3/10/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

NFL Free Agency has officially begun and the Bengals Start players are still without new contracts. What are the Bengals doing? Plus...XU's NCAA potential, and another UC loss.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
I am about to do something that should not be
all that difficult. In fact, this should be this should
be very easy. This should actually be one of the
easiest things I've ever done in the history of this show,
maybe in the history of this radio station, one of
the easiest things ever. I need someone who is more

(00:27):
intelligent than me. This I should not have to cast
a very wide net. I should not have to search
far and wide, because I've got to think within the
sound of my voice. Right now, are dozens, hundreds, like
maybe thousands of people who unequivocally are more intelligent than me.
I'll explain why in just a second. Good afternoon, Il Mowegar.

(00:49):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Hope you had an awesome weekend.
Hope you're having an awesome Monday. It is gorgeous outside.
We're not doing the show outside. We should be. Maybe
we will be later on this week. We have a
lot of ground to cover. Joe Royer from UC is
going to join us in the five o'clock hour full
show Rundown, available on Twitter at moe Egger. Thanks to
Emery Federal Credit Union, your credit Union with Heart since

(01:13):
nineteen thirty nine. Good to EMORYFCU dot Org. I need
someone more intelligent than me to explain to me what
the Bengals are doing. Make this make sense. Now they've
done some stuff today. Cody Ford is back. Awesome. Cody Ford.
I don't think should be pegged as a starting guard,

(01:35):
but if he ends up being planned b at guard
this year, that's okay. Cody Ford's a nice backup, swing
fringe starter offensive lineman. Cody Ford is back. Good. Mike
Kasiki is back. Bengals have made that official. You'll hear
from him a little bit later on Fine. Who doesn't
like Mike Kasiki. Joe Burrow likes Mike Kasiki. He is

(01:56):
effectively the team's number three wide receiver. In his first
season in Cincinnati, he did well, had a good year
last year. BJ Hill is also back. I will be
honest with you, because I always am. That doesn't do
a lot for me. I get the sense BJ's best
years are probably behind him, but has been a terrific acquisition.
Has always filled his role nicely. Is still decent, at

(02:17):
least against the run. He's not really helpful all that
much when it comes to helping the pass rush. Bj
Hill is back. I'm less enthusiastic about the other two.
But fine, we are sitting here, it's eight minutes after
three o'clock on Monday, March tenth. The negotiating window is
open in the NFL. All hell is breaking loose, as
you knew it would throughout the National Football League, and

(02:38):
the Bengals have had successful free agency periods, or at
least busy free agency periods, impactful free agency periods where
they haven't been the first team in where they haven't
been the team that dives in first. And you know,
it's turned out that as the week has gone on,
we have seen that they have signed guys, and maybe
that still happens this week. But we are having this

(02:59):
conversation to eight minutes after three o'clock on Monday, March tenth.
Jamar Chase hasn't yet been made the highest paid non
quarterback in NFL history. That hasn't happened yet. Maybe it
happens today. We have a lot of time between now
and six o'clock. The t Higgins thing, that the t
Higgins thing has been a thing now for three years.

(03:22):
You can't say there's been no resolution because they did
franchise tag him, but all we heard was while they
franchise tagged him with the intention of signing him long term.
That hasn't happened. And where we sit today, Trey Hendrickson is,
as of this moment, right now, and this could change,
still a Cincinnati Bengal. He obviously hasn't signed anything long term.

(03:44):
He's also under contract for twenty twenty five, but they
haven't executed a trade yet. And again, maybe that happens.
But from a pure business perspective, I legitimately need someone
to make sense of this for me, because I've watched
and I've listened to a lot of people ask pseudo rhetorically,

(04:07):
what are they doing? In fact, like who day as
a question has been replaced by what are they doing?
Remember last summer Jamar Chase, let's make this about him
for a second. He could not have made this easier
for the Bengals. Uh. I'm a great player, you know,
I'm a great player. I love playing with Joe. Joe

(04:30):
loves throwing to me. I'm not hurt, I'm not coming
off an injury. Pay me, pay me this make me
the highest paid guy at my position, Because if you
don't a couple of things could happen. I might have
the best year of my career, and the wide receiver
market could continue to explode, the upper echelon player market

(04:51):
could continue to explode. And if it does, I'm gonna
cost even more money. So how about we just get
this done now? How about we just get this done now?
Pay me now, because you're not gonna want to have
to pay me even more later. And the Bengals didn't
do that. They reportedly quote came close, but it didn't

(05:13):
get done now. Of course, this jutted up right against
the start of the season last year. And I remember
the morning of the first game Bengals Patriots. That morning,
you know, everybody was watching Jamar Chase's warm ups. Tony
and I were sitting at the Holy Grail with Ken
Brew and we were, you know, discussing, is Jamar goan
to set out today? Is it gonna be active? Is
it gonna be on the field, Like, what's what's gonna happen.

(05:35):
Up until the morning of the first game, we were
wondering what's gonna happen with Jamar Chase. It turns out
they don't get a deal done. It turns out Jamar
played and obviously maybe not so much in the first game,
but all season long, Jamar Chase was awesome, one of
the very best players in the NFL. When the season started,
what I was told by everybody who covers the team,
by everybody with the team, well, they think, hey, this

(05:56):
this is gonna have to be pushed to next year.
This is going to have to be pushed until the
offseason because the Bengals have a policy. Okay, so the
policy is we don't negotiate during the season. It's a policy. Now,
I asked then, and I can continue to ask now
I got no answer to this. Well, can you deviate

(06:17):
from that policy if it's a player A of Jamar's
stature and B that you're close to getting a deal
done with, Like, what is the difference between you know what, Jamar,
We're gonna sign you the day before the season starts,
and Jamar, you know what, come back in the day
after the season starts and let's wrap this bad boy up.
But they had a policy, and you can't. You can't

(06:40):
deviate from the policy. Nobody is exempt for the policy.
Nobody is above the policy. So they had a policy.
So then what happens Jamar does what he does the
market changes upper echelon players. In the last week, we've
gone from talking about Jamar Chase being the highest paid
non quarterback in the NFL, then Max Crosby, for about
ten minutes, was the highest paid non quarterback in the NFL,

(07:00):
and now it's the title belongs to Miles Murphy, Which
means if the Bengals are gonna make Jamar Chase the
highest paid No. A quarterback in the NFL, they're gonna
have to pay him like forty two forty three million
dollars When they could have done it last summer. Jamar
made this easy, So I legitimately need someone who is

(07:21):
smarter than me, which is most people. It's it's probably
you make this from a Bengals perspective, Make this make sense. You,
as a Bengals fan, might not care. Maybe all you
care about is Jamar plays for the Bengals in twenty
twenty five, which he's under contract to. But if you
are so tremendously concerned about the composition of the roster

(07:44):
and how every financial decision impacts the composition of the roster,
how on earth could you be on board with the
Bengals approach when it comes to the best wide receiver
in the sport. Arguably I'll say it, the best wide
receiver in the sport. This is staggering in its excited
this I haven't even talked about what they have not
done with T Higgins. Look, man, as a general rule,

(08:07):
don't wait on great players. Don't wait. Don't wait on
great players that you have no questions about. With T. Higgins,
you could at least say he's got an extensive injury
history and we're concerned. Fair, What was the concern with
Jamar Chase? I mean, it would have been one thing
last year if you weren't sure you wanted the guy,

(08:32):
or you know what, he's got to grow up a
little bit, or we need to see him get through
a full season healthy. What on earth would have made
you hesitate when it comes to Jamar Chase? And yet
here we are. This has cost the Bengals tens of
millions of dollars and perhaps some financial flexibility. It's cost

(08:53):
him possibly some goodwill among Bengals players. It's maybe cost
him some goodwill with A It's maybe cost them some
goodwill with Joe Burrow. And let's be honest, and maybe
this doesn't matter to you. It's kind of made him
a national punchline. What four What was the purpose? What

(09:14):
was gained by punting this Jamar Chase thing to the
offseason of twenty twenty five? Five point three seven four
nine fifteen thirty is my founder. I am legitimately asking
because I feel like most of us are just going
to wail away at the Bengals and they deserve it
for this. And I don't gratuitously wail away at them,
but they deserve it for this. So if you're seeing

(09:38):
something that I'm not, if you think, actually, Mo, the
Bengals are playing chess and you're too stupid to play chess,
so you're not gonna understand, make it make sense? Five
point three seven four nine fifteen thirty. I have, over
the last fifteen years or so, I've often lobbied to
be the the Bengals director of common sense. This goes

(10:00):
back to Marvin Lewis's years when the director of common sense.
And honestly, not to pat myself on the back, but
this is kind of before NFL team started hiring like
game management coaches. But for years I would lobby to
be the guy who had a headset on and all
I've wanted was some cool team gear, a sideline pass,
and I don't want to have to travel with the team,

(10:21):
and I want to be able to stay overnight on
the road after the game. And exchange for that, I'll
be the guy in the sideline who just, you know, hey,
let's not do the challenge flag here, let's call a
time out here, let's go for two here. That sort
of help with the game management, common sense stuff, help
with the mathematics of clock management. And I've lobbied for
this for years. It's extended into the Zach Taylor regime.

(10:42):
I now want to be the director of common Sense,
and I might have to quit this job because I've
thought all along I could be the you know, game
day director of common Sense, and I could still do
this five days a week. I could still do it.
I could be the Doug Gottlieb of the NFL, do
a talk show five days week and then on Sunday's
one o'clock or whenever the Bengals play, I'm there standing
next to Zach Taylor, you know, just telling him, whene

(11:05):
thro the challenge flag, Hey, let's not run the ball
on third and twelve, that kind of stuff. Now, I
might have to give this up and work for the
Bengals full time as the director of common sense. So
when you have a situation like, hey, Jamar Chase wants
to sign with us, he's got two years left on
his deal. Should we do that? And then I pipe

(11:25):
in and go yes. Like every decision you filter through
the director of common sense. Hey, let's hear what our
director of common sense has to say about this. A
director of common sense, Mo, what do you think Jamar
Chase wants to sign now? He's really good, right, no
character concerns. A quarterback loves him, our fans love him.

(11:47):
He is perhaps still a sending as a player. The
market is only going to go up for elite players.
We have one. Hey, let's go ahead and get that
done now. Director of common sense says yes, Like I
might have to do that because in the absence of
a director of common sense for a team that has
had such a hard time retaining its absolute best players recently,

(12:12):
if there's no director of common sense, I don't know
how this changes. I don't want to quit this job.
I love doing it. They treat me well here. It's
the only thing I've ever wanted to do. But as
a lifelong Bengals fan, I'm willing to bite the bullet
to be the full time director of common sense. There
is no other way. And yes, on game days, I'll
still be on the sideline next to Zach Taylor. Every

(12:34):
piece of criticism being thrown at the Bengals right now,
they deserve every single one. By the way, t Higgins
is going to cost more money because of what Pittsburgh
is doing with DK Metcalf, Like, this is textbook bad management.
I'm sorry, this is textbook bad management. It's textbook bad

(12:54):
financial management. It's textbook bad people management. So legitimately, man
helped me make sense of it. Five point three seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty. Your phone calls are welcome. We
have no guests until the five o'clock hour at Mulleger
on Twitter thanks to Delta Dental. Delta Dental is building healthy, smart,
vibrant communities for all good at Delta Dental. Oh dot

(13:17):
com Reds are playing the Podres today. U is the
Cactus League rolls on. There hasn't been just an avalanche
of news coming from a good year, which is a
good thing. At least Hunter Green, the best bargain in
baseball is going to pitch today, and I think there's
something about Hunter Green. I'm a huge Hunter Green fan

(13:40):
that you could apply to the Bengals, and we'll do that.
It's my favorite week on the sports calendar. I still
call it Championship Week. ESPN started calling it champ Week
ten years or so ago. The weekend winners go first.
Xavier beats Providence Musketeers. It really does feel like and
I could be over stating this a little bit, it

(14:02):
really does feel like win and in a golden opportunity
for the Muskies to make one more case, one more
statement about their NCAA tournament bonavides with the game against
Marquettet Madison Square Garden u se comes off. Honestly, I
hate to say it for this team this year, a
very on brand loss. The Bearcats will play tomorrow against

(14:24):
the same team that just beat them on Saturday. We'll
get to all of that as the afternoon unfolds. We've
got folks waiting on hold. I hope they're all smarter
than me. I'm guessing they are. Maybe they can help
me make sense of this. It's twenty for three o'clock
oegor glad you with us today on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 3 (14:40):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes to
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Speaker 2 (15:17):
All right, it's twenty five after three. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty on Moweger. Thank you for joining us. We
do have another piece of Bengals news. Samaj p Ryan
is back. I saw this first from mikeah Roffalo of
NFL Media. Samaj p Ryan, who was obviously on the
Bengals teams that went to the Super Bowl and AFC

(15:40):
Championship Game against the Chiefs in consecutive years, who left
Denver this past season then went to Case played in
the Super Bowl and well, Patrick Mahomes snubbed him on
a potential handshake, and so as revenge for that, Samaj
is back in Cincinnati, reportedly two years, three point eight
million dollars. Far be it from me to tell you

(16:03):
or anybody else who you should be following on social media.
But earlier today the Internet was losing its mind that
Samaj had apparently signed a three year, twenty two million
dollar contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now you might
be aware that NFL rules dictate that you can't play
for two teams at once, and so, if we're believing

(16:26):
the reporting by Mike Rofflo, Samaj is a Bengal and
not a buck. The Buccaneers story was originally posted by
that dove climbing guy on social media. Hear me out, Okay,
stop following dove climbing, or at least don't rely on
dove climbing for your NFL news as a general rule.

