Inside the Bengals' Draft Strategy and Contract Tactics with Jesse James Taylor

Music. We're back for another episode of the Rule the Jungle podcast.

I am your host, Anthony Anderson, and alongside me are both my co-hosts, one Mr. Tyler Bowles, and the other, who I think we all refer to him as the often infamous, but very enlightening, the Learning Tree, otherwise known as God Emperor Doom.

So, how are you both? I got to miss all this I thought lovable Lovable Lovable, I also forgot Tyler's with us but he is Currently waiting on his wife to get home So he briefly muted us for just A little bit but we will Go ahead and cut right to Who we have as our Guest tonight and I think you all know who He is he's been an awesome he's been a Huge contributor to our show, and has actually been quite the busy man as of late. You've seen him on such shows as Sports for Strawberry Ice.

He's been on our show countless times, but now he has suddenly become Mr. What's the word I'm going to go with? We'll go with one of the authorities when it comes to things like the NIL and just overall NFL agent stuff. So with that being said, I want to introduce to you one, Mr. Jesse James Taylor. Jesse, how are you? I'm doing well, guys. How's everyone doing? Oh, man, we've been it's been it's been good. A lot of watching the draft and seeing how things seeing how the how the pieces fell.

And uh as you and as you've been reiterated before on countless times that you're all you're besides being an agent you are actually a bangles fan as well first just off what was your thoughts overall on the draft jesse um it's it's it's it's taken me some time to get used to not gonna lie i i. To be determined, how I feel about the drag still. Okay, now that's respectable. I don't think they hit it out of the park, but I don't think they needed to.

I think they needed a bunch of singles and doubles, and that's what they do. You bring back literally the exact same team from last year. But you replace some of the other guys that are gone or soon to be gone with what you guys lacked, what they lacked last year, right? Sound tackling, you know, coverage. We got some coverage linebackers now. We got some rush, like hopefully some juice on the pass rush. And what's the most important piece that we need? Well, we need protection for Joe.

I hope they got it. I was holding my breath for Tate Ratledge in round two. And when they didn't go that direction, I was like, oh, what are we going to do? Um, yeah, I was kind of the same way, but I did do some work on, uh, I did manage to get some work in on looking up information about, uh, Dylan Fairchild. And from what I've seen so far, I've been, been rather impressed. You know, he fits, he fits what they're trying to do on offense.

That's the silver lining of it, which is, which is drop back and throw the ball 35 to 45 times a game. Oh, yeah, without question. He's not going to be a road grader in the run game. He could develop into it, maybe, but he's technically sound and pass protection, which is exactly what they need. I mean, it's... He is kind of, when you look at it, maybe the exact opposite of Bolson. Right? Yeah. Bolson can plow people in the run. Yeah. But he's suspect in pass pro. Yeah.

Right. And that's a strong, accurate assessment. And that's because that's been I think that's been the biggest gripe with Volson the entire time. But I know for us and I think one of the things we wanted to try to start off now, since we've got all we've got our draft picks. I know that there's some stuff with the salary cap that I know everybody's still hoping that we go out and get a veteran guard.

They're also hoping that we they're also hoping to see a big announcement of a Trey Hendrickson extension perhaps because that's something that's, been a hot topic on social media and I know you've seen it countless times, where I last looked we're sitting somewhere in the range of like 24 5 maybe 24.5 mil or maybe even just a little over 25 mil, by the time we get the rookie signed and we get. By the time we get the rookie signed, would we even have enough to do all three?

Because at least from what I've done, the research, the stuff I've looked at in past history, the Bengals typically like to keep a certain amount of, at least a certain amount of cap room available just for just in case or just to try to carry over the next year. Where are you at currently on that? Yeah, I know. I see the same numbers, about 20, 25, a little over 25 mil left. They're going to set aside, you know, about $10, $11 million to get their draft picks paid.

And then maybe some extra on the size for, you know, in season. Hopefully they don't have to make another Lawrence guy type of acquisition, but it just contains, right? Hopefully not. Yeah, no, I get that. Like, like they, you have to keep money aside for, I did hear today from a decent source that Pratt is probably out. I mean, I don't think that's much of a shock when he demanded a trade. Nobody saw him get traded. You draft two linebackers in the first four rounds.

Writing's on the wall, right? No one's shocked by that. That'll free up some money. So I've got them right around $13, $14, $15 million that they can spend.

Okay. Without a press release You know The other thing is they could release Volson We just don't know right It makes no sense Right now today To make either of those cuts Right Unless you have pen to paper On a Hendrickson extension Which again you don't need to make those cuts To get Hendrickson signed You don't They have the money They have the cash They have the cap room Because the big thing, at least I know me and Will have talked at Lanes,

we weren't sure that it could be done without potentially going over the cap because of how the Bengals typically like to construct contracts.

