his mind 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.480 in crucial situations and things like that. So I think 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:53.160 his makeup gives me a tiebreak or vote over over 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.760 Baker Mayfield. I like Baker Mayfield's skill set, but I 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.720 think he's a sometimes a little bit of a wild card. 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:01.520 You know. I don't see any of that kind of 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:05.600 thing in Joe Burrow long term. I'd take Burrow over 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:09.640 any of them right now. Hard to go against Lamar Jackson, 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:14.200 I mean right now, for his ability and the way 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:17.640 the Ravens are using him, I guess because of the injury. 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:22.120 I'd have to go Baker two, Burrow three right now. 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.920 But it's amazing that I put Ben fourth. He's the 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:27.720 one that's going to the Hall of Fame. He's the 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:30.200 one that's got a couple of Super Bowl titles. He's 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.600 the one that led the Steelers last year to the 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:36.120 greatest start in franchise history, and they won the division. 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:40.040 And yet I think the two of us and a 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:41.800 lot of people out there are kind of looking at 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.800 the Steelers as the team that's dropping, when they were 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.160 the team that was the best in the division last year, 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.040 at least until the playoffs rolled around. It is crazy, 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.040 And you know, people, You'll hear people say a lot 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:55.960 that sometimes the end comes, you fall off a clip. 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.800 Sometimes the end comes it's a more gradual decline. One 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:04.000 th that everybody knows other than Tom Brady or other 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.160 times undefeated, you know, and father Time looks like he's 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.240 catching up to Ben a little bit. Like I said, 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:13.600 with Tom Brady, he's that guy's the biggest freak zoit ever. 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:18.240 I mean, he's a He's a trend breaker in every 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:22.560 sense of the word. So the roster cuts have started 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:25.000 around the NFL. There will be many more to come. 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:28.880 The Vikings cut Kyle Rudolph this week after ten great 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:33.120 years at tight end. Giants have cut Golden Tate, Tyler 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:35.880 right forgot let go by the Jaguars. Sounds like the 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:38.920 Raiders are going to cut offensive lineman Gabe Jackson. Like 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.600 I said, there will be many others. Let's start with 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.400 Kyle Rudolph since there's the local tie. Any interest in 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:49.840 Kyle Rudolph, you know, it would have to be at 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:53.240 what price? I think, you know, with ten years, ten 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:57.040 years in the league. Obviously, is he what he was 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.280 you know four years ago, three years ago? What ever? 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.800 Obviously there's a salary cap castule people. You're right then, 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:06.520 I mean the interesting thing is there's gonna be a 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.000 lot of situations where guys are out there, like I 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.040 never expected that well, for a lot of reasons, it's 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:13.200 going to be the way it is. Instead of one 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.240 hundred and ninety eight million, the cap is gonna be 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:17.720 one hundred eighty one hundred and eighty five. And you 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.600 have teams half a dozen teams that are in salary 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:25.160 cap jail right now. And now when the starry cap 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:28.160 comes out at a lot less, there's gonna be maybe 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.240 eight teams that will be in salary cap jail, and 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.040 they're gonna have to start. It's gonna be a bloodbat. 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.320 They're gonna have to start whacking people, slicing and dicing. 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:39.000 So there's gonna be veteran players out there that you're 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:42.000 gonna be able to get at a discounted price. And 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:44.720 there's going to be out of the thirty two teams, 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.520 maybe as many as eight that can't even bid, So 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:50.200 you're down to twenty four bidders instead of thirty two. 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.400 So now it's like, man, you've bettered your odds by 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:55.960 twenty five percent of being able to land a Tier 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:59.000 one or a Tier two guy. This year, I think 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.480 Tier one and Tier two they're both going to a 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:03.720 little bit higher. You know, some of the high tier 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:06.840 twos would be Tier one guys in other years, but 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:10.639 because of the salary cap situation, the salary cap trouble, 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:12.840 a lot of teams find themselves in You're gonna have 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.160 really good players that are making a ton of money 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.360 that'll be out there that won't be making that money anymore, 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:21.280 and can you can you land some of them. It's 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:23.320 going to be interesting to see exactly who's out there. 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:26.800 And in the Bengals, having the sixth most money to 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:30.520 spend in the league tells you that, you know, hopefully 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.520 they'll be able to land a good Tier one player, 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:38.320 maybe a couple of Tier two guys potentially. So I 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:40.960 think that they may find themselves in a in a 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.200 pretty good situation. And you look at last year's draft, 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:47.480 rated the best in terms of what they got from 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:51.160 production standpoint. Out of the seven draft picks they obtained, 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.480 they got them all high every round. Obviously, it was 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.280 you would hope that they put the bat on the 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.840 ball on almost every draft pick, and they did. So 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:00.800 they have that to build on. And year one, year 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.280 two is usually the biggest improvement in terms of light 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:06.280 going on in your development. I can attest to that. 