(16:50):
And I know there's like some interesting Twitter feeds out
there from people who are insiders or you know that
work in sports, but don't want to tell you who
they are. My general rule is this, if you don't
put your name on it, if you don't put your
name and reputation on it. I'm not interested and I

(17:13):
don't follow. So just as a as a general rule,
please stop looking at Dove Climban as the go to
source for NFL information. Samajp Ryan reportedly back two years
three point eight. Now I want should turn out Dove Climate.
There's Dover DV. There's people who are not on social media,

(17:36):
which God love you if that you You have no
idea who I'm talking about, but I'm like, I'm looking
at it right now. The Sports Illustrated Bengals running back.
It's former Bengals running back, big contract from NFC contender
now for what it's worth. Jason Lickt, who is the
general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is on
Twitter and he responded to the Dove Climban tweet by writing, no,

(18:00):
we did not. So the Buccaneers have said we haven't
signed some a JP Ryan, So he's it's gonna be
a Bengal. There you go. All right, there's a lot
to this. You're gonna hear Duke Tobin from last week.
The most widely recirculated piece of audio from the NFL
combine last week. We'll have that for you coming up

(18:20):
here in just a bit. First, Scott, you're on ESPN
fifteen thirty Scott, go afternoon. How are you mL football?

Speaker 5 (18:29):
I am fine?

Speaker 2 (18:29):
By the way, mL football is another one to stay wait,
stop following stut you follow the accounts, don't rely on
them for your NFL news.

Speaker 6 (18:38):
That's right. So I'm going to play Devil's advocate here.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
I knew you would.

Speaker 6 (18:45):
I'm well, I'm glad I have a reputation. That's good.
It takes like Ian Rapperford said, it takes two to
do its contract. Apparently this was reported earlier that Jamar

(19:06):
walked away from a contract a reasonable offer last year
because he thought he could get more. So both players, actually,
all three players are under contract for next year. What's
the hurry? Why why the consternate? We did this last

(19:30):
year any year before that? If you remember correctly that
we're not signing anybody, we didn't sign anybody.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Oh, I've not said that. I've not said I'm not
complaining about them not signing anybody. I acknowledged at the
top of this show that in recent years the Bengals
have jumped in a little bit later than everybody else,
and in some cases have been productive. I'm not worried
about them signing players from outside. I'm worried about their
plan to signed players from outside being affected by the
necessity to pay two players even more than you would

(19:58):
have paid them. You just god have done a year.

Speaker 5 (20:00):
Ago, right, right?

Speaker 6 (20:03):
Well, and again, I.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
Is Jamar Chase an elite player?

Speaker 5 (20:11):
Absolutely?

Speaker 7 (20:12):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Did you know that a year ago?

Speaker 7 (20:17):
Of course?

Speaker 2 (20:17):
Okay? So what what is always what is always true
when it comes to the pool of elite players. Their
salaries always go up. So Miles Garrett might not play
wide receiver, and you could say that the Browns made
a bad deal with him, and there's some validity to that,
but he is an elite player, and so he helps
reset the market. Max Crosby, even coming off an injury

(20:40):
riddled season in Las Vegas, he's an elite player, so
he helps help set the market. Bengals can't do anything
about that. You can't. You can't control what the Browns do,
or or what the Steelers do, or what the Raiders
do or what anybody else does. But you know, going
in with elite players, the salaries are only going to
go up. So why don't you go ahead and get
it done.

Speaker 6 (20:58):
Now again, I'm with you on that. I'm just saying,
what's to say. Have the Bengals reasonably always paid their players?

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well? I think they have a good track record still
when it comes to paying their absolute best players. But
they also have a track record of letting some good
players get away, not being able to replace them, and
then watching them succeed elsewhere.

Speaker 6 (21:27):
Yeah, and I know, and you and I have a
disagreement about that because I don't think Jesse.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Would you like to have Jesse Bates right now at
thirteen million dollars, I would like to have.

Speaker 6 (21:36):
Jesse Bates right now. But at the time when he
was playing like crap, I would have liked to have them.
He was not playing well. And you even said, I
remember it vividly, that maybe we should not make him
the highest paid safety because he's not playing at that level.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
No, I did so also believe. I believe that they
had a plan that I thought was gonna work it
and it did not. Yeah. Yeah, well.

Speaker 6 (22:08):
You're you're saying it did not.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
It are they? Okay? But it did not the last
two years. Maybe maybe next year. The Bengals have two
awesome safeties and you could say, well, they finally have
replaced Jesse, Bates and Vandel, but they haven't done that yet.
They haven't done that yet.

Speaker 6 (22:26):
No, I'm just saying, it takes two to make a contract,
to sign a contract, to.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Sign a deal.

Speaker 6 (22:33):
If if you are are Jamal, if you are T Higgins,
aren't you loving what's going on? Aren't you going to
continue to perhaps not come to the table or not
sign a contract because you think you can get even more? No,
I perhaps if what happened last year.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
If I'm jam if I'm Jamar Chase, what I'm doing
is I'm taking Duke Tobin's words and I'm throwing them
back at the organization. Not so much Duke, but back
at the organization. Duke Tobin said, we are going to
make him the highest paid non quarterback in the NFL. Well, again,
since those comments were made, they've had the NFL has
seen two players set records for highest paid player that's

(23:15):
not a quarterback in Max Crosby and and Miles. So
if I'm Jamar Chase, yes, I'm rushing to the table
going awesome. H here's where it starts. Go ahead and
get that done. Now. If I'm T Higgins, I'm not
signing anything. I'm not signing anything right now. I want
to see what the market has for in store for
me at wide receiver next year. I'm want to go
out and have a great season. This year, I'm gonna
catch passes from Joe Burrow. IM want to inflate my numbers.

(23:37):
I want to show that I could stay healthy. I
want to try to win a ring. I'm going to
get a twenty percent raise this year. I'm not signing anything,
but you know, you've always had I think in the
back of your mind. If you're the Bengals. A year ago,
we were talking about it being a done deal. T
Higgins wasn't going to stay here long term. I believe
they were operating under the assumption when they were talking
with Jamar that we're not going to keep Tea. Right now,

(23:59):
things have changed. Now the quarterback has said, well, I
want to keep teasing. They kind of have to figure
out a way to keep them. That complicates things with Jamar.
Things were less complicated last offseason. You were operating under
the assumption t wasn't gonna stay. We were gonna have
to we were gonna have to let Tea walk because
we were gonna pay Jamar, and you didn't do it,
and now the asking price has gone up. Oh and
by the way, now the quarterback wants you to keep tea.

(24:22):
Negotiating with team now would have been a little bit easier.
I think had you gotten the deal done with Jamar
eight months ago. Instead they didn't. Now they got to
figure out a way to pay both with the quarterback
watching very intently to see what's going to happen.

Speaker 6 (24:35):
Well. Again, the reports are that Jamar wanted to wait,
that it was his deal, that he walked away from
a legitimate offer that the Bengals had given him and said, no,
I want to see where the market's going to go.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
I want to see. Yeah, but if you're but if
you're the Bengals and you still enjoy exclusive negotiating rights,
you mean to tell me that if if they said,
you know what, Jamar, we want to keep talking with you,
that he would have said no.

Speaker 7 (25:06):
Well, no, he wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
I don't have signed, but he would he would not
have said no to him. I cannot imagine that the
Bengals in the let's say Week eight, right with Jamar
not hitting free agency at the end of this year,
if Week eight or during their buy or whatever they
come to and go, Jamar, we want to have a
serious negotiating session with you. We want to start from
where we left off and then let's see if we

(25:29):
can get it done. That Jamar would have said, no,
I'm not talking to you. It would be one thing
if he was said to hit free agency. He's not.

Speaker 6 (25:37):
I Again, the reports are he had a thirty eight
million dollars a year contract on the table and turned
it down, walked away said no, I want to see
how things play out. So and that's reasonable. I think
that that's reasonable because I don't think that the Bengals
are going to lowball a chase, and I just think

(26:02):
it is very bad optics right now. But it could
be that the Bengals have done everything right and just
it hasn't worked out in their favor so far.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
So far, it has not so far. Yeah, and if
it does, we'll all give them a lot of credit.
But it just feels to me. All I heard last
week was you got to get this stuff done quickly
so you know what you can have to spend in
free agency. Free agency has started. I know the new
league year it doesn't begin to Wednesday, but free agency
has started, and yet they don't have these deals done.

(26:39):
So is that something we just said? Is that something
we just said to say it? Is it something we
actually believe? Yeah? Like it wouldn't it be nice to
approach free agency going You know what, here's what the
Jamar Chase deal is, and so we have that framework
put in place, and now we can move forward and
have a better idea of what we have to spend
long term or maybe do the same thing with Higgins.

Speaker 6 (26:59):
I totally agree. I I think that that's absolutely correct.

Speaker 8 (27:03):
But they've also signed a bunch of free agents today
who the Bengals, Yes, a bunch who ki UHJ p
Ryan need, Cody Ford, BJ Hill.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
I mean, so they have like the same guy I
like SOMEJ. P Ryan. I'm not sure how much gas
is left in the tank, but I like SOMEJ.

Speaker 7 (27:33):
P Ryan.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
So so they brought back some some of the same
guys from the team that didn't make the postseason last year,
but haven't extended their absolute best players and still have
this major uncertainty hovering over Trey Hendrickson. So what has
gotten accomplished? Yes, as you and I talked one Scott,
all I could do is is react to what has
happened and what is happening. I get if by the

(27:55):
end of the If by the end of the week,
the Bengals have accomplished something as it relates to their
best players and made the rest of the team better
using free agency, you know I will be the first
to credit them for them. All I can do is
react to what has happened right now and to a
agree what their record is.

Speaker 6 (28:13):
Totally agree, and I agree it's that bad optics. But
I just wonder knowing who's running the team, Katie and Elizabeth,
They're acutely aware of their perception and have done a

(28:33):
great job of being more socially active and relevant. So
I'm willing to perhaps cut them a little slack and
thinking that maybe this is player driven more than it
is Bengal driven.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
How do you think Joe Burrow feels about this right now?

Speaker 7 (28:51):
I'm good.

Speaker 6 (28:53):
I'm sure they've been in contact with him and say, hey, listen,
here's what we're trying to do, here's what we've done.
I'm sure that he's being looked in on everything that's
going on.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
I would I would be why we probably haven't. I
would believe I would. I would believe the same thing.
But I I you know, Joe is the one who
said we can't keep being the team that can't replace that.
Lets really good players get away and while we are
and what we are jaded. But but that's their fault,
that's not mine. But that's not that's their fault. Give

(29:23):
me reason.

Speaker 6 (29:24):
I'm not arguing that point at all.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
All right, Well, uh, I appreciate hearing from you. As always,
we are way late. Oh well, we got Terri what
he got for me?

Speaker 7 (29:36):
Top guard is off the board.

Speaker 9 (29:37):
Okay, Aaron Banks is expected to sign with Green Bay.

Speaker 5 (29:41):
All right.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
By the way, the dream of the apple of my eye,
Milton William's gone too. He is off to uh New England.