Because if what i've read at least because i have an i have a subscription to the athletic so at least some of the stuff that i've read on the athletic from paul daner and things of that sort so what it sounds like he's wanting somewhere in that he's he says he doesn't want to be the highest paid but he's wanting somewhere in the neighborhood of about 30 mil if i if it's if it sounds accurate. Yeah, that's what he's... I mean, that's what the number's been for the offseason starting.

You know, it hasn't gone up. It hasn't gone down. It hasn't changed. That's what the market is. Everybody knows, Before the Garrett deal, before the Crosby deal, everybody knew what the market was. I mean, that's an agent's job. We know exactly where it's going before it goes there. And that's been the number since the offseason started. How you get there is you can – it's not just going to be like a Daniel Hunter

one-year deal. It's not going to be the prior Dre Hendrickson one-year extension that we're used to seeing. He's already made that known. That's not what he wants, right?

So the other thing that people don't look at is the Bengals salary cap next year I mean I think we're somewhere in the 80 million or 70 million because if I remember from the last time you were on you said if we can get the, T and Jamar deals done there's nobody else like really there's not, expected to come off that either there would be like a major, loss that yeah, so we'll probably have some guys leave but they're probably mostly backups and rotational guys that we may have to replace.

I mean, you look at the starters and this is kind of getting on a little tangent but I think it's going to prove a point circling back to Trey, right? Well, we're okay with you going on a tangent. You look at the free agents for 2026 season. Your starters that you're looking at are Ted Karras. You're looking at Geno Stone, potentially. Right? Maybe it does a size start over Miles Murphy and Shamar Stewart. I mean, and Hendrickson. Cam Taylor, Britt. I mean, that's it. That's the list. Right?

Unless Lucas Patrick becomes a stud, right? Yeah. Right. Who knows? Who knows? He isn't on your veteran. He isn't on your veteran. Hey, it's Tyler Moos. Welcome, Tyler. Hi, Tyler. So you have $75 million next year. Yeah, $75 million. You have to spend. And we're looking at this. Where's the extensions coming from? I mean, honestly, right? It's Trey Hendrick Center bust as of right now for 2026. Yeah.

What do you, and I want to continue at least with this, what do you think the likeliness that a deal gets done this year? Because at least from how I'm looking at it, from a contract and how the Bengals tend to construct contracts. I almost wonder if it's going to go into the offseason, it's a wait and see, they see a few balls out, and then they use the franchise tag. Which is just something that I want to kind of see where you're at with that if if the bangles use the franchise tag next year.

On him you're gonna see pure chaos and insanity yep amongst the media amongst i think some players in that locker room definitely right right i mean how and especially if he balls out i mean if he's even top five in sacks again this year yeah it's it's it's gonna be pandemonium like it that's not what the franchise tag is for it's it's it's not like it would just show like continual abuse by a franchise of a franchise now now they they got it done with with against this year

i'll give them that right but come on like it's just it's just ridiculous if that's the route they go okay but but they have they have no excuse like i get it their traditional way that they structure but it's not it's not and i mean it's new money they don't even have to touch 2025 if they don't if if they give him cash up front right like you can guarantee you can guarantee his 2025 salary give him a two-year extension on top of that and put a giant like like

the signing bonus breakdown but you could put an option bonus in 2026 that that's going to pay him a ton of money and just guarantee you can guarantee it if you. Want it okay and then and it pushes the salary into 2026 okay no that makes sense if you don't want to do an option bonus you can just call it a roster bonus and give them a $10 million roster bonus in 2026 on, on March, you know, 17th, you know, fifth, fifth day of the, of the new league year around, around that time.

Like they're, they can get clever with it. It's not rocket science. It's not as hard as they make it out to be. No, that makes sense. Will, Tyler, do you guys got anything that you guys want to add? Because I don't want to completely dominate the conversation because I have a ton of what I want to know, but I know you guys have some things that you'd like to ask. Well, you got to have to. Go have it. Okay. No, I got more than one.

We'll start with one for now. Well, as you know, Jesse James, a lot of fans and or media, I guess, pretty much the same thing you said about protecting Joe and one Brandon Sheriff's name was linked to us, and Will Hernandez, and I said, no, we cannot sign both of them, and Craig Hedrickson at the same time, because the way we structured everything, it wasn't that I didn't want this to happen, I think the way we structured it, it eliminated us from doing all those things at the same time.

Is that correct, Mark? what do you say that again i don't know what i don't think the offseason obviously before the draft uh brandon sheriff's name was brought up obviously will hernandez and i'm like i didn't think we could sign those two and get the deal done with trade i don't think we knew all three at the same time with the way we structured with the way we structured chasing higgins contract I didn't think we had the money to slide all three of those guys. And the Jeffers. Absolutely.

