Tag: Duke Tobin

2023 NFL GM rankings: The 5 best and 5 worst execs, starring Howie Roseman

Some of the guys on this list have built budding dynasties. Others just ruin their team’s hopes to contend.

Every star-studded Super Bowl contender has a mastermind pulling all the right strings behind the scenes. Without a quality general manager, most great, even good, teams never even launch off the ground.

And a quality GM is responsible for everything. They spend months scouting comprehensive draft classes. They have to massage their franchise’s salary cap when it comes time to make difficult financial choices. Even smaller decisions, like offseason training programs and equipment at the team’s facilities, are up to them. If we’re being forthright, a quality NFL GM has their fingerprints everywhere.

This isn’t necessarily a good thing for everyone.

Some GMs aren’t up to the task of having every important football decision come across their desk. They seemingly run their team like a 15-year-old kid playing Madden’s franchise mode who simulates all the smaller but essential details. And then it’s no wonder when their squads get obliterated every time they play a game.

For The Win’s 2023 preseason GM rankings centers on the folks who aren’t overwhelmed when they read one contract page on Over The Cap. It also highlights the people slowly but surely driving their franchises into the ground. After all, we have to see both sides of the coin.

MORE NFL PRESEASON:

Bengals’ Duke Tobin comments on the Joe Burrow extension situation

More fun comments from Duke Tobin of the Bengals.

[connatix div_id=”3f8b015acdd24c648befc5d5dac47469″ player_id=”afe1e038-d3c2-49c0-922d-6511a229f69c” cid=”7cbcea0d-4ce2-4c75-9a8d-fbe02a192c24″]

Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin doesn’t offer much in public about the team’s dealings.

That adds weight to his comments when he says, for example, that the team won’t trade wideout Tee Higgins.

It also adds weight when he so openly talks about the upcoming extension for Joe Burrow.

Appearing on Pat McAfee’s show, Tobin admitted Burrow’s extension will be a “sizable amount of money” and offered a ton of praise for executive vice president Katie Blackburn’s leading role in this (and all contractual and cap) matters.

“Katie is on top of that one,” Tobin said. “She’s the one that keeps us on track with the salary cap, not only for this year, but for future years. Everything we do, we are looking now, but these dollars count. If you aren’t counting them this year, you are counting them next year or the year after. Every dollar that goes out counts.”

True indeed, Burrow’s extension projects to make him the league’s highest-paid player. Creative cap-based ideas that would position the Bengals as trailblazers around the league have been floated, too.

As always, there’s little concern from the Bengals about the situation despite the massive numbers sure to come.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1]

Duke Tobin latest to stay quiet about Jonah Williams trade speculation

The Bengals aren’t saying much about the Jonah Williams trade speculation.

Like Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor before him, team director of player personnel Duke Tobin didn’t have much to say on the Jonah Williams trade topic.

Speaking with reporters at his annual pre-draft presser, Tobin wouldn’t go into much detail about the reported trade request from their former left tackle.

“I don’t have any updates on Jonah,” Tobin said. “He’s a member of our team. He’s a valued member of our team. If that changes, you guys will be the first to know.”

Williams reportedly requested the trade after the Bengals unexpectedly landed Orlando Brown Jr. in free agency. Taylor has said he expects Williams to come in and compete at right tackle.

Like the overall theme of Tobin’s media session, he kept an anything-can-happen vibe to the Williams topic while also firmly walking the tightrope between being informative and not giving up too much information for other teams to use.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1]

Bengals’ Duke Tobin talks extensions for Joe Burrow and others before draft

Duke Tobin discussed how the looming extensions might impact draft plans.

Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin largely kept to the organization’s expected talking points while discussing extensions before the 2023 NFL draft.

Asked about the broad extension situations for names like Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins and Logan Wilson, Tobin said those on the to-do list don’t impact the draft at all.

“You can’t predict when and if they’ll get done,” Tobin said, according to The Athletic’s Jay Morrison. “We’re working to try to have as many good players on our football team as we can and try to keep them as long as we can — the ones that are producing and really fit well here. We’re trying like heck to get those guys extended, renegotiated.

As Morrison went on to note, extensions by the team haven’t really happened before the calendar turns to May over the course of the last decade.

Meaning, Tobin’s talking points and the lack of extensions so far aren’t surprising at all.

While those extensions won’t impact the draft, what might is the team looking one year ahead again like they did with the pick of Dax Hill last year. Seeing Tyler Boyd doesn’t have an extension yet could mean the team looks at slot wideout prospects such as a certain UC Bearcats player.

But for now, no news on Burrow, Higgins and Wilson, is business as usual.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1]

Duke Tobin makes it clear Bengals will use best-player-available strategy

It’s going to be business as usual for Duke Tobin and the Bengals in the first round.

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.”

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

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.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1]

Bengals’ Duke Tobin ranks highly in new NFL general manager rankings

A nice honor for Duke Tobin of the Bengals.

Cincinnati Bengals de-factor general manager Duke Tobin emerges looking great in a fresh ranking of general managers around the NFL.

While the Bengals haven’t officially given out the title despite national outcry about it, Tobin stands in the role and gets the spot on leaguewide rankings for the team.

