The Cincinnati Bengals sound like a team headed toward a more active role in free agency.
Yes, Bengals fans have heard that before. But as the team heads toward being able to build around a rookie quarterback contract, even the team’s site has seemed to suggest the front office could be more active.
And at the scouting combine Tuesday, director of player personnel Duke Tobin offered up the following, per ESPN’s Ben Baby: “It’s not a question of whether we’re going to spend.”
Tobin’s expanded comments weave in re-signing their own, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
“At the same time we’ve got a lot of needs on our football team and we’re going to look at free agency and we’ll see what dominos fall,” Tobin said. “It’s going to be a blend. We’ve got guys we’re talking to on our own team about extensions, so we’ll see what we can get done. You don’t know what’s going to get done until it actually gets done. Once one domino falls then you’ve got to adjust at that point. We’ve always been a team that wants to keep and reward guys who have come in and done it the right way and produced for us. Being a player on the Cincinnati Bengals you know if you come in and do it the right way, produce, become a good player we’re going to look to extend you and reward you for that.”
None of this would likely mean the Bengals would be in the running for free agency’s biggest names. But one might reasonably expect the team to go after bigger names and numbers than last year’s John Miller deal at three years and $16.5 million.
Again, Bengals fans probably have a sense of deja vu on this sort of topic. But a rookie quarterback contract plus potentially an unknown in terms of Zac Taylor’s level of control makes for an interesting dynamic.
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