Inside the NFL Combine: A Cincinnati Perspective

Music. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da hey everybody welcome to this episode of the rule the jungle podcast you might be wondering why isn't anthony talking right now well it's my turn to lead the show today and right right now yeah i'm tyler bulls and with always i'm joined by anthony anderson and the learning tree.

William appleton also with the lottery number on his twitter account how y'all i'm doing today doing well silas that we would try it out and let you start us off because, for those of you that have wondered because i have i did post some pictures of will and my journey to the nfl combine why we are waiting this long to talk about it a lot of stuff because technically we all have day jobs so a lot of stuff's gone on so with then it's a long story But with that,

if you are looking at the title of the episode, basically, we are going to talk about a myriad of topics going on.

So, figure today, Tyler, because I think you wanted to hear us talk about, me and Will talk about our trip to the Combine, right? Yeah, so obviously before we get into the standouts And what you guys saw from a performance perspective From these collegiate athletes coming to the draft I want to know one thing about Lucas Oil Stadium Because I hear it's nice But is it true that during the day The sun shines through that glass And it is kind of hard to see a little bit Is it true about that?

That is true That is true That is But. Well, look But we wasn't playing Me and Anthony wasn't playing on the field And the good thing is that the window Where the sun shines through was at our back, On the way out We really could see it As it got towards 3 o'clock, 3.30 The sun was blaring It was beautiful, Unless you're Okay, that'll go into my next question Because I know you guys are going to talk about the standouts Do you think that affected any of the players In Indy?

For me, I don't know from my end that it affected it Because if you're looking at it, the position, the day that we went It was all the O-linemen O-linemen, your hands in the dirt, you're basically coming out You got the most physical job on the field. Now, if it was, say, what would you say? If we would have went Saturday, I could maybe see it because it would have been backs, receivers, and quarterbacks. I could have maybe seen that.

But for what it is, myself personally, I don't see where it would have affected it. Will, what about you? I don't think it was too bad either way because I have to assume that the backs and receivers, they would have known this and just went the other way, the opposite direction.

Yeah that's where i'm at because you know you know where the window you know where it is when we when you come in the entrance that that's the that's facing the opposite way it's to your back that's where the the big windows are where the sun was coming through especially like like i want to say after like one o'clock oh you can really notice how how it lit up like a you know like they had lights on early right anthony before we started the lights on y'all be beautiful beautiful lights along

the you know along the seating area and then oh i forgot i also forgot to tell you that we were uh where we were seated what would you say we were in the middle middle lower bowl but if you go up we probably if we really like if they if the security wasn't as like compacted over there yeah yeah we would have probably tried to go up there because we were right by where all the team's suites were, I would have loved to have at least gone up and said hello to Duke Tobin or

said hello to any of the coaches that were in the suite at that point.

So Bengals front office, if you're listening to this, next year's combine, could you make that happen for us? Just let us come by and just say at least shake your hand. Maybe. I'll give my insight on the draft picks. Yeah. Yeah, let Will give his synopsis because literally year-round, the man is always scouting. I've spent some time with this. And as we get to our standout, you know, you guys will hear the standout, you know, the top linemen that, you know, are still the top linemen.

Some have moved in positions of the round, But the lesser known linemen that I knew about, a couple of them really, really, really stood out to me. No, you're not. Yeah, because our whole way home, you said there was a couple of them that weren't really high up on your board that suddenly leapfrogged a little bit. Oh, yeah, because I have my also they pass out an information guide, which I still have mine. I have mine right in front of me, actually.

And I was able to write down a lot of the 40 times. and he had a whole list of all the linemen that were there at the draft, even though it didn't necessarily say who was all doing all the workouts or not. So you had to kind of like go in order. And the one thing I was, eh, I guess I was a little frustrated with, but it wasn't an issue. It's the fact that when the linemen, offensive linemen, ran the first 40 times, they didn't put it up on the board.

I guess the home I'm sure the home viewers that watched on it were able to get a full view of it yeah they got a chance to get the first time out we had to wait until the second time until they ran the second you know the second 40.

Compared to the first 40 times I'm like wait a minute you guys just showed that right away, I know we have the benefit of actually being there right yeah with all this technology this big old screen they got out of this beautiful stadium I just would have thought Maybe it's definitely just an issue, you know? And then we're hoping that maybe next year that maybe they try to iron that out a little bit. Sure, sure. You got a big old beautiful screen there. I mean, it was amazing. Beautiful.

Yeah, it's absolutely amazing. That's why we intend to be back next year. But I think what we're going to try to do, Will and I, we're going to try to plan it out a little bit more so we can try to cover more position groups.

More position groups in multiple days. definitely and yes the position groups will probably have something to do with the Bengals obviously right yeah for taking like I'd love to do defensive line yeah that's why that's why you know that's why I'd say like next year that's why I say next year we get an idea what the schedule is and then make our plan from there so that way if I need to request time off hey, we ride up because typically so anybody listening especially if you're from cincinnati,

you can make that trip in a day oh yeah it's like it's a day trip it's literally like you if you want to stay there the night and you want to go to more than one more than one day, you can definitely do that but like if you don't really want to stay there you kind of want to be able to feel the be able to sleep in your own bed. Which I know that's me, but yeah, you can definitely pull that off.

You might pay for it a little bit on the gas because, you know, my big old pickup truck, yeah, yeah, that'll, might pay for it a little bit on the gas end, but not the worst thing in the world. Well, you are going to Lucas Oil Stadium too, so there is that. Yeah, we're riding downtown, indeed. We're not in the outskirts of Indy We're in downtown Indy It was perfect, It didn't take much to get off the highway And there's a stadium Now I will say this People in Indy Oh What's the word.

You were in the car when it happened You remember I turned on my turn signal You saw me, how I drive I look over twice to make sure I can get over, And get over safely out of nowhere had a dodge charge and try to it came within mere seconds of clipping me he was uh he was moving pretty fast too yeah so basically to make a long story short, if you live in if you unless you are on an indie course in an indy 500 course or a nascar course a speed limit for christ's sake that's my rant.

Anyway, back to the fucking combine Back to the combine Maybe not necessarily Could be a course Because they were getting after it They were Really, really high speed Oh yeah Because when we had got there They mainly, like they did They ran the split They ran the split and they did They ran the split and the three cone And the 40 and because the only ones that they really showed like the bench press i didn't see that set up then again who's to say i'm not

sure how do they do that did they do that like each day with each position group or did that just an all one day thing where they line everybody up and say hey here have at it fellas because i got i gotta assume position groups certain position groups I'm definitely going to do this best press. No, O-line to D-line, that's almost expected. That's a, yeah, that is an expected thing. But anyway, getting right at it, you want to go right into standouts?

Because I know for you, Will, you really did your homework on it. I got, well, I got a few, quite a few. Not standouts to the point like where, oh, my God, I didn't have this guy on my radar. No, I did a pretty comprehensive, you know, comprehensive study three, four days before we, you know, I knew we were going. Yeah. I really went Saturday, you know, that, like, initially planned. That actually was the basis of my study. the defensive line.

The offensive line, I have my top. The defensive line, I think, was on Thursday. Well, I mean, yeah, no. Quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers, I think was Saturday. I could be wrong. That's the day that I, you know, what was Friday? What was Friday? Was Friday? Friday, I think. Is that the day they said had the most people? Was that Friday or Saturday? I think it was Saturday. Saturday, okay.

So, you know, anytime there's a high-profile, there's high-profile quarterbacks, You know that day is going to probably be the big one. I still would have thought Friday would have been the most people, but yeah, so be it. The defensive line is what I focused on because that's what I faced a lot of my time and looking. But, of course, offensive line, you know, as I look at these different conferences, right, which I did it by conference.

I had days where I watched film of one conference, and then I watched film of another conference the next day, and then another conference the next day. Like, actual individual games. Pick out a certain team, especially defense, like Ole Miss. Well, if you look at Ole Miss, they got three, potentially four linemen in the draft. Right? You look at on the offensive end, if you think of offensive lines. You think LSU. They got, I think they got three.

And they got Will Campbell and they got like one or two others. Georgia got, there's two teams that got four linemen that I saw. Georgia. One, two. Yeah. Georgia and LSU got four linemen that actually worked out, that I actually saw. You know. Yeah. The first group, second group. Right? I was a little disappointed in the fact that there was a bunch of guys that were there that didn't work out at all. Sure, sure. Well, that's – and it took me a time or two to say,

okay, did somebody get skipped? Okay, then I'll make note of that. If a guy got skipped, didn't run a 40 or didn't do the call, I'm like, wait a minute. All right, so here's the thing. All the linemen either did the cone or the 40. None of them missed both. So it was good to see that they were all technically there.

Everyone on this information guide that they gave us was actually there, which is, you know, that's pretty good work. You know, it's pretty good work. Oh, it is. Put this thing together, you know. And if you want, Anthony, you know, if you want, I can take a picture. And if you still have yours, take a picture and you can put that on the website, you know, on the Facebook page. So folks to see how much detail they, you know, even though we don't get to it. We can look into that. Yeah.

Send it to Tyler and let Tyler, let Tyler post it up. Yeah. Because we only got a chance to see the 40. We didn't get a chance to, you know, there was no cone, you know, right. There was no section for that, which they may need to think about, you know, think about doing that.

So going into it who did you who did you see as your standout so you want to do top five or you want to do top 10 will well i want to do 10 now let's just do let's do five for now, yeah we all right i'm good with i'm good with your standouts or you are standout because there's a couple of guys i think because correct me if i'm wrong was it armand membo or was it somebody else that you said was able to slide inside that say, hey, if they were available that the Bengals could snag.

It's going to be taken. I'm just saying. No, it was... Oh, yeah. I see him. Hold on. Let me get this in because I think our listeners would love to hear this because, During the court, when Mimbo, particularly on Mimbo's 40 time, the second time, at some point, they panned up to Miami's sweep, and they showed Mike McDaniel getting quite excited, would you say? Yes, he was. I think he was about to run. I thought he was about to run down there, actually.

I thought he was going to get on the elevators, run down on the field, and say, no, no, we're taking this guy right now.

Yeah because Miami I think if I'm not mistaken I think they pick before us but they do so yeah he's probably going to be the first he's probably, Mimbo will probably be like the second or third Mimbo will probably be the second or third lineman taken off the board I'm predicting Kelvin Banks to probably be the first one in my opinion I would assume he'd be the first yes he's likely going to be the first. Mimbo will be the second tackle taken off But do continue on your standout.

