Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin’s comments from his pre-draft presser won’t shock seasoned fans.
In short, he doesn’t have much to say about trades, extensions or draft picks — everything is on the table and they’re open to everything.
No, really. The Bengals would be foolish to rule anything out right now and even more foolish to tip their hand publicly. Tobin admitted, for example, that all front offices around the NFL are putting out trade feelers over phone calls. That doesn’t mean the team will trade on draft day, but the conversations have been there.
Likewise, Tobin made it clear they’re sticking with their best-player-available approach:
“If we get an opportunity to add a young guy, we’re not going to turn it down. We don’t eliminate any position in the draft. If you start doing that you run out of players. And so we’re going look at every position and what’s available. And if the best guy available is a tight end, we’ll probably go that route.”
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Interesting there is the “probably,” perhaps meaning tight end doesn’t have to be the play. But reading too much into a quick-hitting chat is a dangerous game.
Tobin added this, noting that specialists and quarterbacks — for obvious reasons — are the only things really eliminated from the first-round topic: “We’re open to any position that presents itself is they’re the best player available. I do probably eliminate specialists from that first-round category, but other than that, it’s hard to eliminate and I don’t think we’ll be taking a quarterback up there but everything else is wide open.”
With the Bengals, this is why, besides quarterback and specialists, it’s really hard to scoff at any mock draft idea. The team’s handful of signings that addressed needs reinforces the idea Tobin and Co. could select pretty much any position in the opening round.
Watch the full presser here ⬇️ https://t.co/jbT48BJb0v
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) April 20, 2023
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