Inside the Bengals: A Candid Conversation with James Rapien

Music. This is Anthony of the Rule the Jungle podcast, and for this episode, like I've said before.

This year, this season hasn't gone quite the way that I think a lot of us expected it to go. A lot of ups and downs, more downs this year than ups, but either way, for this episode, We had the esteemed privilege to be able to sit down and have an honest conversation with one Mr. James Rapine. As we all know, James is the host of the Locked On Bengals podcast, one of the hosts. He also is the host of the Cincinnati Bengals Talk YouTube channel.

And the author of the Enter the Jungle book on the history of the Cincinnati Bengals. James goes in and talks about his honest thoughts and things that he has seen from covering the team on a daily basis. And I think you all will enjoy his insight and enjoy what he has to say on some of the current topics going on with the Cincinnati Bengals.

So with that being said on behalf of will and myself we sincerely hope that you enjoy this sit down talk with james rapine and we say who day and here is our talk with james rapine. And we are back for another episode of The Rule of the Jungle Podcast. I am your host, Anthony Anderson. And right at this current moment, I am waiting on my co-host. So he may be along, but we do have an esteemed guest on for today's show.

And I think you all know who he is. He is the author of the Enter the Jungle book detailing the history of the Cincinnati Bengals. He is also the host of one of the hosts of the Locked on Bengals podcast and the host of the Cincinnati Bengals Talk YouTube show. I think we all know who he is. We all respect him. One, Mr. James Rapine. James, how are you today? Anthony, I'm well, my man. How are you? I'm doing all right. This year has just been kind of a little bit more of a

whirlwind than I think we expected in the sense of just all the craziness that's happened. So, yeah.

I want to get your thoughts just overall, just what's been the feel this year as far as just from what you've seen in the locker room and just your feel around just the team in general. So starting off I want to get your feel for What's been the feel In the locker room With everything that's happened Because it, Yeah, I think the locker room has been able to withstand a lot of this and a lot of stuff over the past few years, right?

Whether it's contracts, trade demands, franchise tags, all of those things. And this year, I would say it's still okay. It's not like you have guys bickering or talking trash about each other or anything like that. Of course. But this is the first time in the Joe Burrow era where Joe is healthy. Playing as well as we've seen him play, quite frankly. And the team around him just isn't doing enough. Now, some guys are. Obviously, Jamar Chase, so let's keep digging into this one healthy.

But not everybody. And it's one of those things where I would say five, six, seven, eight weeks ago, even two, three weeks ago before this three-game losing streak, Like, you kind of thought that, oh, well, they can still figure it out. And the reality is that they cannot figure it out, that they are too flawed, that there is too much going against them. And so I think they've done a good job of not pointing the finger at each other.

And I think part of that has as much to do with their character as it is. The other element of it is everyone's messing up.

Everyone's crossed and dinged. everyone's made crucial mistakes in key moments including joe burrow for that matter now he's been superman for most of the season of course even he's made he's made enough mistakes where it's not like he can point the finger or it's going to point the finger put it that way he certainly could and jamar chase i think was close to doing that the other day chose to turn turn his head look around the locker room and then kind of bit his tongue and i get it but

we all know the flaws we all know the issues they know it but i think they've done a good job of not going public with their frustration no and all valid point all extremely valid points.

Another thing, and I know you've probably heard it around the city because you cover the team, and you've probably heard it online with a lot of people calling for things like Zach Taylor and the whole coaching staff to be relieved of their duties. For instance, Mike Brown and the Blackburns to sell the team.

My honest opinion I think there's a lot going on and I think you and I both can agree that anytime that there's the failures of a sports team whether it's high school, college, pro it's never just one specific thing there's always a multitude of smaller things that contribute to the, cataclysmic failures of a team which is why they always say the old saying you win as a team you lose as a team.

What my feeling is what's your overall thoughts do you see any big change do you potentially see any big changes coming in the offseason because i don't know that firing zach taylor would necessarily be the answer unless you made multiple changes to address other things and there's still the problem of losing then at that point say hey you explore the option sure and i i think that's probably where things end up but. Could I see big changes? I absolutely could. And there's a bunch of reasons

why you could see that, right? Defensively, you can look at the coaches. And the first thing I'll say, and people obviously complain about the scouting department in the front office, and a lot of points are valid. Oh, of course. I've said the same thing. I've said some of the same things through the years, but yeah, go ahead. When it comes to Zach or Lou, they have input on the guys that are brought in. If Lou didn't want Geno Stone, Geno Stone wouldn't be here.