So I did not mean that. I just had to slide that in real quick. Well, yeah. Membo was not a – I wouldn't call him a standout because I knew how good he was already. Oh, yeah, no, no question. Because I did add – He was definitely a specimen to look at. Because take a wild guess of what offensive line group and what conference I looked at first. How about offensive line? The SEC.

It's the first one I looked at. I mean, because it's because the amount of linemen that I knew that we'd probably see and we did see that were there. I'm like, well, well, damn it. If, you know, seemingly a third of the linemen, right, that's working out at the combine on the day that we're going is actually going to be there. Well, I hope that I want to be at unseen them, even though we watched them all year, you know.

You know, because those are the big-time matchups. Those are the top 25 matchups that they show every week, right? Y'all obviously have an SEC game of the week, right? Which could be, you know, which could literally be every week the biggest game of the other year. But in your opinion. Standouts, we'll go 5-1 or you want to go 1-5 or no particular order?

No particular order Because I want to talk about An actual non-SEC standout I have a non-SEC standout for sure That I wasn't I only heard about I heard And that's His name is Gray Zabel Yeah Gray Zabel Out of North Dakota State He is clearly, You know it's funny because they did this by alphabetical order And I kept looking and looking as I got down to my, you know, as I showed Anthony, put my little notches on guys I need to, you know, I want to really see up close

and personal and not just watch on film. Because on film, you know, sometimes film can lie a little bit. Gray Zabel, he's a standout right away. He is a standout. He's actually, he's made the rounds now. He's made some headway. There's some push. There's a lot of, there's a lot of, a lot of groundswell on him now. Not that he's five. I wasn't sure he would look the way he looked. He looked good in all the drills.

Yeah, because I think when we got there, the only ones that we saw him participate in was the vertical jump and the broad jump. Because when we got there, they were doing the vertical jump. Yes. They were doing the vertical. Okay, now, all right.

On to... An actual guy that, you know, sometimes you just seen a guy play and then you get to this combine and you're thinking, all right, well, I've seen him play, but does that translate? I don't know. The kid out of Arizona, surprisingly, another non-SEC, you know, because I went so hard on the SEC guys.

The non-SEC guys, each conference got an additional day, but I had to do two conferences in one day to try to fit them all the rest of me because I did offensive line and defensive line and I did offensive line versus defensive line, which does play a factor, does it not? I think it's pretty smart. As a former lineman, yes, that does play a factor. That's Arizona. Jonah Sanavamea. This guy got a difficult name to say. Sanavamea? Is that right?

Hey, look. It's a Samoan sounding name from what I can tell. Is he a part of the bloodline? I don't know. He could be with that. His name is so long. It could be. He really could be. He looked pretty big and pretty dang fast. His 40 time was, I think it was 40. Oh, yeah. He's Samoan. He's a lot of Samoans. Right? his 40 time was 4.95. That is correct. That is fast for alignment. I said the first thing, a standout, if they run under a 5, they're going in the first round.

That's moving. No, that's moving. That's an uptick. That's something to... You know and then at 6'4, 324 to run under a 5 right that's unheard of that's unheard of I'm impressed and he did and you know sometimes you see these these mythical weights and stuff right you see the guy without pads on thinking hey this guy's not 330 no he's 330.

He's 330 no he's 330 I'm like oh no no he's a big man that's a big man, And that was always funny because there was times that, yeah, because I remember in high school, they were trying to say I didn't look 300 plus pounds. But when I hit you, that was 300 plus pounds. They're like, no, he's every bit of like, because I think high school, my sophomore year, I was 310. My junior year, I dropped down for some odd reason. I was like 310, dropped down to an even three.

I was 299 is what they billed me at. But my coach just said, fuck it, put him at three. And then my junior year, I was like 325. But I played my best at three. I played my best at three, right at 300. But no, like every bit of, yeah, watching him in the drills, the fact that you saw him move. And he moved very gracefully. You see it.

And that's a big thing when you're playing, especially if you're going to be playing particularly at tackle. What was the overall synopsis on him? Did you get anything on that, Will? Oh, I love him. I know some of the tackles they have are projected to move inside. I didn't get a full synopsis on Jonah. I was wondering if you had had that by chance. Full synopsis? I mean, yeah. I mean, I'm expecting him to move inside.

I mean, I got to move inside. I do. You know, to keep him up in the top, you know, 65, I think you need to move inside. You know. So you think you – So, oh, well, apparently this just in the Ravens are re-signing Ronnie Stanley to a three-year, $60 million deal. So originally he was expected to leave the Ravens. Apparently now he is not. Let's see. I got... Is that two? I have three more real quick. Good old Eli Cox out of Kentucky. He actually impressed me. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Because he wasn't even on my radar at first. He was... I knew of him. Yes. I can't say. He's a total unknown. Yes, I didn't know of him. He had a big section cheering for him. I mean, he had probably the biggest section there. He ran at 40. His 40 was at 5.03, close to five, pretty much five. And then you heard the crowd just, I'm like, whoa, hey, hey, hold on. Rodney's, you know, he got a nice following. Probably drove up from, you know, right? Probably drove up to Sam.

Yeah. Now, the thing is this. Okay, he is battle-tested, right? It's battle tested. Kentucky, obviously, their defensive line for me is where I spent the majority of my time looking, right? Because there's three guys on the defensive line I looked at, actually. Three. So, only one guy on the offensive line that I even remember, and it was Cox. And he played left tackle. And I was wondering where all the pressure was coming from. It was coming from the right tackle spot.

I'm like, oh, they tried, like, three different guys. I'm like, oh, well, I see why they were trying different guys on that spot. We got this backside cover pretty good. I didn't realize he was quite the athlete that he was. I mean, yeah, yeah, you think, okay, SEC guy, Kentucky, you know, run the football. No, he's a way better athlete, and he proved it. And his cone drills were really good. They're really tight, really fluid. You know, it didn't seem like he had any issues with doing these.

He's done this all his life. Like, hey, I can do these. There's a lot more bigger names, obviously, as we go forward here. I'm not naming the top guys that stood out because the top guys. Because the top guys, you know, Will Campbell and Banks. I don't need to name them. Look, we know how good they are, per se, or how good they protected me in Mubutu, right? Yeah. Right? We know how good they are because you can see it on film. Anyone with two peri eyes can see.

Eli Cox, you got to dig because, you know, they didn't have the greatest offense in the world and, you know, a quarterback struggled to transfer from Georgia, right? They had pressure a lot in this kid running, but it wasn't for that one spot. I'm like, oh, and it actually makes sense. You go back and look and say, oh, okay, they got one. You know, I'm not saying he shot up into, you know, first round. No, I'm not saying that.

I was so pleasantly surprised how good he was. And then there's Joshua Gray, Oregon State. I can't lie. I have not watched a lot of Oregon State games. I don't think I've watched more than one all year. One in the defunct Pac-12, right? Yeah. But, you know, if you kind of kick the can around and look and see where Joshua Gray should be, he's like, first 175.

He should go within the first three or four rounds three or four I didn't have him doing that he also ran like a 5.04 it was like a bunch of guys ran like, 5.02, 5.83 5.04, 5.02 he was a bunch of guys in that range there was two guys.

That ran quicker than that, and then all the rest kind of subsequently snuck in after that, nobody ran like a terrible terrible terrible 40 that i think but what did you see any, terrible 40 times anti i didn't see any that was just horrible no that's kind of from where i was at i didn't see anything that was like a god awful you know a couple guys i thought would have maybe been a little bit faster disappointed me a little bit one guy that i thought was

a little bit that actually kind of surprised me quite a bit and i'm pulling his information up now, i hope he's there when i hope he might be there when the bangles pick is tate ratledge, mr hair that is it that is it yeah that is a name i've been looking forward to he he won the he won the best hair yeah he did he won the best hair i think i think it's the best hair cut, I don't think he had the best hair I thought he had the best hair cut.

He's got a 1980s, you know. It's, hey, hey. 1980s Mullen. It's beautiful. He's a big old country boy. That's what it boils down to. Yeah, he's really good, too. He's a really good offensive line, but a really good guard. Oh, I know. He, like, his lateral movements, all that, like when they were having him go through the three cone and just overall just really impressed me.

So I'm sitting there looking like, especially if you get him in and you get him in with a good head of steam, he's going to hurt you. He's going to hurt you. He's going to put you in the dirt. Yes. But there's another guy. There's the other guy that surprised me. It's the other guy. The other guy. Jared Wilson, the other guard in Georgia. Because Tate Rattlers, if I'm not mistaken, I think he was a right guard.

Yes. Jared Wilson played on the left, right? Yes. he he's the other guy that ran under a five in the 40 but something tells me both one or both of them will be gone ratless will probably be gone wilson maybe unless folks saw what i thought in other words in other words you're saying ratless is probably gonna be gone some mid, mid to late that early second round second late first round early second round yeah well well wait let's see well

wait a minute zabel members able i'm not the only one that recognized this guy because they did too and they and folks been pushing him up really really high right, so are you pushing him up or you kind of got him pretty much where you have him, i got him where i got him he was right adam pretty i was i was kind of following along with the media and all that you know you know what i mean and then once i once i seen him i say, oh, well, never mind. I kind of, okay, I agree.

And no happens to the bloke. Where are you at on your top five? Lyman. I mean, of the Lyman, the best of prizes? That should be it. Let's add Zabel. Add Zabel. Wilson. Zabel, Wilson. Can you start from the top? Because I had a phone call come through, and because it's connected up with my iPad, and basically, you know, the wonders of AirPods. All right. Yeah, I think I got all my five here. Let's see. Yeah, I did all my five. Let's see. My five were outside of the Cads we know.

Eli Cox. Right? Gray Zabel. This is no particular order. He was just a five that I, you know. Jarrett Wilson from Georgia. So, I was almost going to call him. Salvia Neon. That's a really long name. He's a really good player, too. And what was my last one? I forgot. Josiah Gray. There we go For me I know for me I gotta go Tate Ratledge and Jared Wilson, Because If one or both of them are there I'm taking one of them I'm just mad because McLaughlin didn't renew the 40,

My sleeper at center guard. So he didn't run. Yeah. All the rest of them did. Yes. And then the kid, John Williams from UC is on my list as well. The other one is the Jonah, the Samoan kid that we were talking about out of Arizona. Yeah. Man, he was moving. Oh, yeah. And he's going to be gone. I think if he's there, I would love to have him. But someone tells me he's probably going to be gone. Well, because of this. Williams might be.

