'It All Starts With Those Two Things' - Scott Peters Highlights Player Traits He Loves As Evaluation Role Grows

CINCINNATI — New Bengals offensive line coach Scott Peters brings plenty of talent evaluation experience to the team. He sat down with the team's radio play-by-play voice, Dan Hoard, for an interview on the latest Bengals Booth Podcast and discussed those traits on top of the player traits he looks for.

Peters was the offensive line coach in New England last season after starting his coaching career in Cleveland. He worked his way from consultant to assistant coach under Bill Callahan.

"So in Cleveland, Bill Callahan and I would break down all the players, the free agents, the veteran players, and we look at the draft," Peters confirmed to Hoard. "And Bill taught me his process. And it was a great process. And that's something I took with me to New England as well, but always had input. I know here, it's especially important that the influence of the coaches are a big consideration. So I'm excited about that."

Two big pillars matter the most to Peters in a player: Character and intelligence.

"It starts with character and intelligence," Peters said. "That's like a checkpoint you want to make sure to play the position of offensive line. You want guys that have great character, they love football, and then they have the intelligence to be able to come in and apply the teachings from the classroom to the grass after that. We look for measurables. We look for things that they can do.

"And arm length is one of the biggest traits that we look for. And our tackles here in Cincinnati have long arms. And that's good. That's great because you want to use the length to your advantage. Keep the guys on the edge, and create the width of the pocket. Kind of like a boxer, a guy with a long jab can reach out and touch you at a distance. It's very helpful, especially against elite pass rushers, so that's something we do definitely consider, but it all starts with those two things, character and intelligence."

Group intelligence is going into the run-game designs moving forward. Frank Pollack had run-game coordinator as a title previously, but Peters confirmed the entire offensive staff is handling that as a group.

Next is evaluation time for free agency and the draft over these next couple of months.

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