Speaker 7 (29:49):
Not so bad as one Viking's Grady Jared Science of Chicago.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
How did you feel about Sam Darnold signing with the Seahawks? Okay,
with that, good for him, very good. We are insanely late.
Sports headlines are coming up five point three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. We'll get you in. Stop getting your NFL
news from Dove climbing. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 3 (30:09):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
From the uc Health Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke,
every second count. So that's why the uc Health Comprehensive
Stroke Center is the clear choice for rapid life saving treatment.
Learn more at UCHealth dot com. Westbound nor Wood Lateral
police activity is off on the right shoulder that before
Paddock Road. A little bit of slow traffic from running road.

(30:36):
Looking at a minute or two worth of delays there
on Compton Road, it's debris in the roadway west of
Vine Street. Use caution there. I'm at Ezelik with.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
Sports headlines ten minutes later than usual. Service of Kelsey
Chevale home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval
from their family to yours for life kelseyshow dot com.
Bengals have signed Cody Ford, the offensive lineman, gets a
two year six mil. Reportedly, team has also made it
official Mike Kasiki is back three years twenty five and

(31:08):
a half mil. B J Hill resigns three years thirty
three mil, sixteen guaranteed. Mikearoh Roffalo of NFL Media reports
that Samaj p Ryan is back in the Fold a
two year contract. By the way, I guess we have
to issue an apology an apology to a Dove Dove climb.
I guess Dove, who I don't really think is a
real person. Dove got his samah original samajp Ryan info

(31:31):
from Aaron Wilson, who actually is a reputable NFL reporter,
and then Aaron Wilson got the story wrong about Samaj
p Ryan going to the Bucks, and Dove got duped,
and then the Bucks GM retweeted Dove, it's just a
whole mess anyway, don't get your NFL news from Dove.

Speaker 4 (31:51):
What else?

Speaker 2 (31:51):
What else do we have? Tarn Has anything any anything
remotely interesting happened in the NFL in the last five minute?

Speaker 7 (32:00):
H nothing that has seen as late?

Speaker 2 (32:02):
All right, justin Field's off to the Jets. Sam Darnold
off to the Seattle Seahawks. Milton Williams, who I one
of the Bengals design is off to New England. Darius
slay that I see he's going to Pittsburgh. Eagles cut
him last week. Meanwhile, in Cactus League.

Speaker 7 (32:19):
We do have breaking news.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
What do we got?

Speaker 9 (32:21):
Former Packers defensive tackle TJ. Slayton headed to the Bengals
on a two year deal.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
TJ.

Speaker 7 (32:26):
Slayton yep okay two year deal fifteen million.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
All right, well, we gotta get we gotta get somebody
on to tell us about TJ. Slayton. Very good, all right,
he is Tom Pelisero, has Tom Pelisaro, TJ. Slayton. TJ
Slayton shares my birthday. I can tell you that he's
October third, and he went to Florida, and as of
this moment, that's what I can tell you about TJ. Slaton.

(32:51):
All right, Now, we got to find somebody who can
do a deep dive on TJ. Slayton. So TJ. Slayton
is twenty seven years old and yes, born on my
birthday October third, though many many many years later. Spent
the last four years in Green Bay with the Packers
because that's where the Packers play, and he was held

(33:12):
to ten games last season. TJ. Slayton. By the end
of this show, I will be an expert on TJ. Slaton.
What were the terms of the contract, Terry?

Speaker 7 (33:23):
Two years of fifteen point one million.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
Two years fifteen point one okay, all right, fifteen point
one Bengals sign a guy. All right, rads are playing
the Padres in Peoria coming up in just about twenty
five minutes. Peoria, Arizona, Nott, Illinois. Hunter Green will start
for Cincinnati baseball's best Bargain college basketball. Congratulations to Jerome Hunter.

(33:46):
This is really cool. He has been selected as the
twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five Big East Sportsmanship
Award winner. He has overcome a lot during his college
basketball career. He will have wrapped up his Xavior career.
Played in well over one hundred games, including every game
this year that in itself is a win. Had a
twelve point performance against Providence in Xavier's Senior Day victory

(34:10):
over the Friars on Saturday. Mort tonight on the Seawan
Millers Show, seven o'clock fifty five KRC. The Mark Pope
Radio Show is tonight at six on ESPN fifteen thirty.
TJ Slayton Bengals have signed see see they're not sitting
it out, but Jamar Chase T. Higgins as of this

(34:33):
moment still unsigned. I don't know I've been accused of overreacting.
I just specifically the Jamar Chase thing for me, if
you know he's elite, the price for elite players doesn't
come down if you know he's elite. Why why let

(34:55):
factors beyond your control allow the price to go up.
You can complain about the Cleveland Browns and Miles Garrett,
fair criticism, but you can't control that. You can complain
about the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dk Metcalf, and I think
there's some validity to that criticism. I think Dk Metcalf
is a good player, not a great player. But if

(35:16):
I'm T Higgins, all right, fine, the number is gonna
start at thirty, which is the average annual value of
his new deal in Pittsburgh. You can complain about the
Raiders and Max Crosby. You you can't control what those
other teams do. But you know the market for great
players is only going to go up. You know Jamar
Chase is a great player. You know that that, there

(35:39):
are no doubts. You know he's a star. How do
you let the how do you let the market increase?
How do you let the price go up without just
getting a deal done? And you could say, well, there
are two sides to this, and Jamar's got to say
yes like that that is a player worth chasing during

(36:01):
the no pun intended worth chasing during the season, just
is turn away from four o'clock pulp question coming up
on Twitter here in just a bit, some college basketball thoughts,
and we've got to get an expert on TJ. Slate
a lot to get to between now and six on
ESPN fifteen to thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
Traffic from the uc Health Traffic Center. When it comes
to stroke, every second count. So that's why the uc
Health Comprehensive Stroke Center is the clear choice for rapid
life saving treatment. Learn more at UCHealth dot com. The
one after Ronald Reagan Highway, it's an accident off on
the right shoulder, an injury accident on kemper over at

(36:47):
Tri County Parkway and on Compton Road. Debris on the
roadway that is west of Vine Street used caution in
the area. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 7 (36:57):
This report is sponsored by RiPP the.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Bengals a defensive tackle. Now you're going, well, I want
to know everything, excuse me, everything there is to know
about TJ. Slayton. Well, okay. According to ESPN's run stop
win rate, TJ. Slayton was the best defensive lineman in football.

(37:20):
I'm reading this verbatim. TJ Slayton led from Packers wire TJ.
Slayton led all defensive linemen and ESPN's run stop win rate. Now,
that would suggest a dominant season against the run. And
the Green Bay defense was really good against the run
all season long, so that's good. Pro Football Focus does

(37:44):
not have the same point of view when it comes
to TJ. Slayton's work against the run. He finished with
one of the worst run defense grades at the position.
And I'm looking on Pro Football Focus's website right now.
Pass the run defense grade one fifty seven out of
two hundred and nineteen defensive lineman one five to seven. Uh, Now,

(38:08):
it's worth mentioning two hundred and nineteen defensive linemen include
edge rushers, guys on the outside. It's not just against
defensive tackles. But a forty five point zero run defense
grade that is not good. Packers Wire continues. Slayton finished
with only one sack and two quarterback hits, highlighting his

(38:29):
limitations as a pass rusher. But PFF's overall greade for
Slayton doesn't seem to match up with his specific value
as a run stopper. And this is an important part
block eater as well. And if you now, I'm not
gonna tell you the TJ. Slayton's DJ Reader, Although TJ
and DJ are similar, but when you think of DJ
Reader in Cincinnati, you often think of in terms of

(38:51):
his in addition to his raw effectiveness measured by stats,
his ability to eat up blocks occupied blocks. His overall
grade this year forty five point three, his pass rush
grade fifty seven point six, his run defense grade forty
five point zero. So there you go. That's what I

(39:15):
could tell you about TJ. Slate. I have no idea
why I knew that he shared a birthday with me
October third, baby's twenty years apart. TJ. Slayton, who had
that Arran was a Microuffalo? Wasn't Dove climbing? Was it?

Speaker 7 (39:30):
Hello?

Speaker 2 (39:30):
Sara had Pella Sero?

Speaker 7 (39:31):
Sorry?

Speaker 4 (39:33):
Tom?

Speaker 2 (39:33):
Is it Mike Pelisara, Tom Pelliser?

Speaker 7 (39:35):
Tom?

Speaker 2 (39:39):
I lose track of my NFL insiders sometime.

Speaker 7 (39:42):
All right, there you go, TJ. Slate, it wasn't Dove though.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
It wasn't Dove climbing, is it? Aaron Wilson? Aaron Wilson's
the guy who I guess erroneously reported that samajp Ryan
is going to Tampa and then Dove climban took it
and ran with it. And then that's the guy that
the Bucks GM retweeted. So there you go, right five
point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty. I oh oh, oh,

(40:08):
you got another one, Tara? What he got for me?

Speaker 7 (40:10):
I just had the blockbuster trade?

Speaker 2 (40:11):
A blockbuster trade.

Speaker 9 (40:13):
Okay, Texans are finalizing a trade for five time pro
bowler Larry Thompson.

Speaker 7 (40:17):
Wow to the Commanders.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
Four.

Speaker 7 (40:21):
Uh, we don't know yet. That's just that's just who say,
a package of picks?

Speaker 2 (40:25):
That's what the package of picks? All right? So Laramie
Tunsell gets traded by Houston to the Commanders. Wow. Okay,
very good? Uh one are my all time favorite draft
situations involved Laramie Tunsel and the gas mask and the bong,
and he has recovered from that to put together a
really really good NFL career. He is a five time

(40:46):
pro bowler. He is from uh Ole, Miss. He is
going from Houston to the Commanders for a package of picks.
So if you were hoping the Bengals would swing a trade,
not that they're not. Okay, a tackle because they're in
pretty good shape. He ain't coming to Cincinnati. Four o'clock ESPN,
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station. Hi, it's me.

Speaker 5 (41:05):
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's Sports.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
Right, that's us. It's six minutes after four o'clock. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Oeger. Thank you for doing this.
Thank you for doing this, Thank you for listening. How
am I get that from? Thank you for doing this?

Speaker 9 (41:23):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (41:24):
What do we have? No guest this hour? You and I.
It's been it's been a busy afternoon. There's been a
just a ton of NFL news locally filled with familiar names.
Cody Ford is back, Mike Kisiki is back, BJ Hill
is back. Samaj p Ryan is back. I'll be honest
with you. Cody Ford I wanted back because if Cody

(41:47):
Ford ish your backup guard, great, Cody Fords are smarting guard,
starting guard. I'm not sure the offseason went as we
had hoped, but Cody Ford has value. If you're a
Bengals fan, I think you should NodD along with that one.
Mike Kisiki is back. This is a guy that Joe
Burrow wanted. There has been a whole series of one
year prove it deal free agents who have come to

(42:08):
Cincinnati and had success. This is the first one they
have extended. He is effectively the team's number three wide receiver.
He is back BJ Hill. I like BJ Hill a
lot man. You talk about one of the better trades
the Bengals have ever made. BJ Hill for Billy Price
and BJ a big part of the two teams that
went deep in the postseason. Not entirely opposed to this,

(42:29):
I guess, but I just I get the sense BJ's
best years are behind it, but maybe in a more
limited role with a better group of players around him,
including a guy that Bengals have reportedly just signed, this
deal will work out. Samaj p Ryan is back a
couple of years after he left. If Samaj p Ryan

(42:49):
is the number two or number three running back, that's
kind of underwhelming to me. But a nice insurance policy,
I suppose. And TJ. Slayton, who is a defensive tackle
coming over from Green Bay. Paul Dayner Junior, who joins
US tomorrow, I'm sure is going to be a situation
where one hour is not enough highlights some of the

(43:12):
particular six foot four, three hundred and thirty pounds coming
off his rookie season. This is maybe the important part.
The new defensive line coach is Jerry Montgomery and TJ.
Slayton played for Jerry Montgomery in Green Bay. The Green
Bay Packers had a very good run defense this year
and TJ. Slayton was a part of it. I will
let people who are nerdier and more knowledgeable than me

(43:36):
parse And I've read this before ESPN dot Com. ESPN's
run block or run stop win rate Metric loves TJ. Slayton.
Pro Football Focus not so much, and so choose to
believe who you want to believe. Terrey, do we have
the audio of last week? This is Duke Tobin, the

(43:57):
Bengals director of player personnel. This is what Duke had
to say, not last week, I guess was that last week.
It was the week before at the Combine, Duke Tobin.
Two weeks time is a flat circle. Le have lost
all track Duke Tobin at the Combine last two weeks ago.
As Tarren just told me, here is a Duke answering

(44:17):
questions about Jamar Chase.

