Unveiling the Bengals' Future with Zim Whodey

Music. This is Anthony of the Rule of the Jungle podcast. Man, this season has produced a lot of ups and downs, a lot of downs this year.

But nonetheless, hey, it's been great to do the podcast with you guys and to do it with my friends. This current episode, we have one Mr. Zimhude, first time guest on the show. That we'll be having a talk with. This is a little more of a short-formed interview, but I thought it'd be great to put this out to kind of talk to the people that either cover the team or longtime super fans like ourselves or fans like you.

So with that being said, again, we thank you guys for continuing to listen to this podcast. Because this is a passion project that me and Will love doing. So with that being said, here is our interview, or more or less just discussion with Zim Hude. Thank you, Hude, and I hope you enjoy. And we are back for another episode of the Rule the Jungle podcast. And I am your host, Anthony Anderson.

And today, outside of We're Waiting on Will to join us, We actually have a guest today that I think you all are going to be excited to hear from, get his thoughts on the state of the Bengals and what the path is going forward. So without further ado, I think some of you may know who he is.

He is one of the hosts of the Winston Addy Podcast. The guy that I am speaking of is one Mr. Sim Hootay. Sim, how are you? I'm doing pretty damn good. How's it going, Big Tony? I'm doing all right, man. Yeah. I think we all can agree, because you're a big Bengals fan. You've been in the trenches with us for a long time. Yes, sir. I want to start off. First off, man, how are you feeling about the season overall?

I'm very disappointed. I'm bummed out. I leave myself like – I use the Bengals fans as my therapy session.

So like when everybody's like super negative it like really kind of fucks me up oh shit can I curse yeah you're good do you be you man that's all okay this podcast we we highly encourage, yeah it just messes me up though because like I kind of rely on like Bengals fans to kind of lift me up as much as I like you know helping lift other people up it's just a it's just a rough season and i feel like when you're losing everything gets magnified is like one of the things

i've always said and we're losing and so it's magnifying a lot of problems like i'm hoping, that because all these problems get magnified that they kind of get some answers to them as a result but here's where i here's where i think and i think a lot of people you're hearing. The sole blame either on Zach Taylor or the sole blame on the front office. I don't think it's just one thing. I think it's a multitude of things.

We all played... I assume you probably played football back. Some of that sort. Anybody that always played sports, I think what was always ingrained in me was, Because anytime you had a failing season, it was never due to one thing. It was always due to a myriad of things. I think in this case, I think that is the case with the Bengals. Do I think the front office and the coaching staff have a...

Piece in it? Oh, without question. I think, which is why I think some people, are solely blaming it on the coaching staff and saying, Oh, no, defense. Defense has been god-awful this year. I agree. I have a difference of opinion on the defense a little bit than the average fan, though, I think. No, I get that.

That's where we're going to segue into that. I want to get your honest thoughts. First off, and I think I know where you might be going with this, is it time to go ahead and part ways with the entire coaching staff? The popular opinion obviously has been bringing Bill Belichick. Is it time to go that extreme? Yeah, absolutely, man. I feel like the staff, I've been, I use my platform to kind of push the Bill Belichick thing out as much as possible.

And I think a lot of people that are down on the whole idea or concept of it are generally people. I don't know where you fall at on this, but I feel like they're more so trying to say that it can't happen just to kind of soften the blow because they just I feel like we're all conditioned as Bengal fans for us not to have nice names.

I think there's no there's no problem with the actual conversation in the actual like well let's talk about how could a Bill Belichick thing happen right and a lot of people push back on it because they're just like yeah that's never going to happen to us they also told me I would never get a DJ reader they also told me that we wouldn't get a lot of the players like Orlando Brown and Trent Brown and all these different things I do this all the time like I look at the orlando

brown situation he wasn't even on our radar and then come to find out like i think it was like just before it was like just before like 11 or 12 at night all of a sudden i i'm sitting there leaving work getting it hopping into my truck and all of a sudden i get a get a call from one of my buddies who's a who's a longtime bangles fan who unfortunately just recently passed away. That he calls me and says, dude, did you see what just came across the ticker on ESPN? I said, no. What happened?