There's a chance Williams might be there. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he will be. What was that? I believe he will be there. And then one that, you know, he was on my list from the start. I got to throw in Tyler Booker. Well, he's a given. Even though his testing numbers You know, His testing numbers kind of weren't the best But usually the way it goes with the combine If you suck at the combine You can make up for it At your pro day Can you play?

That's what it boils down to Yes, he can Is he mean? Yes Is he physical? Yes He will Destroy you He will destroy you. He will hurt you. He will put you in the dirt. He will make you feel his presence. He went one-on-one a couple times with that guy, Walker, from Kentucky. What a... Oh, I'm talking about Deion Walker? Yes. Yeah, because he was one I wanted to get a glimpse of. I was so angry when I could not get Thursday off to go, because he was on my list.

Because after our talk with Jeff Hobson and Jeff said it, and I was like, because most people don't look at the University of Kentucky as a football powerhouse. And when I went back and I YouTubed him and looked at a lot of his film. Yep. I watched the sequence. I'm like, oh, this is the last two or three years, though, Anthony.

No, I get that. No, believe me, I do. So, Tyler, do you have anything you want to add in? Since we were talking about our trip to the Combine. Yeah. So, if you guys see anybody that we would probably draft at 17. Yes. Or in round two. Based off current standing. For me, it'd be Ratlidge or Wilson. I'd see being one that we might look at. But a lot's going to depend on how the first round plays out for me. How the first round plays out. Because I think the first round,

I think they're going to go tackle. They're going to go edge now. Which I think will be, you tell me, guys. I think this would be a good time to go ahead and transition into talking about it, but I think this would be defensive tackle or edge would be the pick. It would be the pick, I think, first, and then probably go offensive tackle. Not offensive tackle, offensive guard in the second or third round. So, yep, just the way it goes. Just to pick on who's taken.

So, with that being said, Tyler, what do you think?

I think now's a good time to go ahead and transition to some of the more recent developments in the ever-loving, ever- ever-ongoing saga, that which is the Cincinnati Bengals. By recent ongoing, you mean the sad recent ongoing, then yes. We're going to talk a little bit of everything. So, sad recent, it's all news. We all know, as of recent, that Trey Hendrickson, we all know, was wanting a new deal.

So for what my understanding is, what's recently come out is that the Bengals have given Trey permission to seek a trade. So with that being said, Trey and his agent now are able to go talk to other teams and see if they can try to get a deal done.

Then they have to go back to the bangles or the team has to cut the team looking to acquire tray has to contact the bangles and work out a compensation package right so who wants to go first on giving their idea i mean on giving their thoughts on the one hand for me i know i want to i would love to see tray remain in stripes but on the other hand i also look at it as a business decision as well.

So it's like I see both sides. But where are you guys sitting at on it? Will, do you want to go first? Or Tyler, do you want to go? I'll go. I'll start. Okay. So obviously, Trey wants a new deal. He wants to be paid, you know, like one of the top defensive ends like he is. And obviously he should. I'm not going to complain to him about that. But obviously, he's still got one year on his deal. And from what I'm hearing, he wants to stay in Cincinnati long term.

But as we know, he's 30 years older, you know, getting ready, you know, and. Yeah, he's already 30. Yeah, the Bengals don't like to typically do that with 30 year olds, you know, a la Geno Atkins. He turned 30. He got the deal and, you know, slowly deteriorated into not having. The rest of a career that you'd want him to have. But, you know, I digress.

I feel like the last year, whenever the whole thing came up with the agent, you know, messing up or whatever, you know, after the deal was done, you know, Trey didn't really get what he wanted. You know, that was his agent's fault, in my opinion. Now he obviously wants the money, and I think he deserves it. But the whole thing with the Bengals, you know, telling him he can, has permission to go seek out the market and test that or whatever and then come back or whatever.

That kind of bums me out a little bit. I'm not going to lie. I understand it on one front of it, but on the other front, you know, Trey Hendrickson for the last two seasons has been our entire defense for better or worse. And I thought, you know, and maybe something different might come about, and I'm hoping so, but I thought that maybe we would build around him on the defense. But maybe, and it looks like right now, maybe they're just trying to get whatever

they can for him to try to build the defense. I don't know. Maybe from the ground up, what do you think, Will? I don't know. I think maybe they're trying to gauge, you know. They're kind of trying to gauge how much, you know, how much people's teams are willing to actually give, which actually kind of makes sense. Because if you let them go out there and see the trade market, right, and they come back to you with all these deals, you can actually make them another offer after this is over with.

Say, well, look, this is what they were willing to give you, these teams. Right? Is this what you thought you were? And if the answer is no, then, you know, now it's on him. Okay, we couldn't trade you. And you still have to, you know, you're not a free agent. Right? Kind of the same thing with T. You're like, all right, we didn't trade you. And you're not actually a free agent. Like Tritie was last year, you know, you're not a free agent. You're still under contract.

You know, maybe we can work something out. Maybe not as many years because, you know, because you are 30. And I guess they're thinking we're probably going to draft. We're going to draft defense. We'll draft defense on why. Oh, yeah. We're going to draft understudies. We have to. We have to draft understudies. There's no question about it. The thing is this. Free agency also looms, right, in a couple days, right? Yep, Monday start. Monday?

Monday, I want to say, but let me pull up my calendar. I know it's not that many days away. And there are some free agents out there that clearly can help us right away. And if we can gauge what the market is for Trey, we can either trade him, get something, draft his replacement, get his replacement, because they're the bolsa out there, right?

Here's the thing though I don't know that I don't know that they would I don't, I don't know that they would go after him because there's rumors now saying that Joey's linked to San Francisco because he wants to go play with his brother understood, but want to play yeah they kind of missed each other in college too by like a year or something they did they played in high school together, played in high school together Nick was a senior and, you know, the freshman. I do remember that.

So, I mean, I understand it. I get it. But just to, you know, throw a name out there, you know, Bosa, Sweat, and, you know, and others, and others. There's other guys out there that may command similar deals than Trey that aren't 30, I guess.

Right? So I'm trying to be optimistic. We both, you know, between the three of us, we all know that No, I'd rather I trade here, For as long as he's going to be here I'd say long term, but I do also know how the team is As Tyler mentioned, that age of 30 Which, But let me throw this in there Real quick, because if you do remember And I think a lot of Bengals fans Because we have a certain subsect Of our listener base,

That are young fans, and then we have a certain Subsect of fans that are Either our age or older. I think, was it you that told me that the Bengals, for a long time, they weren't always that way? Because I remember a number of times of them signing guys that were in their 30s, but they were way past the prime. One example, Neil O'Donnell. Here's the thing, you know.

The thing is this. Okay, he's outperformed everybody's expectations in the league. Everybody's. Probably even his own, right? Probably even his own. Yeah. There's not one person that can tell me. We got this. We got Trey Hunter from the Saints. He was a part-time guy. He had 13 sacks moving up. Second, 12 or 13 playing off the bench. Yeah. Not even starting. Yeah. That's a big risk right there. That's a big risk. It's a risk. Let's take a guy and say, oh, look, he ain't been playing.

He has the benefit of coming in fresh all the time, which he does. Now he has to play all the time. And there were thoughts about his defense against the run and things of that nature. And you've seen that get better quickly. It got better year after year. Yes. Quickly. Because I'm thinking, well, I can rush passer. We know that. We've seen that. Can he stop the run consistently? He got better at that. It got better and better and better and better and better.

The whole thing with this trade thing, a lot of people were just like put off by that. Who's to say he goes somewhere else and he has 20 seconds? I don't know. Who's to say? Who's to say? We can't say that. We can't say that this will continue to happen for us. I still would, I still rather, I would rather take. So in other words, you're pretty much where I'm at. In other words, you're pretty much where I'm at, that would I love to see trade remain here long-term without question.

But at some point, at some point, the decline is due to happen. Sure. Now, how, now, how much that, now, how big that decline is remains to be, remains to be seen. and also, you know, right, and also the decline not always necessarily because of the player. It could be just because of the fact that we do have to hit with this draft for some help. Yeah. Some relief.

We've seen these last two years where if there's a deal to be given to him, it should be now because he proved in the back of years with not a lot of help, not a lot of pass rush throughout the other defensive linemen, right? You know, I believe Less than two years ago He had as many sacks as the rest of the line, correct? Yeah, something like that Yeah, that's crazy That's crazy You got six, seven other linemen on the team And you got as many sacks as all of them That's crazy.

That's a stat that Wow So you're more than half More than half of team sacks, Some of this one guy And the rest of the league knows it Right? It ain't a sublime. It's not like, well, you know, all the Titions over here, these other guys are thriving. Not really. Tyler, you got anything you want to add to that? No, I was going to let him keep going. Yeah. All right. Let me get a quick point in there. Please go.

Here's what I'm going to say as far as my honest takes on the whole Trey Hendrickson thing. Yeah. Buck said, though, early on that they were willing to try to see if there was maybe a middle ground. Do I hope that Trey gets traded? No. But if he would get traded, I hope we get some good draft compensation somewhere in there. I have no ill will towards Trey. I understand what he's wanting.

I think also, too, the thing that Trey, and I hope Trey understands, At a certain point in the National Football League, they're going to be looking to replace you at some point. They're scouting to see, hey, we see this other guy. He's got similar production. He's got similar production too. Hey, Trey, why not?

And I think that might have been why they went after Miles Murphy, but although we all agreed that Miles Murphy, at the end of the day, was going to be a project piece, that he was going to need a lot of development. But for me, what I'm hoping to see, or what I hope is what's actually going on, is maybe they're saying, hey, go ahead and go out and gauge the market.

If there's some people that are interested, if you've got a team that's interested, because you have seen this happen before, where they'll say, let us know what they're offering, and we'll give you an answer of whether or not we're willing to match. If we can't match, we'll work with that team and try to work out a deal to get you there. That's what I'm hoping could be the case. But is that the case? I don't know. But is there any other thoughts that you

guys wanted to add in on that? Because I want to touch on something. And I think this is going to be one I think Will's going to really cook on.

Well, one will lead to This will lead to the other This is not necessarily about Trey But it kind of is about Trey It really is, The retirement of one Sam Hubbard, Well, I wasn't going to lead into that But I'm using I'm using this, One kind of directly affects the other I think it would And the free agency of Sam Poyan Who may not be brought back Either one the the the the amount of spots and spaces and money that's opening up i'm,

like you mentioned that I mentioned as well, I think this is just a gate. Hopefully this is just a gauge of how much other teams are willing to pay. And then if you really want, if you really want to go, okay. Basically looking to see if the compensation is high enough, which it probably won't be. And normally, what would you see? What would you see the compensation being for trade? I'm not really seeing like a whole lot of first round picks.