Speaker 10 (44:20):
Yeah, you know, obviously Ta is the one that's not
signed for the future right now, and so that, you know,
puts the onus on us to do something there one
way or the other. Earlier, Jamar is always going to
be our priority. He's a fantastic football player. He's gonna
end up being the number one paid non quarterback in

(44:41):
the league. We're there, let's get it done.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
Still may be the case and awesome, but since Duke
Tobin said that, two players have become obviously one temporarily
and the other temporarily, especially if the Bengals get the
Jamar Chase thing done. First, Max Crosby, he spent about
fifteen minutes owning the title of highest paid non quarterback

(45:10):
in the NFL. And then we found out over the
weekend Miles Garrett went from I can't win here, I
want out to yeah, you know what, this isn't so bad.
Forty million dollars per one hundred and twenty three point
five mili in guaranteed money. He is the current highest
paid non quarterback in NFL history. So there you go.

(45:30):
So I guess there's a couple of things about this
Duke Tobin thing. Number One, if you were Jamar Chase,
like you're using that Like, if you're Jamar Chase, your
negotiating position is not a certain dollar amount. It's what
Duke said. You said, They're gonna make me the highest
paid non quarterback in the league. So that's that's what
we're gonna do. So every time a new guy a

(45:53):
new contract had signed, making somebody else the current highest
paid non quarterback in the league, Well, guess what, boy,
my asking price goes up, which means if I'm the Bengals,
I don't know who this player would be. I'm not
letting somebody else grab the title for Miles Garrett. I'm
gonna let Jamar Chase grab the title from Miles Garrett.

(46:13):
So I wonder and I don't know. I wonder Number one,
when Duke said that, how did it play in the
offices of ownership? Like? When Duke said that, was he
did he go rogue? Did he was he speaking from

(46:34):
a place of complete information, where, Hey, I'm doing this
with Jamar, We're doing this with Jamar no matter what.
Did it even occur to him that Max Crosby would
get the deal that he got with the Raiders and
then Miles Garrett would get the deal that he has
just gotten with the Cleveland Browns. Does he regrets saying that?

Speaker 11 (46:56):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (46:58):
Does ownership regret saying that, like that's it may not matter.
Maybe they still get a deal done with Jamar, and
my guess is they still will. I just it's gonna
cost him a little bit more money. Now, Like that's
a really interesting thing. It never occurred to me, although
I guess it should have because of positional value and

(47:19):
the quality of the player. I just didn't think about
it through this filter. Jamar is gonna be the highest
paid non quarterback in the NFL. So that verbage stood
out to me because it's just not verbage that I
had really thought that much of. I had kind of
limited the discussion to highest paid wide receiver, which it
makes sense would then possibly make him the highest paid

(47:39):
non QB. But since then, we've seen that exact verbage
use twice in relation to two other contracts. I also
and I said this, and I was not the only
one at the time the Duke talked and was available
to the Bengals writers and other media in Indianapolis. He
also said, I want what Joe Burrow wants. And we've

(48:01):
talked god knows for exactly three months now about Joe
Burrow putting the pressure on the front office, and Duke
Tobin is in the front office, but really Joe Burrow
putting pressure on ownership and Duke Tobin's not ownership, and
he did that after the Dallas game on December ninth,
did it after a couple of different games toward the

(48:22):
end of the season, and obviously did it often and
emphatically in the week leading up to the Super Bowl
when he went on all the national shows. He's putting
pressure on ownership. Well, Duke Tobin says what he says,
which is, I want what Joe wants. And my interpretation
of that, and I don't think I was the only one.
My interpretation was, well, Joe's been putting pressure on the

(48:43):
front office. Now, Duke, by saying he wants what Joe
wants is putting pressure on ownership. And so I wonder
how much that specific verbiage was his way of very
much putting the onus on Troy and Katie and Elizabeth
and Mike to go ahead and get this done and
get it done in a way that also ensures that

(49:05):
they keep t Higgins. The t Higgins thing is is
a little bit of a separate conversation, which if Duke's
doing that as much as Duke Tobin has a very
important role as it relates to the construction of the
Cincinnati Bengals roster and the players they want to bring
in and how they want the draft to go. You

(49:26):
wonder how much absolute say Duke has when it comes
to a situation like Jamar Chases. You might argue he
should have none. At the end of the day, if
a team is going to fork over the kind of
money that Jamar Chase is going to command, that decision
should be signed off on solely by the owner and
the GM or the player director of player personnel, whatever

(49:47):
you want to call him is shouldn't have that much authority.
And a lot of NFL teams the buck is gonna
stop with the owner or the person controlling the purse strings.
And that's not Duke. But it does make you wonder
how much sway does he really have, and how much
is he driving this whole thing at all? How much
is he controlling this at all? How much is he

(50:09):
responsible for what ultimately happens or at least what has
happened to this point with Jamar Chase, when he says
I want what Joe wants to me, that's putting the
onus on what's happening upstairs. So while Duke publicly has
taken some heat and puts himself out there, though he
doesn't do it all that often, and has to answer

(50:30):
questions about Jamar, and answer questions about Tea, and answer
questions about the other guys the Bengals either want to
sign or haven't signed yet or will sign. When he's
having to answer questions about the money that's going to
be allocated to certain players, how much control does he
really have when it comes to allocating money to certain players?
How helpless is he is? He as helpless as Joe

(50:53):
Burrow is when he says, I want what Joe wants.
This has been interesting. Five point three seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty. There's something else about this that we have
to get to a little bit later on. I do
think there's something that a lot of people tend to forget.
We'll spend some time on that here in just a bit.

(51:14):
I was asked a question about the UC basketball season
on Saturday that I will answer, and we have to
talk about something beyond Madison Square Garden for the Musketeers.
We'll do that next on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (51:30):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center when it comes
to stroke. Every second counts. That's why the uc Health
Comprehensive Stroke Center is the clear choice for rapid life
saving treatment. Learn more at UCHealth dot com. There's an
injury accident on Kemper Road at Tri County Parkway. On Vine.
It's another accident at Paddock Road westbound two seventy five

(51:53):
down to one lane for construction. That on the Carrol
Cropper Bridge. Slow traffic right now from the Petersburg exit.
I'm at Ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
This report is sponsored by mattress Or. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty im oegor. Thank you for listening today. I
had something I was going to mention here. I'm sifting
through all my This is my favorite week in sports.
It's there are two times here that the folks who
control our paper supply don't like me. One is when

(52:23):
I print out Dan Brugler's draft guide. The others during
a conference tournament week champ week. Because I'm a print guy,
I print out every league's tournament bracket. Xavier will play
Marquette while we're on the air on Thursday and the
quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. The Muskies get a
first round by a four seed in the Big East Tournament,
and they storm into it on the heels of their

(52:46):
win on Saturday over Providence and with the weight of
a seven game winning streak behind them. Give the Musketeers credit,
they are not in. They may make the tournament, and
they maybe they would be in if the tournament bracket
were now. But the point is there's still some sweating out,
there's still some work they have to do. They can
obviously take a major step toward the tournament with a

(53:07):
win over Marquette on a neutral floor and then assuming
they'll play Saint John's and I will make that assumption,
get a crack at the biggest regular season champ and
I think easily a top ten team in college basketball
on a technically a neutral floor, but really a home
game for the Johnnies. I got to think, if you
win those two, you are in. They've at least put

(53:29):
themselves in a position to go to New York and
have a chance. And you could say, well, yeah, they
beat up the dregs of the Big East. Well, you
know you still have to win those games. You still
have to go on the road and win. You still
have to beat Creyton at home. You still have to
come back from that and take care of business against
the bad Butler team. You have to beat a Providence
team that played pretty well for much of the game

(53:51):
on Saturday afternoon. You still have to win the games
in front of you to put yourself in a position,
and you don't do that if your team doesn't improve.
Sean Miller's team has improved, and I think it's improved
to the point that we can discuss their metrics and
we will, and we could talk about, you know, how
their resume looks compared to a team like Ohio State,
which missed I think a major opportunity to take a

(54:13):
step toward the tournament with their game against Indiana, and
we could discuss what would happen if a bid stealer
comes along and wins a league that would ordinarily be
a one bid league, now it's two. What does that mean?
We can do all that. From a basketball perspective, Xavier
looks like a team that should be taken seriously in

(54:33):
the NCAA Tournament. I'm not telling you there are a
second weekend of the tournament team. I'm not telling you
they're gonna win more than a game or two. But
I think sometimes we talk so much about like, well,
can they get in? Can they just get there? I
think I think beyond that, the answer is the question
is can they win once they're in? Do they look

(54:54):
like a team right now? I know the eye test
is something that's debated all the time to whether or
not it should be applied to a team's tournament resume,
But I think if they get in, with the way
they're playing right now, with the roles that have been
carved out offensively, with how they've improved on the defensive end,
with how they have mostly rectified their turnover issues, with

(55:16):
how they've won games played at different paces, I think
with a team that it was never supposed to be
this hard for Xavier, like the way they've played here
at the end of the year. That was a team
that was the team that a lot of us thought
that they were gonna put on the floor in November.
It just took a while. And yeah, you could say
the schedule played a factor, but it's not like when
they were playing the better teams in the Big East.

(55:39):
They played well against the Yukon on the road, didn't
win the game, played well enough to win, and frankly
get a whistle that goes their way or too and
maybe they do. The Marquette game here talk about a
tough whistle at the end. They didn't play great in
that game, but they stormed back. I didn't like how
they played here against Saint john. I liked how they

(56:00):
played for thirty minutes against Saint John's on the road,
like they more than held their own against the better
teams in the Big East and then wipe the floor
for the most part with the bad teams in the league.
That looks like a tournament team, and it looks like
a team that can win games in the NCAA tournament.
UC has to win five and five. The Bearcats will
play tomorrow against Oklahoma State, so we will go on

(56:23):
the air pretty much right after that game has ended.
Cincinnati will play the same team they played on Saturday.
That was a very twenty twenty five type loss for
the Bearcats, where for the first half, despite Wes Miller
talking about the poor effort in the previous game against
Kansas State and changes that would be made, he puts

(56:46):
the same starting line up on the floor. He plays
basically the same guys. The effort in the first half
left a lot to be desired. They do come back
and then over the last four to forty one offensively,
if they could do wrong, they do and they lose
a game to a bad team on their floor. I
put this on social media on Saturday. The Bearcats finished

(57:10):
the non league portion of the schedule at ten and one,
and yet I had a very uneasy feeling, and nobody
wanted to hear this, but the non league schedule was punctuated.
They played well on the road against Georgia Tech, but
the two games that most paid closest attention to were

(57:30):
the Xavier game and the Dayton game. The Bearcats won both.
In neither game did they play well offensively. And I
remember at the time wondering, how do we look at this.
Is it a team that is figuring out how to
win despite having a hard time offensively, and we get

(57:53):
excited about what it's going to look like when they
turn things around offensively, or do we worry that, yes,
they're winning games, but offensively they're leaving a lot to
be desired. I had a really uneasy feeling after the
non conference portion of the schedule. That unease grew after
they played the way they did in the Big Twelve

(58:14):
opener when they lost to Kansas State on the road,
and I remember on this show wondering, like, God, are
we sure? Are we sure this team's a showing to
make the tournament, which was treated as an inevitability by
a lot of folks. Are we sure this team can
win ten games in the Big East? Now that said,

(58:35):
I would have lost money if you would have wagered
with me that the Bearcats are only going to win
seven games in the conference, with two more games in
last year, And yet here we are. Brandon Sajo, who
has been on this show and is a former Channel
five sports anchor current host of The Mental Game podcast,
as a huge Ucy basketball fan and asked and said

(58:57):
this to me on social media. He wrote, maybe I'm wrong,
but it feels like the most disappointing UC basketball season
in thirty plus years. It's honestly sad. And I thought
about that. There have been disappointing seasons. They've been disappointing,
you know, early tournament exits. There have been teams that
you thought were going to be really, really good and

(59:18):
only ended up being kind of good. There have been
teams that you know, expectations grew as the season went on,
because they were so much better than anybody expected that
they got to the tournament and lost early. Think if
you're a fan of a certain age nineteen ninety eight,
which that year the Bearcats were a two seed, nobody
thought they'd be very good at the beginning of the season,
but because of how they played during the season, when

(59:38):
they lost in the second round on a buzzer beater
by Jared West to West Virginia, thorough disappointment. And there
have been twenty fourteen Sean Kilpatrick's last year they were terrific,
and then they lose to Harvard as a five seed
in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and some
early exits and some teams just never totally materialized. But

(01:00:03):
I think the two things about this season that stand
out more than anything. Number One, whether you like Wes
Miller or not, the reality is this is not a
coach who has built up that much equity with this program.
I think he's done a good job of stabilizing things,
which is hard to do. I think he's recruited some

(01:00:23):
players that most of us have enjoyed watching at least
at times, but he's not built up any equity. So
with the previous coaches, and I'll sort of remove John
Brandon from the conversation just because he was only here
for two years. If there was a disappointing season under
Mick or a disappointing season under Bob Huggins, you could say, well,
you know what, it was a disappointing season, but the

(01:00:45):
disappointing season wasn't an indictment about an indictment against whether
or not this coach should continue. And look, there's a
reason why John Cunningham made a statement to The Inquirer
last week about Wes Miller being the coach next year.
It's because there are a lot of folks who are asking, like,
is this really gonna work with this coach? Like that's
a thing that's out there, that's not me making it up,

(01:01:06):
that's the thing. There's a lot of people who feel
that way, which is why Jason Williams was writing about it,
and it's why John Cunningham was answering the question about it.
A lot of folks don't believe Wes Miller is the guy,
and so that's a part of this, right. There have
been disappointments, there have been teams that didn't go as
far as we would have liked, or teams that didn't
necessarily come together the way we expected, but you didn't
view that as well. You know what, the program is

(01:01:26):
in bad shape with this coach. They shouldn't continue with
this coach. So there's that. There's also been disappointing teams
and teams that didn't go as far as we would like,
and disappointing early round exits, but the conversations were based
on results and roster construction and player utilization and basketball strategy.