If Lou wasn't on board with Sheldon Rankins, I'm not sure Sheldon Rankins would be here. Same thing with Zach Taylor. Zach was like, no, I think our defense will be fine with insert whatever safety or this or that. And so I get it. They're not the GM. They're not the front office. But there's gray lines with the Bengals. It's not just orange and black stripes. There's gray stripes as well and blurred lines when it comes to that.

And I think there's good and bad to that. I do think there's some positives to having a smaller scouting department. I do think there are positives to having coaches in the draft room. But clearly, something's gone haywire here. Oh, I 100% agree. And so how do you fix that? Is it blowing out the coaches?

Is it making moving on from a coordinator or the offensive line coach or the defensive line coach i think that people already have their minds made up on where the other with all these guys, but i do think that the way they're trending things will happen and it's in some matter of how much to what degree and i think as of now we don't know that because there's still five weeks And the Bengals, historically, they will certainly pay attention to all five of these remaining

games before they make any, for sure, decisions. Oh, of course. Because I look at the history, at least you're very astute on the history of the team, just as well as I am. I know because I think everybody brings up the fact that historically that the Bengals have never – don't have a history of firing coaches. The only coaches that come to mind that I think they've ever fired per se. Sam Weiss would be debatable.

But the only ones that come to mind, because there's a lot of controversy behind that one, would be Dave Shula and Dick LeBeau. But everybody's calling for all those firings that it's, like you said, there's a lot that needs to be looked at first before you even go down that road. I think this year is probably just one of those years that it's just, it's that we're hoping, I think we're all hoping that it's that outlier season that we didn't, that, hey, it happened.

We got it out of our system. him, hey, next year, let's come back strong and see what we can make. Because I think going into, and this is where we're going to lead into now, my big thing is I think we all pretty well know T is likely gone after this season. But I think the ultimate concern is, and this is where I stand, I don't want to see, because If you look at from when we franchise tag Jesse Bates and franchise tag, Jesse wasn't going to fetch near as much in return.

And so I kind of see where maybe it made sense for them to go ahead and say, you know what, Jesse, you go ahead and explore for agency. Hey, we appreciate your time here. Best of luck. T, I don't want him leaving for nothing, at least. I'm not sure that I would feel good with him leaving for a compensatory third-round pick.

What are the chances, in your opinion, that we franchise tag him again and probably this time either try to re-sign him or look more, which is where I think it's going to more so go if it does, a tag and trade? Yeah, it's interesting because I agree with you. Don't lose T. Higgins for nothing. I could make a good argument to re-sign him anyway and keep him long term.

To be quite honest with you but regardless franchise tagging him and if you're going to lose him and you're you accept that well then then tag him i didn't go to him there's plenty of teams interested we just played one of them in the steelers do you want him going to the steelers that alone is that would benefit that alone is a benefit i mean you got mike tomlin calling him shack and and there's a reason you do that if you're mike that's a long-term strategy you

say hey we we got Russell Wilson here Russ has been cooking he fits our system all those things you could sell key very easily on going to Pittsburgh but if you're the Bengals you can control it a bit by saying nope we're gonna tag him and then obviously you get draft compensation all of those things so I would tag him it's a controlled amount 26 million that's not bad at all for a receiver and I think given this receiver draft,

given the potential free agents at wide receiver where T. Viggins is clearly the best. I think you could certainly get something in return. A day two pick, maybe a day two pick, and a second rounder and a fourth rounder. Maybe a team says, no way, we're going to outbid everybody and give you a late one. Probably a bit far-fetched, but you never know what's going to happen. Heck, maybe you get a quality player plus a pick.

So I agree with you that they should do that. The Bengals have just never done that. And that's where I think you and I both are looking at the reality. of it. We pretty well are looking at it that there's a likelihood that they just let him walk. We get whatever compensatory pick we get.

But I think I'd like to, if we're not going to make a last-ditch effort to try to keep him, I'd like us to see if we can get at least some better compensation than just a compensatory third-round pick or six-round pick or whatever it ends up being. I agree with that. And I think a couple of things. One, you can't plan out compensatory picks because they should always be aggressive in free agency, as you know. And that impacts what you get back.

