Speaker 1: Let's I'll start to you the presents. Off the Bench
with Jacob Hester and T. Bob Abert.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: Off the Bench with Jacob Hester and Bob Aber.
Speaker 3: I gotta come off the bitch.
Speaker 1: Now. Here's Jacob Hester and T Bob aber.
Speaker 4: All right, Welcome in our number three Wednesday edition of
Off the Bench. Taylor Sharp here with you, filling it
in for Jacob Hester and T.
Speaker 3: Bob Abert. Quick show.
Speaker 4: So far, I feel like we've flown by a little
bit today. Uh, probably just because we're we're in the
swing of things here during the week, Monday and Tuesday
seem like they just drug by. But hopefully if you're
out there, you're having a good time. We're trying to
have a good time here as well. Coming up here
in an hour number three, we got a little bit
of Saints talk. We're gonna do some LSU baseball and
football and t Higgins franchise tag by the Bengals. We'll
talk about his future in the NFL and what that
could mean for one mister Joe Burrow. And then obviously
we'll close things out here on Wednesday, as we do
every day, with a little bit of ask the bench. Okay,
so the Saints have made a coaching higher. It is
being reported that former Rams head coach you know him
from a number of stops, including right here in Baton Rouge,
the Saints are adding Scott Lenahan to Kellen Moore's offensive
staff in New Orleans. Nick Underhill was actually the first
one to report this news. Lenahan's an NFL veteran. He
has a ton of head coaching experience with the Rams.
He was an offensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings, the Dolphins,
the Lions.
Speaker 3: And the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 4: He's a guy that's been around more than a few times.
If you go look at Scott Lenehan's resume, he's sixty
one years old.
Speaker 3: He's been just about everywhere.
Speaker 4: He started as a high school offensive coordinator in Oregon,
position coach in Idaho, position coach at UNLV.
Speaker 3: Then he goes to Washington.
Speaker 4: Then he becomes an offensive coordinator at a few spots,
like I mentioned, head coach at the Saint Louis Rams
from two two thousand and six to two thousand and eight.
Then he's the offensive coordinator in Detroit for forty seasons.
He was a passing game coordinator for the Cowboys, promoted
to offensive coordinator for four seasons with the Cowboys, was
let go in eighteen. In twenty twenty, when Joe Brady
moved on and took a job with the NFL, it
was Scott Lenahan that ed Orzeran and Staff hired to
be the next passing game coordinator to take over for
Joe Brady. Now and didn't go particularly well, but look
at what he had to work with, right Jamar Chase
opted out, like three weeks before the season started. Miles Brennan,
who you thought was going to be your starting quarterback,
I had a season ending injury after three games. You
had to throw TJ. Finley in there as a freshman
before he was ready. Finley had an up and down.
Speaker 3: Performance, so and then you throw MAXI Johnson in there
as a freshman. I get it.
Speaker 4: It didn't go according to plan, But Glenahan has a
ton of experience, nonetheless, and those were anytime you have
to start three different quarterbacks in a season, something's not
going quite right. So he's only at LSU for one year.
He goes to Missouri for three years as an offensive analyst.
This past season, he was an offensive analyst at the
University of Montana and then, of course now a senior
offensive analyst.
Speaker 3: With the New Orleans Saints.
Speaker 4: Okay, so as I break down that resume, don't worry
about what his win loss record as a head coach was,
or what he did in his previous stops, or you
know what kind of scheme he's comfortable running.
Speaker 3: This is Kellen Moore's offense.
Speaker 4: So the type of system and the offensive numbers that
Scott Lenahan has done in the past does not mat
Kellen Moore has already said he's going to be the
primary play call. What I love is the dedication to
the quarterback position between Kellen Moore, Doug nas Meyer, and
Scott Lenahan. Saints QB should be in good hands. All
of those guys have been known as really good quarterback
coaches for a number of years. And that's your head coach,
your offensive coordinator, and your senior offensive analyst. All three
of those guys could potentially be the quarterbacks coach. They
could be a hands on approach with whoever they have. Now,
is Derek Carr going to be completely reinvented in year
eleven in the NFL? No, But I'll tell you what
this does do a guy like Spencer Ratler who's just
getting into the league.
Speaker 3: He finished his rookie year.
Speaker 4: He's got an entirely new staff, but he's got three
different coaches at least that are all dedicated to the
quarterback position that can help with his development. I think
that's big for a young guy like a Spencer Ratler.
He would make sense to give Rattler a lot of run.
All those people who were saying, hey, cut Derek Carr,
eat the fifty one million dollar cap hit this year
and move on after that. Honestly, making a move like
this kind of does make sense for that scenario, and
it's a scenario I was against for a long time. Also,
the Saints over the weekend at the NFL Combine. This
is again according to Nick Underhill, met with Miami quarterback
Kim and Colorado quarterback shoud Or Sanders. Sanders was actually
spotted wearing New Orleans Saints gear at the NFL Combine. Now,
it remains unclear the Saints' opinion of these two quarterbacks,
what their plan is in the first round. The point
is they have Derek Carr and roster. They have Spencer Ratler.
Jay Cane are still in that room. The Saints are
turning over every leaf and it looks like they're doing
their due diligence. You hired an offensive minded coach who's
a former quarterback. You hired a guy who as your
offensive coordinator who's been a quarterbacks coach and played quarterback
for a number of years as well, in Doug Molsmeyer.
