00:00We told you there was going to be a hole after the draft that we were discussing, and it is
00:04linebacker.
00:05The Bengals passed on multiple linebackers that we thought maybe they would be in on, right?
00:10Jacob Rodriguez, we thought they'd be in on him.
00:13CJ Allen, I think, was on their board.
00:15We thought they'd be in on him and on one of these guys.
00:18Well, no, they went with a guy in Cassius Howe who's going to get some heat on opposing quarterbacks.
00:25I like the pick, had my grades up earlier this week.
00:28But it does bring up a question, and there's been a lot of fans that have talked about it.
00:32The question is simple.
00:33Were the Bengals in on linebacker?
00:35Do they just believe in Demetrius Knight?
00:37Do they just believe in Barrett Carter?
00:39Was the plan to always punt on linebacker and address the other parts of the defense?
00:44I asked Mike Potts about linebacker, about their plan in this narrative that, yeah, they weren't in on addressing linebacker.
00:54They weren't open to addressing linebacker.
00:56They were focused on the other positions because I think a lot of people feel that way.
01:00And so when the assistant GM of the Bengals, Mike Potts, joined us on Locked on Bengals, I had to
01:05ask him about linebacker.
01:06And if they just weren't that interested in addressing the position.
01:10Yeah, I wouldn't say that's true at all, that we didn't want to address linebacker.
01:14We wanted to address every position, but we also didn't want to overdraft anybody and force a need.
01:20And we wanted to get proper value with our picks in the draft, and we wanted to get proper value
01:25back in free agency as well.
01:26So, you know, I think you can make mistakes when you force needs like that.
01:31I think at the same time, you can look at it.
01:33We were very strong on the defensive line going into the draft, and we still drafted two defensive linemen.
01:38Now we're extremely strong and that much stronger, in my opinion, on the D-line.
01:43But, you know, if for any linebacker or any other position that we addressed that we didn't address,
01:49that takes away from one of the guys that we really liked that we ended up selecting.
01:53So, it never ends up perfect in terms of checking all the boxes in the draft.
01:57And I do think if you check all the boxes for need, then you, you know, probably didn't get proper
02:01value in the draft
02:02unless you were just extremely lucky with the way the board fell to you.
02:06So, that's the way it played out.
02:07And, you know, whether it's linebacker or any other position, there's still avenues to address those,
02:12whether it's trades, whether it's guys that are still out there as free agents.
02:15Obviously, the waiver wire, the cut down towards the end of preseason is something that we've been relatively active on
02:20and, you know, do our homework there as well.
02:23So, there are still avenues.
02:24And like I said, whether it's linebacker or any other position, we're going to still continue to look to upgrade.
02:30I've been trying to say that.
02:31I hope that people are aware that, yes, the Bengals were in on linebacker.
02:35There were many scenarios where they addressed it in free agency.
02:38Even though that didn't happen, if you play free agency out 10 times,
02:41there's probably eight times where they add a linebacker, a real linebacker,
02:45that could help them, that could start, that could make a difference.
02:48And I think that's it, is if they were going to spend on that position,
02:52it was going to be a difference maker, a guy that they really believed in.
02:55If they were going to spend a second or a third round pick on that position,
02:58it was going to be on a difference maker, a guy they really believed in.
03:02The Bengals really looked at this.
03:03And this is why I love the Cassius Howell pick.
03:07A big part of it is because they're saying, you know what?
03:11He's clearly the best player on our board.
03:13Draft players, not positions.
03:14That's my motto.
03:16And he's going to give us a strength.
03:18Our defensive front can be a strength.
03:20Our pass rush on paper is a strength.
03:22Now, obviously, they got to go out and do it.
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