And it’s quite the incredible ranking for Tobin this offseason, with NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal putting him in third overall place:

Longtime NFL analyst Solomon Wilcots once said of Marvin Lewis that the coach “raised the Titanic” during his time in Cincinnati. That’s partly why Tobin gets extra credit for building two different Bengals eras with top-shelf rosters. Having Joe Burrow instead of Andy Dalton atop the quarterback depth chart should help the latest iteration last. The team has a strong recent record with targeted free-agent strikes (Chidobe Awuzie, D.J. Reader), and it was smart not to overspend when some of their own players like Hayden Hurst and Vonn Bell got paid too much elsewhere. Tobin used that extra money to find value with tackle Orlando Brown Jr. at the top of the market and safety Nick Scott and tight end Irv Smith Jr. as worthwhile low-cost gambles. Cincinnati’s offensive line overhaul last offseason mostly worked, but I love that Tobin didn’t stand pat. There is strong cohesion between Tobin and Zac Taylor’s coaching staff, which develops rookies like cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt before giving them playing time.

Tobin finishes third behind only Howie Roseman of the Philadelphia Eagles and Brett Veach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

That’s great company for Tobin, who took the layup that was picking Joe Burrow and then superbly built around the rookie quarterback contract to the tune of a Super Bowl appearance and coming within a few plays of another.

Most impressive of all, Tobin has done so while matching the vision of head coach Zac Taylor, re-building the program to his liking over the last few years.

Tobin will remain in this spot, if not climb higher, provided he can keep fielding a contender-worthy roster after Joe Burrow gets his massive extension.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1]

Duke Tobin details how he works with Joe Burrow on Bengals

Duke Tobin chatted a bit about his relationship with Joe Burrow.

Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin had a notable media availability at this week’s scouting combine.

Tobin had to hit on many of the big subjects such as Joe Burrow’s extension and Joe Mixon’s future with the team.

But tucked into an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio was Tobin going into a little detail about his relationship with Burrow: “I’ve got a great relationship with him. I lean on him to give me ideas, give me thoughts, you know, what are you seeing? Especially on the offensive side of the ball. What makes you more comfortable? This or this? Those are things that are important.”

It’s a nice little example of what has been described as a brilliant fusion of the coaching staff working closely with Tobin’s scouting department and front office to find the right players and schematic fits.

That sounds like a simple thing — but it’s absolutely not based on the lack of parity and certain teams’ inability to escape mediocrity.

Burrow having input with the de-facto general manager on all levels — and Tobin willingly embracing it — plays a huge part in Cincinnati’s newfound perennial contender status.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1]

Top reactions to Duke Tobin’s viral comments about Tee Higgins trade

Duke Tobin shut down Bengals-Tee Higgins trade rumors and it went viral fast.

Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin doesn’t get in front of a microphone often. And when he does, it’s usually pretty standard-fare coach-speak stuff.

But that changed in a big way on Tuesday at the scouting combine when Tobin got a chance to address the Tee Higgins trade speculation.

Tobin didn’t hold back on the topic, with this sentence quickly going viral in the NFL community: “I’m not in the business of making other teams better. You want a great receiver go find your own.”

That was a shot across the brow for fans who had hoped their team might be able to trade for Higgins and a breath of fresh air for Bengals fans who already knew a trade wouldn’t be happening.

Here are some of the best reactions.

Bengals’ exec on the possibility of a Tee Higgins trade: ‘They want a receiver, go find your own’

It does NOT sound like the Bengals are trading Tee Higgins.

Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin slammed the door shut on talk of a Tee Higgins trade on Tuesday.

With word starting to spread that teams will be calling Cincinnati about the wide receiver, Tobin emphatically said that other franchises will have to figure their own receiver rooms out as Higgins is still a member of the Bengals.

“Trading Tee Higgins is not on my mind. That’s their problem,” Tobin told reporters at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine about teams asking about a possible Higgins trade. “They want a receiver, go find your own. … The trade stuff is a little ridiculous right now.”

Well, that’s one way to swat down trade rumors involving one of your best players. While NFL general manager talk is padded by design, you usually don’t get such a forceful rejection like what Tobin gave.

It really sounds like it’ll take a Godfather-level trade offer for the Bengals to consider moving Higgins before his rookie deal is up. An extension feels much more likely after hearing Tobin’s response on Tuesday.

Zac Taylor, Duke Tobin scouting combine press conference schedule

Scouting combine times for Bengals fans to know.

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and director of player personnel Duke Tobin will hold their customary press conferences at the scouting combine on Tuesday.

Here’s a quick look at when both guys will take the podium to field questions:

  • Duke Tobin: 3:30 p.m. ET, Podium 3
  • Zac Taylor: 4 p.m. ET, Podium 3

These interviews have actually been pretty insightful in the past, whether it’s Tobin talking about the process and approach to the scouting combine and this year’s class or Taylor detailing what he’s looking for at the event.

Both guys won’t break any major news or something nearly as dramatic. Over the last few years, though, it has been interesting to watch the dynamic shift as the team went from picking No. 1 overall to very late in the first round. Tobin usually doesn’t get in front of a mic very often, either, making it notable.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1]