And now you hire a guy Scotland Ahan, who's been
an offensive coordinator, passing game coordinator, quarterbacks coach. You are
putting an emphasis on the importance of the quarterback position,
and it's the first time you've really done that post
Seawn paidon era. Are the Saints truly interested in shed
or Sanders?
Speaker 3: Look? I get it, they tuck to camp Ward as well.
Speaker 4: The Saints are not going to get kim Board unless
they trade up for the number one pick, And I
don't know if they're going to be willing to do
that because right now the Tennessee Titans have the first
overall pick. But a lot of people are actually projecting
that the New York Giants jump off too number one
flip picks with Tennessee and they take cam Board with
the number one overall pick. But could they get Shador Sanders.
For whatever reason, all these NFL draft analysts and experts
and insiders whatever you want to call them, cannot seem
to agree on where shouldawor Sanders is going. Now the
most common is six overall to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Let's look at one, two and three right now. One
two and three is Titans, who I think need a
QB but have shown interest in trading, and they really
like abdual Cart.
Speaker 3: Let's say no trades happen.
Speaker 4: Let's say that at one overall the Titans do what
people project them to do and they take abdual Cart.
At two overall, the Browns could do one of two things.
They could take Kim Ward or they could take travel Hunter.
I actually think they're going to take Travis Hunter. Should
they I don't know? But did the Browns ever do
what they're supposed to do. I think they're going to
take Travis Hunter. Like three overalls in New York Giants,
they are taking AQB if he's there, They're taking cam War.
There's no question about the bigger thing is what happens
after three? Because one, two, and three doesn't really matter
the order. Everyone pretty much believes it's going to be
some combination of Abdul Carter, Travis Hunter, and Cam war
It fours where it gets interesting because that's the New
England Patriots. They're not taking a quarterback because they obviously
have Drake matt five overall. Say what you want about him.
I've been pretty critical of Trevor Lawrence the past two years.
They paid him a lot of money. Trevor Lawrence is
their starting quarterback. They're gonna go corner, wide receiver, left tackle.
Will Campbell's been mocked there at a number of drafts.
Six is the Las Vegas rate. But what if they're
not as in love with Shador Sanders as everyone says
they are. Is that something they'd be willing to take on?
And then after him, I mean after the Raiders at six,
you got the Jets at seven. The Jets could take
a QB, but there's a number of positions they need
to fill as well. Now the Panthers at eight are
not going to do that. I think that Dave Canalis
did enough with Bryce Young's where they're gonna kick the
tires on that and give it one more try this year. Now,
if it doesn't work out this year with Bryce Young,
I think they're absolutely in the quarterback market for the
cup coming twenty twenty six NFL Draft. So if the
Raiders balk on Shador Sanders at six, there's a chance
he could fall to nine overall. Now, are the New
Orleans Saints going to take Shador Sanders? Who's the question
he had Nick Underhill on yesterday. Nick said he believes
that even if Shador Sanders is there at nine overall,
they're not going to do it. That's fine because you
have a veteran quarterback in place. He's not great, he's
not terrible, but you have a veteran quarterback in place. Also,
I don't know how I feel about any of the
quarterbacks projected in the first round, whether it's Kim Ward,
whether it's sad or Sanders.
Speaker 3: Jackson darts a late riser.
Speaker 4: Could you get a quarterback outside of the first round
if Jackson darts there when you're picking in the forties.
I mean, we've talked about Will Howard. Dylan Gabriel is
a guy who's falling because of his combine performance, but
he's still was super productive in college. There's a number
of guys out there that could be available to you
in the later rounds. So whether you go QB round one,
whether you go QB in the later rounds, or you
don't draft the quarterback at all and you try to
develop Spencer Rattler. The point is, whether it's Derek Carr,
whether it's somebody else. I like this offensive staff so far.
I like what Kellen Moore is doing. He's showing that, Hey,
we all know that the quarterback is the most important
position in the NFL. Let's cater to that position. Let
me bring in Doug nah because if I'm not in
the quarterback room as a head coach, Doug moss Mayer
can go do it. He's been there, done that. He's
been successful with multiple stops. We don't want Dougnlse Mayern
to be the quarterbacks coach. He's got too much on
his play. Scott Lenahan can do it. He's been there,
done that. He's done it for a number of years.
With all three of those guys putting their heads together,
they are deciding, hey, we need a quarterback for the future.
We have to develop one. We have to go get one.
Whether it's Rattler, whether it's somebody in this year's draft,
next year's draft, whatever, they are putting an emphasis on
the quarterback position based on the hires that they have
made so far, and I love it because Sean Payton
did that. Sean Payton, they caught him the quarterback guru
for a number of years, right, and it made a
lot of sense. He had a ton of success with
Drew Brees even when Breeze was gone. He made Jamis
Winston and Taysom Hill look like decent NFL quarterbacks at times.
Teddy Bridgewater was five and zero in that time that
Drew Brees was out that one season under Sean Payton.
Peyton goes to Denver. It doesn't work out with Russell Wilson,
but that is never going to work out anyways. He
brings in bo Nix, who, for whatever reason I still
can't figure out. A lot of people did not like
bo Nicks coming in college. If Jayden and Daniels wasn't
the best quarterback in the NFL as a rookie, it
was probably bon Nicks. I mean, bo Nicks was right
there with it. Jaden made the big plays in the
big moments, but you look at the numbers. Bonicks had
a really good year as well. When Sean Payton left
your franchise, you had no idea how to replace it.
