Let's go to Cincinnati. We're joining us now on the always and today very busy and available to be sponsored guest line.

Ben Baby is a return guest to the program. He covers the bingles for ESPN.com.

Ben, busy time, I realize, certainly appreciate the time. Let's begin with this. And that is, from Indianapolis's standpoint, you probably are not going to see anybody or very few people

that you will regularly see on Sundays.

What is the Bengals approach to this game?

Well, you know, I think that you're just not going to see a whole lot of starters.

Zach Taylor said that they're not anticipating those starters to play in that game.

So we'll even see if Jake Browning, the backup quarterback, get some run there. I think you're seeing a lot of Desmond Redder and Peyton Thorne. But, you know, as teams, you know, the Bengals had a pretty extensive scrimmage. Yesterday, 51 plays, I believe. So that was essentially their final dress rehearsal for the upcoming season. But, you know, I think a lot of people wonder, should the defense be out there?

Because they did not look great in these first two preseason games.

You know, one of the big storylines in Cincinnati has been the situation clearly with

Trey Hendrickson.

I mean, when you have a player of that level in capability and talent, and then you know that

there is obviously a divide between player and franchise, and seemingly every day the storyline

changes.

And if in the last 12 hours, it has changed again, my apologies, where do things stand right now?

You know, it's funny.

Sometimes, you know, some of that change can be perception. But in reality, a lot of it stayed the same over the last, you know, a couple weeks or so in terms of, you know, what's going on. And, you know, from Monday night, Trey told our Laura Rutledge that, you know, the sides are in agreement on the length and the total value, which is what we had heard for weeks now. And the same thing still stands is that the guaranteed money is the holdup in terms of that deal. And so can both sides find a middle ground on the guaranteed money for trade? That's been the biggest thing the entire time, you know, going back to when he started talking to us in April about it,

and we knew even at the end of last season that this was going to be a problem with Trey and getting

him under contracts that he likes for this year because he still has a year left. I think it's going

to be up to the Bengals to kind of maybe continue to change their precedent on guarantee money

for veterans.

They just do not like doing it after the first year. And I think for a player like Trey, who's been a four-time pro bowl or an all-pro, you could argue that if the bank will say, listen, we're not going to do it for everybody, but if you're at a plate at an all-pro level, it's something we'll do when contracts come up. I think that would be fair. that would allow them to maintain their positioning and negotiating in future years.

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