The compensatory pick formula is almost unpredictable. You can kind of do it, but it is hard to do and you never know how it's going to sway. So there's one.

Two, and I think that this, over the next five weeks, is something to watch. If T. Higgins finishes strong and stays healthy, he's missed a bunch of games this year. If he stays healthy the rest of the way, who knows? Maybe he makes a push for a thousand yards. And despite missing. Five games this season, finishes with 1,000. It wouldn't shock me. He's certainly capable of it. It needs a little over 400 yards, the average 100 yards a game.

He could do that, especially with Joe out there playing the way he is. So if that happens and his stock just rises, then I do think that it could increase the likelihood that the Bengals would do that and tag him with the idea that they were going to trade him, and let David Mulligetta, his legion, negotiate with teams and find the right package. We'll see. That's what they should do, assuming T ends the year strong and maintains the value that we expect him to have in there.

Yep. And it looks like we are actually joined by my esteemed co-host, Will. Will, what's going on, buddy? Well, I'm just trying to, you know, get healthier. Yeah. Cold and, you know, Weather changing and hand injury. It was cold. It's like 90 degrees or something today. I'm like, what in the world? I don't know. Yeah, since I know you've been listening in on some of what me and James has been talking about, I don't want to completely dominate. Do you have anything you want to throw at him?

I mean, I kind of agree with James, especially with more games being played, right?

As long as he's out there and he's producing Yards I mean that really That works in our In our favor as far as like leverage to train Him for the teams to see that When he's healthy this is You know we know what we got When he's healthy, And I would agree we do know You know nicked up here and there You know for His sake I really hope he you know Hope he can just get past All these injuries and what not and, Because it just would be a shame to see him go somewhere else.

And then the injury history continues. And I'm sure the whole fan base that are quick to jump one way or another, right? Because they're very quick to turn whichever way. If we're winning, then everything's good. And all the underlining things that I've seen since 2021, they manifest now when you're losing. When you're winning, you sweep them under the rug.

Yeah well but we won right I've said many a day on our podcast even though we won I'm bringing up the good and the bad it's always getting there it's always you know, I don't think you ever play a completely perfect game. Sometimes we just I think our talent just it overcomes a lot of things that right now it's not done it's not overcoming giving up 44 points It doesn't matter how they got it. I mean, it's very safe to say I don't think the Steelers will score 44 points a game. I think so.

Yeah. That's an awful lot. Must have been the Bengals again, you know? Well, they do. Well, yeah, that's true. But that's okay. If we get them 45-44 this time, I'll still be mad. I don't expect Russell Wilson to need to play in that game. I mean, he may. I think we may see the third stringer. Right Yeah But.

Will Did you have a question or did we just kind of For him Let's just keep going, So alright But with We've talked about, We talked about About the head About coaching which we I think me and James and I know you Likely agree with it Will that is going to look a lot...

There's going to be some type of change. I think... I think this year, because pretty much, and especially, I think the big thing going into it next year, which is why I would like to see, and I hope the front office would listen to this, but who knows, but why would, if they're not going to try to keep T, do a tag and trade, is because we got a lot of, I think if I'm not mistaken, most of our Will or James, feel free to chime in.

Most of our expiring contracts outside of T are all on defense, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, I mean, offensive line-wise, I think you'll have not necessarily expiring contracts, but I think you'll have some turnover there. Alex Kappa, certainly on the chopping block. I think Cordell Volson, probably a backup on paper next year, even though he's on a rookie deal. So a couple of guys there. But to your point, and it's a big one,

T, and then honestly, tight ends. I mean, Mike Kosicki, the free agent, and not just that, but Eric Hall with his injury. There's a little uneasiness there. But, I mean, overall, to your point, a lot of the big dogs or potential casualties, all of those things on defense.

Because I would say at this point, it's looking like – I don't want to say that this is necessarily for certain, but I you look at how like for instance what's the word on Sheldon Rankin's James has he been spotted in the building or is he still out due to illness I think he's been in the building what would he as is not contagious he's dealing with a serious illness though and this this is what's says is is no just real quick is like he's stunk this year like I I'm not pulling a

punch chair and trying to defend him like we all agree at the same time he's not like purposefully sitting out like he's really sick and ill and trying to get back and the only way you can really get back is by getting healthy and sometimes illnesses make it tough so i i do feel bad.