Not saying Kellen Moore is going to be Sean Payton
or have anywhere close to the success that he had
here in New Orleans.
Speaker 3: I hope he does. I'm not saying he will, though, But.
Speaker 4: Your development at the quarterback position and your commitment to
the quarterback position, we don't know what is going to
be yet, but at least right now on paper, it
looks like the Saints know that they have an issue
and that they need to find their quarterback in the future.
Whether it's Rattler, whether it's in the draft, whether it's
free agency, whether it's next year's your draft. Whoever, the
Saints have, a quarterback is going to be in really
good hands due to the offensive staff that they're assembling
out there in New Orleans.
Speaker 3: All right, look, we're going to take a quick time
out when we get back.
Speaker 4: Hunter mccannonf WBRZ is gonna hop one look, me and
laudriv chopped up LSU baseball all week long. Sometimes it's
good just to get an outsider's perspective. Hunter, he follows
baseball very closely. For WBRZ, We're gonna talk a little
bit of LSU Spring football as well. That's coming up
on the other side here on Off the Bench.
Speaker 1: Off the Bench, Welcome in to the best morning sports
this show around Off the Bench with Hester and t Bob.
Speaker 4: Welcome back into Off the Bench, No Hester and t
Bob this week, Taylor Sharp's sitting in the host chair
for those two guys who are out on a much
needed vacation.
Speaker 3: All right, Look, we had a lot happened this weekend.
Speaker 4: LSU baseball just wrapped up five games in seven days
and they had a heck of a game last night.
They will play Game two of North Dakota State tonight
and another series coming up this weekend. To talk about
it all, I want to bring in Hunter McCann with WBRZ. Hunter,
how are you this morning?
Speaker 5: What's up Taylor? How you doing?
Speaker 6: Man?
Speaker 3: Doing good buddy? How was your marty?
Speaker 7: Girl?
Speaker 5: Can very busy, I mean, not really much celebration on
my end, mostly just work, work, and more work. But
kind of what it is to have LSU baseball playing
so many games.
Speaker 4: Yeah, speaking of work, they put in some work this weekend.
I just mentioned five games in seven days of the
last week. They just had a game last night that
you know, wasn't as clean as everybody wanted, but they
got to win on the last hunter. As far as
LSU baseball goes, just kind of like, what are the
big things that have stood.
Speaker 3: Out through you so far? Eleven games? End of the season.
Speaker 5: They sure do love to put themselves in a hole
improve they can get out of it. I mean last
night they did it once again. I believe that's the
fourth game this season now that opponents have outscored them
through the first three frames and now they're three and one.
In that case, that the only loss to Omaha, you know,
a week and a half ago now, And I mean
last night kind of proved that. I mean, this team
finds different ways to win win games, didn't when they
have a poor game. And I mean it looked like
the LSU baseball team last night had been partaking into
Martin Garolf festivities. Is the way they started off the
game in the first inn and allowing three runs, some
sloppy defense and U just really anything that could go
wrong went wrong for the Tigers yesterday. But still nonetheless
they get themselves in a seven to one hole and
they come back and win the game eleven to nine.
So I mean he doesn't. I mean, it just proves
that even when when they kind of have a blunder,
they can beat anybody in the country. Now this is
just North Dakota State, but it just this isn't a fluke.
I mean, we've seen them do this consistently. Is have
timely hitting with with runners on and get guys across
home plate. And uh, I mean, hopefully they don't have
to do that when you get the conference play, but
it kind of makes you feel like you can't count
the Tigers out even when they're in a big, big deficit,
no matter what the ending is.
Speaker 4: You know, Hunter, I set up here yesterday previewing that
North Kota State game and I'm like, look, this team's
one to nine. You're not gonna learn a lot about
the Tigers. Boy, was I wrong, because we did. Like
you mentioned, you learned who you can count on. Cason
Evans looks like he's going to be that closer for
you all year long, which has been. But as far
as tonight's game, Like, what do you expect out of
the Tigers?
Speaker 3: I expect a luck cleaner game.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I expect a lot cleaner game too. I mean,
yesterday was a hiccup I don't really believe that that's
the Yellow Shoe team you're going to see consistently. But
I mean, when everything started to grumble, you give a
bad team confidence.
Speaker 3: And I mean, everybody's going to bring.
Speaker 5: Their best game against the best team in the country.
And right now that's the toss up between the Tigers
and the volunteers. But nonetheless, yesterday the Bison really did
believe they could knock off number one LSU, And so
when you give a team like that hope that they
have that capability, they bring their best game. Now, LSU
slammed the door like you said yesterday. I mean Colan
came in yesterday pitch fantastic, and then I was impressed
with Evans. I mean he came in, like you said
in the ninth inning and hit the first batter, but
he kind of locked in after that and got yourself
and slammed the door shut. Like I said, on this
Ices team. Now tonight, I expect a very clean game.
I mean, I think Jake Johnson as been banging it
over their heads the last twelve hours of how poor
they really did play. And we've seen this LSHU team
not be perfect so far this season. But played pretty
good baseball, nonetheless, and I don't think we're going to
see three errors again and see a Tiger team that
struggles to put away an inferior opponent like the one
in ten North Dakota State Bison Hunter.