Go ahead. I didn't mean to cut you off. Is that kind of what you alluded to as far as adding a roster bonus down the road? It's not even so much that they'd have to get clever with the structure. It's not a clever Trey. It's just saying, okay, we have $15 million in salaries in cap space right now, okay? If they were to do that deal today, they're already paying him. I mean, I think he's on the hook for what, like $18 million?

$18 plus? Yes. So if you're trying to get his, and again, it's the average annual value. It doesn't mean that you have to get this year's number up to $30,000 or $30 million. That's not what average stands for. It's not every single year. So you could give them a nice bump. You could take $7 million more of that $50 million.

Right and put it in and put it into this year and this again this is just one way of many different way okay okay so so his you're paying him seven mil plus the 18 so 25.18 right right right then in 2026 when you have all this cap space or 2027 when you have all this right you can you can you You can backload that contract, right? Okay. Okay. Okay. I got you. I got you. So another one. So another one. You make the upcoming year make it even out as opposed to the first year.

That's one way to do it. Okay. Is that going to be appealing to Trey? I don't know. Well, not only. I understand. It gets more appealing as you say, that's fine. We're going to give you X amount in guarantees, whether that's $50 million in guaranteed money. That's pretty enticing. And then how about cash in year one? You can structure that base salary.

You can restructure it. You can tear up this last year and redo it to where the base salary is, I'm just throwing a number out there, $10 million.

You can give him a larger signing bonus spread those hits out over three years or if you want to throw an void year in there over four years right you're still giving him cash in his pocket today signing bonus and some year one guarantees, that's pretty darn enticing I mean and then you can still structure it to where he has some form of security and, If you're structuring the contract to where he's going to get $38 million in year three, that's not very secure.

No, it's not. For a three-year-old. That is. That's why he wouldn't take that. But if he's getting a massive amount of cash up front, maybe he does. Maybe it balances out. I'm cool with him. I don't know.

These are the conversations that as an agent You have with your player And you say, Here's the outline of 10 different contract structures This is what could happen In each one of these scenarios, Here's the pros and cons with each one Here's what I recommend What do you want to do I work for you, you tell me You do the math for them You show them it and go from there, I do remember Trey saying Before he grabbed He didn't want a bunch of bonuses, You know He didn't want a bunch of bonuses Okay,

I was thinking well I guess he wants a bunch of money That'd be fine I guess, Well I think He was talking about it he doesn't want it tied To playman's Yeah yeah yeah.

That's the big list that and this Yeah You can do a roster bonus you can do An option bonus Those aren't tied to playing time right those those those are tied to dates yes yes um even then like i think i think a roster a large roster bonus in 2026 adequate adequate pay in 2025 which is a nice little bump some guaranteed some guaranteed cash in his pocket and he's gonna be happy, I mean, and again, that's, but that's, that's coming to his terms, his number. Yeah. Yeah.

He's earned it. That is a number though. I agree. That is a number. And it doesn't, it's not, it's not taking, we're not talking about a three year, $90 million extension, right? Right. We're talking, we're talking about like, it would be an average of 30 million, like two year, 60 million extension. You may have to do more than that because that's only going to put him, I would even say two years, six years, four 65 million dollar extension would get it done. Yeah.

On time he was already paid. Right. And then what you're saying is he's going to add to the extension that he has now currently and give him 65 for the next two years which actually makes sense to me. We need to go down there with my and for Paul's this.

I think when it's all said and done, it ends up being right around a three-year, $83 million deal. You're getting him $32 million in new money, AAV. That helps establish the market, sets the market where he's at. But guess what? That's like $27.5 million over three years. Anybody would pay that for a premium ass rusher.

Tyler, you got anything? Yeah, so back on the Trey Hendrickson's topic again, do you think that the age where he's like 30, do you think that's the concern from the Bengals on their part? Yeah, 100%. Absolutely. Look at their M.O. for the last, well, under Zach Taylor, right? Nobody, I mean, nobody over 30 for how many years? I think that if I'm not mistaken, doesn't that stretch into the Marvin years as well? Or was or was it a little more lenient during the Marvin years?

I feel like it was a little more lenient. I really feel like because I remember at one point during at least in all my years of being a Bengals fan, it seemed like we had a lot of guys that they would go and pull from free agency that were 30 plus because, hey, they maybe did well against us in years past, and then they bring him here, and they couldn't stop a nosebleed. Sam Adams, James Harrison, I'm just trying to think of who was he?

Terrence Newman. Now, one I do want to ask about, because he was one of our best players of the last 15 years or so, and he was the prototype before Aaron Donald, and I'm talking about Geno Atkins.