We just signed Orlando Brown. We just fixed our left tackle situation. I'm like, don't play with my emotions. So when we find out that, yeah, he signed, I'm like, like you said, I do agree. I think the thing with. I didn't even finish, though. Go ahead. I didn't mean that, Tom. I was going to segue into a rant. Yeah, let me, you know. So this is the thing.

Bill Belichick, I could tell you a million reasons why I think it would work. Will it happen? That's a whole separate conversation. Of course. The point is, like, what I'm here to do versus what a lot of other people probably are here to do is really more so to inspire and uplift and trying to go through different things that we do really well. So I have my own role within the fan base.

So there's going to be people that are going to point out a lot of things or inconsistencies at a front office, and they're going to do that all day. They have their own role. But for me, it's the evoke conversation. So the conversation of Bill Belichick and getting views on it, you got to think. I've been doing this for a while. So Instagram, Twitter, all these different outlets that I have, it gives me an opportunity to reach a lot of people.

Like I'll post a Bill Belichick post. It'll get 100000 views. If people think that the Bengals front office, who people I do know, if people think that they don't see that, they're they're lying to themselves. Like a lot of things that I say or put on there, they see. I've had conversations with Elizabeth Blackburn. So you could, you know what I mean? Like there, you never know. You never know. And so for me, the conversation is important. The conversation of why do you want Bill Belichick?

And then somebody could counter or say, well, I think this is why it won't happen. And to me, that's more important than the actual getting Bill Belichick, if that makes any sense. No I completely agree I'm not put it this way I wouldn't be against it I think the only thing that kind of sticks out of my mind but I've had a couple of convincing points by you listening to you talk with Malik Wright, that have made me say well if it could happen.

If they're determined that they're going to get rid of Zach Taylor then why not, pursue him But I think The big thing and I think this is why A lot of people say it couldn't happen Is because they say That Bill's going to want a lot of A lot of control over the roster Which I don't think so, The reason I'm sure you saw this interview With Bill Belichick where he actually Spoke very glowingly of the entire Of the entire Bengals front office Yes sir

I posted it And it went crazy Recently And I think at this point in the game, why I think it could happen, in all likelihood, do I see it happening? I'm kind of 50-50 on it. I don't think it couldn't happen. But I also think it's going to solely depend on where the front office stands on it. Because they're not going to reveal their hand to us until the season's over. Where you get Black Monday or say later that night, they say Bengals fire head coach Zach Tate.

I think what will likely end up happening, if it would happen, Bill Belichick will end up coming in and yeah.

I think that there's a couple of different things that have to happen a lot of this is about timing you know what I mean so that's why I like them tanking and stuff or like getting out of shells right now I don't know if that helps us or hurts us I've been kind of like breaking that down a little bit I have been told I don't want to overstep my boundaries but I do know that the interest of Bill Belichick coaching for the Bengals is there, right?

I don't want no articles or nothing like that written or whatever. Okay. We'll keep it there. If there's time, maybe you and I can talk off the record on that. Right, right. I do know that, and now I'm going to speculate. A lot of these hotshot young coaches that people are talking about, those are the ones that I think that the Bengals family wouldn't pay because those young high shot guys, they want full control over draft.

They want all these other different things. And above all things, they want more money than all of them. Like a Ben Johnson is going to overhaul your whole entire thing and say, this is now my machine. The Bengals don't want that. Bill Belichick at 72 years old wants wins.

He wants to be able to show people that he can break Vince Lombardi's record. He wants to also show Tom Brady that he could win without him. How could he do that? He could do it with a Joe Burrow. He's not going to be able to do that with all these bum teams that have like these coach openers. So to me, it's an easy thing because the mutual interest of he likes the Brown family, the family is fond of him. So that's step one. That's like the Marvin Lewis type situation.

I also feel like even if it's not Bill Belichick, I don't think that Joe Burrow needs like some high octane offensive minded coach. I think he needs one that's detailed, one that's efficient. And I want someone that has like a defensive background, and above all, he needs a proven winner. And so there's not that many people out there that kind of fit that description. There are some guys that I like, like Mentor and stuff like that.

And if you go look at his defensive back coach, he has ties to Kentucky, defensive back coach for Dax Hill, DJ Turner, when he was at Michigan. I can't think of his name. But those are guys that I think will work. They wouldn't be big splash names. But to me, I'm more in line of a defensive minded coach. And I think that's where the Bill Belichick thing comes from. Another thing, too, you need a coach that has his own staff because the Bengals aren't savvy enough in the front office.