For him for this and at the same time am perfectly capable of admitting that he's been a free agent bust even before he was ill before that Chargers game, I wanted to kind of get a thing that I've been looking at is I've seen a lot of people put up say online, I've even thought it at one point so when you said say this it kind of gives a bigger clarification from my end. Why he's out due to illness.

It's not a team thing where they're just sitting him because, hey, he's been so bad that, hey, they don't intend on keeping him and they're going to let go of him anyway. I do think they'll let go of him. But this is not that. This is not that. I think they would love to have him, especially the past couple weeks, if he wasn't ill.

And I'm not even really talking about you i just there's so many people online that like roll their eyes and it's like man like i know he's for a fact and no i i understand that's why that's why i asked you because you're around these guys more than more than any of us are that you know what's going on you legit know you legit know what's going on so if you've heard something or you know something you're the one thing

if you're if you're at liberty to discuss it then yeah you have no problem bringing it up so that's why But I very much appreciate the fact that, hey, we're able to reach out to somebody like you to be able to get an idea of what's going on. But I know, like, who would be outside of Kappa and, say, Rankin, who would be people that you would look at potentially being on the old chopping block? I think a couple of guys. I think they will certainly look at.

You know stone and it's really a matter of how does he finish the year i think he could, finish the year strong and give you make an argument for himself to be here next year especially with all the other goals but if jordan battle plays well you know maybe we see tyson anderson down the stretch which i would try to see him now anyways to be quite honest with you no and i agree with you it doesn't hurt to at least see what the kid has putting him in putting him

in with the rest of the defense yeah exactly so i i think gino's one of those guys i think sam hubbard certainly falls in that category and that doesn't mean he won't be back what i i think the bengal should do with sam hubbard he still had value but what his value is is and i stole this from charlie goldsmith by the way who does a good job covering the team still even though he's not at the end fire anymore yeah he's was i think he's

uh i think he's working with settlement will pats is now isn't he i think so with the yeah the belief i guess believe in bangles i believe it is but yeah i i think that the line he said is sam hubbard has entered his cam sample area and that wasn't to be mean it was to say oh well he's this guy that can be a backup up rotational guys and if you have that at three or four million dollars per year well that's great because.

He can play inside when you need him to he can play the edge when you need him to he can be a veteran leader all of those things but at his current money that obviously doesn't work so is he willing to take a significant pay cut if not i think you may just see him get outright cut because he certainly isn't the player that he was in 2022 when i thought he had a career year Of course And that's been a big thing So part of me wonders how much is that due

to injury Versus how much of that Is due to, Age and just Decline, Yeah I think It's a mixture of Yeah that's what makes me wonder how much of it Is due to some of those factors.

The other thing and I think a lot of people I think it's going to come back up. Trey, we all know what happened in the offseason last year, this past offseason, with him wanting a restructure. Rightfully so. He definitely has way outperformed his contract. Do you see any possibility that they maybe take another look and see?

Because historically, I think up until like the Marvin Lewis year, before they had no problem trying to maybe re-sign a guy that might be in his 30s, that if they've had him and he's performed well, that they kept him around. But then there's been times where it seems like since the Marvin years, that as soon as they get about in their 30s, they're quick to cut dates. Yeah, I think it's possible, certainly, with the way he's playing. The question is, what is he going to want?

Does he want $23 million? Is he going to want one of these TJ Watt-type deals? He's older. If he wants to add two years to his contract with the Bengals, do that?

He might do that. He's still playing at a really high level. and the the miles murphy pick at least to this point hasn't worked out we just talked about sam hubbard the cupboard pun intended there is kind of there and and yeah i think it so it depends how team friendly is he willing to go and i can go to the flip side of that too is it's like you know you talk about trading tea well if trey wants this crazy amount of money and into his 30s in a multi-year deal well maybe

you explore moving him too so i think it could go either way. Obviously i of the two i think an extension is more likely than not but i also think that the carl has done that contract the geno atkins contract those third contracts scared the hell out of the bangles because neither one really delivered and and when you you have that kind of history and not not that it would happen with trey but i i do think you get leery of that and And that will be on the Bengals' mind.

No, I definitely agree. Because whatever they do in this case with Trey, it has to make sense for both sides. Do I think he's going to command a top? Because I know we've talked with our agent contact, Jesse James Taylor, who he thinks that Trey is going to command in the upwards of about 30. I'm not sure the Bengals would be willing to go that high. Yeah, I'm not sure. That's where I'm at. I'm not sure that they'd go that high. They might maybe go within the ranks of about maybe 23, maybe 25.