(01:01:52):
This year, the conversations that have stood out to me
most have been the ones that took place after the
home loss to West Virginia or the road loss to Utah,
the road lost to Baylor, the home loss to Kansas State,
when the conversation has been about effort and intensity and

(01:02:17):
basketball IQ and buy in and care and aggressiveness and
desperation and urgency. We haven't talked as much about strategy
player utilization, although that has come up results or even
what the results mean. And you know, I say this often,

(01:02:43):
I've been rooting for this program and caring deeply about
it for thirty five years. Typically when there's been disappointment,
there's been disappointment in an outcome. My disappointment this year
was more about those other things, lack of identity, which
has been talked about a lot. And so I'm not
sure what the most disappointing season is, but I think

(01:03:05):
this disappointment is most unique because you're still looking for
things to hang your hat on when it comes to
belief in the coach. And this season was defined, I
think by the questions about effort and intensity and focus.

(01:03:28):
Like last week when they lost the way they lost
to Kansas State, that was not the first time that
we have talked about collective effort or individual effort. And
so in my life following this program and caring about
it and talking about it, there have been disappointing losses.
There have been teams that didn't live up to expectation.
There have been teams that never really you know, never

(01:03:50):
really came together the way we would have thought. There
have been teams that haven't played to their seed in
the tournament. There have been teams that have been upset
in the two tournament. There have been teams that didn't
necessarily reach their ceiling in the regular season. There have
been teams that didn't make the tournament. This was the
first where you took the expectations that were built in.

(01:04:13):
This team was ranked a highs fourteenth in the AP
Top twenty five poll early in the season. You take
expectation and you combine it with not so much the results,
but how they looked achieving those results, and then you
add to it, whether it's right or wrong, the fact
that we're still we're still trying to believe, still want

(01:04:34):
to believe in most cases, but still trying to figure out,
like is Wes really the guy who's going to get
this done, Who's gonna make you see a national player again.
You combine all of those things and yeah, it's the
most uniquely disappointing season since I started following UC basketball
three and a half decades ago. Most, I don't know,

(01:04:57):
uniquely disappointing, I think, without question. Sports headlines update on
the Reds and more. Phone calls are coming up as
well on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

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You found Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen.

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S headlines are a service of a Kelsey Chevrolet home
of a lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from
their family to yours for life kelseyshove dot com. Bengals
have reportedly signed defensive tackle Tjon to a two year contract.
He is going into his second NFL contract. Last year,

(01:06:06):
he was number one among in ESPN's run stop win rate.
I should write all this down number one in ESPN's
metric of run stop win rate that according to ESPN Analytics,
Pro Football Focus had him as the one hundred and
seventy seventh best defensive lineman in the sport. So do

(01:06:27):
what you want with all that. TJ. Slayton two year contract.
Bengals also reportedly bringing back running back Samaj p Ryan
two year deal. He spent last season with Denver, then
got cut. Was with the Chiefs. Cody Ford back two
year contract, Mikeasiki back on a three year contract. Bj
hillback on a three year contract that'll pay him thirty
three mil overall. Meanwhile, the Reds are playing in Peoria.

(01:06:51):
Li de la Cruz just made a nice running catch.
Hunter Green is on the mount for Cincinnati. Reds have
a three to nothing lead as the padres bad. In
the bottom of the second inning, Jamer Candelario went deep.
Here's how it sounded so.

Speaker 11 (01:07:04):
Jitter batting from the left hand side, pitch in the air,
hit well right center field. He's admiring it, and why not?
Bye bye, babe, jam Or Candelario first pitch, swinging, deposits
one on the lawn and right center field. It's a
two run home run and a three nothing Red's League.

Speaker 2 (01:07:25):
Jim Day on the Reds radio network, Ellie Dela Cruz
has a run batted in. He is batting five point
fifty on the spring. I'm watching the game in Peoria.
I'm watching the game in Cincinnati. It's being played in Peoria,
and Ellie Dela Cruz just well, he just had a
ball go past him. But he made a jogging catch.
This is my favorite thing Ellie does defensively. We saw

(01:07:47):
him do this a couple of times last year, where
he calls off the third baseman and the left fielder
on a ball hit down the left field line and
covers an insane amount of ground from shortstop. Now, if
the shortstop can get there, I think most of the time,
that's his ball. It is remarkable to see number one,

(01:08:07):
not just him cover that much ground, but see how
effortlessly he runs toward the foul line. He was lined
up a shortstop and caught the ball maybe five six
feet in front of the left field line, down the
left field line. Like you watch other shortstops make that
play or try to make that play, it looks like

(01:08:29):
they're about to hack up a lung by the time
they get there. Ellie made that look like he was
jogging after the ice cream man. Hunter Green on the
mound for Cincinnati two scoreless. He has struck out two
it's three nothing reds. As they go to the top
of the third inning. I called Hunter Green the best
bargain in baseball. I think people forget two things. Number One,

(01:08:50):
how good Hunter Green was last season. Now he only
made twenty five starts. He's got to make thirty to
thirty two this year. Like, that's one of the final
few boxes he has to check. Last nine starts ERA
one point two opposing batting average. Do what you want
with this one thirty Now, those last nine starts in

(01:09:12):
the middle was a stint on the injured list. But
before Hunter Green got it going last year, you remember,
a couple of years ago, the Reds bought out his
arbitration years and signed him to a contract that if
he hit every incentive, if he pitched through the option year,
would pay him ninety six million dollars. And you know,
kind of before he got going. When he was, and

(01:09:34):
he was for a while a picture of inconsistency. People
would criticize what the Reds did. Who's criticizing it now?
Hunter Green this season will be the eighty second highest
paid pitcher in baseball, highest paid starting pitcher in baseball.

(01:09:55):
We always talk about players and their worth relative to
not what they do statistically, but what they're making. Are
there eighty one pitchers in baseball better than Hunter Green? No,
I'll answer it for you. You don't have to think
the answer is no. And so you know, we've talked
a lot about the Bengals and contracts and decisions they've made.

(01:10:18):
This is one of the best ones. They bought out
Hunter Green's arbitration years, bought a year of what would
have been his free agency. He signed with them for
the next four seasons. This year, he'll make less than
six and a half million dollars. These are the sort
of things you do now. Football rules and baseball rules

(01:10:41):
are different. Football and baseball are dramatically different sports. Football
is a salary capped sport, and there's a period of
time in which you can't negotiate with one of your players,
and then you know you can. But if you know
Hunter Green is great, you go ahead, let's pay him now.
And granted, he could still hit free when he's thirty
years old, and I'm sure to a large degree that's

(01:11:02):
why he agreed agreed to do the deal in the
first place. But we know this guy is great, we
know what this guy can do. Let's go ahead and
get him locked in now, because could you imagine what
it would cost the Reds this season had Hunter been
eligible for arbitration. Can you imagine if Hunter's even better
this year? And that's where my money is going if

(01:11:25):
Hunter is even better this year, what he would get
next year. Hunter Agreen next year is locked in for
a two million dollar raise. Like you could say a
lot of things about the Reds in their front office
and how they've built the team and what they haven't accomplished.
That was a great decision, you know, a Hunter. It
works out for a guy who has had injuries. He's

(01:11:48):
guaranteed tens of millions of dollars. He can still hit
free agency at the end of the decade, he'll still
be thirty years old. Who knows what happens. But the
Reds saw an asset and said, this guy's only going
to get better. The market's only gonna go up. Let's
see if we could lock him in. And they did,
and as a result, this year, a guy who finished

(01:12:08):
eighth in the Cy Young voting last season will be
the eighty second highest paid pitcher in the sport. There
are not eighty one better college basketball. Congratulations to Xavier's
Jerome Hunter. He has earned the Big East Sportsmanship Award
for Men's basketball. The Shawn Miller Show tonight at seven
on fifty five KRC. The Mark Pope Show Tonight at

(01:12:30):
six Kentucky coming off that win over Missouri on Saturday
seven o'clock Tonight on ESPN fifteen to thirty fourteen away
from five o'clock. I do not, and I think if
you have listened to this show for any amount of time,
I do not gratuitously beat up on the Bengals like
a lot of people do. I do not call them cheap.

(01:12:51):
In fact, I never really have. I don't take shots
at them just for the taking the sake of taking
shots at them. When it comes to this Jamar Chase thing,
I really am baffled, and frankly, when it comes to
the t Higgins thing, I really am baffled by the way.
I'm not baffled when it comes to Trey Hendrickson. But
I do have a question, and I'll ask it to you.

(01:13:12):
Coming up at five oh five on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 3 (01:13:16):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.

Speaker 4 (01:13:23):
The UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke,
every second counts. That's why the UCE Health Comprehensive Stroke
Center is the clear choice for rapid life saving treatment.
Learn more at UCHealth dot com. Cole Rain is shut
down due to a structure fire between Ronald Reagan Highway
and Joseph Road. Seek an alternate route in the meantime,

(01:13:43):
like Cheviot or Pippin Road on River Road. It's an accident,
this one west of Anderson Ferry Road. Police on scene
on at Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:13:53):
This report is sneak.

Speaker 2 (01:13:54):
At all at moleger our Pole. Questions are a service
of United heartlind Urance. If you own a bar or
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(01:14:14):
this could help with your general liability liquor liability pricing
and can help you out with insurance companies. So learn
more at uhi ns dot com. As of right now,
and this could change any minute, but as of right now,
the Bengals have not signed Jamar Chase to a contract extension,

(01:14:35):
nor have they signed t Higgins to a contract extension.
Vote now give you two choices. A, the Bengals have
screwed this up royally. B It's going to be fine,
by the way. B is a viable answer because they
have Joe Burrow. Like here is The thing about this,
no matter what they do this offseason. First of all,

(01:14:57):
Jamar Chase is under contract to play for the Bengals
this year. I feel like sometimes there are folks who
need to be reminded of that. And T Higgins has
no wiggle room at all. He has to play for
the Bengals this year unless they trade him. Trey Hendrickson's
a little bit of a different story. But no matter
what they do, I think we all believe in Joe

(01:15:18):
Burrow enough that it's not that far fetched to suggest
that they will still be okay. I mean, that's you know,
It's why the criticism of the team number one is
so amplified, because you see what they have. Take advantage
of it, right, They've got Joe Burrow, take advantage of it.

(01:15:39):
But b there is still this sense of, you know what,
even if they get some things wrong, even if this
guy's not happier, this player gets away. And again, neither
t or Jamar can get away this offseason. They can
still be okay because they've gotten number nine. But there
is a part of that man that and I were

(01:16:00):
talking before the show, and he goes like, you you
can't fumble it. This badly. So we're going into year
six of Joe Burrow, and I, like a lot of folks,
I've made the window three years. Not that the Bengals
can't win beyond three years, but quarterbacks are defined by

(01:16:22):
whether or not they win. There aren't that many quarterbacks
who win their first ring in their ninth or tenth
or eleventh season. I talked with somebody yesterday who covers
the team, who said they're in Carson Palmer two thousand
and eight mode, which you know, think of it. Carson
was here in eight nine and was here in twenty ten.