Isn't like they're not that hands on to know, like, who's the next upcoming thing? Like that's how they ended up with Zach Taylor. This dude, Belichick, will have his own staff already assembled, whether that's Matt Patricia, Josh McDaniels.

It could be a whole bunch of people he also brings in an offensive line guru that got us retired that only works for bill belichick his name is yeah like so you have small details like that that the bangles don't have to pay for and that's very very important because if they have to pay for like more scouting or more doing all these different things they're not going to go out and go do that on and oh they've proven that to us for the last 60 years of football

They have to have a guy that has won That can show them that This is what I require And these are minimal costs And Bill Belichick fits that description. And it looks like we are joined by my co-host, Will, otherwise known as The Learning Tree. What's going on, Seth? Oh, man. You know, I'm fighting illness here and injury. But, see, I'm glad, Jim, that you brought up very good points that I've been trying to not basically slap people upside the head with.

I'm like listen I get all these hot shot coaches I get it but you're right they're going to have for more money, which is to control control everything I'm like they're going to do that and I heard Aaron Glenn I heard Mike Vrabel at least these people are trying to think outside the box a little bit but, I know you told me you told me on the podcast and you told me off the podcast that you think you're heading in that direction.

Maybe it's time for a change. Bringing in Belichick, he does bring his own staff with him. The only thing because the only thing maybe you could offer some insight. The only thing I've heard, I've heard this for a long time. You likely have as well. If you bring in Bills, and say he brings in Josh McDaniels, which seems like he would be the likely candidate if that would happen, wherever he ends up going. A lot of Josh's offense is based under center.

Joe, there's been a running thing that's been said for a long time. I know I've heard it from Bengals' captain. I've heard it from a multitude of different people. Joe don't like to run under center. How would they, could he, you know, would they, how would they modify that to try to accommodate Joe or would it be more or less Bill say do it or get fucked? I feel like Bill will come in and say, this is what it's going to take for you to be a champion.

And that's all that Joe really cares about because now he's got money to buy Batmobiles and shit. Yeah. Are we are we trying to get more Batmobiles? Are we trying to be more stylish? Are we trying to win champions, championships? And I just think that it will have to be a voice like that. A lot of our fan base. I'm in the minority on this. I love Joe Burrow to death. I talk to his father all the time. I talk to his half brother a lot.

Like, you know, like I'm pretty cool with the fam and everything like that. I know a lot about Joe Burrow I feel like our fan base coddles him to an unhealthy thing the defense will make a play and give Joe Burrow a chance and then when he doesn't win a game they're just like.

It's the defense fault and I'm like it's a team sport, there's other people I think Bill Belichick of the world, Mike Vrabel Flores of the world, those are guys that aren't going to coddle him and that's what i really want and i think it'll push him to be better i think when he sees or people say all this stuff about yeah like i mean we could have did this but whatever i think it i don't i don't know to me in my mind it it it creates a losing like lose it creates a losing formula

like if you're always constantly excusing a turnover constantly excusing everything thing. To me, it's like, you know, you need you need somebody more tough minded to say, no. Yeah. Joe, you did throw for 300 yards. But how about those three turnovers in that game? What are we going to do to get better at that? And you could in our fan base would be like, Jim, like you can't blame it. You can't possibly be blaming on Burrow. I'm not.

But that's what it would take to the details to be crossed in the eyes, dotted in the T's and crossing all these different things for all these different things to work. And you need a coach like that to me to say these are the details that need to be covered.

Because it isn't that he's turning the ball over a lot but they're going back for touchdowns that's four that's four turnovers two intercepts returning and two fumbles returning for touchdowns that's four turnovers in big game and a lot a lot of people say what the defense played back well, I'm not disputing that. Look, we're not disputing nothing. Right. We're looking at everything. Oh, no. That's the given. That's the easy way.

It's the easy way. It's the easy road to take. You take the road less travel. Well, guess what? Belichick can also say, well, 2021, you're on the center when we hit the Super Bowl. So what are you talking about? What do you mean you don't like it? It's not about what you like. Right. You want to win this thing or not? And I told people this. Since 2021, the offense has evolved. backwards to me. We went further and further away from the running game that used to butcher.