Speaker 4: As far as the pitching goes, look, I get it.
Connor Waar has been really good in the midweek. He
wasn't great last night. As far as this weekend rotation goes,
Kate Anderson's been dominant on Friday nights. On Sundays, Chase
Shores has been pretty good for the most part on Saturday.
Anthony Jansen, you know, he's struggled at times, but for
the most part he's gotten out of those jams. We
know Jay likes to kind of mix and match until
he finds that rotation. Do you think this is going
to be the rotation going forward on the weekend.
Speaker 5: I think it's going to be pretty close to this now.
Like you said, Ianston's been a little bit of an
up and down, mostly up though. I mean, he's real young,
and I do believe that he could step into the role,
but I would not want to be Jake Johnson right
now with you know, just a few more weeks to
get the conference play where you really need to iron
out this team, because he said it multiple times in
the past few weeks that he believes that he has
enough talent to field more than one team, maybe even
three baseball teams with just how much talent elis you has.
And really that's a blessing but also a curse in
the sense that Dave Johnson's got a lot of work
to do figure out who's going to be his guys
and nobody, I mean, I would say nobody, but there's
been a lot of opportunities for guys to step up
and kind of grab that starting spot or be a
key guy in the rotation. And you've seen them kind of,
you know, not be perfect or not step up in
the best of ways early here in the season, which
is understandable only you know, twelve or eleven games. Now
into the twelve games into the season, the Tigers have
a lot to figure out. But that week in rotation,
I believe those three guys who just mentioned from Anderson,
the Shores and Ainstin are very very consistent in the
sense that you can trust them to come in and
get the job done to start you in conference play,
especially when it's gonna matter the most. So I'm not
sure you've seen much of a shift in that. I mean,
I'm still interested to see how will Williams Schmid does.
The Catholic high school prospect that nobody thought we'll be
playing college baseball now. He's a freshman on this LGU
baseball team. We might see him tonight against Device and
he pitched last week and then pitched over the weekend,
just one inning on Saturday against Nebraska, so he should
be fresh if they want to start him tonight. They
and using him in a multitude of different ways. But
I think Schmid could be a guy that they go
to possibly on the weekend too. He's been He's been
pretty phenomenal start the year. He's just very young, so
you got to see how he kind of reacts when
you put him in tough situations. And as of course
the season goes, we may we may see more of that,
to see his maturity level.
Speaker 4: Speaking of young players, Kate Aaron Betty had a rough
outing last night. Behind the play, he does hit a
home run to kind of get LSU back into things.
They go to Luis Hernandez in the fifth inning. He
kind of calms things down behind the dish, but he
goes over three at the plate. What's your what'd you
kind of read so far on this catcher battle?
Speaker 5: I mean, I think that there's a big battle in
the endfield and our own the sense of especially at
the plate in third base. Those are the two positions
you have to kind of figure out, not because of
really any error in the field. Like you said yesterday,
Aaron bed had had a tough time on the plate,
but he has been he's been okay throughout the season,
and like he's still very young and can figure it out.
It's really gonna be, in my opinion, whichever bat picks
up first. I mean, both Aaron Beady and Hernandez have
just not been consistent at the plate.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 5: But and it's really anybody's job, and it's going to
be another opportunity, like I said, for who's gonna step
up and take the starting job. I think you're in
good hands either way. But one of these guys has
to step in and get the get the continuous reps
uh to be able to sit in that position and
consistently be a monster behind the dish. I mean, you
can't allow these pass balls uh, to consistently get by
you and allow free bases. And that's so key, especially
as we get closer to the SEC play. I mean
where you're talking about real strength in the SEC this
year in college baseball and allowing just a single free
base in a game to be the difference maker. So
you got to figure out which one of these guys
is gonna say, look, coach, I can be the guy
that could step up here. They consistently make the play
behind the dish. They both have great arms, they both
have great fundamentals. It's just going to be we need
consistent play behind.
Speaker 3: The dish, and neither one of them, in.
Speaker 5: My opinion, has shown that yet. And it's anybody's ball
game to step up to figure out who's going to
be the start and catchup.
Speaker 1: With the Tigers this season.
Speaker 4: On our last weekend series before SEC played this weekend
at the box LSU versus North Alabama. One of the
biggest things you're going to be keeping an eye on
as the Tiger's near conference.
Speaker 5: Play just playing clean baseball. I mean either they got
to stop lose it or not lose it, but putting
themselves in a tough situation against inferior opponents. I mean,
this is a North Alabama team that's not very good.
I believe they only have three wins on the season. Uh,
and like they should come into alex Box and give
you a you know, hopefully a real test to give
you more experience. But you shouldn't be falling into holes
where it's seven to one late in the game and
you have to rally again because I mean, like I mentioned,
I mean the Tigers are three in one of those
type of situations and it kind of proves character and
then they're almost four and oh when you think about
the fact that they almost knocked off Omaha and the
ninth inning last week when they fell just a run
short and that heroic try come back in the bottom
of the ninth, But like, just play clean baseball, play
fundamental baseball, and hit like and continue to hit in
key situations. I mean, a lot of people have been
Tiger fans have been complaining about the fact that LSU
has left so many runners on base to start the season,
and that to me is not a big issue because
I mean Jay Johnson said preseason, before we even got
even got the first pitch on opening weekend that this
was going to be a team that's stranded runners, and
it's not because they can't bat with two outs and
get guys across the dish. It's because they're consistently getting
guys on base. Eventually you're gonna dry up on the
hitting and you know, to go to the next half inning.