(01:16:42):
And then as for a trade, Joe Burrow is a
better player than Carson Palmer. They're under a lot of
pressure here, and they're under a lot of pressure to
make their quarterback happy and build a good team around them.
But you know, the most important part in the most
important component of football was taken care of for the Bengals.

(01:17:06):
Wasn't taken care of by the Bengals. They were so
bad in twenty nineteen. The NFL gives the worst team
the first pick. They were gift wrapped. They were handed
on a silver platter. A quarterback who right now has
a case to call himself the best in the NFL.
You might argue it's Josh Allen, you might argue it's

(01:17:26):
Lamar Jackson. But clearly you can make the case that
Joe Burrow is the best quarterback in the NFL, which
I believe he is. And that's not a hot take,
that's not that far fetched an opinion. There's a lot
of people, really educated people who feel that way. If
you go through his prime and you have a quarterback
who is consistently among the very best in the league

(01:17:49):
and you don't take advantage of that, shame on you,
Like it would be the ultimate fumbling, the ultimate disappointment
in Cincinnati sports history. If you have a guy that
you didn't have to go out of your way to get,
he lands on your doorstep. He does everything you ask.
He performs at the highest possible level. He is everything

(01:18:12):
you ever could ask for off the field and on
He embraces the role unlike any other He plays at
an MVP caliber level, which he has done. Did it
this year, he did it in twenty twenty two. Hell,
he did it in twenty twenty one. And you don't
win with that, shame on you, legitimately, shape you deserve

(01:18:35):
whatever comes your way. And so you know, no matter
what they do this offseason and may be okay, and
maybe okay because the next couple of days are productive.
I do not think it's worth crushing them for not
signing a thousand guys in the first day of free agency.
It doesn't work that way. They've had productive free agency
periods before where they kind of sat out the first day,

(01:18:56):
and by the way, they haven't sat out the first
day today. But there is a growing and understandable impatience
when it comes to their signature players. Oh and by
the way, the Trey Hendrickson thing two, which we'll talk
about coming up at five oh five, five point three,
seven four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone to replus
a chat with the elder product. You see tight end
Joe Royer coming up at five forty five on ESPN

(01:19:18):
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station, and you're listening to the
Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty. Hi Dave, what's up?
Mu Leger, ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening. I
hope your Monday has gone swimmingly, swimmingly, I said, swimmingly, swimmingly.
By the way, It has gone swimmingly for Hunter Green.

(01:19:40):
Today Reds are playing the Padres. Hunter has gone three innings.
He's given up a head struck out soon two bad
starts to at least for now good starts, uh four
nothing reds Ley that ball game. Jamer Candelario has homeward
for Cincinnati. Elladilla Cruz has reached base twise, it's been
thrown out stealing. He's driven in a run. More on

(01:20:01):
that as the hour runfolds. Mark Pope Show coming up
at six o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty. An extraordinarily busy
day around the NFL, and chances are if you care
remotely about the Bengals, you know this. But I'll do
my professional duty here, fulfill my obligation and tell you
some of the things that have happened as it relates

(01:20:22):
to the Bengals. They're bringing some players back. Cody Ford
is back good, Mike Kasicki is back good. BJ Hill
is back fine. Samaj p Ryan is back fine. Those
are players who have returned on contracts, and if you're

(01:20:43):
into the nuts and bolts of those contract structures, go
ahead and find it. Cincinnati has also reportedly agreed to
terms on a contract with two year contract with defensive
tackle TJ. Slayton. As many have pointed out on social media,
Duke Tobin at the combine two weeks ago heavily when
asked about the pass rush on well, we've got to

(01:21:04):
be better against the run, and if we're better against
the run, we'll be in a better position to get
after the passer. The Bengals run defense over the last
couple of years, specifically last season, very very spotty. TJ.
Slayton is a guy this is worth pointing out, number
one among players at his position in pass Sorry, I
keep screwing this up in runs toop win rate. Pro

(01:21:25):
Football Focus did not view him nearly as favorably, but
the Bengals have kept one and added one in the
interior of that defensive line. I also saw, and I
believe it was from a Charlie Clifford of Channel five
who just a few minutes ago who reported that the
Bengals are engaged in negotiations to keep Joseph Osai, which

(01:21:45):
I'm not sure is a huge surprise. Joseph Osai played
well toward the end of the season last year. I
think we have learned. I think we have learned that
the first day of free agency, if you're looking at
it and today is I mean, I know that the
league year starts on Wednesday. If you're looking at the
first day of free agency and you're underwhelmed by the
lack of names being brought in, that that is not

(01:22:08):
going to preclude the Bengals from doing something splashy tomorrow
or the next day or the day after that. It's
free agency period. You can be very productive in free agency,
sort of see what happens with the market and then
go and bring some players in. And I've thought this,
and I can be dead wrong about it, and you
may disagree. Will free agency is really important. And the

(01:22:29):
Bengals have had success in free agency, and they've had
failures in free agency, but they've at least embraced it.
Free agency is vital. I do not think you can
have the Bengals old strategy of effectively sitting out in
free agency. Doesn't mean you don't have to make the
biggest splashes or sign the most expensive guys, but you
gotta make you gotta upgrade your team of fine players

(01:22:51):
who can help in free agency. I still think, especially
when it comes to the defense, that if things are
significantly better. It's going to be mostly because they had
They took players in the draft who can make an
immediate impact. So that's where things stand as it relates
to players that they have signed. It's also worth mentioning

(01:23:12):
James or pen Our Buddy from Bengals Talk dot com
points this out. One of the teams that has been
connected to trade hendrick to trade connected to Trey Hendrickson
as a team that he could agree to terms with
and the Bengals can make a trade with, is the
Washington Commanders. Well, today the Commanders acquired Laramie Tunzel, the

(01:23:40):
Pro Bowl, multiple time Pro Bowl tackle from the Houston Texans.
I don't know that this totally takes the Washington Commanders
out of the Laramie Tunzel sweepstakes. They still have their
first and second round pick, but you do wonder would

(01:24:02):
they really be interested in trading for too thirty plus
year old lineman and give up even more draft capital
to acquire the second when they've already acquired the first.
The Tree Hendrickson thing is fascinating to me, and we're
gonna get to that here in just a few minutes. Meanwhile,

(01:24:25):
Jamar Chase has not yet signed, and T Higgins has
not yet signed, And frankly, if I were T Higgins,
I would not sign like I know we all want
them to. I love T Higgins. If you're a Bengals fan,
how do you not? But I just watched Dk Metcalf
go to Pittsburgh. Average annual value thirty million dollars. I'm

(01:24:50):
about to play for twenty six this season. If the
Bengals aren't going to pay me more than Dk Metcalf,
I'll play out this year and I'll hit free agency
next year and we'll see what happens. And so the
Bengals are getting a lot of criticism, and like all
of this may work out, all of this may work out.

(01:25:14):
I could promise you because of the presence of Number
nine that at the end of this week, I can
just speak for myself. At the end of this week,
at the end of the draft, when training camp starts,
and probably when the season begins, I am going to
believe the Bengals can win a championship because they have
Number nine. And this year they're still gonna have Jamar
Chase and they're still gonna have T. Higgins. And I

(01:25:35):
think as long as I have that trio together. I
think you can win the whole thing. I don't think
it's gonna be easy. Might not consider them the favorites,
might not consider them favorites in their own division. But
that is the ceiling, that is the goal. But that said,
you know, we heard when the season ended with the
Jamar Chase contract, gotta get it done quickly. Gotta get

(01:25:57):
it done quickly because you kind of want to have
an understanding of what's available to you financially once free
agency starts. And the t Higgins thing, when we heard
weeks before they actually did franchise Tag and that they
were planning on it, the conversation was, gotta do it
quickly because you want to know what you're gonna spend
in free agency, Gonna want to know what the composition

(01:26:17):
of your team is. Okay, well that hasn't happened. Even
the Trey Hendrickson thing, right, Hey, gotta get if it's
gonna happen, Gotta get this deal done quickly because you're
gonna want to know what your team is gonna look like,
Gonna want to know what you have in free agency
and the money to spend in free agency. Do you
have Trey Hendrickson's money. Well, that hasn't happened yet either,

(01:26:39):
and so there is a very real sense that the
Bengals are spinning their tires. This may work out, this
all may work out, but there's a very real sense
that not only are they spinning their tires, but they're
completely being mismanaged because of what they're not doing with
their elite players. Never call them cheap, begin Never, because

(01:27:03):
you're not a cheap franchise. If you allow the market
of elite players to get out of control, and a
week after your GM effective de facto GM said that
we're we're gonna pay Jamar Chase and make him the
highest paid non quarterback in the league, and then two
other guys reset that market, reset that bar. If you're

(01:27:27):
not gonna sign an elite a player that you know
who is elite, a player that you know what Jamar
Chase can do, If you're not gonna sign him, and
you're gonna let the market do what it's done, forcing
you to pay him even more, and you're gonna do
that willingly, you are not a cheap franchise, not even close. Now,
there are other words you could use. There are some

(01:27:51):
other criticisms you could throw with them. You cannot say
they're cheap. I asked this at the top of the show.
If somebody Jamar and t are a little bit different,
the Trey Hendrickson thing is a slightly different conversation. But
just for a second here, let's make it about Jamar
and again, like the smart money does seem to be

(01:28:11):
that they will get a deal done, but you cannot help.
But wonder had they been willing to give Jamar what
he was looking for last summer, how much less would
they be getting him for? How much less would they
be getting him for? Just from a basic business perspective,
help me understand this. You have a player that you

(01:28:36):
clearly want. You have a player who has stated his
desire to play for you. You know who he is, you
know what he is. You will tell anybody who will
listen that you have no cash flow issues. By the way,
I believe them. You acknowledge publicly that the player is awesome.
The quarterback is one thousand percent on board with keeping him.

(01:29:01):
How do you not get that done? I do understand
that there are two parties involved here, and uh, you
know it's a negotiation. You don't just give the guy
a blank check. At the same time, you have a
guy who told you last offseason, let's get this done now,
and if we don't, let's see what happens. And you
allowed him to do that, and now you're gonna have

(01:29:24):
to pave even more money for it. I do not
I do not understand it. It would be it would
be one thing if you weren't shirting, if you weren't
certain as to whether or not you really wanted the guy,
it'd be it'd be certain if there if he had
given you reason to hesitate. Like t Higgins, as much
as we all love him, he's he's he's had an

(01:29:46):
injury history, which gives you pause. With Jamar Chase, there's
no such pause, none whatsoever. And so uh, it's it's
day one a free agency and two things really three
that we had talked to about needing to get done
quickly so we can have an idea of what the
Bengals we're going to have to spend. We can have

(01:30:07):
an idea of with the Bengals might have at their
disposal financially, and from a draft pick perspective, we can
understand what needs the Bengals need to address. First day
of free agency it's five point fifteen in the afternoon.
None of those three None of those three things have happened.
It's just it's baffling to me. Baffling to me. So

(01:30:29):
I asked at the top of the show, and I'm
still willing to listen like somebody who's smarter than me,
which is pretty much everybody. Help me make sense of
what they're doing with Jamar, Help me make sense of
what they're doing with t Higgins. The Trey Hendrickson thing.
For me, I there are so many different components to this,

(01:30:53):
one of which is obviously Miles Garrett now being off
the market, one of which is the Commander's making a
trade for an offensive line, and the maybe what Trey
Hendrickson is looking for is not going to materialize. Maybe
he's not going to find a team that's willing to
extend him at the kind of money that he is
looking for. I have no idea. Here's something else. I wonder,

(01:31:20):
what's the harm in just asking him to play under
the one year that's remaining on his current contract. Players
do hit free agency. In fact, players hit free agency.
The Bengals just signed a couple of them, like Mike
Asicki came back and bj Hill came back. Now, you
could argue those players are not Trey Hendrickson's caliber, and

(01:31:41):
there's something to that. BJ Hill is an aging player.
You might argue Trey Hendrickson is an aging player. But
it's it's interesting to me that we have we have
sort of made the conversation about these elite players, like
Jamar is different because he's younger, and t Higgins is
different because he's younger. Trey Hendrickson is is not different.

