Bengals Don't Make Move at Trade Deadline
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00:00 I was hoping for a trade, not going to lie.
00:02 I was hoping to jump on here and talk about Hunter Henry or talk about Mike Gusecki or
00:05 talk about one of the many running backs, or I could go on and on and on.
00:08 The Danico Autry certainly would have made sense to defensive tackle from Tennessee,
00:13 but they didn't make a move.
00:14 So where do they go now?
00:16 A couple of things.
00:17 Let's start with offense.
00:18 I think the, the offense to glaring needs tight end, just in general backup running
00:23 back behind Joe Mixon.
00:25 There's a question mark there.
00:26 It's going to be promotion from within.
00:28 I would expect to see Tanner Hudson on the active roster in the near future.
00:33 Maybe that's this week.
00:35 Maybe he gets elevated and then gets promoted to the active roster next week.
00:39 Not sure exactly how that will work, but I think we'll see Tanner Hudson number 87 more
00:45 starting on Sunday night against the Buffalo bills.
00:49 And the other factor here, and we saw it some on Sunday against the 49ers, maybe the Bengals
00:54 just go to 10 personnel more often, which is one running back, no tight ends.
01:00 And we saw it some, you could use Andre Yosef certainly in the red zone.
01:05 He has a good rapport with Joe Burrow, good trust with Burrow.
01:09 Irv Smith Jr. for example, is more of a receiver anyway.
01:12 It's not like he's giving you a ton as a blocker.
01:14 And so just taking him off the field, putting on another receiver, whether it's Andre Yosef,
01:19 whether it's Trent Nerwin, maybe it's Charlie Jones, who's working his way back from that
01:24 thumb injury could be activated this week.
01:27 And I think he is on track to potentially play on Sunday against Buffalo.
01:32 That is an option for the Bengals.
01:34 So the coaching staff, they could go that route.
01:37 I think they will go that route.
01:39 Some.
01:40 I also think Irv Smith Jr. will still get some chances.
01:42 Mitch Wilcox, Drew sample will be in the mix as well, along with Tanner Hudson.
01:47 But we know what these guys are.
01:49 And Irv Smith Jr. certainly hasn't earned the trust of everyone in the building.
01:55 And we've seen that now through seven games.
01:58 Tanner Hudson, I think does have Burrow's trust to a degree, so he could help in that
02:03 department.
02:04 But the 10 personnel look, look for that to be more of what the Bengals throw out there
02:09 at times, not all the time.
02:11 Of course, they're going to need tight ends and need their tight ends to perform.
02:15 But I do think that that is an option moving forward.
02:18 And then running back behind Joe Mixon, it stinks because they have an in-house option.
02:23 Excuse me, an in-house option in Chase Brown.
02:25 But he's on injured reserve hamstring injury.
02:28 We'll miss at least three more games, which Buffalo, Houston, Baltimore, really important
02:34 stretch for the Bengals.
02:35 So of course, they're going to be reliant on Travion Williams and Chris Evans.
02:40 Leonard Fournette signed with the Buffalo Bills or is expected to.
02:43 It's just pending a physical.
02:45 By the time you see this, he may have signed officially.
02:49 But the point is, is there aren't many options on the free agent wire.
02:53 They didn't make a deal at the deadline.
02:55 And so to me, if that's the case, you're banking on these guys to hold it down.
03:00 Hopefully, Joe Mixon can continue to stay healthy and effective.
03:04 But then you look to Chase Brown and hope that Chase Brown can emerge despite this hamstring
03:09 injury emerge in the second half of the season.
03:12 There'll still be seven games left when he's eligible to come back.
03:16 And honestly, maybe he doesn't come back until week 12 or week 13.
03:21 But if he can give you some push down the stretch, a little extra explosion down the
03:26 stretch, you would certainly take it out of that backfield.
03:29 So promotion from within is exactly what the Bengals are going to have to do.
03:34 I think on offense, you're going to see Tanner Hudson.
03:37 They're going to hope for Chris Evans.
03:38 They're going to use some 10 personnel, certainly.
03:41 And then the other option, like I said, is Chase Brown.
03:43 Once he gets healthy, you get him back in there and hope that he can emerge in the final
03:48 quarter or so of the season, maybe a bit longer than that, depending on when he comes back.
03:52 Maybe he comes back with seven games to go, and it's just those four games sidelined with
03:57 the hamstring injury.
03:59 At defensive tackle, well, the in-house options are simple.
04:03 And Cam Sample has emerged and continues to trend upward.
04:06 I think he's gradually gotten better.
04:09 Each and every year he's been on this franchise or been with the franchise, been on this roster.
04:14 And I think that's the guy you look at as giving you some interior pass rush.
04:19 It would be nice if Zach Carter could do that.
04:21 What DJ reader has given them has been nice because not only has he been great against
04:25 the run, but he's given them some interior pass rush in recent weeks.
04:29 Maybe that continues.
04:31 Like I said, Danico Autry would have been interesting.
04:33 It didn't happen, and that's okay.
04:35 Excuse me.
04:37 It's okay that it didn't happen, but this Bengals roster, it had some obvious holes.
04:44 They have nine draft picks in the 2024 NFL draft, and so it would have been nice.
04:50 It didn't happen.
04:51 It doesn't mean they're not going to win the Super Bowl.
04:52 It doesn't mean they can't still get the number one seed in the AFC.
04:55 They're only one game back in the AFC playoff race there in the loss column.
05:01 And so everything that they set out to do, they can do this season, and it's going to
05:11 be about adjusting, figuring out exactly which players work.
05:15 I do think Tanner Hudson can give them a little something in the tight end room, and who knows?
05:19 Maybe Irv Smith Jr. makes it work and emerges at some point this year, but obviously things
05:25 have gotten off to a rough start for him.
05:28 On the flip side, it would have been nice.
05:30 It didn't happen.
05:31 This defense certainly emerging.
05:32 This offense can overcome not having great tight end play, but I think they need a bit
05:38 more production.
05:39 We'll see if they get that moving forward.
05:41 We'll see maybe if Chase Brown, maybe Chris Evans does emerge a bit.
05:44 I know there's a Chris Evans hive out there.
05:46 I certainly was on the Chris Evans train early in his career.
05:50 I kind of think we know what he is at this point, but who knows?
05:53 Maybe he'll surprise me.
05:54 Maybe Travion Williams will emerge as well.
05:56 I think they trust him as a pass blocker, but they haven't given him a bunch of carries.