00:00Yes, the Bengals are awake and they made a move. A former pro bowler is Cincinnati bound.
00:06Hi again, everyone, and welcome into Cincinnati Bengals Talk. This breaking news brought to you
00:10by Christian Husky of Sipsy Kline Realtors. Check him out, SipsyKline.com slash see Husky,
00:15where the Bengals, yes, the Bengals have finally broken the streak of Tuesday, Wednesday,
00:22finally on Thursday after agreeing to two deals with Boye Mafé and with Brian Cook on Monday.
00:28They signed those deals today. It's official. Orlando Brown Jr. got an extension. It was like,
00:34all right, well, when the hell are you making another move? Well, Thursday is the day. Jonathan
00:37Allen has agreed to a two-year, $28 million deal. I can confirm the contract is in place and the
00:44money.
00:45Jordan Schultz was the first to report that. The birds were chirping. I knew something was happening
00:49and it had to do with that 4 p.m. deadline yesterday where that's when things are 4 p.m.
00:56start,
00:56so to speak, of free agency because that's when Allen was released. That's when Hargrave was
01:00released. I thought it was Hargrave, but it's Allen that the Bengals were targeting. And
01:04my instant reaction to, and by the way, shout out to all of our members because our members knew that
01:11they were in on Allen about an hour ago or an hour before I'm recording this, which is 2.30
01:16Eastern
01:16time here. But when I look at this, the Bengals needed pass rush and it's hard to find it. It's
01:23hard
01:23to find interior pass rushers. Javon Hargrave was snatched up. Boom. Just like that. The Bengals
01:29were in on John Franklin Myers and that didn't work out early in the week. But when I see the
01:36money and Jordan Schultz, like I said, have the, has the report, I look at it. I'm like,
01:40man, you're talking about a guy in Jonathan Allen who, yeah, he's still a solid player.
01:46Like he is. There's no doubt he's going to be useful. Appeared in all 17 games for the Vikings
01:50last season, three and a half sacks, 68 tackles, like useful player. Was injured a decent amount
01:57in 2024 and 2023 for the commanders. He had played in 16 games, five and a half sacks,
02:0253 tackles. Like before that, seven and a half sacks, nine sacks. Like this is a guy who's really
02:07disruptive on the interior in his prime. Was a pro bowler in 21 and 22. He's not that anymore.
02:14He's not as consistent. He's not as good, not as complete, but you look at it and he is going
02:19to be able to fit. So it's two, twofold. The Bengals overpaid 14 million per year. And we
02:25don't have the details, but just on, on paper two for 28. I mean, that's a lot of money for
02:30a guy
02:30like Jonathan Allen, who's a rotational defensive lineman, but does he fit with the Bengals do the
02:36answer is yes. He's going to bring some juice alongside BJ Hill alongside TJ Slayton. And they
02:41desperately needed that. They did. Chris Jenkins jr. Hasn't brought the juice. McKinley Jackson hasn't
02:47been able to stay on the field, hasn't been able to show what he can do. And a big part
02:52of that is
02:53just working hard and earning those reps and all of those things. So it was a huge question mark.
02:58They needed something. And so on one hand, I like it because it does fit. I do think Jonathan Allen
03:05and BJ Hill together can give the Bengals more juice with TJ Slayton and Chris Jenkins more in that
03:11run stopping role. At the same time, you're talking about a 31 year old and he turned 31 on January
03:2016th
03:22defensive tackle. Who's gotten dipping down each and every year, still a solid player, still useful,
03:29but you're paying him $14 million a year. And that's what I come to is, is the, the two for
03:3528.
03:36It's like, okay, well, when I, I mentioned the, the Osa Digizua option for the, the Bengals. And I did
03:47this live. We've been live every day this week. I did this live on enter the jungle on Tuesday night.
03:53And then he gets dealt on Wednesday and it's a 27 year old that's ascending. It's a 27 year old
03:59that
03:59you give up a third round pick. He's under contract for the next three years.
04:02He's making like 16 ish million dollars a year. And you look at it and it's like, all right,
04:06well, 16 million over three or 14 million over two Jonathan Allen versus like, it's just not
04:14close at all. And, and, and, and so that's it. So, uh, and it was a little more, a little
04:20more for,
04:21for Osa, but the point is the point it was three years, 57. So like 18, but you understand where
04:27I'm
04:28coming from? Like, if you're going to pay the premium, try to get a premium player. And it's,
04:33I'm not saying it's premium defensive tackle money, but it's good defensive tackle money.