(01:32:01):
And your options are you extend him, and I understand
why the Bengals don't want to do that at the
amount of money that Trey Hendrickson is asking and you
could trade him, or you could keep him for this
season and see what happens. Now, I know, I'm the
guy that wants to see a Jamar Chase deal get done,
and I'm the guy who mostly wants to see a

(01:32:22):
t Higgins deal get done. But they're not trading those players.
They're actively open to trading Trey Hendrickson. If they weren't,
why would you allow him to go seek a deal?
Why not have him play out the year?

Speaker 7 (01:32:40):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:32:40):
Why why are we so afraid of that? I know, well, no,
he's gonna hold out, or he's gonna hold in, or
he's not gonna come to practice, or he's threatening to
miss games. What's wrong with calling his bluff? There's a
school of out there on social media today that would

(01:33:01):
suggest that the events of the day have limited the
possibility that Trey Hendrickson get more than thirty million dollars,
and so maybe that makes him a little bit more
affordable in the Bengals and Trey come the terms on
an agreement that keeps him here but doesn't pay him
quite what he was originally looking for, And maybe that's
the case. In the absence of that, why can't they

(01:33:24):
Why can't they just ask him to play under the
final year of the contract that he willingly signed. This
is not his first contract, He's not a guy who
just got drafted a couple of years ago. Why have
we decided that cannot happen for a team that has
designs on winning it this year? They may be a

(01:33:46):
mood point because they can find a team that's willing
to not only extend him but give the Bengals a
high round draft choice. But if a good deal for
the Bengals doesn't materialize and they still are balking at
giving Tray what he is looking and if he is
still looking for high end edge rusher money, is it

(01:34:06):
really gonna be all that disruptive? Is it going to
really be all that bad if they ask him to
play twenty twenty five under the terms of a contract
that he agreed to. He signed a contract extension a
year ago. I guess a little bit more than a
year ago, year and a half ago. It's remarkable to

(01:34:29):
a degree we are still talking about all three of
those players. Nineteen minutes after five o'clock, Paul questions the
service of a United Heartland Insurance. Go to uh ins
dot com while you're on the internet. Go to at
moeggar on Twitter and vote as of and we can
update it as a five nineteen Eastern time. On three ten,
twenty five, neither Jamar Chase er T Higgins have signed

(01:34:51):
long term deals. Hey, the Bengals have screwed this up
royally or b It's going to be fine. Vote now,
twenty after five in fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 3 (01:35:01):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

Speaker 4 (01:35:07):
The UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke,
every second counts That's why the UCE Health Comprehensive Stroke
Center is the clear choice for rapid life saving treatment.
Learn more at ucehealth dot com. Southbound seventy one, it's
an accident on the ramp to Gilbert Avenue. Coleraine Avenue
remains closed off from a structured fire. Between Ronald Reagan

(01:35:30):
Highway and Sovereign Drive westbound two seventy five at the
Petersburg exit. The left shoulder blocked from an accident. I'm
at ezelic with traffic this report.

Speaker 2 (01:35:40):
Oh, I'm playing some Bobby Brown.

Speaker 9 (01:35:44):
Because Bobby Brown has is signing with the Caroline of Panthers.

Speaker 2 (01:35:47):
Oh not to you, former member of New Editions.

Speaker 9 (01:35:51):
No beef, it's a tackle, okayright, got three years, twenty
seven million dollars.

Speaker 2 (01:35:56):
Is Do you have any music related to a TJ. Slaton? No?
Let me tell you something. When I was in the
sixth grade, I wore the hell out of this cassette.
Uh because that I cassettes? Yeah, well, you know I
pre dating the iPod was the discman, and pre dating

(01:36:16):
the discman was the walkman, and then the walkman there
was a cassette player. So you got cassettes. And I
was in the sixth grade during that time, and I
had that cassette our buddy Joe Goodberry points out, and
I think this is uh. I think this is fair
and accurate. At this point, the Bengals cannot afford to

(01:36:36):
trade away Trey Hendrickson. All the options are drying up,
and they went for run defenders at defensive tackle and
free agency. If they want any semblance of a pass
rush in twenty twenty five, it includes Hendrickson. Now do
the Bengals agree, I don't know, but I agree with this.
Their priority here so far in free agency on the

(01:36:57):
defensive line has been BJ Hill bringing him back and
the TJ. Slayton signing. And even if we're gonna split
hairs on ESPN's run stop win rate versus Pro Football
focus is grading. Every objective opinion, educated opinion about TJ.
Slayton that I have seen strongly suggests this guy's far,

(01:37:21):
far better against the run than in getting after the quarterback.
That's fine, but with a lot of the other options
on the edge going to other teams, how do you
improve your pass rush on the edge if Trey Hendrickson's
not here? I mean, the story about Trey Hendrickson being shopped.

(01:37:46):
That came out on Thursday of last week. Correct me
if I'm wrong, right, that was because Chad was here
on Friday. I was here Thursday, so that was four
days ago. That is an insane amount of time in
the NFL, Trey Hendrickson shopping himself to me, at least,
was never the sort of thing that you thought, well,

(01:38:08):
it's gonna take him weeks and weeks and weeks to
go find a team. That's I mean, it's he's basically
shopping himself as a free agent and then hoping the
team that he agrees to terms with can come to
an agreement with the Bengals on the compensation. It's maybe
not quite that cut and dry, but that's basically what
that is. What this is. So today is the first
day of free agency. Trey Hendrickson is effectively one of

(01:38:32):
the biggest names on the board. Like call what it is.
If Trey Hendrickson was an actual free agent, he would
be one of the biggest names out there. Might not
be the highest paid, but he would be one of
the biggest names out there. He's not technically a free agent,
but the Bengals have essentially allowed him to be one.

(01:38:53):
Go negotiate with teams, Go find someone who's gonna give
you a deal, and then have them come to us
about a possible trade. On the first day of free agency.
As of five twenty nine in the afternoon, that has
not happened. We're not waiting all week for Trey Hendrickson
to find a team that'll pay him and give us

(01:39:14):
something in return. Like the time period was very, very short.
We're nearing the end of it, Like by tomorrow or
by Wednesday. If Trey comes to us and goes, hey, hey, good,
good news, guys, this team's gonna pay me and they're
gonna offer you X. I don't know, man, because what's

(01:39:36):
my plan? Be a pass rusher. I can't count on
Miles Murphy. I might find someone in the draft, but
not not locking into Tray and allowing him to find
a new team. To me that was always attached to
going after one of these other guys. The market is
drying up their priorities so far in free agency has
been run defense. Sorry, dude, you're coming back this year now.

(01:40:02):
We may still negotiate, we may still find an agreement
on a long term deal that makes you happy. But
all right, man, we're good here. Like you know, the
Bengals don't have to trade him. This was always a
short term thing. This was never take your sweet time.
And you know, if you're trying Hendrickson, you're trying to

(01:40:24):
get every dollar you can. That's not taking your sweet
time either. So as of five point thirty in the
afternoon on the first day of free agency, with time
to shop himself, we got nothing, sorry, Trey, Like we've
we've got to get moving on our season. We've got
to get moving on our team. Sorry man. Obviously he

(01:40:49):
can find a team that's gonna pay him in a month.
Strugg does not strike me as the most likely possibility.
But like I gotta I gotta a roster, I gotta
assemble this year. Sorry man, if it's me, you're playing
next season. And if you want to throw a temper tantrum,

(01:41:09):
throw a temper tantrum. And if you want to hold out, okay,
hold out. And if you want to miss games, miss games,
if you want to miss a whole season, okay, fine,
you're gonna hurt us, but you're really gonna hurt yourself.
You're not gonna play at all during your age thirty
one year you're gonna forego God knows how much you're
gonna hurt your attempt to get to free agency. Like, sorry, man,

(01:41:33):
I dude, I'm telling Trey my guy. Like, I don't know,
do you give him to the end of the day,
Like there has to be a cut off period. I'm
pretty much at that cutoff period. We'll give you all
weekend to find a team. We'll give you all weekend
to find a team that is willing to give us

(01:41:54):
a lot in return and buy a lot. We're talking
about a second round pick if I can't. Trey Hendrickson's
playing for the Bengals in twenty twenty five, and we
certainly have an opportunity if you want to talk with
you about what might lie ahead. But Trey's gonna play

(01:42:15):
for the Bengals in twenty twenty. If I'm running things
like you've had thurs Day, You've had five days essentially
to work on this. Okay, we tried, you tried. Come
on back now, Trey, and we could talk about a
long term contract.

Speaker 7 (01:42:34):
We'll see.

Speaker 2 (01:42:36):
I think Trey is in a really interesting place because
while he is a supremely talented pass rusher, he's not
somebody who plays up and down the defensive line. He
is going to be thirty one years old. I think
he is regarded as an understandably so, as a little
bit of a one dimensional player. Chances are his best
years are behind him. He is seeking top end money.

(01:43:00):
I just don't think because of the gaudy sack totals,
he's viewed as being in that same caliber of player,
even as a Max Crosby or a Miles Garrett. I
just Trey is a very good player. That goes without saying.
I don't. I think he's viewed as a little bit
more of a specialist, a little bit more of a

(01:43:22):
one dimensional guy, and somebody who's best seasons have probably
already happened. Are there teams that would like to have Trey?

Speaker 7 (01:43:30):
Sure?

Speaker 2 (01:43:31):
Are there teams that want Trey at the money he
is looking for. And by the way, maybe you know,
Trey now, with a chance to hit the open market
and assess his worth, recalibrates himself. Okay, Look, maybe I
wasn't gonna get thirty two million dollars a year from Cincinnati,
but it doesn't look like I was gonna get thirty
two million dollars a year anywhere else. And so maybe

(01:43:51):
he comes back to the Bengals and says, all right,
let's talk. I'm gonna bring down my asking price, because
with a chance to go out there and see what
I could get, I couldn't get it. And so maybe
it's best if I come back and sign here long term.
And maybe I'm not gonna get what I'm looking for,
but I'm gonna play here this year, get a pay
race for twenty six, a pay raise for twenty seven,

(01:44:11):
and uh, let's go from there. Like if I'm if
I'm the Bengals, and if I'm the Bengals, Jamar Chase
has already resigned. But if I'm if I'm the people
that Duke Tobin works for, let's come back to the table, Trey,
You've had a chance to see what you're worth. We've
had a chance to see what you can get. And
by the way, this could change in the next five minutes,
and who knows, by the end of the day, maybe

(01:44:33):
Trey Hendrickson's on a different team. The Bengals have gotten
trade compensation, he has signed a massive contract. He's gotten
every time he's looking for and we move on. But
you know, there are there are certain marriages that are
that are put together almost out of necessity. It feels
to me like this could be one of them. We've

(01:44:54):
got no one else at Edge Rusher. We've not signed
anybody yet. That group of players is only going to
continue to dry up. We have Miles Murphy, we may
bring back Joseph Osai. We are options to replace Trey
Hendrickson are increasingly limited. Trey has now had a chance

(01:45:14):
to hit the open market. The kind of coin he's
looking for is not there. So the Bengals and Trey
Hendrickson are best with each other, then not with each other,
and maybe they come to an agreement on our new contract.
At worst, Trey's got to play for the Bengals in
twenty twenty five. It is twenty five away from six.

(01:45:37):
Oh what do you got for me, tarn that's the
breaking news thing.

Speaker 9 (01:45:40):
We have a quarterback returning to the NF to the AFC.
North Okay one Canny Pickett has been traded to the
Cleveland Browns for a fifth round draft pick.

Speaker 2 (01:45:49):
Kenny Pickett, who won a ring with the Eagles last year,
actually took the field. They pulled Jalen Hurts and the
blowout went over. The Chiefs so Kenny Pickett, Super Bowl
champion back with the an AFC nor team. He is
with the Cleveland Browns. Here you go sports headlines and
a conversation with a UC tight end Joe Royer coming
up on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:46:09):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:46:14):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes
to stroke, every second counts. That's why the UCE Health
Comprehensive Stroke Center is the clear choice for rapid life
saving treatment. Learn more at UCHealth dot com. Eastbound Glen Way,
it's an accident at work. Road Traffic right now being
directed around that zone. Southbound seventy one. It's an accident

(01:46:36):
on the ramp to Gilbert Avenue. The left lane blockdown
that ramp sand southbound seventy five near Ezra Charles. It's
an accident. I'm at Ezeleik with traffic this year.