And that's really what it has been for the Tigers.
I mean, they've been scoring runs consistently. It's just when
you look at the runners left going base, it looks
like a glaring issue, but really it's just the offense
is so consistently hitting guys on base and scoring runs
that of course you're not gonna be able to bring
everybody across the dish every single inning. Hunter.
Speaker 3: I know it's early in the season.
Speaker 4: I just mentioned we're only you know, a few games
into twenty twenty five, but look overall, vibe. Everyone always
likes to compare the LSU twenty nineteen team to all
the football teams and follow Jay Johnson won this whole
thing in twenty twenty three. How do you think this
team compares to that squad early on?
Speaker 5: There's no drop off in talent. It's different than twenty
three in that sense. Now, I get I get the
whole argument. You know, you can only field nine guys
at a time type thing in the field and everything,
and fine, that's fine with me, Okay.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 5: The talent perspective from the starting nine across the board,
it's gonna take a little bit more time to see,
but I mean you could see that the top of
this order for the Tigers is a is a force
to be reckoned with. I mean with Kyriel and with
Jones and with Dickinson, who's been phenomenal to start the season.
I mean, you have a lot of juice of the
plate and a lot of consistency with those guys. And
I didn't even bring up Milam yet those guys consistently
when it comes to the enfield, and of course Kurio
playing in the outfield. You're seeing a lot of leadership
in that sense. But roster wise, across the board, like
if you were to just look at talent in general,
this is a more talent talented LSU Baseball team as
a whole across the entire roster. Like I mentioned, there
is no drop off in talent. It's a tough situation
for Jay Johnson to figure out who is his starting
guys and this season really lock in the lineup where
a twenty twenty three it was probably a collection of
twelve thirteen guys that were really into that, really in
that starting lineup that were being rotated out throughout the
course of the season. And the pitching rotation, I mean,
it was a glaring issue what it seemed like most
of the season, and then you finally pick it up
in the postseason then go on that great run to
win the College World Series. The pitching rotation should be
pretty set in stone when we get to conference play
because there's so much talent on this team tailor that
it makes it difficult for you to look at it
and not think that LSU is the best team in
the country.
Speaker 4: Pater mckayn w b r Z joining us right now.
You can also hear him on Sports Shorts Radio. He
may have a surprise co host on Saturday if you
two happen. It might happen if you tuned into that
Hunter before I get you out of here, look LSU
football against spring practice coming up on Saturday. When did
it kind of get you your overall like biggest things
you're watching during spring practice?
Speaker 5: You know, it's it's an interesting conversation that so many
schools kind of canceled their spring games that are like
move around what their spring game plans are, and LSU
has not done that. But I think it's it's proves that,
like the spring practices and games have become less beneficial
in a sense, just because the team that we're going
to see practice through spring for LSU is nowhere near
the team that we're going to see come this fall.
And that's becoming a trend across the co tree with
transport transfer portal and new guys coming in with N
I L and of course this great young freshman class
that's coming in for the Tigers. Really, what I just
want to see is how Brian Kelly and the staff
kind of conduct these practices to kind of get these
reps in, uh, Because like I mentioned, it's not like
every single guy that we're going to see out there
that plays in the spring game or even gets repst
spring practice, it's going to make an impact in the fall.
So it's very tough to look at the spring practices
and games and see that beneficial uh kind of mark
of like really what am I what am I looking
for here at spring? To kind of reflect what I'm
going to see in the fall. That's kind of not
possible anymore with the way that college football has kind
of changed into every single season is a new fresh faces,
faces of guys from across the country, especially when you're
a powerhouse like LSU and in the SEC bringing in
guys from across the country and the transfer portal come
the middle of the summer into the fall, You're not
gonna see those faces in spring.
Speaker 3: Hunter.
Speaker 4: Before I get you out of here. The reason I
am filling in this week. Jacob Esterer's on a cruise.
But uh, our gut, T Bob a bear is out
there in Disney. When is the next Hunter McCann Disney triph.
Speaker 5: It looks like it's gonna be sometime at the end
of June.
Speaker 2: I knew it.
Speaker 5: I knew you're gonna ask you, so I make sure
I planned one for before he called me.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: Now, think think we'll go into June. May even hit
Universal Studios or open up that new land there in Orlando.
Speaker 3: Uh Epic Universe, Yeah, yeah, at.
Speaker 5: Universe yep, Yeah, gonna go check that out too. So yeah,
I've seen T Bob and posting pictures of some unfortunate
tattoos and a lot of family fun.
Speaker 3: All right, Honter, thanks for hopping on with us this morning.
Speaker 5: But absolutely, man, I'll talk to you later.
Speaker 4: Yeah, talk to you later. That is Hunter mccannn with
wbr Z. I will actually be joining Hunter on Sports
Shorts Radio. So instead of Ronnie Rant and Joel Davis,
you're gonna get uh Hunter and Taylor on Saturday. That's
ten a m. To noon right here on one O
four five ESPN. Okay, we're gonna take a quick time
out when we get back. The t Higgins saga continues
for the Cincinnati Bengals. They have since franchise tagged him
for the second year in a row. Should they sign
him to a long term deal, we'll break it down next.
