Bengals Get BAD News After Steelers Trade For Safety, BENCH Andrei Iosivas For Mitchell Tinsley?

Bengals Get BAD News After Steelers Trade For Safety, BENCH Andrei Iosivas For Mitchell Tinsley?

Now, I want to welcome in our second guest. That of course is Craig Sandlin. Does a terrific job here at Chatterbox Sports, Chatterbox Bengals, Chatterbox Reds, helping us out on social media there. Of course, you can find him Craig Sandlin on Twitter, uh, is where you can find him. And we want to talk about the Cincinnati Bengals there, of course. And do we got Craig Case? We got him right here. Craig, how we doing here on this Wednesday morning? What’s up, Stone? How we doing? Pretty good, man. Pretty good. I’m still I’m still hurting a little bit inside after the loss to the Jets, but now I’m kind of, you know, shifting the page, I guess, a little bit uh to the Chicago Bears. But one thing I asked Casey uh when we first came on here to begin the show, and I sent it in the group chat there last night, the Steelers, of course, trading for Patriots safety Kyle Duggar, safety of course, a very uh you know, noteworthy position of need for the Cincinnati Bengals. And I’ve kind of gone back and forth. I if you beat the Jets, I’m like, yo, go out there, make a move, give up another draft pick. let’s try to keep this thing alive. And then you lose to the Jets and you’re like, well, you know, should you be aggressive? Should you just stand pad here and just kind of roll with what you have? As we approach the trade deadline here, obviously one more game and then the buy. What do you think Cincinnati should do and what was your reaction seeing a division rival trade for a safety? Well, I think what you should do and what you will do are probably not the same answer, unfortunately. I mean, this this AFC North is still wide open. The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t really shown that they’re going to run away with it. And you’ve got a team in the Baltimore Ravens coming up behind you that can easily overtake you if you don’t go out and put your best foot forward week in and week out. So, if you’re the Cincinnati Bengals front office and you’re serious about trying to contend this year, then certainly you’re out there making calls and trying to figure out who’s available that can help your football team. But the the challenge is is that’s not really the Bengals mo. They don’t really do a whole lot of inseason trades. I think just one or two in the last several years if I uh am remembering correctly. And so as much as we would have loved to hear that the Cincinnati Bengals went out and got Kyle Duggar, the truth of the matter is is that the only time the Bengals really make those mid-season moves is by necessity. And right now I think the Bengals probably view those moves as luxury moves more so than necessity moves deemed by injury or otherwise despite how these guys have played on tape. I think last year there was a conversation um you know when you’re playing the blame game last year after the 2024 season you you got some people that are saying ah the personnel stinks you got don’t have enough talent here um Duke Tobin you know we should move on from Duke Tobin and then there’s you know other people that are like ah you know Lannarumo his system maybe it’s a little bit too complex maybe he’s lost it a little bit here and we should move on from Louisumo well ultimately you keep Duke Tobin you move on from Luanumo and what’s he doing he’s in Indianapolis doing a tremendous job and you could argue the Colts are the best team in the National Football League. Where do you stand here with Duke Tobin? Obviously, people have commented on, you know, his job for quite some time, but here this week after the Jets lost, it appears to be particularly loud as it relates to Duke Tobin. Duke Tobin seems to get a lot of the blame. And and to be blatantly honest, Stone, I said it after the game on Sunday after the loss against the Jets, I don’t know how much of it falls on Duke Tobin. I don’t know how much of it falls on the fact that the Bengals have four scouts in their department when most teams are in the double digit. uh number. And then the other piece of it is I think a lot of it falls on Zack Taylor. You watch a lot of these videos of them making their picks and you watch some of the streams and the the conversations that happen after picks are made and quite frankly a lot of the time Zack Taylor looks ecstatic to make the picks and Duke Tobin looks like he’s just along for the ride. And so my outsiders perspective without any sort of internal information is that Zack Taylor is the