Speaker 2 (01:46:46):
Sam Kelsey Chevrolet home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed
credit approval from their family to yours for life. Kelseyshev
dot com. Bengals have re signed Cody fod two year contract,
Mike Yasiki three year deal, twenty five and a half
Mel bj Hill back in a three year contract. Total
value of that deal thirty three million dollars. Samaj p

(01:47:09):
Ryan is back, according to Mike Roffalo of NFL Media,
a two year deal for the running back, and TJ.
Slayton is coming to Cincinnati this according to a Tom
Pellisero of NFL Media, Slayton is a defensive tackle who
is good against the run. Depending on who you listen to,
his strengths are against the run, not so much rushing

(01:47:29):
the passer. Two year contract for TJ. Slayton. Meanwhile, the
Reds and Padres are playing right now in Peoria. Good
start for Hunter Green four innings, gave up a solo homer,
struck out five, did not walk anybody, surrendered a couple
of hits. Jam Or Candelario his first home run of
the spring. That's score three to two Reds top of
the sixth inning in Arizona. What else do we have?

(01:47:52):
Xavier's Jerome Simpson has been given the Biggiet Sportsmanship Award
for men's basketball and the Musketeers getting set to play
Mark Kenn in the Biggies Tournament. Sean Miller Show is
tonight at seven pm on fifty five KRC. Meanwhile, the
Mark Pope Radio Show is tonight at six o'clock right
here on ESPN fifteen thirty. The Kentucky Wildcats coming off

(01:48:17):
an impressive victory against Missouri, and our guy Nky bracket
guy had him here second as the Wildcats still a three.

Speaker 7 (01:48:29):
I believe Jamar Chase sent a cryptic message on Instagram.

Speaker 2 (01:48:32):
What do we got? What do we got? Cryptic message?

Speaker 9 (01:48:34):
Season he posted a picture and the picture says, no,
you're worth then add tax.

Speaker 2 (01:48:45):
Yep, but that's what's happened here, Like that's what's happened here. Look,
Miles Garrett doesn't play a wide receiver. Max Crosby doesn't
play a wide receiver. The price for elite players, of
which Jamar Chase is an elite player, only goes up,
especially in the league where the salary cap only goes
up even if Jamar Chase didn't win the triple Crown.

(01:49:10):
I think everybody should have operated with the assumption that
if Jamar Chase had a normal Jamar Chase year, the
price was gonna go up because the market for elite
players goes up. Not getting this done last offseason is
gonna cost the Bengals a lot of money. I don't
know how much good will, but a lot of money

(01:49:34):
when the director of player personnel says we're gonna make
him the highest paid non quarterback in the sport, and
then two other guys since then have become exactly that.
Obviously one now more highly paid than the other. That
the price just goes up. That's funny. When the season

(01:49:55):
was coming to an end, there were a lot of
folks were like, wait, no, the Jamar Chase thing. You
just you just make that item number one. Just get done.
That thing should have been done last August. Joe Royer
next to ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 3 (01:50:04):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.

Speaker 4 (01:50:10):
The uc Health Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke,
every second counts. That's why the uc Health Comprehensive Stroke
Center is the clear choice for rapid life saving treatment.
Learn more at UCHealth dot com. Cole Ray remains closed
off due to a structure fire between Ronald Reagan Highway
and Sovereign Drive southbound seventy one. It's an accident on

(01:50:32):
the ramp to Gilbert Avenue. Left lane on that ramp
is blocked and northbound seventy five accident at Norwood lateral
on that ezlek with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:50:41):
Well six o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty on my
legger Switched Gears. Joe Royer is getting set to come
back for another season of college football, second one at
the University of Cincinnati. The elder product had a very
good first year in Clifton. He was somebody that is
the season unfolded, we wondered would he be a guy
that put his name in the NFL Draft. I still

(01:51:02):
think that's gonna happen. We'll be talking about him going
pro next year, but short term back for another season
at U. See. I spent some time with Joe last
week at UC as the Bearcats get set for spring practice,
and we talked about when he made it known that
he was coming back. He did so during a time
out at the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout, And in addition

(01:51:24):
to everything else we talked about, I asked him about
the reception he got from the crowd that day.

Speaker 12 (01:51:30):
Yeah, touched on it a little bit in there. It
was as a real moment for me. You know, a
couple of years ago, I might have not thought I
would have been playing at UC when I was still
up at Ohio statey and stuff. So just being able
to get the chance to come back here and play
and you know, have a pretty good season last year
and just feel all the love from the city and

(01:51:50):
the fans that I kind of got away from for
a couple of years.

Speaker 5 (01:51:52):
It was great.

Speaker 2 (01:51:53):
You made the decision to come back for another season
at the University of Cincinnati, and I'm sure you weighed
all your different options. Give me a night of the
people at the next level you talk to and some
of the feedback you got.

Speaker 12 (01:52:04):
Yeah, so I'm represented by Kyle McCarthy's with athletes first,
and you know, just talking with him, he was saying
from the scouse he was talking to, I had you know,
I had a day two grade, so second, third round,
maybe fourth, but anywhere in there.

Speaker 5 (01:52:19):
Probably third round.

Speaker 12 (01:52:20):
But you know, after talking with him and my coaches here,
they say, if I kind of come back, get better
at some things I need to work on, I have
a chance to be one of the top tight ends
taking off the board next draft. And you know that
is a goal of mine, obviously, But the main thing
for me was I just I really wasn't ready to
move on. Honestly, I felt like I had more to

(01:52:41):
give and things that I could work out that could
help us win some more games.

Speaker 5 (01:52:45):
So that's that's really why I came back. I wasn't
really the move on. Obviously.

Speaker 2 (01:52:49):
Some of your former Bearcat teammates are going through the
draft process now, and I'm sure you knew guys at
Ohio State who have gone through it as well. Have
you talked with any of them about maybe what you're
going to be doing a year from now to get
ready for the next level.

Speaker 12 (01:52:59):
Yeah, just talking with Luke Candra, you know, both elder guys.
I've known him for a long time, so I've been
talking to him a decent amount about it all. And
he said, you know, it's really it's really more mental
than anything, kind of with all the meetings you have
to go through and just psyche vows all that stuff,
and he says, you know, the combine and stuff itself.

(01:53:21):
You're really only on the field for not too long,
but the whole week is just more mental. So I
feel like for me, just a good important thing for
me to kind of learn is just the no ball obviously,
because scouts are gonna, yeah, scouts are gonna question you
have you draw up plays and stuff, so just kind
of know what I'm talking about, knowing what I'm doing,
but also just you know, training hard.

Speaker 5 (01:53:42):
And then I saw one thing.

Speaker 12 (01:53:44):
You know, you can't you can't focus on your numbers
too well, like at the combine and get too stressed
or anxious about him, because you know, at the end
of the day, film doesn't lie, and that you know,
maybe if you don't test well as you want. You know,
what people see on film, that's who you are as
a player, and you know it could your bench press
for forty could not really you know, matter all that much.

Speaker 2 (01:54:07):
There's obviously your desire to make improvements on your game
and be even more prepared for next year. But how
much have you been motivated by the way things unfolded
in the second half of the season here last year?
From a team.

Speaker 12 (01:54:19):
Perspective, yeah, obviously going through the second half of the
season last year was tough, you know, because we were
right there early on, and you know, and even a
couple of the games we lost at the end of
the season, you know, play here or there, it could
be a totally different game. And I feel like that
for a lot of the games last season that we lost,

(01:54:40):
you know, you flip a couple I think there was
a stat it's either we were one in four, one
in five last season and one score games. I think
at one and four, and you know, we've flipped that
number around. Now we're sitting at nine and three. So
you know, we can do it. I believe that. Everybody
in this building believe that. So we just got to

(01:55:01):
just put our head down and just keep working.

Speaker 2 (01:55:03):
I've talked to a lot of players about the offseason, which,
you know, given how the season ended last year, November
thirtieth was the last game, it feels like the off
season is taken forever and it's only March. I'm sure
it's refreshing to get out there for for spring practice,
but what have the off season workouts revealed about the
way you guys are going to be.

Speaker 7 (01:55:22):
In twenty twenty five.

Speaker 12 (01:55:23):
Yeah, So coach Nico, all credit to him. He does
a great job and he makes it really hard. And
you know, luckily for me, I've kind of been in
college for a little while, so I don't I mean, yes,
it's hard, but I kind of understand why we're doing
some of the things, and I think that's the issue
sometimes with some of the younger guys or new guys
we bring in, they don't understand why we do some

(01:55:44):
of the things. And honestly, and Coach Nico will even
tell you a lot of the things we do really
had nothing to do with football, but they're so hard
that it requires connection, and we talk about it competitive
toughness and you know, no going through shared suffering with
your teammates and brothers.

Speaker 5 (01:56:02):
That really brings in the connection.

Speaker 12 (01:56:04):
So once we get the connection piece down and everybody
buys into what we're trying to accomplish, then you know,
through practice and all those other things, the football self
will take care of it.

Speaker 2 (01:56:12):
So obviously a lot of players have come from other programs,
and we could spend the rest of the afternoon talking
about every individual guy. We're not going to do that.
But the the group of guys who have come from
other programs as a whole, what are they going to
bring to the table.

Speaker 12 (01:56:28):
Yeah, So starting offensively, brought in a bunch of good,
good new receivers, you know, skill positions and super excited
about them, and just from the winner and you know,
just running routes on air and just plays on air
because obviously it's not organized practice yet some they move
a little different, and you know, I'm super excited about them.

Speaker 5 (01:56:49):
And we really have had little to.

Speaker 12 (01:56:51):
Know, you know, accountability issues or anything like that from
the new guys and young guys, so that's always encouraging
to see.

Speaker 5 (01:56:58):
Then brought in some good alignment as well.

Speaker 12 (01:57:01):
So excited to see kind of what they look like
when we start practice, because sometimes it's.

Speaker 5 (01:57:06):
Hard to tell when you're just working out.

Speaker 12 (01:57:07):
You know, that guy might move well or whatever, but
can he actually play ball? And I think the guys
that we brought in can and I'm super excited to
see that. And then defensively brought in a bunch of
good defensive backs, defensive linemen, and yeah, it's really just
brought in a lot of new guys that will help
I think will help our team and put us in
a good spot.

Speaker 2 (01:57:27):
One of those new players is a former teammate of
yours at Ohio State, Patrick Urd And you talked about
this today. You know, it's it's great to have a
guy who's won a national championship at Ohio State. What
can you tell us about specifically what he brings to
the table.

Speaker 12 (01:57:41):
Yeah, him starting an off as a person, he's a
great dude, I love him, one of my best friends,
and I'm super excited. I'm so glad that he's back
here and I get to, you know, play with him again.
But as a player, he's a He's honestly just a
hope Saran doesn't see this. He's a bigger, more athletic
version of Francis Sherman. And uh so I'm he can.

(01:58:05):
Uh he'll do great in the blocking game, obviously he can.
He can do some in the ground stuff, but what
he really excels at is kind of off the ball stuff,
you know, in the backfield. And I had to do
most of that last season because we really didn't have
a guy that could do it. So it helps me
to be able to do different jobs from if my
hands in the dirt or if I'm in the backfield
and Pat and I can switch off and do whatever,

(01:58:26):
and uh, you know that could cause problems for the
defense because you know, we can run plays where maybe
I'm blocking on the line or I'm running a route
or Pat is and just you know switch around.

Speaker 5 (01:58:35):
But uh, yeah, he's a tough nosed guy. Man.

Speaker 12 (01:58:38):
He works hard, he knows kinda he's about the right things,
and he'll be a great addition for us.

Speaker 2 (01:58:43):
A little more versatility offensively this year, and hopefully more
progress from Brendan Sorees. But you guys, and you were
asked about it today. The chemistry you guys had during
the season last year was fun to watch. How does
that grow this coming year?

Speaker 5 (01:58:56):
Yeah?

Speaker 12 (01:58:57):
Uh, we still did on some things. Maybe he saw
something different or I saw something different. And I've said
it before in past, like pressers or interviews that there's
only one page and that's the quarterbacks page in football.

Speaker 5 (01:59:10):
So really just understanding.

Speaker 12 (01:59:12):
Why he did what he did will help me kind
of in the future do certain things as well.

Speaker 5 (01:59:18):
But yeah, I mean, this guy's a.

Speaker 12 (01:59:20):
Limit for he and I's connection, and I think we
can excel and progress or make progress a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:59:27):
Nice kid, good player, elder product Joe Royer back for
a second season at the University of Cincinnati, and the
player who I think will be talking about getting ready
for the NFL Draft in a year. We are done.
Paul Danner Junior joins us tomorrow in the three o'clock hour.
We'll have so much more. Have an awesome evening, and
we'll talk to you tomorrow. Thanks to Tarran plan for
producing and thanks to you for listening. This is ESPN

(01:59:49):
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station