They gave him the deal And obviously after 30 And they gave him the bill he didn't really produce as well As he did in the past I wonder if that's the same reason that's scaring him from straight They think he's not going to keep up the same production I don't want it to be that way I'd rather have him back No questions asked But I wonder if that's what their mindset is Gino, Gino had that Was that a hammy that he had Or a quad I think it might have been

a quad I could be wrong I mean, it completely derailed his career. I mean, you know, but again, that's a great point. The other point being is Carlos Fenlop kind of fell off after 30, 31, 32. Like, yeah, it's inevitable. It really is. But a lot of these teams actually view paying their players as in what have you already done? Well, as what may you do for me right in the future? The Bengals don't. They're like, cool, we already paid you for what you did.

No, it's the same thing in any business in America. You reward your employees for what they have previously done. If they outplayed the contract that they were on, you reward them. And you say, you know what, we're going to pump your salary up a whole lot. And you know what, if it doesn't pan out for us, it doesn't pan out for us. It's like, that's, that's, that's, we are, we're like business. It is business. Now, in retrospect, look at it from their point of view.

Like they're, they're looking at it. It's like, that's bad business. Because we can get away with it. Well, but I think if you look at it, if you look at it in business, as far as how the NFL runs, has done it. You don't see just the Bengals typically do that. That seems to be a big thing among every franchise to some, in some form or fashion, not every, not saying that all of them do it, but at different points in time, you've seen all of them do it to some extent.

You do, you do, But you also see like the Bengals, I feel like the Bengals are maybe a little more stuck in that. Stuck in that maybe. Yes. And this is not this is not a knock on them. This is this is as as a player agent. I applaud them for this. They are not quick to cut players. They're not. No, no. And that's that's all. That's great. I mean, it really is. That's that's what a player player doesn't want to go somewhere where they think we're not going to live to see the end of this contract.

Right. You know, the 49ers aren't afraid to cut a player. They don't care. They will cut you. But they're also quick to pay you a ton of money. They're quick to pay you, whether they work or not. They don't even, you know. Right. You know, I feel like the Ravens are the same way. The Ravens are just kind of like, all right, thanks. See you, bye. Yeah, well, we tried. And even, I would say even the Steelers kind of fall to some extent to how the Bengals do business.

To some extent, they are very loyal to their players. They are, they are, but, but also on the same token that, and I look at, I look at Ben Roethlisberger, Ben Roethlisberger. I think they were very, maybe a little more loyal than I would have been on the back end of his career, or at least I would have had the replacement. I mean, not replacement is such a harsh word. The successor I would have already had lined up.

Look, the, the, the, the, they fallen, they fell into that trap of when you're, when you're good for a long period of time, you're not picking where you can get a quarterback. It's true. They're not, and they're still not. They're still not. And they tried it. They tried it with Kitty Pickett. I mean, what was it? It was like pick 18 or something like that? 20 or something like that.

Well, but also, too, and I think you and me, Jesse, are kind of close in age that if I remember correctly, Wasn't it like in 83 They had a chance to get Dan Marino And they were kicking themselves in the rear end Pretty much every team Had a chance to get him, What did he do? He went late 20s right? Somewhere in there yeah Incredible. A lot of teams Did the same thing with Drew Brees Yeah He went Yeah so no I mean going back to Trey like there.

It's absolutely there. It's just a matter of will they do it? Okay, because I don't think I think Yeah, because I think and I don't mind saying that, hey, maybe I, uh, maybe my, my, my assessment was wrong, because at least that's why we have you on when it comes to things like this, that, hey, you kind of help inform, give them to help us. No, so it's a yeah, so no, it's a, it's a go ahead, guys, and. They're, they They could re-sign Trey, not re-sign him, extend Trey and make

more cap room if they wanted to. Just letting you know. There is so much manipulation that you can do with the salary cap. It's not difficult. It's not. It is. Why more teams don't do it, I have absolutely no idea. I don't know if they don't know how to, if they don't know how to take the time. And look at future years. That's what it is. It's looking at it like it's a... If you turn one side, you can then adjust another side in order to solve the problems.

It's not just one layer. It's not one year. They can go all the way to 2032 if they want. Why hasn't the Bengals offered you a... A job as just an advisor. Or at least some kind of advisory role. You really have. You know what? It's like the movie The Godfather. I'm not part of the family. You know?

It is all a family role there. Now, I will say this. I gotta find somebody to marry the family. That's all it is. But I do want to say one thing goes, I would love to see how their draft board works, how their process works. That would be something that I would love to see the process of because now it is a mystery because I'm not mad at this. After talking about it with Will and Anthony over the three-day process, I'm not mad at draft picks per se, but there were some head scratchers in the.

Moment as some players were available. I know they stick to their gun. They stick to their board. would be, you know, they're not really concerned about what else. But that would be something I would have realized to see would be their drive report and how they process that in the, Same, same. I think anyone would love that type of intel from their favorite team. To me, it would be interesting to see the red flags. Really, did they fully take Pierce and Mike Green off their board?