one that is making more of these moves than I think a lot of people will admit to. Uh despite the fact that Duke Tobin has this director of player personnel title, I don’t know that he’s really doing a whole lot when it comes to that part of the decision-making. And you look at over the years past, Marvin Lewis had a ton of input as it pertained to this roster. And I think Zack Taylor is probably in that same boat. And so you talk about Zack Taylor’s uh time here and how poorly they have drafted since he’s gotten here. Reed and I spent time going through draft picks since the Super Bowl in 2021. And it’s it’s bleak, my friend. Like they have not done well when you look at especially the top half of the draft where you should be hitting 75 80 90% of the time. the Bengals are hitting like 20% of the time and that’s not nearly good enough for a team who expected to be back competing for a Super Bowl year in and year out ever since that happened. So yeah, does Duke Tobin deserve blame? Absolutely. But it is an organizational failure how they’ve operated for years. And whether you want to put the blame on Duke Tobin, whether you want to put the blame on Zack Taylor, whether you want to put the blame on the Brown family and the fact that they have four scouts in this entire organization, there’s plenty of blame to go around. And that’s the most difficult part is that nothing is going to change from that perspective in my opinion. And so you’re just going to have to figure it out. I hope that the next coach, whenever that may be, is able to evaluate better and more importantly develop better because we went out and we hired Al Golden with the hopes that they could develop these young talented players on the defensive side of the ball. And we’ve seen, especially of late, that development has not happened. Guys taking terrible angles towards the ball carrier, being way out of position, missing tackles. It just continues to have the same problems that we’ve had for years now. When you look at this defense from a town perspective, you just kind of you’re looking there, it’s like there’s not much. There’s really not. I mean, you got guys that, you know, aren’t very physical, aren’t very fast, taking bad angles as you alluded to, not playing smart football. Um, you can’t cut everybody. So, even if you turn the page here to 2026, a couple of these guys, even if you make mass changes, are still going to be out there. You could argue, you know, Dax Hill, I think, and DJ Turner have shown flashes of being competent players, I think. Is there anybody on this defense that can be a starter for you going forward? Not long term. I mean, certainly there’s guys like BJ Hill or TJ Sllayton that could be contributors or starters in the short term that don’t have to move on from them immediately, but you look at long term and where you’re at. I want to give grace to guys like Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter. I understand that they were thrust into position that quite frankly is probably unreasonable to expect them to be able to come in and immediately become the player color on defense and and the leader on this defense as Logan Wilson has taken a step back. But the truth of the matter is is that they were high draft picks and they have to be able to execute those things. And when the biggest challenge that this Bengals defense has faced is the technical just basics, then that’s a whole another issue. Like guys should be able to come out of college and understand how to tackle a a runner. Like that isn’t something that at the professional level you should have to spend a whole lot of time on. But yet here we are. The Bengals lead the league in missed tackles. 13.3% of their tackle attempts end up missed and that leads the NFL. And it’s not even particularly close at this point, Stone. And so I I struggle to look across the the the defensive depth and really say right now that I’m comfortable with a whole lot of people that are currently starting for this Bengals team being starters for multiple years moving forward. Again, DJ Turner, as you mentioned, has looked has looked solid. Dax Hill has looked okay, but beyond that, I mean, you’re seeing some flashes here and there from SC some guys. Um the athleticism from Shamar Stewart is still there, but just his basic football IQ is so low right now and he’s not able to finish the the tackle that quite frankly, it’s hard to imagine him taking that next step. But as as a as a Bengals fan and as the Bengals front office, you’re not going to be able to replace nine guys on defense in one draft year. And so this is going to have to be a I