[laughs]

I...

Your, your point is well taken, Jake, but, um, that play to me certainly stood out, and it came again at the end of practice when guys are kinda gassed.

Dexter Lawrence is not gassed.

He is not asked off the field one time.

As a matter of fact, he said, uh, yesterday was really important for him because he only got three snaps in the preseason game against the Lions, and it really... that wasn't high intensity by any stretch.

And he's been going up against Ted Karras and the Bengals offensive line, uh, in camp.

What, what are you watching, Trags, in terms of the, the most important roster battles that might play out on Saturday?

Yeah, when you talk about a lot of those new additions and seeing them for the first time on the defense, with maybe the exception of Dexter Lawrence, who has stood out the most to you so far?

I, I would say, you know, uh, when you're stan- uh, staying close to the line of scrimmage, or even the front seven, I've been impressed with the linebackers.

And I think the way Barrett Carter is playing downhill...

And James, I know we've talked about this a lot in the past, w- what is Barrett Carter's comfort zone in the, at the linebacker position? I talked to him and he said it's going downfield.

The hope is, with Al Golden, get downfield, and if you do that, uh, and the defensive line is as dominant, I don't know if we wanna go there yet, but dominant as people are hoping it is, then that's gonna free him up to be, again, the word disruptive.

Be more disruptive.

I'm excited for, uh, the linebacking corps.

[laughs]

Does this defense have what it takes to keep up with what we expect to be a high-flying, high-powered Bengals offense and be able to help them win some games?

It should be a much more complementary defense, Britton, because I think what you're going to see is the defense pressuring the opposing offense getting to the quarterback more, creating more turnovers, and certainly Boye Mafe, the defensive edge free agent that they signed from the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.

He's been a big difference maker early on in camp, getting pressure on the right tackle, Amarius Mims, and they had a good draft picking up their second-round pick, Cassius Howell, the defensive player of the year from the SEC, from Texas A&M, he has looked really good.

And on the other side has been Miles Murphy.

Miles Murphy was a first-rounder in 2023 out of Clemson.

He has underperformed.

Now, the thinking is having guys like Dexter Lawrence and another free agent, Jonathan Allen, come in to the middle of that defensive line, they'll be more vulnerable.

How's he looking? And also, how important is it, not just for this franchise, but for him to stay healthy and prove he can put together another full season?

Is it Burrow maybe potentially trying to motivate his other teammates and set that Super Bowl standard? What was your read on that, and what do you take from it?

So it's a great question, Joe.

And I think really what Joe Burrow wants to do is have his team embrace urgency.

They want he wants everybody to understand that there is urgency and there's pressure that comes with that associated urgency.

And he wants everybody in the room.

to really look at this as an opportunity.

That's why he brought up the 2019 LSU Tigers.

Can you guys see that? Can you feel it from the beat? And how will we ever know if it works or not other than the results on Sunday?

What's your read on the Bengals' intentions after the Joe Burrow restructure?

Bottom line, Jake, I think this is more about bookkeeping than anything else.

I think your point is spot on about, uh, if they don't make this move, they probably would've had to consider, uh, making a cap casualty cut, uh, cutting maybe a veteran, uh, somebody like a T.J. Slaton.

That name has been thrown out there.

But now it gives them the flexibility to keep a player like that for depth.

So many times we hear the coaching staff talk about injuries are going to happen, the real question and, and the real contenders are able to plug in pieces in terms of depth and not miss a beat.

And that's what I think this is really all about.

How are the Bengals using Kyle Dugger as far as you can tell when you saw him out there in seven-on-sevens and some of the competitive work on, on, uh, Tuesday?

Yeah.

But he redefined, helped redefine what offensive football was under Paul Brown.

I remember having this conversation, I said this earlier this week on the Jungle War podcast, talking with Bill Belichick in New England.

And I would ask him about the West Coast offense, 'cause he knew I was from Cincinnati and we'd always talk about Kenny Anderson.

And he said, "Let me correct you.

It's not the, uh, West Coast offense, it's the Ohio River offense.

And a big part of that offense", he said, "was how the Bengals and Kenny Anderson would always use the running backs and tight end Bob Trumpy." He mentioned him by name.

Okay? B- before their 40th anniversary, when the older players in the franchise were still not old by human standards.

What would you attribute that to?

Well, I think it's the commitment of the organization first early in the off-season, doing what Joe Burrow and doing what everybody, uh, on the team, on the roster last year saw needed to be done, and that was add to the talent pool on defense.

And they went above and beyond.

It's great that they did it, but now that they did it, the players realize that the onus is on them.

"Okay, the, management's done their part.

It's time for us to go out and do ours." See, Jamar Chase even admitted yesterday, "Heck, I didn't think Dexter Lawrence's deal was gonna get done," because who thought Dexter Lawrence, the best, one of the best defensive players, uh, on the market, was going to change teams? He just didn't think the Bengals, of all teams, were gonna be able to pull it off, and they did.

So he, he, that obviously, uh, opened his eyes to the urgency in the administration, and now that carries over, uh, to the players.

Did, did you look back at that last year of DJ Turner? What are your thoughts on the whole situation right now?

So I'm going to ask you, Mike, How important is it, two things, that there's no drama with the two sides like there was last year going all the way up to the start of the season? But number two is, is it even a remote possibility that Trey Hendrickson's back on the Bengals in 2026?

Remote, yes.

Anything above that percentage, whatever that percentage might be, no.

I don't think the Bengals are going to franchise Trey Hendrickson simply because they're on the hook for that $30 million hit if they do franchise him and they don't find a taker and try to trade him.

Because the way I look at this, I... think that the best use of the Trey Hendrickson resource is to tag and trade him.

I don't think there's going to be a team out there that's going to want to trade for that $30 million hit.

And I think essentially what it comes down to is you know, releasing Trey Hendrickson and just freeing up that money and starting over the Bengals are going to have to do this off season, what they did in 2020 before the 21 season and what they did in 2021 before the 22 season, they're going to go have to go out and aggressively treat free agency.

But where do you start? What is the clear and obvious repair on the Bengals' defense that you'd start with?

Does Burrow returning this season mean that much to you?

No, it means nothing to me.

It means nothing to the Bengals front office.

It means something to Joe Burrow, which is why Joe Burrow would return on Thanksgiving night.

There's going to be a debate, and I've been told this inside the building, there's going to be a debate internally between the front office owner Mike Brown and the football coaching staff and Joe Burrow.

Joe Burrow wants to get on that field.

He's paid a lot of money.

Prioritize a list of things.