Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin sat down for a Hobson's Choice podcast and offered some reflections on last week's dizzying draft with 11 selections and the first one in 50 years in which the club traded both up and down:
-The two Bengals' trades were part of a draft-record 38 in the first year compensatory picks were available to deal. But the Bengals used all four of their comps to make picks.
"I guess that was one of the factors that caused that and we were more active than we have been historically," Tobin says. "But each year is different. When you have more picks it gives you a little bit of flexibility."
-The Bengals don't believe they have a prototype build for wide receivers, so taking the 5-11, 190-pound John Ross in the first round isn't seen as all that uncharacteristic. Tobin has seen many great off-size receivers, starting with Hall-of-Famer Marvin Harrison when he was a scout with the Colts.
-Going into the draft Tobin thought there would be a better chance of trading down in the second round rather than the first because of the depth and he was right. As pick No. 41 inched closer, the phone kept ringing off the hook.
"That's where the depth in this draft was … We got to that pick and there were a number of good players sitting on the board for us at a couple of different position groups that would have hit our needs. We got a lot of action on that," Tobin says. "We felt quite possibly we could come out of it with the same player we would have otherwise picked or another darn good player. The ability to add a fourth-round pick in our minds is huge. We've done a lot of good business in the first round."
-The draft includes the most controversial pick since Tobin has been running things in Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon, still available when the Bengals traded down to No. 48. A joint statement released before the draft became a factor in the decision-making process.
"We feel good about Joe going forward. He's going to have to prove himself." Tobin says. "He's going to have work to recoup his reputation. It's a long process."