We used to kill teams running the ball at the end of the game. We used to kill them. Absolutely. McCool and T-Roy used to I'm like, we don't do that no more. I don't understand. They tried to, bro. Because that's what happened to KC in 2021 both times.

We said, you know what? You expect us to come out and be all this fan smith and calihan said no we're gonna run the ball but good idea good idea because they know because they know that we can throw the ball we know we're gonna throw it it does that's not the point yeah think about that we want to run it think about the ravens game at the end of that game three three runs like you're nothing you don't even get one yard off that you know i mean so like to your point they tried

to do what they did before, They haven't been able to do it. And think about it. In a Super Bowl where you average over six yards a carry, you stop running and your quarterback hurt his knee. Yeah. You know what I mean? In a game that we all watched Joe Burrow hurt his knee. They continue to try to still throw the football. He short hops or throws his face at the sticks. And Joe Mixon is killing him. We all as a fan base were all together and said,

why wasn't Joe Mixon on it? Look, my son is eight years old. I showed him the Super Bowl for the first time the other day. he looked at the third down and the fourth down and he's eight years old first thing he told me he said why isn't joe mason on the field yeah and the crazy thing is in 2000 that wasn't that long ago no but our fan base turned so crazy it's it lost the value of running the football and they just fell in love with burrow just like these numbers and stuff and

i'm like the stats are cool but i'm trying to win bro like that's the only thing like that i don't really if burrow throws for 180. Like, look at Josh Allen, bro. He threw for like 180 last week. And he was a hero. He had one cool play in the snow, and they made him the biggest hero because he won the game. And one thing people keep forgetting about Kansas City. In some of their bigger games, they run the football, and that's what they want.

And I've been saying it. I've been seeing it since 2020. I'm like, you know what? You know what? Damn it. That Andy Reid, he has learned some shit. And I tell people this 1-6 record in the NFC Championship game, folks are like, what? I'm like oh how soon you forget. Don't call me the learning tree for nothing. I've watched it, man. In Philadelphia for a very, very, very long time as a guy who couldn't get it done. You know the best Bengals game that we ever had against the Chief? It was in 2022.

Remember, this is the game where Mixon is out because he has concussion protocol. Yes. But T-Ron is killing him running four yards a carry, right? That's the best Joe Burrow game I think I've seen. And I get it. He's through for 446 yards the first time we saw them.

But in that game what's the only mistake in the game Tyler Boyd dropping a touchdown it's like like when the run game was cooking like that and then think about this the difference of that game versus them us playing them in week two this is the only difference at the end of that game Joe Burrow threw a pass to T Higgins to end the game and put their lights out in week two he ran four or five plays got 17 yards and punted the ball back to them and then in a fourth and 16 does If you had a run

game and you were able to close out games and be able to put a knife in people like the Joe Burrow that I know, I don't think that you're four and eight. And I know that that's going to sound like it's a shot against Burrow, but it's a functionality of the head coach all the way down. And I know and Burrow, like, think about it. 2021, he doesn't have walk off touchdowns. Their walk-off situations where he's getting the kicker in position

to go kick a field goal and McPherson hitting it. So now McPherson's off. You can't have two components of, you know, the three components of football off and expect to win games. And they're the component that – they're the component of his game that used to be his game over 50 yards. Yeah. No. That's what I'm saying. I'm like, whoa, that's – okay, wait a minute. So I'm off here. Yeah. That's where you need someone to say, listen, here, look, scrap this all the

way down. You just got to go back to the basics. Yes, our offensive line in names and functionality is better than those lines, but our personality are, you know, you knew, I knew. I said, you know what, we're going to run the ball, even if it's not successful. It's not even the point. The point is we're going to give it, you know, give you 25, 26, 27 attempts. If we get 80, 90, 100 yards, fine. But, you know, we're not going to stop. I'm going to stop because he's going to be success.

Success is hit or miss in this league. Back then, offensive line wasn't perfect. It wasn't perfectly fit for the team. Now, I would say other than there still needs to be a little bit of work on the interior. But other than that, I think it's getting to the point to where, hey, we want the offensive line where it's at. It's just, we need to, it could, hell, use an upgrade at the guard spot. I don't know. Is that, is that Karis? I don't know.