Speaker 3: You're on off the bench, Off the bench.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look at look at it. Look at my guy.
A hundred burns in the check. Go Pells, baby, that's right,
Go pels and go. Tommy's Tommy's onsidey geaux tommies dot com.
What about this?
Speaker 3: Go bearded?
Speaker 2: Okay, Tommy Kissinger not just a window hardy play a
vital siding whatever.
Speaker 3: What is any type of door expert?
Speaker 2: He is an expert all that if you need any
of that energy of picsion options, lifetime warrants, I got you.
He also has a sick beard, but he realized he
was getting the beer game. He'd have the product that
he needed, and so he started a company, Go Bearded
Geaux Bearded dot com. And if you want to live
your best bearded life, live it to the fullest, grow
it to the fullest. You need those products, Go Bearded
dot Com. Go Tommy's dot Com.
Speaker 7: Yeah, when you go to go tommy dot com, you'll
see what they can do for you. All always tell
you there's great testimonials and galleries of what they've done
in the Greater Batonush area. But also then customize your job.
Have Tommy and the team come out, tell them what
you're looking for and they will get it done.
Speaker 3: Go Tommy's dot Com. Welcome back in off the bench.
Speaker 4: Just two more segments to go here on a Wednesday morning,
I mint you to going into break there. The Cincinnati
Bengals have placed the franchise tag on wide receiver T
Higgins for a second straight year. Higgins' franchise tender will
pay him twenty six point two million dollars in twenty
twenty five if he's unable to reach a long term
agreement with the Bengals by the July fifteenth deadline. Some
are wondering whether or not T Higgins should be re
signed long term for the Cincinnati Bengals. I love T Higgins.
I think he is a heck of a player. I
don't think the Bengals can resign T Higgins to a
long term deal, not for the type of money that
a player of his caliberer is going to command. Look,
Cincinnati is already having cap casualties, okay, and you have
to resign Jamar Chase, which you still haven't done. Jamar
Chase is going to be the highest paid receiver in
the NFL. You also have to resign Trey Hendrickson. That's
not going to be cheap either. You have to keep
both of those guys. As good as T Higgins is.
Both of those guys are way higher on the priority
list than at Higgins. Even without Trey Hendrickson, you have
to spend money on that defense as a whole. Look
how bad it was. You have to spend money in
free agency to rebuild that defense and get it back
to where you want. Joe Burrow in the offense was
explosive last year. The defense didn't really help them out
at all. Also, the offensive line still with issues. They
thought this pass offseason when they signed Alex Kappa, that
was really gonna help. Alex Kappa just won the Triple
Crown as an offensive lineman for a negative reason. He
was number he was the first, He was listed as
first as the lowest graded offensive lineman in the NFL.
He was first in quarterback pressures, and he was first
in sacks allowed. They have cut Alex Kappa. They cut
him two days ago. So you're a you're thinner on
an offensive line that was already bad a year ago.
I get the Kappa wasn't good, but now you have
to bring in somebody to replace him. You're gonna have
to spend a lot of money to bring in a
quality guy to replace Alex Kapa. If you want to
improve your offensive line, so you gotta ressign Jamar Chase.
You have to show up your offensive line. You have
to spend money to improve your entire defense, and you
have to make sure you lock down Trey Hendrickson by
whatever means necessary, because he's a top ten pass rusher
in this league. Honestly a top five pass rusher, if
we're being honest about it. So let's say after this
season they do move on from T Higgins and everything
else gets done. They lock up Jamar Chase long term,
they lock up Trey Hendrickson long term.
Speaker 3: Joe Burrow is gonna need a little bit of help.
Who does he go get?
Speaker 4: There's free agents out there right now, But again, you
have to be on a budget because of what you're
paying Burrow, because of what you're gonna pay Chase, and
what you're gonna pay Hendrickson. So look, Davante Adams, Stefan Diggs,
Keenan Allen, Amari Cooper, they're out. First off, those three
guys a little bit too old, but they're out. Cooper's
still thirty. But outside of that, all those guys are
thirty two plus.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 4: Chris Godwin probably the best wide receiver on the open
market right now. Chris Godwin made twenty million dollars a
year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and I think he's
going to command something similar to that. If you're gonna
pay Chris Godwin that much money, you might as well
just resigned T Higgins. I think you have a really cap,
big cap problem either way if you do that. So
who's some guys you can look at. The first name
is Darius Slaton. Darius Slayton's been a pretty solid receiver
at the New York Giants with virtually nobody at quarterback.
I mean, he's went through Daniel Jones, He's went through
Drew Locke, he's went through Tommy Cutlet's, he's went through
all of these guys. He's never had a stable quarterback
in New York and he's actually been pretty good. And
he's still in twenty seven years old.
Speaker 3: In six years in New.
