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Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin continues to make the media rounds at the 2020 Senior Bowl.
The biggest topic is — of course — the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL draft and LSU quarterback Joe Burrow.
After shooting down rumors the Bengals wouldn’t trade the No. 1 pick, Tobin elaborated more in a new interview with Ian Rapoport on his RapSheet + Friends podcast.
“Right now, I would be open to leaving everything on the table because we haven’t decided yet. … (We’re) figuring out how to best use the capital we’ve ‘earned.’ ”
“Earned” is a funny way of putting it but the point stands — it’s entirely too early for the Bengals to finalize what they want to do in the draft. Tobin went on to stress he’s simply not comfortable eliminating options this early in the process.
While there is a semblance of “what else would Tobin say?” here, this is also simply the truth in mid-January. Media will ask about the eventual outcome and Tobin will answer truthfully.
But this response also signals to teams that the phone lines will remain open throughout the process until told otherwise. And for a prospect like Burrow, the trade return would be historic.
In other words, the Bengals would be foolish not to listen. That’s part of the long process here, so they will.
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