Oh, not to worry. Not to worry. I think it's Kappa. I would remember. I mean, I mean, I mean, Karis playing guard. Is that character playing guard that we're getting a better man with these big old dudes out there? I don't think they would manhandle Karras. Probably, but I mean, I don't know. If he's double-teaming the wrong guys, I'm like, wait a minute. He's got double-teaming Hayward. Come on. What? Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Are you talking about that play where – Yeah, I'm talking about that play where he says ran over Cody Ford. I'm like, no. Yeah. I don't give a crap. Who's the other defense tackle? You got to go double that dude in that situation. Run. Right ahead. And it's in this gap. Is that what you expect Cody Ford to do? Come on. Yep. Cody Ford is very valiant with his effort, but come on. He was a mere afterthought going into this year. He was a nothing bolts.

He was like, well, he's going to be an extra line, man. This dude is playing his left tackle. Playing a little right tackle. Playing a little left guard. That's a bit much to ask him to do, right? Don't you think? No, you're not wrong. But, Zim, you said 25 minutes.

I think we're getting ready to come up on that. Are you still good on time? I got about five more. Okay. That's cool. That's why I want to make sure we're being respectful of your time. I appreciate you, man. No problem. Like I said, hey, we're appreciative that, hey, you're able to come on and be a guest on a little bit of a smaller platform. But, hey, come on and talk to the Bengals football with me. No problem at all, man. Talking Mables, I love it.

But I want to get your thoughts on the T situation, T Higgins situation. Because I think a lot of people are trying, some people are trying to put the reason why T Higgins wasn't able to be signed on Joe and Jamar. I don't know that it's totally on that. But the gist of where I'm at with it, and I want to see where you sit. My concern If you're going to re-sign him, re-sign him. If you're not going to re-sign him, go ahead and franchise tag him with the

expectation of doing a tag and trade. Yes, sir. Yes. Where are you at in going to detail as far as to where your stance is? I feel as though, you know, the T. Higgins one is very, very – it's layers to it. But T Higgins is what has happened is last year. A lot of people said, let's trade him right when he didn't get the deal done. I thought his stock was at his lowest point. If you go look at it now, you can stop Google right now.

T Higgins now is the number one free agent in all of football, like not just wide receiver, not just offensive player. The only thing that's throwing our fan base off is like this frontal fan saying, well, he missed five games. If you look at the wide receiver position, a lot of guys missed five games this season. A lot of guys didn't finish. Like, God went to all these different guys like that.

That's the position. So now that you got that, like, out the way, his value to a team like a commander's, his value to a team like the Chargers, they're willing to give up, I think, as early as a first-round pick.

And I know that that sounds crazy to a lot of Bengals fans, but in a weak wide receiver class, if I got the 20-something pick, why would I put in the chance and I got a rookie contract, like if you're the Tennessee Titans, I got Will Levis on a rookie deal or whatever, why would I put any of that in the chance?

I would go get him a real wide receiver and say, I'm going to ride this out for the next three years, and if it doesn't work out, then we move on from T. Higgins, but we have a rookie contract. There's so many teams that are in a different spot that I don't think Bengals fans are really paying attention to. Those teams like a Jaden Daniels. Can you imagine Jaden Daniels with T. Higgins and Terry McLaurin? That would go insane.

And I think that there's a million teams out there, not a million, but like at least six, seven teams that you'll see would be willing to get your first round pick. Or at the worst, an early second, right? Like, And so my thing that I've been pushing to everyone is that, OK, we got a bad defense. I will blow the whole thing up. The Bengals have over one hundred million dollars in cash base coming up this upcoming season.

What would be the reason for not signing T Higgins, even if it's the guarantees that the Bengals are hung up on? We just watched us give up young players like Jesse Bates, you know, guys like that, that you just let walk that work. that the prime of their careers walk away and the Bengals fail to replace the talent? What makes people think that even taking a draft pick would even be good enough for a guy that's a proven thousand yard receiver?

And also when T. Higgins and Jamar Chase are on the field at the same time, we're a top three offers in football. So why would I be in the business of taking that away?

