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customer availability and eligibility may vary. Ryan Callahan officially official in Tennessee. So
we'll give a quick update on the Bengals OC situation as we know it,
then dive into some questions about the offense and a mailbag. You are Locked
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to one hundred dollars and James. Let's start today with a quick update on
everything we know about the Bengals search or process in replacing Brian Callahan, who
is now officially official announced as the next head coach of the Tennessee Titans.
Yeah, it's one of those processes. First off, congrats to Brian.
It's official. And one other thing I think, and I think I said
this when we were doing our O de Bryan or whatever a few nights ago,
but if you missed that Brian Callahan was on Team Weapons, I know
that like Jorge, he was played a hand in Jamar coming here even though
they had T Higgins, and so, man, I'm looking at this draft
and I'm like, oh, it'd be nice to have BC in the building.
Anyways, congrats to him, But yeah, they're looking for an OC.
You know, they've conducted some interviews. I think the search is the
search you mentioned, the process they're going through, and I think anybody close
to the team now would be surprised if it's not Dan Pitcher. We don't
know that at the time of recording here at twelve forty two Eastern time on
Wednesday, but we'll see. If it isn't Dan Pitcher, I would be
stunned, Forlord, whatever adjective you want to use. But that's where we're
at. I think Dan Pitcher remains by far the favorite. Nothing has changed.
There was an interview announced or reported with former Seahawks offensive line coach Andy
Dickerson, somebody with whom Zach Taylor cross pass. Dickerson was with the Rams
from Saint Louis to Los Angeles for over ten years. I think Zach worked
with him in LA and honestly, that could be part of the Rudy rule
requirements, which feel terrible right now for anyone interviewing for the Bengals OC job
when they clearly I think, have a preference to hire and promote Dan Pitcher
for that job. So when this sort of thing happens, my personal hope
is always that it is a legitimate interview, that Dickerson had a good chance
to actually have the job, but somebody that's that knew from the past highlights
one of the deficiencies of the Runey rule, and the Bengals will move on
with the process go ahead real quick. I just I don't think that this
was some sneak offensive line coach interview either. For those wondering that that was
speculating speculated on social media, Frank Pollack's going to be the offensive line coach
would be shocked again if he's not in the building, because Zach said it
earlier this month, he wanted to keep everybody and unfortunately Brian from the Bengals
standpoint, Brian ended up getting a job elsewhere. So now the shuffle begins
and there will likely be a promotion for brag Kragthorpe as well. We'll see
there again, they will have to interview external candidates for QB coach at least
one anyway before they make that decision. If that is the preference, that
feels the direction it'll go. But we'll see where they go at at QB
Coast. One important question, James from the mail bag Impact Tony Blunt at
Admiral Taskbar, who will be your new pre game fist bump and or handshake
companion? Post Callahan? All right, I'm gonna look right into the camera
here, and if you're listening Bengals coaching staff, that's fine too. But
just know I'm looking into the camera now. Hiring go on LinkedIn. I
might put LinkedIn jobs. I might throw an add up there. Pregame fist
bump something that we switched to this year. It worked. It worked during
the winning streak, and it didn't work on a few of the road games.
I wasn't there, and obviously we couldn't do it. But we went
to a handshake, and I think the calfgate, for whatever reason, threw
off our mojo at the beginning of the year with the fist bump. So
we went to the handshake and that started to work, and then things kind
of went hey wire. I wasn't in Baltimore to do the pregame handshake,
and so who knows. Maybe this is a way I was going to try
to argue it if if Brown is still in town, but to sneak onto
the team plane there and back because flying private is much much easier to these
road games. Jack, as you could imagine, I can imagine. I
can't imagine with the limited increasingly limited or more limited than when I lived in
Cincinnati, flight options out of CVG. Along the lines of the coaching conversation,
James Tony Crampo at Bengle Underscore Dude has a question that is a little
bit more football related overall. Do you think it is beneficial to have a
succession plan in place when it comes to this sort of decision coaching staff,
OC, etc. Or is it better to bring in outside coaches with new
ideas. I think it's it's been an interesting dialogue. This is a big
topic. I mean, we could do a show on this really and all
the layers of it. First things first, you absolutely always have to have
a plan. Oh full disclosure, everyone saw the SI stuff last week,
right, You have to have a plan in any industry of what happens,
what happens when things hit the fan. So whether you lose someone or if
you get let go or whatever, you should have plans in place, right
and by the way, as of an out, things are okay for me,
and that whole situation sucks. But this isn't locked on let go from
SI. This is locked on Bengals. So let's stick with the Bengals.