04:37I mean, I thought that the Packers were kind of crazy for sending Javon Hargrave to a two for 23
04:41and these defensive tackles were getting paid a lot. And so to see this with Jonathan Allen,
04:46two for 28, that's just a lot. Like you're paying him to be a real dude for you. Not just
04:53a guy,
04:54a dude like starter level money. And so hopefully he's still got that in him. He played all 17 games
05:01for the Vikings. He hit the snot out of Jake Browning in during that Vikings game. I remember
05:05that. And if you can get consistent pressure, then, then you take it all day long, but he needs to
05:13be
05:14part of that. And you look at it, like you think of BJ Hill, BJ Hill had four sacks last
05:18year.
05:19And so that certainly matters. Chris Jenkins Jr. And, and, and that is where this comes from.
05:26You look at, at Chris Jenkins Jr. And it's like, what sacks? Of course I type in junior or I
05:31type
05:32in Chris Jenkins and his dad comes up, but Chris Jenkins Jr. is, is someone that hasn't brought
05:40any sort of pass rush. And so you need that, you need that, you need to find that. And so
05:47I get spending on
05:48it, but he had one and a half sacks last year. I thought so. I didn't want to miss do
05:52it. I know
05:52he had three as a rookie one and a half last year. This is one of those things where it's
06:01a premium
06:02position. It's why we're talking about defensive lineman at 10. It's really hard to find the Bengals
06:07have tried to find it. It's why I was so in on the Osa potential deal because it's hard to
06:12find.
06:13And if you can get a guy in the, for a third round pick, it's in his prime. Like Jonathan
06:18Allen,
06:18five years ago would have gotten a first round pick in a trade. It's different now. He's at a
06:24different phase, but at the same time, football wise, it does fit. And I was having this conversation,
06:32me and Paul, Paul Daner Jr. were having it like overpaying. If it fixes the need is sometimes worth
06:41if you have a leaky faucet and you have to pay a plumber an extra $200 to come here right
06:47now,
06:47fix that faucet because it's leaking under the sink and it's getting everywhere and it's going
06:51to damage your floor and it's going to become a major issue. Well, guess what? You'd spend that
06:54extra 200 bucks. And so I understand, but do I love it? I don't love it. And that doesn't mean
07:02he's
07:02not going to help. It doesn't mean he's not going to help the defense. It doesn't mean that the
07:05angles aren't better today than they were two hours ago, but I don't love the spend and I don't
07:12love the resources going in that direction when he is a declining player. And so we will see how
07:18this works, but this isn't, this is a lot. It's a lot of money for a guy that I was
07:24hoping to get
07:25for a lot less. Cause when I heard that they were potentially getting him, I thought, oh, well,
07:29he's due $8 million from the Vikings and that does offset. So two for 28, 8 million of that
07:35will be offset. And so maybe that's why they do it this way. And it's going to end up being
07:40a
07:40bargain with how it's structured, where it's basically they pay him four or $5 million this
07:46year and it gets him to 13. And then if he plays really well, he sees the second year of
07:50that deal,
07:50but probably not like we'll see on the structure. I don't want to harp on it too much. It's not
07:54our
07:54money. And there wasn't, there's not a lot of guys left to pay significant money to the Bengals
07:59did address a need. They did do something that they needed to do overall. That is a good thing.
08:04At the same time, boy, oh boy, does it feel like a lot of money? Again, it could offset. A
08:09lot of
08:10those things could happen. We'll have those details as they come, but I wanted to give you my instant
08:14reaction. Of course, of course, of course, if you're looking for more, make sure you check out
08:18banglestalk.com. We have a ton of articles there and we've already posted three videos today.
08:24Three. Orlando Brown Jr. signed a two-year extension. His reaction to that, really good
08:29stuff on Joe Burrow. We have Brian Cook. The Cincinnati kid is back over 10 minutes from
08:34him, over 10 minutes from Boye Mafé. Check out all of those right here on YouTube or wherever
08:39you get your podcasts. And for Andrew Fox Miller, I'm James Rapine. Thank you so much for watching
08:45and listening to Cincinnati Bengals Talk.
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