They did their homework on both guys tremendously. I know that for a fact. I'm assuming they did it. A lot of things did. And nobody saw Mike Green falling that far So to sit there and play armchair general manager After the fact We all do it I do it My friends do it We're doing it right now Because it's fine But it's hard to say in the moment, right?

If they liked Mike Green And they wanted to get that edge rusher linebacker combo I mean, heck They could have went Jihad Amble And then Mike Green in the second And all of a sudden now you're looking at two top 15 prospects on your, on your team and everybody, all the fans are saying, man, this is an amazing draft, right? I don't know what it is. What it is. See, though. And then, yeah, the one, the one concern I had with Shamar Stewart, like he, he's a good prospect. He's athletic.

There's like the, the one part that we've been having this, you wouldn't have seen for the past few years is tackling.

And that seemed to be one of his Achilles heels. And that, that was just like, I, I wouldn't say tackling is his, is his Achilles heel he's well he's one he's as he's as sound as a as a run defender as they come I mean he yes it's it's getting to the quarterback it's finishing it's his angles it's yeah it's using using using a rhythm I watched so much film of of Stewart the week of the draft because everyone that I knew told me they're going after Stewart if he's there and and I watched the film

and I'll be honest with you I was not impressed with it. He's, he is very violent. He is very athletic, very quick. And, and a lot of the stuff that I saw, and I'm by no means a scout, right? I'm an agent recruit, like a guy who looks at film from an agent's perspective, right? Sure. Not, I'm not a talent evaluator by any means. So in other words, at least if I understand it, at least from the film I looked at on, at on him, like you mentioned, he has a tendency.

He's, he's very quick off the ball. He's got a hell of an explosive first step. The big thing is he tends to over-pursue, which leads him to taking a bad angle. And literally all it involves is, say, the running back or the quarterback to basically just do a quick little move to dodge him. And next thing you know, he's on the ground and he's having to recollect himself. And next thing you know, he's quarterback's downfield or he's got the ball out for a 20, 30-yard bomb downfield.

Right and yeah i i don't i don't disagree with that at all that's that's what i was seeing as well but the things he has you you can't you can't teach them you can't you can't you can't develop those types of skills those are those are rare those are what one other player in the league has those skills and that's miles garrett right right yeah the difference being i mean it really is, I grade a lot based on production. That's just what I do.

And I think everything is an agent. That's what you're supposed to be, correct? Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, we're not, there's no rhyme or reason for what we do. I think it's just preference, whether or not you, you know, know, it's for talking to the right guys, right? I mean, you go to somebody like Shamar Stewart, and he's got 50 agents after. All these players do. It's an oversaturated business. But I will say this, here's everybody saying that, like he's,

he's not blind to it. And he's saying all the right things. I mean, he's sitting here saying, Hey, look, this is what I have to work on as a rookie. And that's what I'm going to do. You don't, you really, you don't, you don't see that from rookies. You see what you hear is like, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to destroy the quarterback. That's what I do. No, he's saying, Hey guys, like, I know my production wasn't there. I'm going to work on finishing.

I can absolutely finish. I'm going to work on my moves. I'm going to work on my pursuit angles And we're going to get there It's all going to come together That's what you want to hear Because the potential is there Because you see flashes I've seen flashes where Yeah, it's there It's just putting it together Here's my question.

And I guess my question to all three of you, all three, same question over, because I may have been upset draft night. I may have been upset a little bit the next night, but I was able to pretty much get into less. Listen, no, I was not serious. I wasn't serious or else, you know, we would have been going to do the podcast next night. Here's my question. Do you guys think his weaknesses and faults are due to the fact that I think Texas A&M had him play at a higher weight than he should?

No, I don't think so. You think at a lesser weight he'd be able to finish some of these sacks? Maybe not. He might still be able to get there, though. That may be a case-by-case basis I have seen where, say, in some cases that happened. I mean, I heard a picture of 290. I'm like, no, no, no. No. That's awfully big, isn't it? Right? It's a little big for him I mean just I mean just for what I think we want him to do But what I think he could be What he could be.

Here's the thing Turn on the film You can watch him beat the tackle The only tackle you don't see him beat Is Will Campbell, And whatever That's whatever He beats the tackle It's not a weight issue, right? It's a knowing and understanding, one, if the pocket is collapsing, where to go. If the quarterback is scrambling, where to go. Or if the quarterback's maneuvering the pocket, where to go. It comes with coaching. They're all coachable points.