Zach Taylor should have always had a plan, and obviously it feels like Dan
Pitcher was the plan if Brian Callahan were to get a head coaching job.
At the same time, I get the argument of wanting fresh eyes. I
also think that there is a balance, especially when you look and Zach Taylor
views it this way and the Bengals view it this way. I get why
in the moment fans might not view it this way. The past one,
two, three years, all three have been a success. Now because of
the injuries, because you lose your franchise quarterback. Because of all these things,
the bar changes. If I would have told you Joe Burrow would be
healthy for five games this year, let's just say, coming into the year,
did you think that they would win nine games? I would have taken
the under it. So I would have taken it back to the episode we
did after he got hurt, and where our expectations were for the rest of
the season, to see what we think of what would happen without Joe Burrow.
And so there's this narrative that they need fresh and they need new eyes,
and they I think this was the year from hell injury wise, and
they may have that again next year, and then I may be frustrated and
say they need new eyes and fresh, fresh voices and all of those things.
But I think the farther we get removed from the twenty twenty three season,
the more we're going to look at it and be like, man,
this coaching staff pivoted multiple times. They found ways to win with multiple quarterbacks
with a hobbled Joe Burrow to start the year, and people get on them
for Burrow starting the year. We've talked about that plenty. I'm not even
going to get into it. Make sure you subscribe and follow wherever you get
your podcast so you keep up with every episode. I don't think there's as
much of a need for fresh voices as there would as some would say.
And then the other element to this is Dan Pitcher is in high demand,
and so he's in high demand and the Bengals want to keep him. If
he was a player, we would all be on board with that more than
likely. And so that's what Zach Taylor's trying to do with Dan Pitcher potentially
here, promoting him to offensive coordinator. Yeah that's the goal, right is
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't know for sure. Again,
it's not official, but we assume that's what it's going to. What's
going to happen, And as of the time of recording, haven't seen a
whole lot as far as has he completed the interview with New England, has
he completed the interview with Vegas, or any of those things. By the
time you listen to this, maybe that's changed. Maybe there's an official announcement
somewhere, or maybe there's a report somewhere. Heck, maybe in ten minutes
over're recording this, something changes. But sure, I think to Tony's question,
there's pros and cons to both. Just like most things in life,
having a succession plan internally brings the benefits of continuity, of familiarity of while
you all get a new perspective because Dan Pitcher and Brian Callahan are different people
with different personalities and different experiences, and different opinions. Maybe they agree on
a lot of things and are cohesive, but they're going to have differences,
right, That's just the way the world works. There's also a benefit in
bringing in exterior voices and getting out of your comfort zone. You hear that
all the time. I think that also applies in coaching. But you lose
a continuity then, and you lose a familiarity and you have this learning curve.
So there's always two sides to these coins in these conversations. But we'll
have a little bit more on this coaching staff conversation. Then we'll get into
some of these questions on the offensive side of the ball coming up next.
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Jake from Lockdown. Think of all the amazing things in life that are expressions
of you. Your favorite football team, what you wear to the playoff watch
party, that song that you stream over and over to get you pumped up
for the gym, or the recommendations that you share with your friends on the
top six comedy podcasts that are best to listen to you on a long roadship.
Or even your new haircut, which may or may not be an epic
ball cut from the nineties and hopefully is everything that makes you you makes all
the difference. State Farm believes insurance should work the same way your plane.
