The Bengals' Defensive Struggles and Hendrickson's Future

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00:00All right, Adam, let's start with the Hendrickson situation.

00:03I have to tell you just off the top that their problem was defense last year.

00:09He's the only guy on the entire defense that matters, and they're letting him walk.

00:13I mean, they must be stupid.

00:15I don't care what he wants financially.

00:17They have no defense without him.

00:19Yeah, Scott, look, a couple things have happened this week with the Bengals defense.

00:24Sam Hubbard, their other starting defensive end, announced his retirement at 29, which

00:29is a surprise to a lot of people.

00:31But the big story is, and I'm going to get into this and explain to you how rare it is,

00:35the Bengals, our team, if you looked at the last 30 years, rarely make trades.

00:40They just don't like to do it.

00:42It's been a thing going from Paul Brown to his son, Mike Brown, to Duke Tobin, whoever

00:48sees personnel for the Bengals, they just don't like to do it.

00:50But they did give Trey Hendrickson the permission to seek a trade.

00:53It doesn't mean they're going to do it, doesn't mean they're going to do it, but you make

00:57an astute point here.

00:59Their defense is horrific last season.

01:01They changed defensive coordinators.

01:04They're trying to recharge this defense.

01:05But here's the thing, they want to spend money on offense, not defense.

01:09Trey Hendrickson, who's in the final year of his deal, wants an extension.

01:13He signed a deal three years ago.

01:16Now, let's be honest, it's outdated, but the Bengals have rebuffed his wanting a new deal.

01:26They've not been open to it, and they've given him permission to seek a trade.

01:30Now, he does turn 31 in December.

01:34Sometimes look, when you see these deals come out, and Max Crosby got a monster extension,

01:39okay?

01:40A monster extension, which you see with the Miles Garrett deal, whenever Miles Garrett

01:42gets his extension with the Browns or another team.

01:46But Trey Hendrickson now, who turns 31 late this coming season, deserves a new deal.

01:53But you got to be careful when you have an older player.

01:56Sometimes they drop off, Scott, as you know, in their early 30s or mid-30s, so you got

02:00to be careful.

02:01But he absolutely deserves more money.

02:02He's going to make $16 million this season, vastly underpaid.

02:07They're middle-of-the-road players at his position that are making more than him.

02:11And I know it bothers him.

02:12He wants a new deal.

02:14And the Bengals right now, I'm fascinated to see what happens here, because, again,

02:17they don't like to make trades, and you make a really good point.

02:20They are so bad at defensive end.

02:23The only guy they've got left, of any note, is Miles Murphy, a first-round pick.

02:28He hadn't done anything.

02:29A first-round pick in 2023 out of Clemson, was overdrafted, no sacks last season, three,

02:36two years ago.

02:37The thought around the league was he should have been a second-round pick, not a first-round

02:39pick.

02:40I get it, Scott.

02:42They want to put their resources on offense, not defense.

02:45But if they're trying to compete, this is not the way to do it.

02:48And they're going to have to vote resources on their offensive line, which is still bad,

02:52by the way, and on defense.

02:54But again, they want to spend money.

02:56They've absolutely said they're going to take care of Jamar Chase.

03:00They're going to take care of our guy, Tee Higgins.

03:02I've yet to see that.

03:03But they never do.

03:04But they never do.

03:05And they never do.

03:06I know.

03:07And by the way, one more thing I want to mention.

03:08I talked to Carl Pickens.

03:09Remember Carl Pickens?

03:10Of course.

03:11Yeah, who played for the Bengals, former first-round pick.

03:14I talked to Carl a couple weeks ago at a business event in Philly.

03:17He went through it.

03:19He went through his situation with the Bengals and all the losing and not being competitive.

03:23It grates on you.

03:24All their money, they're just with money and spending it and being good on one side of

03:28the ball and not the other side.

03:30It grates on you.

03:31It's really tough to play there.

03:32And here we are once again.

03:33Another guy wants out.

03:34All right.

03:35Let me go back.

03:36All right.

03:37I got to ask you a question.

03:38Now, I don't want to catch you off guard because I don't know how old they are.

03:41But do you know how old Crosby is and how old Garrett is?

03:46Because I'm going to say this right now.

03:49I think Hendrickson, to me, unequivocally, had way better numbers than Max Crosby.

03:58He's a better player than Max Crosby.

04:00I think Max Crosby robbed a bank.

04:03I cannot believe the money they gave him.

04:06And I got to tell you, you talk about Miles Garrett, to me, he's as old as Hendrickson.

04:12At least I think he is.

04:13I don't know exactly how old he is.

04:15But Hendrickson has the same kind of numbers.

04:19Two years older.

04:20All right.

04:21Fair enough.

04:22If anyone deserves the money, it's Hendrickson.

04:24And let me tell you something.

04:26They have played games, the Brown family, with Tee Higgins since he's been a Bengal.

04:33And I've heard that they've rebuffed a bunch of trade offers for him.

04:39Well, then, for Christ's sakes, give him the money already.

04:42To leave your defense that naked, I said earlier on the show, no pants.

04:45They have no pants.

04:46No one's wearing pants on the defense.

04:49And Joe Burrow, watch them last year give up 40 points a game.

04:54And he put up just staggering numbers.

04:57He beat my Steelers in the freezing cold in the last week, in week 18 or whatever it was.

05:01He can beat anybody.

05:03But not when your team plays every week and gives up 40 points.

05:05They're not going to spend any money on defense.

05:07Zach Taylor's getting fired.

05:10And they're going to stink.

05:11All right.

05:12A couple of things here.

05:13Myles Garrett turns 30 late this season.

05:16Max Crosby, here's what happened with Max Crosby.

05:19He had a high ankle sprain last year.

05:20He played on it.

05:21Instead of taking weeks off, he played on it.

05:24And yes, that's why his numbers were down.

05:26But yeah, they didn't need to take care of him.

05:28They did.

05:30It's an unbelievable deal that Max Crosby got.

05:33His extension that he got this week, according to his agency, $34.5 million per season.

05:38It's crazy.

05:39So yeah, he got the bag, the big bag.

05:41But the Bengals now, with Al Golden being their new defense coordinator, Lou Annarumo

05:45is out.

05:46He switched teams.

05:47Now he's one to the Colts.

05:48They're a team that is hard to figure out.

05:51And you make a good point, because by the way, the Eagles not only paid A.J. Brown top

05:56of the market or close to it, they also paid Devontae Smith.

05:59This could get done.

06:00And they didn't make Devontae Smith have to wait for it.

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