Speaker 4: York, he has thirty nine hundred receiving yards in twenty
one touchdow, averaging fifteen yards per catch. His best year
was two years ago in twenty twenty three, seven hundred
and seventy yards, four touchdowns, and then last year five
thirty three or five seventy three two touchdowns. Again, those
aren't incredible numbers. They're not gonna jump off the page
at you. But he's a reliable guy, he's got good hands,
he's been in the league for a number of years,
he's still relatively young, and you can get him for
pretty cheap. There's so many people right now that are saying,
you have to re sign T Higgins, You have to
te Higgins is a really good player. Te Higgins might
even be good enough to be a wide receiver one
on a lot of teams in the NFL. It was
said that the Cincinnati Bengals' super Bowl window is Joe
Burrow's entire career because of what he did his first
two years in the league. They hadn't even sniffed that
since then. If they want to get back to where
they were competing for Super Bowls, trying to knock off
the Chiefs, trying to knock off the Bills, trying to
knock off the Ravens. These are the tough decisions they're
going to have to make because you know who has
a good defense all three of those teams I just mentioned.
You know who pays their pass rushers all three of
those teams I just mentioned, and they all have good
offensive lines.
Speaker 3: The Bengals have none of that.
Speaker 4: Right now, you're gonna resign Chase, You're gonna resign he Inndricks,
and you cannot resign T Higgins to a long term deal.
You could also draft a rookie. I mean, there's rookies
out there that you can draft. I mean you're not
gonna get a Tetoa McMillan or a Matthew Golden or
a Luther Burden, probably not, but there's guys after that.
And Mecca eg Buca was really good for Ohio State.
You get him in the second round. I mean he's
six' one, you're in a four to three. Trey Harris
with Ole miz Elick aa manor if you remember that name.
He torched Travis Hunter and Colorado two years ago. When
I mean torch it, I mean he had like two
hundred and fifty yards receiving and four touchdowns in that
overtime game where Stamford upset Colorado.
Speaker 3: He is a heck of a player. He is six
to two, He's got good size, great hands.
Speaker 4: You saw him make that acrobatic catch when he caught
the ball right behind Travis Hunter's head. And Travis Hunter
is going to be a top five pick, likely at
the cornerback position. Xavier Ostrepo's out there now. He's only
five to ten, but the guy's a burner. He runs
a four four five. He was super productive at Miami
in a pass happy offense, which is what the Bengals have.
He's a great route runner, he's got great hands. He
could compliment Jamar Chase well, because even if Xavier Rostrepo
is not going to be that deep ball receiver, he's
gonna be more of a slot guy, you know, like
a Julian Edelman or like an Aaron Anderson who we
talk about here at LSU a lot. Jamar Chase can
be that deep threat. He was that this year. He
led the NFL in touchdown catches. You just need a
complimentary number two piece. I don't see why it has
to be somebody top of the market. Joe Burrow is
a good enough player to wear.
Speaker 3: You don't have to do that.
Speaker 4: Now, for what it's worth, the Bengals have teenth pick
in this year's NFL drafting. Right now, they're projected to
take a tight end. But if you re sign Mike Gasicki,
who was a really solid tight end for Joe Burrow
this past season, maybe you.
Speaker 3: Target a wide receiver.
Speaker 4: Did Joey be some help out there in Cincinnati? All right, Look,
we're going to take a time out.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to more sports talk. What's some other stuff
mixed in off the bench with Hester and t Bob.
Speaker 4: Welcome back in final segment at number three here on
a Wednesday edition of Off the Bench. We'll be back
two more days. We'll be back Thursday and Friday. Jacob
t Bob out or the remainder of the week. They
will both be back on Monday. We had a jam
back show for you today our number one. We did
some LSU spring football talk. We recapped LSU baseball's thrilling
victory over North Dakota State. We looked at winners and
losers of the NFL combined. And then now we're number
two full of New Orleans Saints talk. And then Hunter
mccahn hopped on WBRZ our number three to talk to
LSU baseball and spring practice as well. Let's wrap up
the show like we do every day, with a little
bit of.
Speaker 3: Ask the Bench. Alandi, you can just keep this playing underneath.
Thank you, thank you. I totally did that intentionally.
Speaker 4: I was planning. I wanted to do it yesterday. I've
been forgetting I was going to do it yes yesterday
and Monday, I've been forget it.
Speaker 8: I hate when tea.
Speaker 3: I know, I know.
Speaker 4: I saw you sitting there minding your own business, and
I was like, I'm doing it to this is a
ass bench.
Speaker 3: What would tell you I don't do it every day?
Speaker 1: I know?
Speaker 4: And then also like you're audibly going to say it
on the radio, like you could just send a text
Like now now people are being like, oh, she never does, Like, no,
I get it.
Speaker 8: Do it every days, Hey, do your job that you
do every day, keep.
Speaker 4: It, keeps playing, just keep pa asked the bench, what
would Taylor give up if he was Catholic? Easy energy drinks?
A question about it? That's that's that's the obvious one.
I'm not giving up doctor pepper like a laundrum. Look,
I get it. I drink an energy drink most morning,
probably four days week.
Speaker 3: I could usually give it up.
Speaker 4: It's it's it's not nearly as important to me as
most people like to think. I can give an energy drinks,
no problem. That would definitely be it, ask the bench,
When will Jordan's suspension be over?
Speaker 3: Actually tomorrow?
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, he's back. He's back tomorrow. Well, we're we're
giving him one more crack at it. He messes up
one more time. Cassie's coming back on Friday. I feel
like it's gonna happen. Ye'll see Jordan gets one more
crack at it tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Once. Yeah.
Speaker 8: Bro, oh my god, this guy, I just.
Speaker 3: I didn't know what. I don't know say.