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plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer availability,
amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. Jas we'll stay
on the topic of this coaching staff or one more question here before we dive
into t Higgins, the running back room, the tight end room. Some
of these their questions in the mail bag that are themed and skewed toward the
offense. And I know there was a question about defensive tackles and right tackles
and free agency this year, and we saw that question. We will be
talking about it at some point. Don't think that we're neglecting you. But
Dan Bochler Bockler names tough d Bockler. I'm gonna go with that one on
Twitter. What are the realistic chances that Zach relinquish his play calling duties to
whoever is the next offensive coordinator? With the Cincinnati Bengals. This is something
that we've discussed and speculated about in terms of making the Bengals job even more
attractive than it already is, in terms of an oci that just got a
head coaching job and having Joe Burrow quarterback. I think it's low I do.
I don't know for sure, And whether it's Dan Pitcher or otherwise,
I think they would have to get let's just use Dan. Let's just say
this situation, and who knows. Maybe he's interviewing something for another job right
now. Maybe a team has wooed him and convinced him to take another interview.
If that's the case, and he somehow leverages that into a really big
offer and he's ready to take it, could he hold Zach's feet to the
fire and try I think so, But like I said on yesterday's show,
if I'm Zach, I'd say Okay, fine, bye, and really wonder
if Dan would do that. So Dan, I think it's unlikely. There's
all these names that are out there, you know. Heck, I've gotten
tweeted Josh McDaniels and all the big names. You know. Of course,
if you're going after those guys, which it doesn't sound like the Bengals are
and those are big names. I don't necessarily think that would benefit their offense,
but he would have to. I just don't think that's the plan as
of now, and I'm not really sure or it should be the plan or
why it should be the plan at this stage, because again, you have
our issues, you have your issues with Zach, and I get it.
Guess what, thirty two fan bases have their issues with the play calling with
their team at one point or another, and it's frustrating. And I'll criticize
Zach Midgeer all the time, like you know, if it's if I feel
like it's worth it or or if it's fair to do. But I'm do.
I think he's a pretty solid play caller. I do, And I
don't think he's going to be in a rush to give up those duties going
back to that wide receiver throwback for the second time. Come on, what
are you doing? Oh? You want him to give up the go ahead?
Do you know? I'm just saying we'll criticize the play. I mean,
I wouldn't be opposed, right, I don't know. I don't know
how important it is. But there's like I said with Tony's question, there's
pros and cons of both approaches. Maybe you have a different approach to play
calling. Maybe that philosophy suits the current NFL better. Maybe it's an inexperience
issue that leads to a rocky start. And what's the one thing we're going
to be talking about all off season and into training camp. Let's not have
another bad start this year, Cincinnati Bengals. That's a hard hole to get
out of. You managed to do it once, didn't manage to do it
twice, even though they are more important factors and the whole they started the
year in mostly being Joe Burrow's health. It does seem unlikely that Zach will
give up play calling duties, but we didn't roll it out this week,
and perhaps the overall alert of the job should be enough for an OC.
Like I talked about when I was framing the question, the previous OC who
didn't call plays just got a head coaching job, and you get to work
with Joe Burrow, get Jamar Chase in that offense. It's a pretty established
group that should be seen as having a high ceiling, should be seen as
a very attractive job. Should not be necessary let's actually do one more question
before we get to the t Higgins topic, James, which is about,
with some turnover potentially happening here with Brian hand departing, what can the Bengals
do to be more consistent on offense, protect Joe Burrow a little bit better?
And Dean added Merritt thinks that teams in the division have figured out how
to stop the offense in twenty twenty three. Dean, my guy, Dean
shout out to Dean. I've I've met Dean multiple times. A couple things.
One, they do need to tweak the offense some and incorporate some of
the things that we saw from Jake Browning. But there is this narrative that
this offense was just so much better with Jake Browning, and oh my god,
it's just not true. The best offense that we saw from the Bengals
of twenty twenty three was during that winning streak with Burrow. I would say
the San Francisco game was pretty darn good. You could look at the Buffalo
game if you want. But that said, could they incorporate some of those
things? Absolutely? And I think that was the plan. And then Joe
heard his calf and they were kind of piecing it together week to week on
the fly. So more under center absolutely, some play action, absolutely,
but you also want to balance that with Joe Burrow's superpowers and find that balance.