don’t want to call it a tear it down and completely reset, but it’s going to be a multi-year process here. And um I said it before that I hope that the next Bengals head coach is in fact a defensive mind. Um because otherwise you might be stuck in this kind of same groove for years to come. You mentioned Shamar Stewart. A lot obviously has been made of Sheamar Stewart, first round pick for the Bengals, 17 overall. And going into that draft pick, you know, it was emphasized a lot by people around this town about how important that pick was. And the Bengals obviously opted to roll the dice. They could have had safer options that they selected there at that spot. They picked a guy that had a low floor but a really, really high ceiling. And obviously, he’s been hurt. He’s missed some time. But, um, the games in which he’s been out there, it has not looked like a first round player to be completely honest with you. take us back in time a little bit on draft night when you got the notification when it went across the screen, the Bengals are taking Shamar Stewart. What was your thoughts then? And as we sit here on October 29th, what are your thoughts now? Well, the the thoughts then I think are probably similar to the results now. But it’s the same reaction that I have to a lot of the draft picks that the Bengals make, and that’s quite frankly that there were so many better options out there when you take a look at who was on the board at that time in in uh in the draft. You know, the Bengals get Shamar Stewart at 17. Next pick off the board, Grace Zable, a name that a lot of people were extremely uh positive on. A couple picks later, Derek Harmon goes to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s been a big contributor to them so far. Uh Donovan Jackson from Ohio State went at 24. James Pierce has looked really good with the Falcons, he goes at 26. Uh Malachi Starks at 27. Tyreek Williams has been starting for the Lions and has looked good up the middle for them. So, there’s just so many names that were on this board that were available that had a higher floor. And I think the problem with the way the Bengals draft sometimes is that high ceilings are great, but at the end of the day, if your floor is so low and that’s what you ultimately perform at, then it doesn’t matter about your ceiling, right? I mean, we can talk ceiling all day about NFL players. I think a majority of NFL players have an extremely high ceiling, but the truth of the matter is is that majority of players don’t perform to that ceiling. And so to draft based on ceiling instead of based on floor for me is a missed opportunity and a just a draft philosophy that this Bengals front office has continually leaned on for years now. And I don’t know that that’s necessarily the way to fix a defense. I’d much rather have really high floor guys who maybe don’t jump off the sheet at you, but are fundamentally sound and making tackles and able to be in the right spot at the right time versus these guys who are athletic freaks but don’t understand the game of football. Earlier you mentioned Zack and his job security. What in your mind needs to happen throughout the rest of this season for him to keep his job? and are you at the point where regardless of what transpires here between now and the end of the season, you’re ready to move off them? What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, it’s a I mean, it’s a it’s a big question, right? I mean, I I I the the challenge is that the Bengals front office already has a built-in excuse not to move off of Zack for this year, right? Joe Burrow goes down in in week three and you know right away, hey, this season is going to be very difficult to overcome and right off the bat, they’re immediately given excuses on why Zack Taylor shouldn’t be let go. Um, so in terms of what he has to do from the Bengals perspective, I think he’s probably safe. Um, unfortunately, I’m in a different boat where I I’m at a position now where I just feel like he hasn’t been able to get the best out of his entire team. His mentality is not one that matches that of a head coach in my perspective. We talked about that on Sunday as well, where he’s talking about someone on the defense needs to step up or we never had a real chance to put this one away. Well, Zack, you’re the head coach. You’re not the the offensive coordinator. So to say that you didn’t have a chance to put it away when you were up by 14 plus four different times and had a double digit lead five different times, you had plenty of opportunities. And from a mentality perspective, he’s strictly looking at it from the offensive