I think the Bengals are going to want to want at least a first round pick. If you go off of history's past. I don't know who's going to give first-round pick. That's the thing. Something tells me that I think Trey is in stripes next year. This just may be the final year that he is in a Bengals uniform. Yeah, like I said, since he's under contract, we don't have to trade him at all. We don't have to.

But we will kick that can around and say, well, if anyone wants to give a first-round pick this year, I think it gets done. Oh, it gets done. It would get done, and I would think about how to do it. You know what? Okay. Especially now, if it's a top shit, let a top-five team come in and say, hey, we'll give you a first form. Yeah, well, that's ridiculous, first off. It won't happen. No, but anybody in the top 10 want to top 50. Anyone that picks before us want to do this. Fine.

Anyone that picks after us to do this. We'll think about it. Yeah, I'd still think about doing it. I think about it. I think about it. Yeah, we get an extra lineman on this line. And I don't go. You need so. I want to also go into talking about the national media.

To the point because apparently yesterday one mr stephen a smith and trash ass harry douglas, decided to do a topic of their show saying that joe burroughs should want out of cincinnati, you're saying that you're saying at the same that burroughs should want out of cincinnati but y'all are the first ones to turn around and say that if somehow some way this is pulled off We keep T. Higgins. We keep Jamar Chase.

We've already re-signed one Mr. King of the White Guy Gritty, Mike Gusecki, which I am eternally happy for because now I get to see the White Guy Gritty re-Sunday during football season.

So and yes mike gusecki will be the king of the white guy gritty for in in my uh in my eyes so it's so bad it's his gritty is so bad it's good but hearing some of the things coming out of guys like stephen a smith's mouth and one harry douglas which yeah i'm beginning to believe that I think that people that supposedly are supposed to be experts in their field, like Stephen A's not even an expert at football, at covering football.

I've read his book. I have an autographed copy of his book. He got his break into sports covering basketball.

End of the day a guy like harry douglas harry never played for cincinnati i'm starting to wonder though you tell me will could some of these guys that trash us so bad trash this team so badly, maybe at one point when they were going through the process maybe i don't know maybe the bangles they got spurned by the bangles and but i thought that they'd be picked by them and then after that they just said you know what hey i swear

i'm gonna i'm gonna make y'all i'm gonna make y'all pay or whatever the hell. Like, what are you seeing with all this hate? Well, it's easy to me. It's easy. This isn't really good. This isn't a good journalism. This is like, I can pick out teams, right? Like, if I was an analyst, right? And I've done these shows and you want trending topics and stuff, like, let's go and focus on the Cowboys and the Browns and the Bengals and things like that. And not say, oh, well, Kansas City blew it.

Can't see it in three-peat. Kansas City got holes on an offensive line and this, that, and the other. Nope, nope, nope. Because we got to get away from that story. That story has to be, you know, we either have to not talk about it or totally praise them unnecessarily to no extent.

When everybody knows it's still easier to win right or what you know it's easy to win in almost every sport than it used to be, there's almost no sport that i can think of right now of the main four where it's been easier to win ultimately because in the 70s and 80s spending money did not know you didn't that didn't mean you win, that didn't mean anything didn't make no difference in the 80s 70s 80s 90s yeah you spent money to keep your guys so

you got a chance to win that didn't mean you win it didn't mean you were gonna win because the team they're really good teams that kept their guys they didn't go out and like get a super team no they just kept their guys right like you know they kept their guys on their team and that's why they won they kept their guys together yeah and the coaches as well now you know coaching staffs changed almost yearly.

The league and guys free agency right so much more prevalent now for guys to leave their team and stay it's almost like what it's almost news when a guy stays with their teams now when before. Like for instance you you made a really good key point yeah like with talking about and i i want the listeners to think about this. Are we upset that, are we disappointed, are we maybe disappointed that he, I mean, that they gave, that they're giving Trey permission to seek a trade? Yeah.

I think we're all disappointed. But we don't know the fully what's going on behind closed doors. At the end of the day, the NFL is a business. But also keep in mind, we could be the Dallas Cowboys. We could be the Kansas City Chiefs, which they were barely winning games last year.

Yeah, the record doesn't say it. Their overall record doesn't say it, but if you look at the final scores of all those games, they're really barely winning games, but they paid for it in the Super Bowl when they got their asses fucking handed to them. They have way more to fix. And I mean, way more. The Chiefs turned around and traded one of their best interior linemen because they knew they had to turn around and try.

They basically are pretty much going to be retooling that whole offensive line. I'm saying at this point, I think the national media is very biased in many a sense. This is becoming, to some degree, noticeable. This is why I'm imploring anybody that is a Bengals fan that is listening to this show. If you hear what these national media components are saying, don't 100% just buy into it right off.

Listen, see what the local guys are saying. See what guys like James Rapine, friend of the show, is saying. See what a guy like, I don't know, Paul Danner Jr., Jeff Hobson, who Jeff Hobson, another friend of the show. He has been, like, covered the team for years. He's known in the Cincinnati area for how he has covered Cincinnati sports in general. He's covered the Reds. He's covered the Bengals.

Hell, I got clippings that my father cut out from when I was growing, from through the 90s up until, yeah, that of him, of articles that he's written. Guys that actually follow the team the only person on the national media that I might actually give a little bit of credibility to when it comes to the Bengals would be Ben Baby because he actually covers the Bengals.

That might be the one person from ESPN that I might actually throw that I would actually throw a bone to and I throw a bone to him respectfully, I don't always like the tactics that his employer uses but i respect him but like i said guys start listening to the local your local people stop overreacting and giving these ass clowns of so much dragon fodder because that's what they get paid to do is to start shit i bet you tend to one if they say if you said name name name,

I got an interesting name who was the league.

Leader in who was the MVP of 1981 of the 1981 season or hey who held the passing title what years did what years did Ken Anderson hold the passing title they probably couldn't even name it, I bet you a bunch of them probably didn't even know who the hell Ken Anderson was better than But better than Dan Fouts He should be our first Hall of Fame quarterback, There you go He should be I'm going to say guys Steven A. Should be ashamed of himself To do what he does Taking shots at the Bengals

I'm going to say one Because he actually blocked me Fuck you Chris Canney Fuck you. Don't get sensitive because I called you an asshat. The fact that you turned around and blocked me, you didn't try to engage and have a constructive debate with me, all that just tells me is that, hey, I struck a nerve. So if you don't get mad because, hey, I called you an ass clown because you turned around and you're saying a bunch of unfactual shit, that's on you.

That says more about you than what it does about me. And I keep up with my team. I probably can do your job better than you could. So, but, hey, what do I know? I'm just a fan. I'm just a rowdy sports fan that just loves my team. I call them out when they fuck up or when they piss me off, but it doesn't change how I feel about my team.

Will, I'm giving you the floor. I'm giving you the floor because I want you to cook Because you can say some fucking just downright good shit. This is a shoot, brother. This is a shoot. You got me shooting from the hip here? Yes. Damn it. This is a shoot fight. Fuck. I don't want to shoot fight on here. You know how I feel about the national media. A bunch of bandwagoners. Come on. Yeah, a bunch of ass clump. Here's the thing. None of their teams, they all suck. So it's easy to jump on.

That's what it is hold on hold on hold on hold on hold on Pittsburgh Steelers, Ryan Clark Ryan Clark what's wrong with your Steelers Harry Douglas what's wrong with your Falcons hell what's wrong with your Louisville Cardinals they also well they don't suck but they're not you know they're not you know wait wait ain't nobody talking about them, Chris Caney what about your Virginia Cavaliers this ain't basketball right it's

not football right hold on right you know come on come on come on now right, You know, Stephen A. Smith, such a Philly guy, right? You want to talk about the Sixers, huh? I think he's a Knicks guy. He is, but he lived in Philly. He grew up, he covered the Sixers for 30 years. He's a New Yorker. But he's an Allen Allen guy. As far as a football fan, he's another Steelers fan. I know. Oh, yeah, definitely, yeah. But that's not what he's known for. He ain't known.

Yeah, he roots for the Knicks, sure. Everybody can yell out that, but that wasn't, that ain't even prevalent. They ain't done anything in a long time. So it's easier to take the heat off your own team, you know, to talk about somebody else's. That's perfectly fine. Perfectly fine when your team has this house in order. But when they don't, you don't want to talk about it. Like his, like his, you know, like his, his aim usually is at the Cowboys, right?

And I would much rather him, put it this way, the teams that actually suck right now, y'all need to be talking about them. The Bengals, last I checked, yeah, am I disappointed them? They missed the playoffs at fucking 9-8, yes. Should they have fucking went ahead? Should they have won the game or two that they should have won early in the season last year, which would have not put them in the position where they had to have somebody else lose or win to get in. Am I pissed off about that? Yes.

But I'm also looking at it at the end of the day. They didn't fucking lay down. They did not lay down one bit. Oh. Every week. No quit. Every week. Every single week. Where what the fuck happened to the goddamn Steelers the first fucking chance they got in the fucking playoffs. They got their ass fucking thump. I yelled that all year. Like little Vikings and Steelers. I said that. I said the two biggest frauds in the league is the Vikings and Steelers. Remember, I didn't say the commanders.

The commanders were actually fucking legit. Remember, I said that when we played them. They're good. They're really good. Oh, yeah, no. Yeah, you and I were both. Yeah, you and I were. We should have won the game. Probably. We still probably should have won the game. But I didn't discredit them. I didn't discredit teams. I didn't say, oh, you know what? But they're not as good as people say.

Baltimore, I did say this. Pittsburgh, I definitely said this. After beating them, after them beating us the first time, I said it. Dude, you're the one to turn around and say it. You don't think, and I know you stand on this. You even sat there and said you don't think Lamar will ever get a Super Bowl. No, not in Baltimore. Not in Baltimore. You said maybe we saw it. You got to go somewhere else. You got to go somewhere else and do less.