Speaker 4: I just had my head in my hands for that
entire little whatever you want to call it, that he
did ask the bench favorite Linton dish to eat. So
I may not be Catholic. I love seafood. That is
my That is my favorite type of food. Like I
definitely live in.
Speaker 3: The right state.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna ask you too, because y'all are Catholic, Like,
is there a Linton meal that y'all do, like specifically
during Lent, like.
Speaker 8: A specific one.
Speaker 3: No, like like when you when you live here, like
you pretty much do seafood all the time, So like
seafood's normal. Yeah, So like we're not Catholic. And like
one time, the first Friday of Lent, I told Victoria,
I'm like, oh, hey, you want to go lookna get
some seafood. She's like where. I was like, I don't care,
Like anywhere in bann Rouge. I pretty much love any
seafood places we show up. I'm like, why is everything
in our our weight? What's the deal? Slint? I didn't
even think about it. Because we eat seafood all the
time around here, so uh really.
Speaker 8: Anything, yeah, any seafood whenever I was in Texas, Like, Okay,
y'all are gonna judge me for this, but I think
I'm the one that was keeping long John Silvers in business. Like,
so silvers was my go to during lent when I
was back in Texas. There's no long John Silver's here,
but I don't know the closest.
Speaker 3: They used to have one in Biloxi. That might be
the closest long John Silver's to us. Yeah, they have
some these a Captain d.
Speaker 4: These have a Captain D's and Denham, which is essentially
the same exact thing as a long John Silver's not
there anymore.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4: God, I haven't thought of long John Silver's in years.
Ask the bench, what is your favorite ride at Disney
or Universal Universal? For me, it's the Velosa Coaster, no
question about it. Look, I'm a roller coaster fanatic. I
have probably ridden over one hundred of them in my lifetime.
Velosa Coaster might actually be the best one I've ever ridden.
The theming, the speed, the loops. It has everything you
could want on a roller coaster, even the queue when
you're waiting in line.
Speaker 3: Everything about it top tier. That's my favorite one. As
far as.
Speaker 4: Disney, I'm gonna be honest, guys, I haven't been to
Disney in so long. So last summer we went to Universal.
We did one day at Disney.
Speaker 3: We chose Epcot. That was the one park. That's the
one I wanted to go do.
Speaker 4: According to the Galaxy, was fun, So I guess I
guess I'll pick that one, haven't. I haven't done any
of the other rides and so long, So, uh, whatch
you guys.
Speaker 3: Cassie, you're big Disney fanatic.
Speaker 6: Yeah, rock and roller Coaster is always my favorite. But
I'm pretty sure they're getting rid of it, So that's
very depressive.
Speaker 3: Were they getting rid of it or they running theme.
Speaker 6: Eating it to like a Muppets version, but like that's
gonna suck. Not the Muppet roller Coasters is such a
classic Smith.
Speaker 4: When I heard when I heard their re theme and
I was like, Okay, no big deal. They're just they're
switching Arrowsmith to another band. I was like, that might
actually be fun. And then I heard it was Muppets
and I'm like, are you kidding me?
Speaker 3: Popular anymore?
Speaker 6: Like I don't even think they're like, who cares about
the muppets anymore?
Speaker 3: Just I just don't. I just don't understand it.
Speaker 8: Scott Dyson. The chat says, Boatnett. Boatnet is another classic.
They're in Corpus and they are like the best seafood
plays ever. If you know you know about boat Neet, ask.
Speaker 4: The bench, what is your opinions of the teams opting
out of spring games.
Speaker 3: I think it's dumb. I get it.
Speaker 4: The reasoning is, oh, well, you know you've heard, you've
heard Matt Rule. Matt Rule was kind of like the
ring leader of this whole thing, saying, well, in this
day and age in college football, I don't want people
turn on the TV and poach them my players. They're
doing that anyway. Yeah, I mean that that's happening. That's
what the spring transfer portal windows for. And then they're like, well,
you know, we don't want to put out a depth
chart of a one to two or three. Do you
think these players are stupid? They're out there at spring practice.
They pretty much know the pecking order, and they know
where they sit in that pecking order. They're entering the portal.
Whether you have a spring game or not. People are
gonna poach your players, whether you have a spring game
or not. That is this day and age in college football.
All right, guys, that's going to do it for a
third Wednesday.
Speaker 3: Oh god, I wish it was Thursday.
Speaker 4: So bad Wednesday edition of Off the Bench jam Pack
Show Today again, we were LSU heavy in the first
hour spring football, LSU baseball even dove into a little
bit of LSU basketball. Hour number two we were pretty
much Saints heavy. Tyler Warren is a popular name in
the latest NFL mock draft. The Saints have hire Scott
Lenehans of their offensive staff, and then in the nine
o'clock hour, we talked t Higgins getting franchise tagged by
the Cincinnati Bengals. Hunter McCann of WBRZ hopped on as well.
Wanted to get an outsider's perspective because me and Laudre
took baseball all week long. It's always good to get
a different perspective as somebody who's, you know, not as
closely connected as the two of us are. We we
chapped it up with LSU baseball, some LSU football there
as well.
Speaker 3: Stay tuned.
Speaker 4: We got two more days of filling in for Jake
and t Bob. We'll be back same time, same place tomorrow.
Stay tuned for more. It's off the bench.