side of the ball where every time he’d go up 14, he’d give up points to the Jets and they’d come back and and bring it within one possession. Well, that’s on you too, Zach. I mean, I know you went out and hired Al Golden, you fired Lanna Rumo, but the truth of the matter is is that this team as a whole has to perform better both offensively and defensively. Zack has to do better in clutch moments when he needs better play calling. Those last couple drives were not very good from his perspective. He acknowledged that already. Um, and so it’s it’s really tough because from a Bengals perspective and as a just someone who’s giving an opinion on what I think will happen, I don’t think anything will happen this year. I think Zach Taylor will be your head coach in 2026 and I think a lot of people will be disappointed to hear this, but I think he probably gets an extension after this year and he’s only got one year left on the deal. I don’t know that the Bengals are going to go in with a with a uh sitting duck as their head coach. Um, I know it’s not college anymore and you can definitely do that in a in a manner in the NFL versus at the college level where having a sitting duck is not a good way to recruit, but I I unfortunately am not going to be shocked if I hear come this off seasonason that Zack Taylor has agreed to a one-year extension. That’s a great point, and I think that’s something not a lot of people are really processing or even talking about or pondering. Um, here at this point, turning the page to Chicago, right? We talk about must wins all the time. I’ll go out there and say it. I I think this is a must-win. I don’t see a way where Joe Burrow can come back and play meaningful football if you do not win on Sunday. It’s a Bears team that they had strung together some wins, but it’s like it kind of looks clunky. It doesn’t look very clean. Uh Ben Johnson, in my opinion, looks like a clear hit as a head coach. Caleb Williams, on the other hand, he struggled significantly. Now, as I mentioned earlier in the week, when you play the Bengals defense, it’s kind of a get-right game for your offense, whoever you are are um coming into the game. But I guess just your expectations or confidence level going into this game against Chicago. It’s another home game for you, but then again, you did just get booed off your home field at the conclusion of last week’s game. Yeah, well, the more I watch the Bears, the less confident I’m feeling, Stone, I’ll be honest with you. The Bears now sit at a three-point favorite going into the game. The overunder is set at 51 a half. And as you mentioned, first year head coach Ben Johnson is one of the more creative minds offensively in the entire NFL. And so you look at what he’s done in in year one and certainly improved the Bears offense. They’re sitting now 12th in the entire NFL at 350 plus yards per game. And they’re doing it with a balanced offense. They’re 10th in rushing at 124.6 yards per game. They’re 10th in passing at 225 yards per game. And so they’re going to be a challenge for this Bengals team because honestly I’m coming into this I I’m a little worried that DeAndre Swift and Kyle Monuy are not going to run for 200 yards against this Bengals defense and um and really control the clock and control this game. Um which is going to be really challenging because that’s going to be the goal for both teams. Both teams are going to want to run the ball in this one. And um luckily for the Bengals, they’ve run the ball a whole lot better over the last three weeks. Um during that time, Caleb, uh Chase Brown is averaging nearly seven yards per pop over the last three games. So, they’re getting right in the right vicinity, uh the right part of the game in order to uh make this an interesting one. But you mentioned Caleb Williams. He’s got no touchdowns in his last two games. Two interceptions, one in each of those two games. Um he’s got nine total touchdowns on the year, four of which came against the other terrible defense in the NFL and that’s the Dallas Cowboys. Um I wouldn’t be shocked if we don’t see a very similar line from Caleb Williams in this one where he goes 19 of 28 for 300 yards and four touchdowns. Um but I also wouldn’t be shocked if he only has to throw the ball 20 times because they run the ball 30 or 40 times in this one. So, um it’s one of those games where it’s going to be difficult for this Bengals defense to be prepared because the Bears can beat you at multiple levels. Um defensively, they’re not great, but they’re decent against the pass. Uh middle of the pack against the pass, but they give up 143 yards on the ground. So, Chase