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:08.840 I remember it being that way. It's like oh yeah, 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:10.920 the game. The game is a lot different year two 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.320 here than it was my rookie year. So you have 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:15.960 you have that and you know one some one two 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.080 year the first, second and thirty year players for the Bengals. 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:21.919 They have another good draft. I mean they could they 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:24.320 could find themselves in a pretty good spot that they 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.840 can pick up a couple of Tier two and one 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.400 of those Tier one free agents to go in that mix. 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.960 It's going to be interesting. See what you get there 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:35.920 in free agency, then attack it in the draft. And 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:38.639 they have money to spend in free agency. They have 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:41.520 the fifth pick in every round in the draft. I mean, 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:44.560 they should be able to do some damage here in 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:47.200 this offseason. Dan, for sure, you can make the case 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:51.000 that with the salary cap going down, there has never 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.600 been a better year to be where the Bengals are 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:59.240 in the top six in cap room right now. I agree. 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.040 There's no using about it. I mean, you know, when 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.880 you can, you don't. You don't want to say, oh, yeah, 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:09.840 there'll be another world pandemic, you know, like we just 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:13.560 experienced in twenty twenty. I mean the odds of of 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:18.560 of taking place what took place, and you know, disturbing 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:23.520 and disrupting every single professional sport and then disrupting the 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:27.040 revenue in every single professional sport. You're right. I mean, 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:29.480 the Bengals have found themselves in a in a pretty 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:32.560 good situation. The fact that they are a very salary 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:35.480 cap savvy, you know, and some people criticize the way 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:38.560 they handle the cap, but around the league, you know, 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:40.560 when you talk to people around the league then and 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:45.280 we both have Katie Blackburn gets very high grades for 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:48.520 her acumen in terms of handling cap. You know a 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:50.879 lot of people are like, Wow, she's and she knows 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.040 what she's doing, and she has put them in a 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.399 pretty good position, you know, to take advantage of it. 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:00.760 And now it's uh, instead of your normal free agency, 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:04.840 it's gonna be a gold standard free agency. It's gonna 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:06.520 be a spit shine free agency. There's gonna be a 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:08.920 lot of talent out there you would have never ever 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.680 thought might be available. You're gonna be able to take 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.879 a shot at And the Bengals are creating more cap 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.080 space as we speak. On Friday, they cut offensive lineman 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.919 b J. Finney. That saves three point two five million 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:23.639 against the cap. Here are some of the other guys 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:27.040 that are rumored to possibly be in danger of being 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:29.960 cut for cap space. Gino Atkins is obviously the biggest 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:33.520 one that would save nine point five million. Bobby Hart 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:38.440 would save five point nine million. C j Uzama possibility 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:42.480 could save five million. Giovanni bernard A possibility could save 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:45.920 four point one million. Xavier Suafilo's name has been mentioned 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:49.040 two point four million. Which of those guys do you 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:53.399 think is most likely to be let go? I think 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:57.119 that you know, obviously AJ won't be coming back, but 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:00.719 there's no cap, no cap ramification, you know there as 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:03.679 far as that contract is concerned. But I would probably 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:07.639 think Gino Atkins is is that that's that's one where 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:10.440 you know the most savings can be can be made, 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.560 And you would think, um, just like a lot of 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:16.120 teams around the league, some of these players that are 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:19.359 being cut, teams are going to let these players go 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:22.920 as sarah cap casualties and say, wink wink, look we're 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:25.679 not we're not waiving you because we don't want you anymore. 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:28.840 We don't think you're capable of playing good enough football 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:32.439 for us and being a factor, but we can't afford 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:36.879 you in this situation period, So we may be getting 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:39.600 back to you. And you know, Bengals may say that 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:42.040 kind of thing to Gino depending on who has an 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:46.920 interest out there, um in terms of other teams. But yeah, 0:21:46.960 --> 0:21:49.560 I mean I think I think he will be He's 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:52.199 he's where they can make the most savings, and that 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:55.159 seems to be where I think the uh, the Saray 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:58.159 cap acts is gonna fall first. I mean, if you 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:01.919 let Gino and Bobby Hart though, just those two, you 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:05.119 can bring Carl Lawson back, absolutely, and you could use 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:08.679 that to franchise tag Carl Lawson if you wanted to, absolutely, 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:10.480 and then and you wouldn't have even dipped into the 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:13.040 money that you're looking to go out and get other 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:16.200