Sure. Right. But he was not he was not able to correct that. He wasn't. Oh, no, no, he wasn't. And what I saw, no, he wasn't. Can he? Sure. I mean, everyone can. It's the same reason. Look, in plenty, plenty of top ranked, top, top drafted guys did not have a great production in college. They did. Sure. Yeah. Daniil Hunter. Yeah. Yeah. One half sacks. One half sacks last year. Yeah. My dad was his entire career, like six in college. There's something crazy like that, yeah.

Another one, Owafe. Yeah, Owafe from Baltimore, yes. Right. I don't think he's a single. Did he have? No, no, no. He was Penn State, I think, right? No, Penn State. Owafe, Penn State, Penn State, Penn State. I don't think he had a satchel his last year. I'm thinking of a dumb. But he's disruptive. I think you can game plan around that, right? Yeah. So, and again, the other, just while I'm looking at silver lining, I'm excited to see Stewart and Lamar go against each other.

You think back to that Sam Hubbard getting stiff-armed to the ground. I don't think Stewart misses that. No, I don't think so either. I don't think he misses that at all. Yeah, he's about four-tenths of a second faster than Sam. Yes. And he can quote. I mean, yeah, it'll be nightmares. And Hubbard was injured. Right, right. We knew this. I'm like, you guys are really not doing us a favor here. So I'm Hubbard out there injured the whole entire year.

And I was kind of happy for his last play of the Bengals. Man, that's got to be the most epic thing you could do, right? To me, it pained me seeing him retire, but I understood why. I wasn't upset. I was sad and I was happy for him because, you know, we got everything out of his hand. That was what he had. Folks, we're Tim. I'm like, no, this is what he has. He's giving you everything he has. What do you want? He ain't got much more.

Now, I want to get an idea, at least from you, Jesse, because where we've kicked each round was at the 17th pick. How would the rookie wage scale be set up, you know, offhand? Because obviously with Chamar Seward being a first round pick, he wasn't the first overall, but he was the 17th pick. And I know from what was explained to me, the 17th pick in the first round, the waves might be significantly different compared to first overall. First overall is 43 mil, I believe.

16 is right around 17.4, and 32 is 13.4. So in other words, he's right around 16, 16, 16, like 16, eight, maybe 16, five. Okay. So yeah. So four mil a year. Yeah. So another, where would, uh, where would second round pick Demetrius Knight kind of sit? He's probably, and it's been a while. It's honestly, it's been a while. I haven't even looked at the second round drafts rookie scale. He's probably around six, seven, eight. Like two mil a season, maybe.

Okay. And would that be a similar case with, say, Dylan Fairchild? No, he's probably closer. Let's hear. My favorite pick of the draft, by the way. Right. Who was our fourth-round pick last year? Five, of course. We'll be the learning tree. What do you know? Hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on. Long for me to rob me the most. It was in between. Was it McKinley-Jackson? McKinley-Jackson. McKinley-Jackson? No, wait a minute. No, no, no, no. He was third. He was third.

Eric Gall was the fourth round pick. Eric Gall. Eric Gall. Yeah, Eric Gall. That's who he is. I'm trying to put them together. I talked the learning tree something. Here we go. Yeah, I think he's right around, like, what? Did you? A $5 million deal. His was right around $5 million, I think. So 1.2 million. Alright, so that would put us like 6, 4... I'd go up about 9% from that. So he's probably yeah, like 1, 1, 1, 5, 1, 6 maybe. Okay, so we're sitting at about maybe about 11 million.

1, 3, 4. right yeah we're sitting like 11 maybe nil off the top of my head that.

But uh i'm also looking and thinking that so yeah so you you go because i know each round it goes down compared to the previous round that yeah so looking at it and does the construction of the contracts because i know i know the wage scales are set but that can you play with the construction of the contracts as far as that as far as that concern as opposed to say another one player or is it pretty much set they're pretty much set okay so yeah there's there's not

like you can you can negotiate maybe some incentives into these rookie deals right the teams may ask you to take salary splits with a high and low number as a draft pick you're going to say no, like, you just draft me, no, you'll see the salary splits really in the undrafted, three-agent contracts. Okay, so in other words, some of the undrafted players that we, the undrafted three-agents that we picked up, they'll play with the contracts a little bit more that way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then with rounds like two through seven, you may see like workout bonuses. You may see maybe some in-game incentives. Okay. It just depends. I mean, if you've got a guy, like let's just, And again, it has to still fall within that range of the draft slot, that rookie pool draft slot, the wage scale. You can't just be like, all right, we want to throw a million-dollar incentive. It's not going to happen. It's never going to happen.

It's literally outside the CBA, pretty much. It can't happen. I know that makes sense. Will, Tyler, you got anything in addition?

I think, like I said, all this is pretty much kind of helping to, one, give us a better understanding of how the, you know, and how, like, where since the draft has come and gone, to be able to better explain or at least give the listeners a better understanding of ourselves of how the salary cap is put together, at least with how we can move forward before camp starts. And try to put this team together as far as a potential playoff. Because right now I'm going to say playoff contenders.