It's like Josh Allen. When they ask him to do less because they think. He actually is able to do more. Of the team. Then that went ultimately because he can do everything. But damn, do you really want to continue to do this to him? All year long, Lamar Jackson, right? Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. All you heard MVP is because the amount of touchdowns, the stats and hype they put on him. When every single week you look at the touchdowns, you look at Joe Burruss,

I'm like, he's right there with all three of them. And they're one and the same. Except Joe was doing more than the other two in losses. I'm like, okay, let's just, you asked Lamar Jackson. The best quarterback in them two games against us? I don't think so. It didn't look like it was. You know, they had a little more defense. I mean a little by a hair or two. And a little more luck. That four points and them two losses, we'll take that every day.

I'll take that every year. If the game is going to be that close, it evens itself out, which I said that three years ago. It's going to even itself out.

And the big thing i'm telling people is is this people need to really look and pay attention to what the fuck yeah then really look and pay attention to what is going on and i think what what saddened me you have so much of these national national analysts that are doing this job and they don't they don't fucking pay attention to the goddamn games. You look at a guy like Joe Burrow to turn around and I'm sorry,

ESPN, the fact that you turn around and put Joe Burrow one out of Cincinnati. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck Mickey Mouse. Fuck the goddamn fucking Stephen A. And his fucking, I hate fucking journalistic malfeasance. Here's the thing. Where in the world are you going? He can't really go nowhere. He can go to He can go to Fox He can go to Fox No, where can Joe Burrow go?

Nowhere, he can go nowhere I thought you were talking about Stephen A No, forget Stephen A, I don't care where he go There's going to be plenty of Plenty of other networks Yeah, because they have to get rid of League Andrews and people like that Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, you know Hey, hey, hey, hey, Sometimes you peel the curtain back I've already peeled the curtain back And peaked I didn't like what I saw So I went on ahead and closed it back,

I ain't worried about Skip Bayless I ain't worried about Malik I ain't worried about none of these people Who get fired from today Okay, so what? So what? It's not even important Hell, George Taylor's ignorant ass Getting ready to get fired It's not important to me, We all know why that happened But hey Generally when she opens her mouth it's a bad thing that's a bad thing, But it depends on your perspective, right? How about that?

How about that? And the only reason she got that job was because she was Jason Taylor. That's why. I wasn't going to go that far. I'm going there. Now, wait a minute. Remember, you said this is what you guys wanted. I'm going to go there. I'm going to go there. Fuck Jason Taylor. Fuck him. Shit. Fuck Jason Taylor. Shit.

You can see. can't you see how obvious it's obvious that he you know right come on come on jay taylor i'm putting you in the russell wilson category what the fuck what on here what shame on you shame on the fuck i've got to shame on you shame on you shame on you there was no substance there we know that it's just like molly quinn there's no substance there no substance nothing from what she says there's no substance that's why

i like put it this way this is what i tell people they say oh you know they said you didn't because like like people like some people i work with like i'll talk sports with them but like i know one i know there's times where like i've had some females try to talk sports with me i i might let them run for a little bit but it all depends if If what you're saying, it's making sense, and it's factual, I'll let you keep running.

If it don't make no sense, and I can tell you're just talking just to talk. Because sometimes, especially when it comes to women, if there's a guy that they're interested in, sometimes they'll just act like they like sports just because they want them to notice them, which it's what it is. It's a natural dating ploy, but... That isn't something that works. I agree. You did not know that by now. That don't work. Going to pretend like I know stuff about that. I don't.

It's not going to take long to figure out, okay, this guy doesn't really know what he's, you know, he doesn't know. And it's become apparent through the years, that a lot of these national media analysts and I think the scary part is some of them are like actually played the game, don't really know what the fuck they're talking about. LaShawn McCoy, Jimmy Pickett, Joe Burrow, I can't tell the difference. Okay. Your time is up. That's all. Your time's up. You can say you was on ESPN.

That's a good accomplishment, I guess. I mean, you got to have something on your resume. You got to have something on your resume. There's guys legitimately playing football and playing basketball and playing baseball and these sports that should not have a podcast and say anything like them. Can you at least play good enough? Can you play better? If not, you don't need no damn podcast. And Gilbert Arenas, just stop it. Come on, Gil, stop it. As good as you think you are, right?

You will never get any credibility by knocking anybody from the 80s or earlier. You'll never get credit that way. That's not the right way to do it. What do you mean? What do you mean? You can't take shots. Look, look. And even guys today, Anthony Edwards, words that you can't you can't take shots at guys in the past has already done what you trying to do you ain't even done it. Notice this in a lot of sports, it should be seen on media. If you play the

game of football, guess what? It's also different now than it was then. It's different than when you played, even if you say five, ten years ago. It's still different. It's different. Each ten-year period or so, it changes. The game changes. The game changed. Just think back. We're in 2025, right? Just think back 2015, 2014, 2013. Right? We were at our stretch, right? We were making five playoffs playoffs in a row, right?

Remember, I said I'd rather be where we are now than then. That's how much we've improved. That's how good the feeling is now, even without making the playoffs. Even though we were one game away two years in a row, there could have been four straight playoffs in a much more difficult time. And the only teams in the AFC that's made the playoffs these last four years are who? Kansas City? Yeah. Right? Who else has made the playoffs all four years? Buffalo? Right?

Is that right? Is that correct? Right? Buffalo? That would be correct. Okay. So, I mean, like, you got the whole AFC, and the only teams that have made the playoffs in the last four years is Kansas City and Buffalo? And we sit two games away from making the playoffs all four years with them? When you got one team can't make the Super Bowl, right? Which is the Bills. Actually, two teams if you include the Ravens. Ravens? They made it all. Well, oh, well, yeah, yeah, yeah, I forgot. 2022.

2021. Baltimore. Who did they lose to? They didn't even make the playoffs. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So, yeah, so, no, they didn't. They made it three years. They even went to the Super Bowl, they didn't make the playoffs. And the next year, we beat them in the playoffs, right? That was us, right? We were there. 22 and three, lost to the Chiefs, right? 24, lost to the Bills who lost to the Chiefs because that's what they do.

So, in the AFC if you're not the Chiefs you rank in a group where we're in. We're in that group of those teams. Right? We're in the top echelon of the AFC. No matter what anybody say. No matter what nobody else say in the rest of the world. What I just said is a fact. You can't disprove it. You can try. You can use other factors. Listen, listen. It says, in 2021, we're the only team that beat the Chiefs to stop them going to the Super Bowl.

Until one of them other teams do that then they can't pass us you can't say they've done something they can't have done also in that time frame the Chiefs have gotten absolutely blown out twice why no one, why no one want to say that except me I said 33 to 9 that's not something to be you know that's not something to hang your hat on there's no way no team we did it with probably equal offensive line right I think. The line was equal to theirs when they got beat the year before.

We didn't get beat bad, and the Rams, what did I tell you they did? They did something that back in the day didn't promise you a championship. Spend a whole bunch of money, right? Spend a whole, whole, whole bunch of money. Nowadays, you can spend a whole bunch of money. It might get you a championship. It might not. Back then, it didn't. You got to spend a whole bunch of money to keep your guys, to have a chance, because everybody else would keep their guys, too.

That's the difference between the league now and the year. There's always going to be a one or two year wonder You know a team that, You know right There are teams in the AFC that burn bright Shine bright for one year And then the next year it's like okay what happened Look at Jacksonville right. Ville was on the cuffs in 2021. Hey, I'm going to throw this in there because this just popped up on, on X. Why is Bronny literally roasting? I mean, he roasted bad.

Steven X Smith is sitting in the quote. It says funny how the ones who couldn't, who couldn't play got the most to say. Right. From a G league player.

Yeah he can also hold up a mirror right there's two sides to that mirror too there's a guy that there's a guy that you know that you're trying to say that to right wait what about can he play, nobody ever said he could play nobody ever said that, but they questioned could you play young man, right and then about what you can do in a G League game is I noticed that you know the Lakers are not still not they're still not gonna give him temptation to play this kid because he shouldn't play,

that's all he's not good enough he ain't I ain't saying he can't be a player could be it ain't nah, it ain't it ain't ironic that got drafted by the Lakers of course not come on, we knew he was going to the Lakers or not get drafted at all and I said that, I said that I said that I said that, said that said he spent more time in the league sure said he spent more time watching his old man did he get to play with him,

and a little bit briefly it's good enough it's worth to do history going forward in a playoff game and foul trouble you ain't putting variety games in there, nah you're not wrong yeah but not wrong at all but we're gonna listen to Stephen A. Smith talk about the Bengals and football.

No, I never did That's the thing I never did Because I never equated Stephen A. Smith with football Like Skip Bayless I never equated him with football I get it, he covers football He knows about football I always consider him a basketball guy You know, right? You know, like his football takes Okay, right? Certain guys questionable takes Good old Ron Weasley Right?

I don't question I don't question all his takes I know where his takes I know where he's going with it He's always stood on that heel But you stand on that heel, be willing to die on the heel Because I'm willing to push you off the heel, I'm willing to push you Off that heel, And challenge said, you know Right?

Yes, he's willing to push you off that heel See, Stephen A. Smith You know, he don't care about He don't care about who and what and where right he'll challenge the modern-day goat that's fine that's fine you notice he never challenged michael jeffrey jordan you know that you notice how folks didn't challenge him when they did he would just do something for you okay let me shut the fuck up because we challenged him and he did something

absolutely crazy that no one's ever done and okay well we're wrong but yeah stop it just just don't just don't y'all let things play out you know the man is doing things afforded and no one's ever done. Also, I don't think anyone spends a million dollars on his body every year. That's what he said. I believe him. He has it. Right? Necessarily God-given, right? Sometimes you can pay to stay at a certain level. I don't know what that details, a million dollars by the way, on your body.

You know, it sounds a little bit, you know, but I won't say that. Therapy, the right food, you know, maybe a chef or something, I don't know. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Anthony, Tyler, are you telling me this man is 40 years old, don't know what to fucking eat by now? Huh?

Hold on, you don't know what to eat? Stop it, I'm 47 I know what to eat and what not to eat I just don't care I just don't care To be fair, he's in a lot better And he can eat anything He can eat anything once To be fair though, he's in a lot better shape than we all are Look, If at 18 I was physically Who he was I would be him Just that simple Just that simple I graduated from high school, he had 128 pounds If I was 228, guess what?

Look, 100%, I wouldn't be on this podcast right now. You guys would know who I am, but I wouldn't be on this podcast right now. I ran a 4'4", 40 because I was 128 pounds. What else did I have to stand on? I was small and fast, but I should have been. It didn't make no sense not to be. I always knew what to eat and what not to eat. Well, I actually ate to get bigger.

