INDIANAPOLIS _ The Bengals reiterated on the national stage Tuesday what they've been saying on the local platform since the end of the season.
They're still seeking a long-term trifecta with their game-changing wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and NFL sack champion Trey Hendrickson as they sit down with the top prospects in this April draft here at the NFL scouting combine.
Bengals director of personnel Duke Tobin continued to say that Chase, the first man in history to catch 17 touchdowns and 1,700 yards this past season, is the priority and that they fully expect him to become "the number one paid non- quarterback in the league," echoing what he told Bengals.com at last month's Senior Bowl.
Tobin said he's been trying to sign Higgins for years and he's hopeful this is the one. He didn't talk about using the one-year franchise tag the Bengals used on Higgins last year because he wants to focus on multiple years before next week's deadline.
"You can pull up three years ago, talking about doing a long-term deal with Tee and here we are today, still talking about doing a long-term deal. So my opinion of Tee has not changed," Tobin said. "Tee Higgins is a fantastic football player and I want him on my football team. Whenever I'm in charge of a football team, I want Tee Higgins and so I'm going to do what I can to get Tee Higgins. Our preference with Tee Higgins is to do a long-term agreement. Always has been."
As Hendrickson seeks an extension at age 30, Tobin is all in on giving the club's most successful free agent in club history more years and he's not looking to trade him.
"That's not something I want to do, because I want Trey on our football team," Tobin said. "We're looking to pay him for what we believe will be really good future years and we see him as not falling off in his career. That's why we're actively trying."
Tobin wouldn't give any specifics on timelines or structures.
FRONT SEVEN HEAVEN
What also emerged rather quickly Tuesday is the Bengals are treating their front seven as a priority. Especially the defensive line as they prep for a draft deep with run-stoppers, inside pass rushers, and edgers.
Last week, the Bengals cut defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins after playing in only seven games, four-year starting defensive tackle B.J. Hill is a free agent and they had eight non-Hendrickson sacks on the edge. Five belong to free-agent Joseph Ossai.
Tobin feels the early injuries up front among Rankins, Hill, rookie tackle McKinnley Jackson and veteran edge Sam Hubbard took a toll.
"D-line is always on my mind. It doesn't matter what time of year. It could be September or July, or it could be April. You want to build the defensive line," Tobin said. "I did wish maybe we had a little more depth in that area and maybe stopped the run a little better. We had early injuries. I think the two defensive tackles (Hill and Rankins) went out in the same game and then all of a sudden we were playing with young guys in there.
"We play in a division that we've got to stop the run. D-line is always going to be a focus of ours … I think this draft offers a lot of D-Linemen. I think this is one of the better D-Line groups."
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor also had the front at the front of his mind as he maps out the ingredients a team needs to win it all.
"That's the best model you can have. A great front that can stop the run early in games and then transition to pass rush mode," Taylor said. "It makes it very difficult for offensive coordinators and quarterbacks to deal with and offensively they keep putting points on the board, and the next thing you know the game is over. It's a 17-point game and everyone has sacks and everyone has that production, feeling good and I'm giving out 100 game balls in the locker room. That's the best recipe for us to be a great team."
The Bengals haven't drafted a linebacker in five years, when new defensive coordinator Al Golden was their linebackers coach. Maybe it's a coincidence, but the 2020 draft class of Logan Wilson Akeem Davis-Gaither and Markus Bailey was so good they haven't had to go back to the well.
Now it sounds like they might. If anybody can figure out what college linebackers can play, it's Golden, coming off his run as Notre Dame's national assistant coach of the year.
"I think we need some linebacker unit help to be honest with you. We'll look and see what it looks like," Tobin said. "How do guys feel about our current guys and what roles they will have and what we're looking for in the next group, whether we need a third or a fourth, a fifth. Or do we need a special teams guys?
"Those are all the things that we'll look at in that position group. I don't think that we got everything we wanted. The tackling in that group wasn't what it needed to be at times."
One of the starters, Germaine Pratt, has reportedly asked for a trade. Tobin had no comment.
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Tobin and Taylor made it quite clear that they're fine with Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Burrow’s public lobbying to sign the trio while indicating there is always an open line of communication.
"I talk to him a lot. He's a member of our team and he is an important partner in what we're doing and I value his input. He's earned that," Tobin said. "I view it as a partnership. He's not looking to do my job and I'm not looking to go do his job, but we're looking to have success together, and there's an understanding and a mutual respect that way."
Taylor agreed.
"It's outstanding to have a player who's going to support his teammates and wants the most for them. These guys have developed such a tight bond that you're just striving for with every team you've been a part of, that you have this type of chemistry amongst those guys that they want to see each other rewarded," Taylor said.
"He's shown privately and publicly that he's got their back. Joe and myself and Duke and our front office are very much in line with what we want out of this organization and our future. And Joe and I have had tons of conversations. We're always on the same page. I don't have any issue with what he has done whatsoever and said publicly." …
If you really want to know how diverse Taylor envisions his offense, yes, he wants to run the ball and, yes, he wants to take pressure off his offensive line. Just look at the Oct. 29, 2023, game in San Franciso, a dominating 31-17 win. Taylor did Tuesday as he recalled how that game played out. There were 22 runs from backs and receivers for 91 yards as Burrow sliced 28 of 32 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns.
"We were under center using the screen game, we utilized the play-action, we balanced the pass," Taylor said. "We really felt like we controlled that game from start to finish that allowed you comfortably to do all that stuff. That's more the style we want to have every game to look like." …
Tobin indicated they're in the market for a running back to ease the load for Chase Brown after his break-out 1,000-yard scrimmage season. Tobin said the Bengals are seeking more clarity about the neck injury that sidelined backfield partner Zack Moss last season …
All in the family. Three generations.
Tobin's son Duke, a personnel assistant with the Eagles, got a Super Bowl ring in his first full-time season with Philly after beginning as an intern they kept asking back.
That's three Super Bowl trips for each grandfather, father and son. Bears general manager Bill Tobin put together an 18-1 team in 1985 that rolled to the championship in a rout of the Patriots in New Orleans. Before the Bengals played the Rams in L.A., Duke Tobin was named The Sporting News 2021 NFL Executive of the Year …