We got to get out of the first round before we start talking maybe Super Bowls. I got a question. So the undrafted free agents. Obviously, we signed a bunch. We were active right after the draft was happening. The contract situation of those guys, I'm assuming those are just like here. They're basically going to be there for the tryout, right? Whether or not for a roster spot.

Is there any one of those particular guys that we signed as an undrafted free agent that he's like as a fan or maybe one of them that you're like close to representing or want to at this point i i well i mean what is it mclaughlin is probably oh wait i own that he i'm not an ohio state fan what i watched i did watch his film i watched his film when he you know when when when you knew he was transferring from alabama you know what he was gonna end up just because their you You know,

word on the street was this guy could be the top center in the draft in 2025. And I think the way he was playing with Ohio State, I think it was pretty obvious that he was one of the top centers in this year's draft. I mean, heck, what, he won the Remington and he ended his season early November? Yeah. Yeah. So that's, I mean, that's kind of the big guy. You know, my buddy, my buddy represents ETN, the tackle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he, he had, you know, nothing but amazing things to say

about him. He's one of that guy's agents. And, and, you know, so I like follow his career just because, again, buddy who I used to work with at Cats Management Group is one of the agents representing him. And then the wide receiver from Duke, I think he could surprise. I mean, as an undrafted free agent, especially him who had a ton of options out there. For him to pick Cincinnati, I think he knows he's got a good shot at wide receiver, probably that 5, 6, or 7 if they keep 7.

Joe Burrow can make anybody, so I agree with that. Yeah, I don't disagree, but this guy didn't have that. He's good. He's really good. Yeah, you don't have to make that good. What I'm saying is he can take his game to the next level. I'm sorry, I should have worded that better. No, he can take his game to the next... No, 100%. He was a guy that I think had a draft grade and for some reason just didn't get drafted. I don't know.

And I do want to follow up on that question real quick before Will or anything to go again. This is from the fan perspective now. Speaking of McLaughlin from Ohio State, let's just say he pans out, has a good camp. They get him to a roster spot. Obviously, we drafted Matt Lee last year. And we drafted a couple guards this year. Ted Karras, as you talked about earlier, could be a free agent next year or will be a free agent next year.

What do you think, as a fan, what would you like them to do with the center and guard position now? Matt Lee's been waiting, but obviously we got Seth McLaughlin out of Ohio State. What's your thought process on that? Well, I think McLaughlin's going to kind of have a red shirt year, so to speak. Right? Knee injury in November. Let's say it's a 10-month injury. They're thinking he might be ready by training camp. That's not 10 months. That's like, what, eight? Eight.

So I still wouldn't rush him back. I would be like, look, we've got you for three years. You're not the center this year. There's no need for it. They would probably NFI him unless he got some, you know, the non-football injury list, unless they gave some assurances that they weren't going to do that, which is as an agent what you would want. You don't want to go to the NFI because you're not getting any money. And you're not getting any games towards your accrued season.

So maybe they P-U-P-M, maybe they just IRM right away. So I think this season is a redshirt season, and the next year they say, all right, we're going to let them all battle it out for that center spot. Will, you got anything? No. Tyler, you got another question you'd like to follow up with? No. Well, actually, this one's for you, Anthony. It's not really a question. Okay. I was just a little bit ago. My mic's been muted for a little bit. I was brought some McDonald's.

It's a not sponsored by the show, but I was brought some McDonald's. Just a little bit ago.

Tyler, shut up. I know where this is going. And I had McDonald's earlier. There we go. There we go. There we go. We should. We need to make that happen. Chad Johnson, we are a Bengals podcast, so we should make a movie show. I have served him before. I like it. Oh, good. Oh, good. It's a good night. It just happened one time. Oh, good. Oh, gee, man, Nedley. I have no idea what he was doing over here, but, you know, whatever. I digress.

But anyway, looking at how the draft went overall, Jesse, if you had to give it a grade, because I know you said you weren't necessarily impressed per se, but if the Bengals said, Jesse, we want you to give us an honest grade, what would you give them?

An incomplete. I know that's not fair I don't know I'm not a big draft grader not right away, I think they stayed honestly I think they stayed true to their board, they wanted high floor guys and other than Stewart I don't think they gave a single care about ceiling I don't think they needed to, I go back and forth because you want an influx of talent. I think they did not do very well. Let's see. And this is exactly what they had to do. They had to hit their needs in order to be better.

And they are better. I think they're better today than they were at the end of the season. But we'll see. I mean, how much playing time I think he's going to get thrown into the fire, but Demetrius Knight, you're banking on a 25-year-old rookie, which is something, look, I'd rather bank on a 25-year-old rookie than a 21 or 22-year-old. That's the truth, right? I agree. I worry about the guards. Fair child, let's see. Well, let's see what he is, okay?