And I think they need to do that so and they probably know they
need to do that. Joe's a smart guy. So whether it's Joe or
Zach or whoever the offensive coordinator is on down, I think we will see
that as far as the division. As far as the division goes, and
there's this narrative Jake that, oh my god, the Bengals they can't win
these AFC Nors games. They got to be tougher, and they do.
They got to add some defensive tackles and they have a question at right tackle.
And I still think that they can win the division next year passing first
and being a passing offense and doing all of those things. The thing about
the run game I want to see more of is explosive plays. Have some
explosive runs. I'm not worried about the fullback dives or the tough No.
I don't need you to growl at the mic unless you're the Bengals mailman guy.
Think we're good to go. And and the Bengals will be just fine
in the AFC North next season. They've won back to back titles. By
the way, you knew that before this year, they won back to back
division titles, just confirming, and we also knew that no team had ever
won three in a row, and we liked the Bengals chances to do it
this year. And then suddenly Joe Burrow's calf became an issue, and then
suddenly Joe Burrow's risk became an issue. There were multiple times this season when
I still thought it was possible yep, and it didn't work out that way
because attritionan gets. I thought they Baltimore. I thought they had a shot
in Baltimore. Yes, I was just going to say, look at the
Ravens and the injuries they've dealt with in previous years. That helps the Bengals
win the division. Not that the Bengals lose the division of Baltimore's healthy,
right, I'm not saying that, but it certainly affects the way these seasons
go. So I also think this idea that they can't win the division is
a little bit overstated. They do have issues with the Browns. I think
that they've had issues with the Browns and defense in Week one. Part of
it is that they played in Week one and Week eighteen, and so those
are very different times, like weird weeks a lot of the time. So
there's that. But when you don't have Joe Burrow healthy for a single complete
game in the division, it is very hard for me to say that teams
in the division have figured out how to stop the offense when the offense goes
through Joe Burrow so significantly. Yes, you would have liked to see Jake
Browning's version of the offense perform better against the Steelers in two outings, no
doubt, But if Joe Burrow is playing in those games, it goes very
differently. That said, to your point about what they can do differently,
I think they do need to evolve. I think that they can't be this
so heavily invested, spread eleven personnel all the time kind of team, all
the empty they do. They need to mix it up a little bit more.
They need to modernize in an increasing fashion with the amount of motion they're
doing at the snap, and they took steps in that direction this year.
That the play action game needs to be better, and Burrow took a major
step forward play action passes in twenty twenty three. That needs to continue,
and so it's just keeping up at this point. That is the one thing
you concern about, you have concerns about when you have continuity on the coaching
staff is making sure that you're continuing to adapt. But I think the staff
has done a good job of it, and so that continues to be the
expectation. Coming up next, T Higgins market value, tight end running back,
talking skill positions on the offense. To finish up this show, we'll
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HI, I'm Jake from Lockdown. Think of all the amazing things in life
that are expressions of you. Your favorite football team, what you wear to
the playoff watch party, that song that you stream over and over to get
you pumped up for the gym, or the recommendations that you share with your
friends on the top six comedy podcasts that are best to listen to you on
a long roadship, or even your new haircut, which may or may not
be an epic ball cup from the nineties and hopefully is everything that makes you
you makes all the difference. State Farm believes insurance should work the same way
your plane. Your coverage selections can be personalized by you and the ability to
choose the plane you want by picking the options that fit you, like choosing
to bundle your home and auto policies is what the State Farm Personal Price Plan
is all about, getting the coverage you want at an affordable price, just
for you, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are
based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the
customer availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state.
James, let's talk about some skill positions, your favorite part of any football
team. Ajah hempil with a question about t higgins market value. That's where
we're going to go next. I'm curious if you think T Higgins helped,
hurt or just maintained his value after this season. Answer from the player,
organizational, and even league perspective, because it might be a little bit different
depending on who you ask. It's interesting because from a Bengals trade perspective,
he heard it because they played out the year right. He had much more
value last year on the rookie deal than he will on the franchise tag and
needing a new contract, So that alone, just thinking about trade wise now,
as far as his health is concerned, I think it hurt it with
the organization some because they may have planned it would still be hard for me
to just tag Tea and play out this year, which I think is the
most likely scenario. But they if they felt like, hey, we're going
to commit around this big three Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase T Higgins, did
this year give them some pause of him being nicked as nicked up as he
was was, of him not being as good on contested catches as he has
been. I still think he's an awesome player, but it's a lot to
build your team around three guys as is, and they need to be special.