I didn't eat to get muscle. I just figured it happened later in life Well, okay Now, LeBron's Physically in his I want to physically say he's in his Early 30s, maybe Right? Physically, he looks like it Right? Yeah If I wanted to look like that In my 30s, which I can't Because I'm never going to be 6'8 Right? 250, however big he is, right? If I ever was that big right? 6'8", 6'9", right? And I could spend a million dollars on my body. I would do so,

no matter what that is. And I'm not saying there's any wrongdoings. I'm not saying that. That's actually smart. I've never said the man wasn't super, super smart, because he really is. He understands taking care of his body. He understands that. He gets that, especially at this age. But, you know, nothing traumatic. Has anything traumatic happened to LeBron James in his life thus far?

Like traumatic. Like tragedy Like Right Like no Right I mean to him personally now Personally I'm so happy that it hasn't I'm so happy You know I'm And to me That's why I'm like Okay I don't ever. I can debate on the court. Michael Jordan, LeBron is all I want. Not off the court, not as a person. There's nothing about him I don't like. And failing is fine. Failing is part of him. Failing is also part of basketball. Look at the Chiefs failing miserably. I'm glad everybody got this head to see it.

This is the second time. The third or fourth time. They think the first time they failed, they're going to fail. They're going to fail. I'm not so quick to just say, well, you know, I told you so. Well, remember when you guys asked me, I said no. Immediately. Right? Well, at first, I didn't breathe. Nope. They won't. But I thought they can't. And they got all the way there. Got all the way there.

All the way there. And then you still look at the AFC and still say, okay, next year going into the season, they're the favorite until they're not. They're the favorite until they're not. That's it. They're the favorite in the AFC until they're not the favorite. Until someone goes up there and says, no, you're not the favorite no more. Well, but here's the thing. The only reason they push... Yeah, they're trying to... They overhyped the Chiefs.

Especially this year they did. Because everybody said, whoa, Pat Mahomes! Pat Mahomes is the greatest of all time. No. Like, I'm not going to go that far. That's like saying that Travis Kelsey is the greatest tight end of all time. I'm not there. When it's easy to do what you're doing to the world before, how can you say you're the greatest? How? How? It's impossible. It's impossible. Yeah, I still think there's some level. Yeah, I still think there's some level.

Yeah, I still think there's some levels. I still think there's some levels to his game that have to be added, but that's just me. You're going to get pushbacks from me every time when it's easier to do. I just said this. When it's easier to do what you're doing now than before, how are you the greatest? You're just the greatest of now. For now. Until someone else comes along and does equally, if not more, than you in an easier time than it is now.

Because it seems like you're making it easier, which the rules are for easier, right? Thank you. Every 10, 15 years, it's easier than the 10, 15 years before. Every sport. Every single sport. My father can always argue to me that Kareem is better than Michael Jordan and LeBron James. I never go against his argument. I was like, you know what? You've seen it, so I can't, you know. When I watched Kareem, he was an old man. But damn, he was still good as a really old man.

You know, right? I got nothing to do with nothing, right? I'm watching Kareem, and he's 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40. I watch all of you. Watch him play 10, 12 years. I watch him. And I'm thinking, eh, what's so great about this guy? Well, they said he was great. The fact that he was old and still great, I'm like, okay. I can't go against it. I can't go against it until someone does something so, you know. Consistently greater than what I've seen from this guy.

And, okay, all right. So you went and got busted twice real bad. Guess what? There are teams and players that never did that. That never got that done to them. No matter what. They were so good and the teams were so good. They never got beat like that. In an era that was harder. Before you had out of the 80s, they never even got beat. Not only did they not lose, they got tested only twice.

Out of the six times in a way, they got tested twice. until the debacle that was the 2020s 49ers, who lost twice. Because they weren't as good. In spectacular fashion. Sure, sure. The first time, you know, we saw what happened. Man, Jimmy Garoppolo, where are you now? Where is he now, right? He's a backup. All right, all right. Second time, 30, they got there. Right, they lost, right? Happens, right? Yeah, you're not wrong. Right? You know, the Eagles got their revenge on Kansas City, huh?

I'd say so, right? I would definitely say so, even more so than that. Now it overshadows the loss a little bit. That's because of the way they were beating them. You beat somebody that bad, that softly, that early, that quickly, I'm like, well, I don't even know what anybody can say, though. If you're a Chiefs fan, what did you say? What is your excuse? You shouldn't make just none. There isn't anything. They've been actually quiet so far on social media. They've been very quiet.

They should be quiet. There's nothing to say. It's not the same thing that we went through in 2021. I'm not going to lie, though. I'm not going to lie, though. And I'm not going to lie. And this is just an observation. Whether or not that this is factual remains to be seen. But am I the only one that kind of noticed the week of the Super Bowl that like you had a whole bunch of reporters in that making basically making cracks on the on the officiating?

Saying in a roundabout way that, hey, the officials tend to give a lot of favorable calls to the Chiefs. And as soon as the Super Bowl started, not a one. I mean, it was pure chaos, destruction, and hellfire and brimstone from the blow of the first whistle to the end of the game. You wanted them there. You got them there. You saw what happened. Yeah. They wanted him there. They wanted him to win. Well, all this after-broke except for here and in my house.

I was in totally glee and joy. Oh, yeah. I was happy. And that's what I told you, though. I shared that with a three-peat. We're not good enough to three-peat. The last team that was good enough to three-peat didn't make the Super Bowl. Okay? They didn't make it. They didn't make it. They didn't make it. You're talking about the Cowboys? No. No.

They messed that up Oh the Patriots No not the Patriots They shouldn't have ever 3P They wasn't supposed to Well but the Patriots Hold on hold on hold on Let me slide this in. The 93 94 The 92 93 Cowboys, Was one that could have done it Had Jerry not got up, had Jerry's ego never gotten away, and he just took the role that was given to him, be the owner, and sign the checks, and let Jimmy run the team, that was a possibility. And then, I'm not going to lie, this is just my honest thoughts.

And you know, a friend of ours was on that team, Corey Dillon. The year that they went back-to-back with the second, they went back-to-back with Corey's first year on the team. I do think that the 05 Patriots could have done it. They were, no, the best team to not three-peat is the 90s 49ers. They're the best team to not three-peat. They're the best team to not make it to the Super Bowl.

I'll give you that. I'll give you that. Not only were they just not fumbling the ball away, if they didn't fumble the ball, they're in the Super Bowl. They beat the Bills. Sure. It'd be a tough game. They'd beat the Bills. Matter of fact, not only would they beat the Bills, they would beat the Bills again the next year. Because had they won in 90, they might have won four straight. And then in 92, that's 91-92 where everything fell off.

Montana got hurt in that game. That's why they lost. Because I said, the way you beat the Niners, you got to knock Joe Montana out of the game. That's really a good way to do it. Like, try to beat them and even, no, it didn't matter. No, you probably wasn't going to. You got to knock this dude out of the game, which happened twice against the Giants. In 86, the game of concussion. In the first quarter, I'm like, well, that's the way to do it.

And then in the fourth quarter, third quarter going to the fourth, they knocked him out of the game again, which basically put him out for two years. That's why they didn't make the playoff the next year, even though they won 10 games, which is ridiculous, right? And then they got rid of Roger Craig and Ronnie Lott that year, and I'm like, what the fuck are you guys doing? It's over. The run's over for a while. Until they spent a crazy amount of money, which I said you had to do, right?

Sometimes when you're not, when you're close and you can't get over the hump, you spend a crazy amount of money. But what did I say? It don't do. And it don't do it now either. It doesn't sustain greatness. It don't sustain anything. It keeps you at least where you are. If you're not good enough to win, which he's kind of worried, but kind of not, as we saw during the year, they were like, somehow, someway pulling out these games.

I'm like, man, they seem like the Vikings are two years ago. Or that three years ago. The Kirk Cousin led Vikings that just somehow won 12, 11, 12 games. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're winning. Everybody's hyped. Everybody's great. But I'm watching these games and thinking, you guys are literally like two or three plays away from being close to 500.

Yeah, that wasn't sustainable either. No, it's not. I do, yeah, no. To win one-score games like that, like the way the Chiefs are doing, I'm like, at a certain point, you're going to have to get ahead by a lot. And when they didn't get ahead at all, you've seen the snowball effect. I'm like, well, now they're really behind. Yeah. Cup at halftime with the 24-0 in halftime? Yeah. I'm like, they're not going to come back. I said that. There's no way they're going to come back. None.

There's no way. No chance. This is not... No, this isn't the Falcons and the Patriots, right? Which, shame on you Falcons. You're way worse than us. And the franchise. I'm going to... You're throwing it out there. It gets changed. Yeah, because I have noticed that. You're way worse than us. The franchise. What the fuck? People don't want to say that. I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it. Dallas Cowboys.

No, they're not worse than us. But, you know, their history is their history. They're doomed. They're doomed by it, too. They're doomed by it. They're doomed. They don't have enough great players. They think they do. That's the thing. They think they do. They don't. They don't. They just think they do. They think they do. And some of the players think they're better than they are.

You are really good, but you're not You're not, you know You're not good enough, obviously, when it matters You're not, you know, you ain't got the inside Your guts, your heart, the ticker You ain't got that, you ain't got it You ain't got that, you got physical talent So what?

98% of the league has physical talent 98% of the NFL Got physical talent That can physically do things You know Some guys just mentally Inside, ticker-wise Scheme-wise on the wrong team Got personal issues Not physical talent, I look at some of these teams I'm like, man, I rank the Colts mid and everything But they're not terrible at nothing Notice that?

At the preseason rankings They were damn near 17 15, 16, 20, everything Every damn category, everything Except offensive line They're never terrible at nothing But I don't fear a team that's just like Eh, you know, right? Thank you. Talk about a couple guys here and a couple guys there and a couple guys here. You put it all together, what'd you get? Blah. Better than them. Better than them. Better than them. Physically. Tell them. Schematically. What do the Colts do better than what we do?

Right now. There's nothing they do better than us. Right now. What do they do? Rest the passer better? No. Cover better? No. Run the ball better? Sometimes. Sometimes not. Draft better not really you think they do they don't they can do but they really, don't better coaching than no.

Post the draft there you go although you still have a still subsect of Bengals fans that are saying that we should have still fired Zach Taylor, this this and that and I'm like Zach ain't going to wear And hire who? Stop saying that. If you ain't got a guy. You heard people say Bill Belichick. Everybody's throwing out Ben Johnson. But you can kiss that goodbye because he went to the Bears. He went to the Bears quickly.

