Everything Bengals Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin Said at 2026 NFL Combine

INDIANAPOLIS — Bengals Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin spoke with the media for 18 minutes at the podium on Tuesday at the 2026 NFL Combine in Indianapolis. He also met with the local media and talked for 36 minutes in an audio-only interview session.

Read everything Tobin said on the podium and in the audio only session below. If you prefer to watch what he said at the podium, go here. If you prefer to listen to the audio only session, go here.

Podium Transcript

Feb 24, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Cincinnati Bengals general manager Duke Tobin speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

How would you characterize where any conversations with Trey Hendrickson are right now?

All right, let's have somebody else go. (laughs) I don't throw anything on or off the table with Trey, and we're excited about attacking this offseason. We have resources to attack the offseason in a big way, and we want to do that. In terms of how we're going to do that, how we're going to allocate our resources, you know, who is it going to be on, our own free agents, what's our intentions there? I'm not going to get into that right here. It's just not the time to announce that to the rest of the league, so that's the best way I can answer that.

In your evaluation of running backs, what's the priority for you in blocking versus pass protection? For example, there's a running back out in your backyard in Cincinnati, had production at Oklahoma, Wisconsin. He's also a great pass protector. Is a guy like Tawee Walker on your radar?

Yeah, we try to keep a lot of people on our radars, for sure, and you know, for us individually, the way that we operate, you know, pass protection is a big thing. You obviously got to have skill to carry the ball, and you've got to have skill to be a pass game threat to some degree, and you've got to be able to protect and the position with the Cincinnati Bengals is pretty demanding. It really is. And that's what Chase (Brown) came in and really embraced, is, how do I become a complete back and stay on the field? He became a pass protector. He became a threat in the pass game, and he's obviously a very talented ball carrier. So we look at all three, and we don't really rank them one, two or three. They kind of got to have it all for us to feel like they can be an every down contributor for us.

How do you balance potential extensions?

Yeah, in terms of extensions and how that affects the rest of it, sometimes you can do extensions within the cap count that you currently have, and sometimes you can't. We juggle all those things. We have a number of resources, and we're going to use them the best way that we can to improve as many areas of our roster as we can. We have things that we definitely want to get done, and we've put a lot of time into it. We've had a lot of people involved in trying to sketch out the best plan. Now, the best plan never goes as orchestrated, but we have a good plan in place, and we're looking to improve our team in every way we can, and if that's with extensions, so be it.

Last year, Duke, you guys obviously took Shemar in the first round and took two linebackers later. Did that process, that approach to rebuilding the defense, teach you anything about how you might use the draft?

Yeah, you know, we're always trying to fit, you know, where we're picking to the talent level, and we don't want to just reach for a need, and so we're picking 10th this year. We're not going to rank 10 of the same position in order and take the 10th best guy at his position. So, you always have to be flexible in terms of the positions. But yeah, there are definite areas of our football team that we're looking to to enhance, and it can come from within, but some of it has to come from external sources, and the draft is is a big chance for us to really hit on guys that can be long term contributors for us. And then we'll look to free agency and maybe with some extensions, and, you know, we'll try to fill it in the best we can.

When it comes to analytics, is AI something you use?

AI, yeah. You know, we dabble in AI, yeah, we try to use as many resources as we can. You know, it's still new to us. Analytics is not new to us. Analytics has been around for a long time, just in different forms. It's become more prevalent and it's become more robust over time, but it's been around ever since somebody timed a 40. That's an analytic. And so as long as that's been around, or how tall are you, or, you know, how much do you weigh? Those are all analytics as well. So it's grown in importance, and AI continues to develop over time, and we're trying to stay up to speed on it for sure.

How big of a factor is age, in terms of the college guys?

You know, we're getting a lot of variation there, because a lot of guys are staying in longer. I don't believe a 25-year-old is old. I think a 25-year-old is young. Still has a lot of football left in his body. So it's a data point. It's something we're aware of. It might affect the longevity down the road, but sometimes it can also be a benefit. A guy's a little more mature in his body, a little more stable, maybe, in how he conducts himself in his personal life, or whatever it is. But you know, age is a number of guys are playing longer these years and so it's a factor, but it's not a big factor for us.

When attacking the offseason, do you see it being more like 2021-2022 in terms of free agency?

2021 and 2022? I'm kind of forward looking, so I'm trying to think of exactly what all happened in those years. But yeah, we're going to attack it, you know, and try to build our roster from all sources. And draft is one of those sources, free agency is another. Perhaps re-signing some of our impending free agents is another, extensions, so they don't get to free agency, is another way to do it, but we're going to look at all areas, and we're going to try to attack this offseason and fit our needs with the right people. And that's what our focus is, and we're excited about it because we have resources to go out and do some things.

Would you like to see Dalton Risner return?

With Dalton Risner, you know, he came in late to the process and really fit in. You know, I thought it ended up being a great fit for him in how we play, and he became a great fit for us and came in and filled the need for us. Did a nice job, fit in well, got a ton of respect for him, really enjoyed getting to know him. He's really, you know, a fantastic person just to be around in the locker room on a day-to-day basis. And he's a guy that we've talked to, and we'll see if we can get something done. He's got decisions to make, and we've got decisions to make, and he's a guy that we like a lot.