See, and this is where you could almost argue to limit it then. All right. Is value significant? Is it significant? What does it get you back? What can you get with that money as well? I think those are all questions. Not saying that you're going to find the next Trey, because that's hard to find, but maybe that's multiple pieces. Maybe that's a starting guard and a starting veteran receiver that's going to kind of fill in with a draft pick on offense.

Who knows what it is? But that is very much a, are you paying a guy in his 30s $25 million per year when you're going to be paying Jamar? And they will be paying Jamar big money as well. Not that they can't. Of course they can. And there's cat money and all that, plenty of space. But is it good business? I think that will be a question that they would have to ask themselves as a front office for sure.

Okay. No, I agree. that's why like I said we enjoy talking with you because hey you really like for the fact that hey you're around the team a lot you're.

You've covered the team long enough and covered sports long enough that you're able to give great insight to, open because like I said the whole big thing of why we started the podcast is that we want to be able to have provide a different, logic because I think fans us as fans tend to get in our emotions at times, especially certain guys that, hey, we fall in love with, that we want to see them start and finish their careers with the team. Sometimes it's not always that way.

But I think we've got one more question, and then we'll send you out. I want to address the elephant in the room, because everybody is – you've seen – I know you've seen the talks about everybody saying Joe should pull a Carson Palmer and that Joe should pull a Carson Palmer. And in the press conferences, Joe looks like he's depressed because the front office won't help him. Give your honest. And I mean, give your truly honest opinion on that,

because you've had the chance to. like I said, you're around the team more than anybody on this podcast. Shoot. No, I think we're not close to there yet as far as the Carson comp that everyone makes on social media. I think Joe isn't really built that way. It doesn't mean that he won't have a different perspective down the line. I also think that if you gave him truth serum, he would say yeah, we haven't been good enough the past two years, and that includes last year.

And what does that mean? That means that you got to get back to where you were in 2020 and 21, where you really hit big home runs, triples, singles, doubles. You were just hitting it big in free agency. And coupling that with drafts that provide quality pieces. That 2020 draft, I mean, man, you get Joe Burrow, T. Higgins, and Logan Wilson with your first three picks. Go home. That's a successful draft. You do that every year, and you're going to be awesome.

And obviously, you can't do that every year. But you need productive players that come in through the draft and through free agency, and they haven't had that. So I think it's twofold. I don't think his frustration is at those kind of levels where he doesn't think they can turn it around. I think he does. I also think he is well aware that they had deficiencies that they need to address and that the front office, that the organization needs to fix this offseason.

No, yeah, very well put, because like I said, that's why we that's why we love having you on, because you're able to give a give a truly honest and forthright opinion and by somebody that covers the team of the daily. So with that being said, our 2021 draft was pretty good, too. It's like the first pick The first pick was amazing I know right that's why I said it was pretty good There you go They should have listened to anyone else.

Besides themselves for that second pick That third pick And fourth pick He got hurt, The sample got hurt I don't know It is what it is, So, with that being said, before we let you go, James, tell our listeners how they can stay up to date on you. BengalsTalk.com, one-stop chat for all things Bengals, Cincinnati Bengals Talk on YouTube, and the Laptop on Bengals Podcast. As always, it has been an absolute pleasure to get to talk with you again.

That's why we reach out to you from time to time, especially when there's key things to talk about. So with that being said, you can follow me at aanderson78 on Fs and anthonyanderson535 on Instagram. will go ahead and give yours and then we will close it out. You can follow me on Instagram at Appleton756 and you can follow me on Twitter slash X. At William28818804. Again, that's at William28818804. Now, before we get out of here, now I will say this, I will say this.

The last two drafts are really going to be put under fire here coming after this next year. Because they're always going to have to play or we're going to have to, you know, because they're going to be like, not the majority of the team, but they're all still kind of be on the team. No, you're not wrong. They're all young guys that are going to be here. Pressure's on. I know. I'd rather play them now and see what we got. Oh, yeah. I think it's true.

So with that being said, first off, I want to thank James for coming by and talking with us. And it is with the esteemed pleasure, like I said, follow us on Facebook at Rule the Jungle and make sure you follow the Rule the Jungle podcast page at Rule the Jungle 9. And with that being said, on behalf of Will and my team, I'm going to be here.