Yes. It wasn't like it took weeks. No. That's the problem. You mean fire him during the season. That's what you got to mean. But after winning five games in a row, that's a big extended middle finger to all of you to say that. Fuck you. Right? I'm hard to tell y'all as far as I tell it it's not the issue it ain't the issue it ain't what it is now it's not what it is then what do you propose is the issue why we've missed the playoffs two years in a row?

We've had injuries at clearly the wrong time so you think it's largely due to injury? Yep I say I say it's largely injury but I do think some front office decisions have been called into question.

If we had everybody it wouldn't matter we'd make it we'd made the playoffs i disagree, we easily made the playoffs we had all our defensive linemen which we did not we didn't i'm thinking wait a minute wait a minute how is it humanly possible that every fucking dude on the defensive line got hurt except for trey except for him and miss games i'm like well Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Trying to figure out Okay, how are we supposed to do this We're supposed to somehow stop people Which we definitely, definitely didn't In the middle of the year, we didn't Stop nobody, First quarter of the year, one of the worst defensive displays probably in Bengals history that I can never remember. Like, we were so bad defensively, I'm like, well, whatever. We can get four stops in a game, we win.

Right? Yeah. And that's bad because we've had bad teams with bad defense play relatively good defense at times. It took the end of the year where we started getting turnovers, which I'm saying, man, we got no turnover the first half of the year. I was like, man, we can't force a fumble, get an interception, something. Right? Them games against Pittsburgh and Baltimore and commanders, we scored 30 points. I'm like, well, damn.

The winning and losing is basically, can we get one of these bounces to go our way? Can we get one of them guys just to just make a mistake, fumble the ball, drop something, intercepting, tip pass, something. No. None. Crazy. The commanders, we couldn't even get them to make a, you know, can they blow a fourth down? No. No, they'll make all four of them. What? Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Right? I'm thinking, wait a minute. These guys legitimately said we have a better chance of going forward and making it on fourth down and third down. And they did. I'm like, wait a minute. God damn it. Lou, what the fuck is going on here? Can't you draw up something to stop a fourth down play? Something. Make up something. Something. Give me something. I know that the defensive guys in and out and you don't know what's going on week to week, nor do I,

I did injury report every week. I know it's, it was disgusting. It was a disgusting list, right? That grew each week. You notice how long reeks take me to do them. Cause they grew. I'm like, man. And more than half of the guys on there were defensive linemen every week. I'm like, what is going on here? And then remember, the year before, right? Last year, not this year, it just passed. It was a secondary. It was a secondary. Every combination of guys that we had.

Different combination. I'm like, okay, listen. This is crazy. Nobody has a secondary that good to where you can just, take out anybody any week, you're still expected to be as good. I'm like, well, if he wasn't good, he'd be the starter. That's kind of how it goes. If we had a guy better than Cam Taylor Britt, he would be playing, wouldn't he? Right? It's Cam Taylor not the best player in the secondary. No matter what anyone says about him, he's still not the best player in the secondary.

He is, right? Yeah. Tyler, right? Yes? Right, that is right. Okay, so I don't give a damn if he gets beat every week. He's still the best in the secondary. Now, it overshadows other guys getting beat. I'm like, okay, listen. Listen, you act like the other guys were super locked down. You act like Geno Stone was out there playing like Ed Reed. He was not. He was not.

He actually was playing. Listen, he actually was playing on Nick Scott's level, but nobody wanted to say that because it's easy to bash Nick Scott because he didn't do much of anything. He actually didn't even get beat a lot. He just didn't make any plays. None. Zero. None. None. I think he made, like, no pass deflections and no interceptions and no front recoveries and, like, 55 tackles. I'm like, that was the most unassuming 55 tackles I've ever seen.

But he can tackle, though. How about that? He can tackle. Unlike what we were doing the first four games where we missed 7,000 tackles. Missed eight tackles. No, we missed. I think we missed, like, seven tackles in the first five games in a row. I'm like, that's not good, right? It's not good. That ain't good.

It cost us the first game because we couldn't score and we couldn't tackle. I'm like, geez, you can't just start doing nothing special. We noticed that the rest of the year. They did nothing special. Nothing, Dad. Nothing special. Right? The commanders did nothing special. Their offense wasn't special. It wasn't special until the later half of the year when they got a really good rhythm and play calling, and, you know, they had to keep it simple. We couldn't stop that?

Well, we had no defensive line. I could see the problem with Luke calling certain things at certain times. I see the fourth quarter, fourth down, bling. You mean like the Eagles game when you're running it as zone coverage, but you ain't been able to stop a goddamn head cold in fucking zone coverage? We didn't all year. I won't lie. We didn't. We didn't. But the way we drafted and put this team together in the secondary, it never said zone to me.

Jay Turner, even though he got hurt and played a lot, he's not a zone coverage guy. Captain Taylor, he's not a zone coverage guy. He's a one of his own guys. They're Maddie Man guys. Now, Mike Hilton, maybe a little bit. Sure. A little bit. Yeah. A little bit. But his aggression has been by the line of scrimmage a lot. That's where he's best. We know that. Everybody knows that. Yeah, I get that. I want to slip this in real quick because I want to get you guys' thoughts.

Did you at all catch the social media post, because everybody's making a big fuss about it, of Mike Hilton basically saying that he's not, that he basically cryptically saying that sounds like he's not going to be back. Where are the both of you at on that? I knew he wouldn't be back, but I said that already. Yeah, you and I both kind of like, we're thinking. That's why I got back. But I think as soon as Lou was let go,

I think that pretty much sealed it for me. I never thought he was coming back. A part of me thought he would just, but then again, I didn't think he would want to be a backup either. That's something that probably, you know, I don't think he wants to do that. So I can definitely see. Because the whole year you saw his role being scaled back. I just thought the way we drafted, there's no way he's, no, there's no way.

There's no way when you go Dax you move him to corner you move him to corner just to move him to corner you ain't move him to corner because oh he was just so bad at safety actually he wasn't that bad at safety he was still better, he was still better he was actually better in battle people don't want to say that he was he was better in battle he was better than Rob Bell this year hell he's better than Gino Stone for half the year if you compare it two years ago

to last year he was better than Gino Stone. Don't play the first half of this year? The fuck? Look, everybody won't hit him off the team then. I'm like, no, hold on, let's give it a minute. We're just using him wrong, and we were. My thing, okay, listen, you got Turner and Dax Hill. They ain't move nowhere, right? They Bengals, right? So Hilton's not, okay, those are two guys ahead of him, right, liar? Anyway, because the way they draft it, the way we're using them,

the way they play, right? They're in front of him. So you're thinking, we draft Josh Newton, Okay. He played. Soon they got a chance to play. They put him in there. Seven-round pick or not. They didn't care. Remember I said he's the best outside corner probably that we got? He might still be. Yeah. He might still be. Still be. It's not the best corner we got. That's the template of the brick. But as far as playing on the outside in the scheme that Lou had,

he actually was the best for that. That's why I was drafted him. So you're thinking, okay, what are all these outside corners doing? So I'm going to have to play inside. I'm like, okay, we drafted. That should go to place. And Mike Hilton's spot. Sooner. Not later. Sooner. It's funny that you brought that up because that's who I think in my opinion, I think they're grooming Zach Dax Hill to succeed Mike Hilton now. It's funny because he should have already done this.

I agree. You and I talked about it at large before we had ever started the podcast. Because when we drafted him, I said, hey, look, I've seen this kid play safety. He's a lot corner. He played more slot corner than outside. He played more slot corner than safety. And I'm like, okay, well, guess who played on the outside? DJ Turner. I'm like, you know what? They work well next to each other. Not fighting for the same spot. I don't agree with that. I get it.

Sometimes, you know, you look and you see a Mike Hill and a Von Bell and you want them to be what they were. If they were exactly what they were before, we would never have this discussion. The defense could never possibly be that bad if they were who they were. But they're not who they were. They're who we see them are. As right now, what you see is what you get. What you see with those two is exactly what you get. Going forward, is that what we need? No. This ain't 2021.

If they were 2021, you know, we could masquerade it with other guys. You know, there was other veterans around. They're not. There's younger guys who 100% should play. The same thing with the defensive line. And in a little while, it's going to be the same thing with the linebacker. At a certain point, you see a kid, see a couple guys flying around crazy. You might want to play them. I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

This ain't 10 years ago where you could play a guy 8, 9, 10 years, same spot, same shit. We get the same amount of production or less just because we like him. No. No, at some point, at some point, if you are at a certain point, you're at a certain level, you never get any better. That's cool. You need to be replaced sooner than later. That's all. Why keep waiting and keep messing around? Right? We'll keep drafting guys in the secondary.

The defensive line and we're going to keep playing the same guys. Right? So, so what? So, yeah. So a lot of, like I'm saying, a lot of our, a lot of our defensive season injury-wise were defensive line this year. As far as, the year before it was secondary and, Mike Hilton kind of been on the way out. I kind of sensed this anyway. I had already sensed this, you know. I could tell by just the way we were drafting.

And honestly, I mean, you can kind of see – I kind of see Reader on his way too, even last year. But the way we drafted this year, I'm like, we totally focused on defense on the line. We would have probably had to do that anyway. Yeah, no, you're not wrong. My thing is, okay, Xavier Reeseheim, Reader, and not Bates. Bates is still going in the world fine. Great. He still missed. I think Reedus still missed like five games.

Five were just games, and they were in the beginning of the year when we sucked defensively. So guess what? We still sucked defensively. And the key was it wasn't even against the run. There's no pass rush outside of Trey. So there's where the issue is. There's the issue. Playing injured Hubbard all year, right? Sure.

One of our two fondest memories of Hubbard obviously would be the old, scooping scooping score in the playoff game and that fucking touchdown his last touch of the bingo right oh you can't forget the sack that pretty much, set up the setup yeah the setup that kept the fuchs out of, from scoring in the first AFC championship game yeah yeah but I that first AFC championship game I remember huh I remember that I just remember that yeah that was a good play by Hubbard there, for sure.

They had him playing the spy. They had him playing the spy. Yeah, he was able to pretty much. Got Mahomes to turn around and bite, and basically he was able to come in and go for the kill. Yep, sent the old three-man sent the old three-man rush to come to the spy. It worked perfectly. Yeah.

