As the Bengals left for the summer this week with Dexter Lawrence II and Jonathan Allen conducting simultaneous exit interviews at their lockers, a whiff of nostalgia ocean-breezed through Paycor Stadium.

Go back about 15 years, back when Lawrence (in North Carolina) and Allen (in Virginia) were coming of age down south as defensive tackles, before they became college football icons at Clemson and Alabama, respectively, and first-round picks.

Like this past offseason, the Bengals were in the process of rebuilding their defense as the Chad-Carson Era morphed into the Age of A.J. and Andy. But unlike this $160 million overhaul of their defensive line, they attacked the secondary with an army of first-rounders looking for second chances, changes of scenery and championships.

By the time hired guns like Nate Clements, Terence Newman, Adam "Pacman," Jones and Reggie Nelson were done mixing their savvy with Bengals' first-rounders Leon Hall and Dre Kirkpatrick, Cincy had claimed two AFC North titles and five straight playoff berths.

The Joe Burrow Bengals thirst for more, but they know they need those recycled Renoirs to expand the landscape for their own first picks up front. Myles Murphy. Shemar Stewart. Cashius Howell.

As Burrow had his own blast of nostalgia this week comparing the Bengals to his 2019 unbeaten band of Bayou immortals at LSU, he riffed on exactly that.

"I think we have guys that have been there and done that and also guys who have had a lot of individual success and not necessarily the team success that we're looking for," Burrow said. "Guys like Dexter and guys like Jonathan, bringing guys like that in is so advantageous to a lot of different people. Players trying to improve makes it easier on coaches. We have guys with so much talent, and I'm just excited to put it all together."

Listen to Lawrence, the massive three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle nabbed in a New York-sized draft week trade with the Giants, and you can hear the edge those Bengals DBs had.

"I'll always have a chip on my shoulder," says Lawrence, who speaks of people doubting him and how he loves to flip the script on the pundits. He's even got a big-personality-Pacman-like nickname.

Sexy Dexy.

"I don't think there's ever been a guy to play like Dexter," Allen said. "Dexter is a unique guy, and I'm just excited for the opportunity.

"It's funny. After I left Minnesota (last season), I just sat down and had to really think what I wanted. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to come up here and put up great numbers. That proves your worth and why they brought you in. But, honestly, I just want to play meaningful football in December, and I want to help the team any way I can. I believe if I do that, the numbers will come. At this point in my career, it's all about winning, man."

At 31 and in his 10^th season, Allen doesn't sound all that different than Newman when he arrived in Cincinnati for his 10^th season after nine years chasing the Super Bowl in Dallas on Bill Parcells-Jason Garrett contenders. Allen says he'd like to play anywhere between four and nine more years. After Newman played three years here, he played three more and was done at age 39.

He came here because his coach in Dallas, Mike Zimmer, was the Bengals defensive coordinator. Allen, a veteran of Washington's Cinderella '24 season fueled by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels that pumpkined out in the NFC title game, came here in large part because he knows what the quarterback in this league means.

He remembers the Paycor prime-time electricity when Daniels and Burrow dueled for 71 points and what it felt like to be on a hot team.

"That's why a guy like me comes here," Allen said of Burrow. "That, and do whatever I can to really help them get over the hump.

"He's been awesome. I always love to see when he comes to the cafeteria, and he sits with every position group. You can tell someone who is trying to be a fake leader. They're trying to be a leader, but they don't have the natural leadership qualities. With Joe, you can tell a natural leader. He's had to be a leader since he got to high school and college and what he did at LSU. That confidence just goes out to the team."

Burrow says that vet presence has impacted his own style of leadership. He covets his privacy after hours. Yet Lawrence, 28, and Burrow, 29, have clicked outside the facility with their similar ages and experiences in NFL Click Bait headlines. Instagram caught him lunching with Lawrence and old friend Sam Hubbard, but often it's watching basketball.

"It's helped that we've brought some veteran guys in here that can help me do that. Dex has been amazing getting guys together, trying to build that off-the-field relationship that you need," Burrow said. "Nothing specifically. Usually watch whatever game is on."

Both guys have been around the block as much as they've defeated blocks. Asked if he had played next to a tackle like the two-time Pro Bowler Allen, Lawrence said, "You know about Leonard Williams?"

Certainly. Lawrence's tackle-mate with the Giants for three-and-a-half seasons and 22 sacks before he won a ring with Seattle last year. Williams has the ninth most sacks in the decade among D-Tackles with 26.5. The man above him on the Pro Football Reference list?

Allen with 27.

But, that's not the question. Can Lawrence and Allen team up to do what Williams' suffocating D-Line did last year for the Seahawks in their Super Bowl run? Or even what Washington's front did for the Commanders (43 sacks) in their playoff dash of two years ago?

"Without a doubt," Allen said. "For us, the biggest thing is getting up to speed quickly because we haven't had time to play together. It's easy in the NFL to assemble talent. You just go out there and overpay or do whatever you have to to assemble it.

"But assembling talent that works well together is (another question). All about having a common goal. Works well together. Unselfishness. Even though it's an individual business per se. But you have to just have one collective goal and have the discipline to go out there and do it on a daily basis."

That daily is where Bengals head coach Zac Taylor has seen the impact of Lawrence and Allen. Like those walk-throughs that mean everything in the season of installs and uncover buried treasure.

"I think what's kind of lost with the physical talent that they both bring is the above the neck," Taylor said this week. "The alignments they see in the backfield. The weight on the guard's hands. How the centers hold the ball. All that kind of stuff they've seen over the course of their career.

"There's an intent behind everything that they do, and just hearing the communication, when I stand over the walkthroughs, they hear Jonathan Allen say something, he's seeing something as soon as we line up … Really good defensive players, they cut the playbook in half on offense the second you line up, based on the backs alignment, tight ends alignment, they can look at the guards and get some indicators there, and so it'll be good for us as an offense too to hear some of that."

History hears it, too. The Bengals' hired guns of the 2020s are lined up front.

"At the end of the season, we sat down with this team and checked off all the boxes," said Allen, hoping this is his last roundup. "It's the place that I feel is going to be the best for my career, and hopefully I can end my career here.

"It's truly all about winning."