And you know which agent he has and how hard it was to negotiate
with that agent, David mullagetto when you looked at Jess and trying to get
an extension. So I think he's heard his value a little bit with the
Bengals in a sense that I don't know if they would be willing to go
where Te's camp is going to want them to go to get a long term
extension done. As far as the league goes, you can see. You
just have to look up on social media every fan of every fan base that
the Titans right now, they're googlely eyes over t Higgins And obviously that's his
home state and they would love him at Nissan Stadium. But it's not just
there. I mean Jacksonville would be in on him. I think there are
a lot of teams that would be in on him if he hits free agency.
But if you're looking at a tag and trade, his value certainly isn't
what it was a year ago. In that stinks, and a lot of
that has to do with the contract more so than the injuries. I agree
with all that he had a season that did not boost his trade value.
He had a season that may create questions in the Bengals front office where they're
gonna still really like Tea the player, because you don't overreact to one season
when you have the track record the T Higgins doesn't. You have twenty five
year old who is not going to get worse anytime soon. But he had
a very rocky start to the season. His catch rate was down, is
yards per target were down, his drop rate was up, and he missed
a bunch of time. And while that's unfortunate and unlucky. And it's hard
to blame Tea for that when you're making decisions about where do you allocate ten
percent ish a little bit less than ten percent, I guess eight percent of
your cap If you're going to franchise tack T Higgins or you're going to try
to extend T Higgins and build around them, like you said, James,
that becomes a little bit more complicated, the calculus around what's the risk,
what's the reward? When T Higgins is on the field, he's easily worth
that twenty one to twenty two million dollar market value whatever he's getting projected at
YEP when he's on the field, and this year that was less than it's
ever been in his NFL career. And it's been some stuff that's nagging and
soft tissue and seems to come up on a bit of a recurring basis,
and that is unlucky, but it is something the Bengals have to deal with.
It is it is, and we'll see what happens. It's the biggest
question of the offseason. But another couple of huge questions that's around this offense
this offseason, what do they do at tight end? Because right now,
well there's zero tight end set to be on the roster when the new league
gear starts and Joe Mixon's future. So let's combine two questions here. Rob
Hill at Shirley this season has Joe Mixon's performance into a certain extent. The
late season partnership with Chase Brown reduced the need at this position. Talking about
running back and then will at will nos Ball underscore asks how would you to
revent the tight end and running back rooms? So Jake start with running back
and then we can go to tight end. Yeah, Joe Mixon this season
when he was used with Chase Brown, the running game got a little bit
more efficient, no doubt about that. Down the stretch running game got a
little bit more efficient Against teams like San Francisco, against teams like Minnesota,
teams that are sending guys up feel and penetrating one gap style defenses. The
offense found some success. They did, but they did not have much success
too frequently this year. Joe Mixon before Week eighteen against the Browns was averaging
three point eight yards per carry. He had a ton of volume this year,
finished at four yards per carry one thousand yards. Had some successes short
yarded situations. The Bengals were, though dreadful in short yarded situations compared to
recent years. Some of the jews came back for Joe Mixon at times,
other times it looked like it had disappeared. So it wasn't necessarily the most
consistent thing. Run blocking wasn't the most consistent thing either, So it's impossible
to hold all of that against mix in. But when you look at the
teams that are still in the NFL playoffs and we draw lessons or or things
that you want to copy an emulate from the teams that are successful in the
NFL right now, there's a common element in the running game which is explosion,
the ability to bust off chunk runs every day, every game. Have
those explosive threats in your run game to make teams really pay not just to
the tune of six to ten yards per carry, but to be able to
rip off a thirty to fifty yard run. With some of the more explosive
backs still playing in this year's playoffs, and I think that's what they're missing.