Brown finding his stride and this offensive line finding their stride at this point in the season uh is at least going to set them up for potential success. But whether or not Zack Taylor can lead them to a win on Sunday, I guess is yet to be seen. From an injury perspective, the Bengals got two big ones that were monitoring. One of course is the quarterback. Joe Flacco has the shoulder. Zack said he was dayto-day was sore. Um I feel like that could be, you know, a really huge story because I mean, if you roll Jake Browning out there in this game, you’re in serious trouble. And Trey Hendendrickson there, of course, as well. Um he tried to give it a go. He played in the first half. the defense looked better with him out there, but then you know obviously you remove him from the equation and they I mean it’s just without Trey Hendrickson they’re nothing and even with him they’re not much at all. Let me be very clear um there about that. I guess your concern level for those two guys as it relates to their injuries. I feel like the Flacco thing probably should be a bigger deal than what people um are making it and just how big of a loss is it for Cincinnati if Trey Hendendrickson is unable to go? Well, I’ll start with Joe Flacco. Ian Rapaore reported this morning that he’s dealing with an AC joint sprain. Um his status is quote up in the air for Sunday against the Bears. So um I despite that report, I still feel confident that Joe Flacco is going to give it a go. Um it’s obviously not a similar situation that you just saw with Carson Wentz in in Minnesota. I don’t think it’s nearly that bad, but um you have to remember Joe Flacco’s 40 years old and those injuries don’t heal nearly as fast as they used to. But, uh, he he was able to come back into the game on Sunday against the Jets. My my gut is telling me that he’ll be able to go on Sunday despite the AC joint. Now, on the other side of the ball, Trey Hendrickson with his hip injury that he reagravated in the game on Sunday. Hard to see him going if I’m being honest. And that’s obviously difficult to say when you’re talking about the only person on your team who’s got a pass rush win rate above 10%. But, um, I I think they’re going to be pretty tentative with him, um, coming back this year, uh, after this kind of reinjury. They’re going to want to make sure that he’s at or near 100% before they risk putting him back out there. So, I wouldn’t be shocked if if Trey Hendrickson misses this week, takes the extra week with the buy, and then comes back for Pittsburgh. But, I think Joe Flacco will give it a go. Final question for you, Craig. kind of a two-parter here, shifting back to the offensive side. Um, look, I think the world of T. Higgins, I think T. Higgins is a tremendous player and he had lots of one-on-one opportunities in that game and he only got targeted twice and only had the one catch. Obviously, it was a big one for a touchdown. I had a massive issue with that. I want to know your thoughts on that. And also at that wide receiver three spot, it’s been a very hot topic here in this town. Yoshi was a great player for you last year with Joe Burrow, third down red zone kind of guy. this year. I mean, he he’s struggling to catch the ball. He’s struggling to create any type of separation, get open. He’s out there for like 85% of the snaps, and he’s not really a factor whatsoever. I guess your take on the lack of usage for T. Higgins this previous game and what to do at that third wide receiver spot going forward. Well, you’re certainly missing Mike Cassiki now, aren’t you? A lot of people uh I think were underappreciating Mike Cassiki and what he brought to this offense as that kind of flexed wide receiver three tight end. And um I I hear you on T. Higgins. There’s no world where T. Higgins and his athleticism should only be targeted twice in a game. And I and I understand that especially when the opposing team’s number one quarterback is out. Um, but you look at the stats and in Stone I I I don’t know if you saw this or or not, but NFL’s NextGen stats, obviously, they have a stat around average separation uh for wide receivers, and the league average is right around three yards of separation. Jamar Chase on Sunday had an average separation of 3.44. Noah Fant 4.44. T. Higgins, his average separation 1.28 28 yards on the game. So, all those one-on-one looks, he wasn’t necessarily getting open. Andre Yoshas was even worse. 