Up against Cam Hayward, I don't know if he can. I don't know if any, like, but then again, like, I don't know if any street free agent is going to do that at this point. You know, like the same thing, Justin Matabuki, are they going to hold up against him? I don't know. So we're still pretty much awash on the guard standpoint. Everybody sits there and says, well, you had the worst guard play in the NFL. How much worse can it get? Find out.

You know, I don't want to find out. Upgrade it. Like now, throw your resources at it and upgrade it. Now, remind me again. I know earlier you talked about may essentially happen.

Like for later on in the seasons just as like an emergency fund like roughly keeping around like 10 11 million on the salary oh lower lower lower lower i'm sorry yes so what what was the i'm sorry so i got the wrong amount what was the amount again i said they'll probably spend with the draft class and then let and then stuff that they'll set aside oh right they'll they'll probably don't they're gonna want to take at least i would say five five million in reserve

funds in other words say in other words say say somebody goes down with a torn acl or whatever the case may be so the reason why the reason why i was asking that it's i guess now five million right that that probably i don't know would that be enough probably not for brandon scherth would that be enough for don risner like would that be enough for one of those guys yeah at this point in the offseason? Absolutely. I would hope so. That's not funds for Risner or Sheriff.

They still would have anywhere between $7 and $10 million that they can spend on free agents. Yeah. And that's even before a Pratt cut. Okay. This wave of free agency that's about to hit isn't going to be... We're close to that veteran minimum type of deals. So that's kind of where Dalton Risner would fall into, what it sounds like. If the Bengals were to do that, yeah, but also Risner played well last year. He could, and his camp's smart.

They know if it's today, if it's tomorrow, if it's week one, right? He's still probably going to command between two and three million a year. Two. Like 2.25 is what number comes to my mind, right? I'd have to look and see what the market is right now for him. But we're not talking about a $5-plus million deal. We're not. I don't even think. Scheriff might be like 3.5, 4. Similar to like what Riley Reif signed a couple years ago.

What was that? That was like a two-year – it ended up being a one-year $8 million or something, but like – Somewhere in that neighborhood, yeah. He saw like four or something. I can't remember. I can't remember. But that's kind of where we're at, I think. Okay. Well, I just realized, yeah, we're getting close to about the hour time limit that you gave us. Before we let you go, was there anything that you wanted to plug?

As far as for yourself to get your name out there? Especially for future clients. Well, yeah, I mean, you can find me on Twitter, exit Agent Jesse James, as well as Instagram. I think it's Agent Jesse James 1. Feel free, if you have SiriusXM, catch my weekly segment with the opening drive, Solomon Wilcox, and the coach, Todd Haley, at 9 a.m. every Friday. Reach out. I talk, I message back if people message me. I enjoy chatting football, talking football, business, everything.

So, and definitely make sure you check that because he will be on at the time of recording, recording on a Thursday night, Friday morning, about 9 a.m. Yeah, is when his, when he pops in for his segment. But with that being said, it is that point in the show where we go ahead and wrap things up. We're going to go ahead and pass it over to Tyler because Tyler loves to close out the show. So, Tyler, the floor is yours.

All right. Main event, final roles. Here we go. Once again, we thank everybody for listening to this episode of the Rule of the Jungle podcast. And we thank our special guest, reoccurring guest. You know, he's kind of our fourth man now for some shows. It's Jesse James Taylor, Agent Jesse James Taylor. Thank you for joining the show again. Listeners, if you guys like what you heard today, please make sure you give us a follow, leave us a like, anywhere you get to podcast from.

We are available on every single thing, I believe, except YouTube. We are not video yet, but wherever you guys get to podcast from, make sure you guys leave us a like. Give us a follow. Just search Rule the Jungle in the tab there, and you'll be able to find us help properly. We do have social medias as well, so if you want to give us a follow, Facebook is at Rule the Jungle.

Twitter is at Rule the Jungle 9. We also have a special giveaway going on right now for the Celebrity Saltfall Classic, sponsored by Icky Woods and the Javante Woods Foundation and his family. So please make sure you guys go check out our pin tweet on that. Try to see details on how to get free tickets to that event. We want to give them away, so you guys make sure you guys interact with that tweet and follow the instructions on that.

You can follow me on Twitter at FyroHoeBate54, and I'm going to let these guys get theirs on. All right uh myself you get myself you can follow me at a anderson 78 as well as on instagram at anthony anderson 535 will the floor is yours you can follow me on instagram at i've been 756 and you can follow me on x last twitter william at god emperor doom 9 that's William at God Emperor Dune 9.

So with that being said, on behalf of Tyler, Will, and myself, we thank Jesse James for taking time out of his day to post it.