They get some of that with Chase Brown, but Chase Brown needs to
take a step to really threaten to do that on a consistent basis. So
if I'm looking at this and it's me making the decisions, I'm looking to
get one more explosive across the room at running back. I want multiple explosive
threats. Look at the Dolphins, for example, and how their running game
was able to put together multiple speedy backs and great spots using that to their
advantage. This is going to be a theme for the entire offense is team
speed, So that also includes running back to me, but I don't want
to see the Bengals be this multi headed running back unit where one is your
short yard's back, one is your trap wham toss back, one is your
pass pro back. They got to get a little bit more complete there.
And we're going to talk about tight end two. It would be ideal not
to have to use Drew Sample as a third down back. Not to take
away from him. He was good in that role and we'll see it some
if Drew Sample is back with the team, regardless of who's it running back
for the Cincinnati Bengals, but it would be ideal to have a guy who
can protect and offer something in the receiving game and not just have to put
drew sample back there for protection. Yeah, it would be ideal. And
the explosive part is the part that matters so much in this offense. You
want to talk about giving it an now and it hasn't had. That's it.
Explosive runs make defenses have to worry about insert whatever the name is of
the running back. I really don't care. Insert that person's name and have
to worry about that running back going for thirty if you if you're if the
linebacker reads the wrong gap like that's that's it, because he has the ability
to make a safety miss and be off to the races, or get past
the defensive back that happens to be in the hole, or whatever the case
is. Turn an average play into a big play. And that's what they
have to do. So, however, you want to discuss that amongst the
fans, You know, fans want to discuss that, discuss it. I
think when it comes to mixing the eight point nine million dollar cap, it
will certainly come into play. We'll know by March sixteenth, less than two
months from now, when he has that three million dollar roster bonus, what
they plan to do with him. So we'll know much earlier this year,
and at the same time, they need to plan on that before free agency
begins, because free agent and see will begin, what right a day or
two before. I would imagine that roster bonuses due so or at least the
legal tampering period will so keep that part in mind as well. And then
as far as tight ends, I think it's similar. You want, hopefully
you can find a tight end that can be on the field and block and
also be explosive and make plays with the ball in their hand and not have
like, all right, this is our our past catching tight end, and
then this is our blocking tight end, and then this is our it'd be
nice to have Tanner Hudson or mitchwell Cox or Drew Sample on the roster,
and I'm sure some of those guys will be on the team next year,
but it would they need to upgrade at that spot. Those are two spots
that really clearly needed upgraded. And Chase Brown flashed, but I think they
need to continue to add bodies there, whether it's in free agency or the
draft. At running back and tight end, I think it'll be potentially a
combination of both a tight end. It'll especially be both. They're going to
have free agent tight end, say, might draft a tight end as well,
not the tight end class that it was last year, unfortunately, and
we talked about earlier this week that that was a bit of a missed opportunity
that dude, there's one dude. Though there is one dude, there's that
one dude, probably be fairly pricey to go get him, and probably you
come here, Brock, I probably wouldn't be opposed to paying the price.
I think that one thing we're going to talk about when we're looking at this
draft class this year, and this is probably a bit knee jerky and reactionary,
is I'm I'm a pendulum swinging the other way on positional value. This
look at you. It just it's just and we'll talk more about it.
I have reasons, but I agree generally, looking to get more explosive at
both positions if possible, Looking to get more reliable at tight end. Looking
to have a guy that you can have out there for you know, seventy
percent of your staffs. Bengals really have that guy. They have a rotational
amalgamation of tight ends right now. While those guys are talented in their own
way, and you would like to see some of them back on the team.
I would like to see Tanner, Hudsonery sample back, Mitch Willcocks sure,
there's nothing wrong with those guys. You would like to have more top
end at tight end and be able to be a little bit more multiple with
your personnel, be able to threaten in some different ways, because, like
I said, one of the things that I think they have to do this
year is in terms of modernization, is to be a little bit more personnel
versatile and threaten teams a little bit more with different personnel packages and forcing the
defenses to match those personnel packages and some of that goes to tight end as
well. That's gonna do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals Podcast.
Perhaps we'll know who the Bengals next OC will be the next time you hear
from us tomorrow. If not, there's plenty else to talk about in this
interesting Bengals offseason. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the
Lockdown Bengals Podcast. Who Day, and have a good one.