1.05 yards of separation uh on average for Andre Yoshas on route’s run. That’s not going to get it done. And I don’t know if T. Higgins is has lost a step or if he’s a little banged up or if they just had a really good game plan against him. I know especially late in the game they were doubling T and Jamar to make sure that Joe Flacco was forced to go to guys like Andre Yoshas, but Andre wasn’t winning those matchups. And so you have to wonder whether or not Mitchell Tinsley will get more looks. You have to wonder about Germaine Burton and whether or not he’s going to have a chance at all this year at this point. Uh he’s obviously been active for inactive for every game so far this year, but you got to find something and uh whether that’s going out on the the trade market or the free agent market, Andre’s got to figure it out between the drops and the lack of separation, he’s not he’s not giving Jamar Chase. Higgins uh defenders anybody else to worry about at this point. Um he had one good game against Pittsburgh where he had three catches, but that’s really as much as we’ve seen out of him this year. Um T. Higgins has got to win his matchups. Jamar Chase has done what Jamar Chase do does. But I think the other piece of it is that Zack Taylor schemes to get Jamar Chase open, easy touches, right? You see a lot of those screens, you see a lot of the the um the the the motion quick shovel passes. um some of those ways where they’re just getting the ball into Jamar Chase’s hands any way they can. I think sometimes Joe Flacco just needs to trust T. Higgins athleticism and throw him a go ball and let him see if he can come down with it. And I understand that right now we’re asking Joe Flacco to be ultraconervative and and careful with the ball and he hasn’t turned it over. But at some point you’re going to have to let it loose and obviously T. Higgins got beyond the defender for that touchdown on Sunday. But he’s athletic enough, he’s big enough where against most corners in this league, he’s going to be able to win one-on-one even if he only has 1.28 yards of separation. Yeah, that’s a great stat there on T. Higgins. Not great obviously for the Cincinnati Bengals, but a a great find there by you. Certainly concerning for Cincinnati there as well. He is Craig Sandlin, Craig Sandlin on Twitter, Chatterbox Reds, Chatterbox Bengals, doing a bunch of stuff here for us at Chatterbox and we always appreciate his time. Craig, thank you, brother. Let’s do it again soon. Yes, sir. We’ll talk to you later. All right.

Cincinnati’s 3-5 skid amplifies wideout woes beyond Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Andrei Iosivas, once a 2024 breakout (36 catches, 479 yards, 6 TDs), has regressed alarmingly: just 11 receptions for 170 yards (15.4 avg., 0 TDs) through eight games, plagued by drops in key spots—like two in the Jets loss. His 65-84% snap share yields inefficiency, per PFF metrics, stifling Joe Burrow’s rhythm.

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Enter Mitchell Tinsley, the 2023 undrafted player relegated to 10-14% snaps with zero targets recently. At 6-1, 205 pounds, Tinsley’s college pedigree (1,428 yards at Penn State) screams untapped slot potential, especially versus Iosivas’ fumbles in contested catches. Fan fury echoes this—X rants demand benching Iosivas for Tinsley’s fresh legs, citing drops as “washed” symptoms.

Zac Taylor should pull the trigger: Tinsley’s YAC upside (elite in training camp) revitalizes a stagnant corps, buying time for Jermaine Burton’s maturation. Risky? Sure, but stasis costs playoffs. Bench him—spark the Who Dey fire.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers’ acquisition of safety Kyle Dugger from the New England Patriots on October 28, 2025, is a savvy midseason pivot amid a turbulent 4-4 campaign. In exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick, Pittsburgh snagged the versatile 29-year-old defender plus a seventh-rounder, addressing a glaring void left by DeShon Elliott’s season-ending knee injury. Dugger, donning No. 29, brings Pro Bowl pedigree—three picks and 109 tackles in 2024—infusing stability to a secondary plagued by miscommunication and youth.

This trade screams Mike Tomlin pragmatism: low cost, high upside. Dugger’s hybrid box/slot prowess (think Minkah Fitzpatrick 2.0) could unlock blitz packages under DC Mike Macdonald, fortifying run defense (already top-10) against AFC North grinders like the Ravens. Patriots, rebuilding post-Belichick, shed $14 million in dead cap while retaining partial salary obligations. Critics question Dugger’s coverage dips (88.7 PFF grade last year), but in Pittsburgh’s scheme, he’s a Week 9 weapon versus the Colts. Expect ripple effects: practice squad adds like Darrick Forrest signal depth obsession.

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