Luke had never really duplicated that a lot. i noticed well but here's the thing he lou lou needed to switch it up you can because typically if you get a spy if you're gonna run run a guy as a spy you can't have it be the same guy all the time yeah yeah you have to like one play it might be sam the next play it might be a keem davis gaither the next play it might be logan the next play it might be pratt or hell you may turn around And it might end up being,

You run a coverage And run a disguise of bliss And send Mike Hilton in, Yeah it can be Any number of different looks that you can give It just all depends on hey what are you Feeling what are you thinking hey how have They been how have they been Coming at you guys all game It all just varies varies So. But we've been on for almost two hours. Did you guys have any final thoughts outside of, say, what we talked about? Even like, hey, the retirement of one Mr. Sam Hubbard, I think.

Yeah, I'll say something real quick in regards to Sam. So Sam, obviously, I posted this on Twitter when I found out the news. But Sam Hubbard retiring, you kind of figured it was coming, right? Kind of figured it was coming. Like, I didn't think he was going to go anywhere else. Obviously, we weren't going to resign him. It was best. Obviously, it was best because his play was lacking the last couple years.

But, man, you know, Cincinnati kid, Cincinnati legend, sure, he's not going to go to the NFL Hall of Fame. He might get inducted, you know, 20, 25 years down the road in the Bengals' ring of honor. But for the last, like, you know, he was one of the last holdouts of the Marvin Lewis era, and obviously he's got the fumble in the jungle to his name. He's got, you know, the last play as a bingle caught a pass from Joe Burrows for a touchdown.

And obviously, as Anthony mentioned earlier, who can never forget him being used as a spy on that third down to get Patrick Mahomes sacked? You know, who could ever forget that? That's just great, great stuff from Sam Iber. Sad to see him go, obviously, but it was kind of needed. His play was lacking, but I wish him the best in retirement. Nothing but the best. Same here. Because as a Cincinnati native, a longtime Bengals fan.

As a kid growing up in Cincinnati, you had what always seemed like a very small sub-sector Bengals fans. Like if you got caught wearing Bengals swag in school, you always got teased because everybody would talk about, well, why are you wearing a Bengals view of stuff? And they suck.

Yeah You go from The, Drudgery of the 90s Of the 90s years To Suddenly playing Yeah suddenly Marvin Lewis comes along Your team's playing a lot better To suddenly You make a playoff But you kept getting bounced out And you couldn't quite get over the hump that 2021 year, then 2020, you draft Joe Burrow. You see Joe Burrow. I watched Joe Burrow's first game against the Chargers. There's not many players that I've come across that left a spark feelings of hope.

You started seeing guys, for instance, when they drafted Sam the first year that he was a rotational guy. Once you started seeing him in more in the starting room, you're like. You saw where he was best at. You saw where he was good at. You saw where he was good at. Obviously, he was a hell of a run defender.

I think guys like Sam, basically helped give the city hope, which basically led us to going to the Super Bowl because for a long time I questioned whether or not did I believe it did I I was always a Bengals fan I would always remain a Bengals fan but when you'd hear like because everybody that's a Bengals fan you know Browns fans you know a lot of Browns fans you know a lot of Steelers fans you probably hell you probably know a lot of even Ravens fans but all of them you'd constantly

hear them talking about how oh y'all ain't Y'all ain't going to do nothing. And to come within six minutes of winning the Super Bowl, winning it all, even though we lost, even though we lost, hold on, hold on, hold on. Even though we lost, I still believe we have the quarterback to do it. I do believe we have a lot of the pieces. We're missing just a couple of key pieces. I agree with that. So go ahead, Tyler.

It sounded like you had something you wanted to add. Yeah, just one more thing to Sam Hubbard, too. I don't know if this has been touched on by anybody, and especially the Bengals media or podcasts or anybody else, but I think me personally. Obviously, Sam Hubbard had the season-ending injury he did last year. And obviously, I don't know if that – I mean, obviously, that might have played a role into it as well. But at the same time, I don't honestly think he wanted to go anywhere else.

He wanted to remain a Bengal. And honestly, that's one thing I think – that's one big takeaway I took from his retirement. Like, yeah, you can speak on the injury or whatever. But the fact that he didn't want to go to another team, he'd rather retire as a Bengal than go somewhere else. To me, I think that just speaks volumes. I don't know if, you know, any other players will follow suit his lead in that aspect, but I respect him for what he did in that.

I don't know if you guys had that takeaway or not, but. It's a similar take. It's a similar take for me because that's rare and it's almost unheard of in this day and age. Because usually, in this day and age, it doesn't matter if it's football, baseball, basketball. You bounce around from a number of teams before your career typically concludes. But I know for me, you see, a guy like Sam, you see, because I know, I'm going to say this, because I never got to play.

I didn't play past high school. So for me, as a kid, one of the dreams of mine was to eventually one day wear a Bengals uniform if I was lucky enough to go to the NFL. Well, unfortunately, that didn't happen. But you look at a guy like Sam, and a guy like Sam, you feel like you're living a dream because, hey, he was born and raised in this city. This city was where he grew up. if the city is where he grew up.

And to be able to come home after spending four years at Ohio State to suddenly be drafted by your hometown team, a lot of kids dream of that. So when you hear that, and for the people here that are diehard Bengals fans and maybe had a dream like mine but wasn't able to fulfill that dream, You feel like you're pushing for the kid Because you feel like you're Vicariously living through that. Like I said, Sir Sam, I congratulate him on his retirement.

Hey, if anybody that is listening to this, hey, if any of y'all. Yeah, well, anyway, I don't want to go that far. But anyway, like I said, for anybody listening, like I said, this is. Guys like us, we love this team. We will forever love this team. And this has been, I've had a love affair with this team since a little kid. So for me, I couldn't, even when I've had chances to turn around and do a turncoat, I never would. I never will. I will always be with this team.

Will will tell you when I told him that I went and got season tickets, what's the first thing you told me, Will? I want in. Yeah, that too. but you turned around and told me congrats. You said, you told me congrats. I know this was a goal of yours all along. You joined the, you know, and then you said, then you said, I want it. You joined a special, special club, man. As someone who had, who had been a season ticket over, over 10 years, you joined us.

You, I won't say if you not, if you've never had seen tickets before that, you're not, you know, It's a different feeling when you go to all these games. The roller coaster is so high. It's such a high roller coaster every week, win, lose, or draw. Oh, yeah. I'm always tied up in the game because I'm so emotionally up, down, upside, up, down, upside, up, down.

No, you're not wrong. That's where I'm at. I go to the local game and I'm like, well, you know, man, let's go, you know, let's go run a marathon. It's like, no, I'm tired. I'm pretty much I'm messed up emotionally even when we win it's like man that was that was great glad there's not a game and you know glad there's not a quick turnaround game.

Play at home like thursday sunday my gosh i'd probably lose my mind i probably need a couple weeks off yeah man it's because it's it's so much you know it's so much i'm so amped in the morning getting up going to this game as opposed to being amped waking up and watching the game at home, and as anyone who's ever been around me gang day with a game on tv i am i am i am not necessarily like the best person to be around when game time is on. When the game is playing.

I'm an angry FOB when the game is on. Yelling and a lot of swearing and a lot of, you know, you know, not necessarily throwing stuff, but like, man, you know, you know, other than probably playing, right? Yeah. Playing in the game. Yeah. You know. I wish Sam well. I wish him Oh yeah, no, I think we all I think us all, all us Bengals fans Whether you're, whether you're from The Cincinnati area, or you live Or you live out of town, like we all wish Him well, because hey.

You know, he's the guy I want to keep around So you just have him here Yeah, so, With that being said, I think This is a good time to go ahead and Conclude the show, because we had This is a nice little Roundtable discussion that we talked about Talked about our trip, Will and I Got to tell Tyler about our Trip to the Combine. Around and talked about the latest on the Trey Hendrickson. Bengals giving them permission to seek a trade and then we also talked about just a number of assorted topics.

Tyler, I take it, are you up to closing the show out? Yeah, let's do it. Alright. So, once again, we thank everybody here for listening to this episode of the Rule of the Jungle podcast.

You know, Anthony and Will got to go to the combine so that's pretty cool and we got to hear the stories from them today as well as talk a little bit of free agents free agency is what we'd like to see and you know what our thoughts are from the overall things that have happened over the past couple weeks or so so if you guys heard if you guys like what you heard you know give us a follow give us a like wherever you get your podcast from and leave us a comment for,

you know any podcast topics you guys like us to talk about or you know any feedback we definitely love to hear that kind of thing so definitely appreciate you guys for doing that so far We do have Twitter and we do have Facebook, is RuleTheJungle Twitter is at RuleTheJungle9 And you can follow me on Twitter at TyraHoodA54 We always post it in time the show goes on the air Obviously we're recording so this is Live but every time it goes up it does Go on our social medias Anthony you will?

For me you can if you want to Keep up with my shenanigans and Tomfoolery you can follow Me on X at, AAnderson78 As well as my Instagram page If you so dare Anthony Anderson 535 I think the As always The esteemed one gets to Share his Knowledge Special one this time, Special Special clothes I'm going to do my normal stick first I got something special Okay. You guys can follow me on Facebook if you want. That's just at William Appleton. You'll see me at a myriad of different.

You'll find probably about four of them, right? And you'll notice me with my great Bengals shirt on that I never wear. I need to wear it more often. Follow me on Instagram at Appleton756. Or you can follow me on Twitter slash X at William28818804. Again, that's at William 288 188 04 Go. Close out the ceiling Remember The last time You know, we were We were taking souls, right?

That's right Well, a lot has happened just then I don't think it's over anymore Now we're telling people to go fuck yourself. With this joint I'm glad they did that. I need to tell people that. Like, in life. Go fuck yourself. Chris Caney, go fuck yourself. Don't fuck yourself. I kind of called it Lucina. I kind of called it Lucina. Yeah. I had hoped they'd be punk, but who cares? Doesn't matter. As long as I get a CM Punk, John Cena match at some point this year.

With the belt on it. That's all I care about. It's great.

It's even better to have them the role Reverse because you never You couldn't tell me that at any point in time Right in their careers That the role would be reversed right, Especially with Andy Orton right now too Sure yeah Orton will get This shot too he'll get his chance, He'll get his not at Cena too for his last match They all will It makes sense no matter what It makes sense Cody or Cena makes one Right Cody Orton also makes sense at some point,

Huh Cena Yes Orton Cena Of course Orton Clunk Maybe Right, So With that being said On behalf of Tyler, Will, and myself, Whatever you do Bangles fans Make sure you keep the hope Fuck these national media Asshats And it is Who Day And we will see you On the next episode Which we intend.