I think that now that time has gone by, him missing five games kind of gives you a little bit more leverage to maybe not make him get 30 something million now he's at 28 something like that and think about it if they were to franchise tag him this year and next year that would be like 48 million dollars anyway yep so the value of a contract for him for another three-year deal isn't crazy to say yeah like this dude he did yeah he missed some games but when he played out there I had

a quarterback that had the had his weapons and the reason why every this is this is the biggest point that I'm very very passionate about this this is the one you know how every single week everybody's saying Joe Burrow what do y'all want him to play perfect I'm gonna tell you in 2024 2025 if you're not a mobile quarterback you better play perfect and that and that sounds unrealistic to a lot of people but the way that you can get closer to perfect is to get his got weapons on the outside and a

good offensive line like you guys just talked about right and if you don't have those things every single week that you lose a football game and he throws for 200 something yards 300 yards the same people want to come back every single week and say damn like Joe Burrow got to play perfect yes if you're not a mobile quarterback and able to move the chains like Josh Allen Mahomes and Lamar and Herbert on third down, and you are forced to throw a lot.

You're going to be chasing perfection pretty much every single week, and you need guys that can get open really fast. And that was the whole reason why I wanted Jamar Chase to begin with. I know this is a long-winded answer. All of these things, all equal, there's no reason, and there's no team in the NFL that would just let T.

Higgins walk. now if T Higgins doesn't feel if he don't want to play for y'all because he's mad about the tag and his agent doesn't like it then you need to trade him for a top tier talent like Derrick Brown the defensive tackle for the Panthers or Jeffrey Simmons for the Titans somebody like that or you get a first round pick and even in those circumstances you I don't even really feel as good as I do as T. Higgins and Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow on the field at the same time.

Because if you did sign T. Higgins, think about it. You could go into a draft and go all defense the first three, four rounds outside a guard. You will only get a guard in the first four rounds. You could go all defense, even in free agency. The only thing that you'll be signing is a safety. It makes it so that your board is wide open for the draft. If you let T. Higgins get away and you got to get a first round draft pick, go look at the list of the wide receivers this past year.

Wide receiver, the ones that were drafted in round one, two or whatever. They're not that crazy and they're not that many hits. Like Xavier Worthy, Keon Coleman, those are all guys that are underwhelming. And those are the top of the guys. And we're in a weaker wide receiver draft class. I think that if people are mad about Jesse Bates being replaced, you're going to be like out of this world mad. That it's not an easy fix to replace the T.

Higgins. And I will say this, and I've said this a million times on Twitter, if the Bengals just let him walk and get nothing, it will be the biggest mistake in franchise history. I definitely agree that it would be a way bigger mistake than Bates or anybody else to let him just walk. They're going to show him to you every Monday night. You're going to see Justin Herbert throwing 400 yards to T. Higgins across the TV screen. When's the last time you've seen a Jesse Bates highlight on ESPN?

It was last year. You don't see it often. You know why people are mad about Joe Mixon every single week? Because they've got to watch him go 100 yards every single week and then fight those conversations. T. Higgins will be worse. It would be worse.

Interject well but to interject a lot of the people that are doing the most yelling about joe mixon were the same ones that want that were screaming for him to get cut absolutely, absolutely like you know me and will have been talking that on this for the last like, but look who do you think are the people that are saying trade t higgins now.

The same people yeah the same people bro they think they got it all figured out they're draft gurus they know how to like bro she higgins joe mixon jesse bates dj readers they don't grow on trees they don't we can you can replace them but it's not the same they don't grow on trees, and that's my message that i have before i get out of here yeah but that bit and with that being said, because you've been more than accommodating with your time. We've got a couple minutes over.

Do you have anything you want to plug before we let you go? Zenfude.com. Check me out at Winston Eddie Pod. That's it. Alright. With that, make sure you follow the Rule of the Jungle Facebook page, as well as the Rule of the Jungle X page at Rule of the Jungle 9. Also, if you want to follow me, you can follow me at A. Anderson 78 on X and Anthony Anderson 535 on Instagram. Will? As usual, you can follow me on Instagram at Appleton 756 and on Twitter slash X at William 288-18804.

Again, that's at William 288-18804. All right. And with that being said, on behalf of Will, myself, and our guest Zempude, we say.