CINCINNATI — The Bengals are coming in to Thursday's NFL Draft with flexibility: The team expects to select the best player remaining, regardless of position.
Duke Tobin will run the show for the Cincinnati Bengals. The team’s director of player personnel said he doesn’t know yet which direction the Bengals will go with their first pick (28th overall) but said he’s keeping all options and phone lines open.
“We’ll have 28 guys ranked and we’ll be ready to go,” he said. “We feel like there will be some good options for us. We just can’t control who it will be. But we’ll be ready.”
Head Coach Zac Taylor said the team is in a good spot with no specific roles that need to be filled. Three years ago it was Joe Burrow, last year it was Safety Dax Hill. This year, Taylor said it's about finding the right fit.
"I can't say there is one thing I'm going to tell you that 'this is exactly what we're looking for' because there's always different guys from year to year that fit different needs that maybe play the same position. But for us, they might play different positions," Taylor said. "I don't feel comfortable saying there's 1 trait we're looking for."
Taylor added that the best trait he can think of now is being "mean" on game day.
Cincinnati has seven picks in this year’s draft. Tobin said he’ll look at every position with that first pick, including running back.
Joe Mixon, the Bengals’ starting running back since 2017, pleaded not guilty earlier this month to a misdemeanor charge of aggravated menacing over allegations that he threatened and pointed a gun at a woman in Cincinnati earlier this year.
Samaje Perine, Mixon’s longtime backup, signed a two-year deal with the Denver Broncos at the start of free agency last month.
“Just in general, any position group is hard to eliminate,” Tobin said. ”We’re open to any position that presents itself if they’re the best player available. And if they’re clearly the best player and they will have a role on our team, we’ll certainly consider it."
This draft will mark the fifth for Tobin alongside Bengals head coach Zac Taylor. It also will be another draft with many of the same scouts. That continuity has led to an abundance of trust on draft day among the Cincinnati front office. It has also led to back-to-back AFC North titles and consecutive deep runs in the playoffs.
“Duke’s approach is the right one in how he gathers opinions, and how he makes the decisions and how he factors in everybody and puts us in a really good position where we feel good about the guys that we bring in here,” Taylor said.
You can watch round one of the 2023 NFL Draft on WCPO 9 beginning at 8 p.m Thursday. Rounds two and three will air Friday at 7 p.m. with the rest of the draft finishing Saturday.
Keith Jenkins with The Associated Press contributed to the reporting in this article
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