Concept of being all-in with Joe Burrow and this "championship window," how do you deal with that?

So, the question is on whether we are all in or not? I've been doing this a long time. I've never not been all in. We are all in. We are trying to get the best team possible with the resources we have. You know, last year we went all in. We signed over $400 million worth of contracts, going all in. That's what we do. We want to be all in. We're trying to put the best roster together every year, and this year is no different.

How much will familiarity with Al Golden factor into how you guys now have a better feel of what you need to add to that defense?

You know, I've always been very impressed with Al. And the thing is Al is very flexible. You know, he can take what he has and make a good defense out of it. He can, and I believe that, and I think he will do that. He has a vision for what he wants to be, and it's my job to go out and fill the needs that will fulfill that vision that he has. And so, yeah, do I have 100% confidence that we'll get that done together. I do? I believe in Al, I believe in Zac. I think their vision is the right vision, and it's on the guys in the personnel department, with their help, to go out and identify guys and then see if we can get them signed. You know, it's a two part thing. You can want somebody, and maybe they don't want you, or they go somewhere else and they're not available to you, but we want to identify the right ones, then we want to go out and attack and see if we can get them to Cincinnati.

You mentioned resources. Is Tag Trey going to be one of those resources?

“We're back to Trey. Yeah, I'm not going to talk about how we're going to deploy our resources and and what our intention is with the the tag. I'm not going to close any doors on any player that we've had or any of our free agents up here today. I'm just not going to do that. Trey's been a great player for us. He didn't have the year he wanted this year. We didn't have the year we wanted this year. Those are factors and we'll see where we go from there. But in terms of how we're gonna deploy the tag, if we are going to, that's not something I'm gonna talk about here.”

Yeah, when you were scouting DJ. How important was the 40 yard dash?

“Yeah, it's a data point, you know. I think AI would have told us that it was pretty good and it was fast. That's a position, depending on how you wanna play him. And we want guys that can run and cover and play in man, cover deep balls, and he showed that he had those traits. He showed it on tape. So the 40 time was more of a confirmation of what we believed he was, what we saw on tape. If the 40 time doesn't confirm that one way or the other, we go back to the tape and we determine whether his playing speed is good enough or not. But it's always comforting to know that a player you feel is fast, comes out and runs fast, then you're pretty confident in your assessment.”

Joe debrief?

“Yeah, I haven't had a real good time to sit down and have a debrief with Joe. If that's what you're asking. I've had a few conversations with him and I always enjoy our interactions, I really do. I can tell you, he doesn't feel the season went well and neither do I. So I think we're aligned on that.”

Are there lessons you can learn from Seattle defense?

“Yeah, Seattle did a nice job and they had a very good front and they had a physical front and they had a wave of guys that kept coming through. And that's something every team wants. You ask anybody in my position with any of the other teams, they want that defensive line, they want the wave. And we would like to get to the point where we have a couple different groups we can deploy in there and keep them fresh and really get after the passer. And you gotta stop the run in order to get after the passer. And it was impressive to see Seattle's D-line play and they had a great scheme and congrats to them. John's a good friend of mine.”

In that regard, with Shemar Stewart, how did you feel like he played and what does he believe he looks like going forward? And how much do you have to have a good feel for that to understand how you're gonna try to attack free agency in a position like that?

“I'm excited about Shemar. All of us are excited about Shemar. The first year didn't go the way he wanted. He didn't have a ton of practice. He played healthy in the first game and then he wasn't healthy the rest of the year. And that's tough on a young guy because when you're not healthy, you're also not practicing. And so he didn't get those reps. To his credit, he had never been injured in his football career ever. And he had two pretty significant injuries this year, battled back to be able to get on the field for us. And that was good to see. That was good to see his ambition and his drive to, ‘I'm getting back out there. I'm not going out like this. I wanna play.’ And so those were all positives. But to analyze his season is tough because he really wasn't healthy beyond the first game.”

Shemar, Amarius, How important are traits?

“You want guys that play football well, but you want guys that can play NFL football well. And those traits are what drive a lot of really great players. And we do like guys that are big enough, fast enough, strong enough. You have to have those things. You can't just have desire. Desire with not any physical traits. You're gonna be doing my job and you're not gonna be playing NFL football for us. But there's a marriage between the two. Young guys like those two that you mentioned, those guys have a lot of future in front of them. And so we wanna build that future with them. And we believe that that'll be a really positive future.”

Leadership traits to target?

“In order to be a leader though, you gotta have skins on the wall and you gotta play effectively. And the rest of your teammates have to know that you are producing at a high level. It's hard to lead when you're not out on the field or you're not producing well. So the first trait of a good leader is production, is actually producing in a way that everyone respects and wants to mimic. So you have to have that. And then you have to have the outward charisma. And you've also gotta be willing to have tough conversations with people. And so finding leaders sounds easy, but there's a lot of components that go into that. And there's a lot of different leadership styles that can work. And I think we've got some inside of our own building that'll continue to evolve and grow in those roles. And then if we can find some ready-made guys who have the skins on the wall that come in and help us in those areas, that'll be good.”

How much farther along with Al are you this year?

“Unfortunately, we're really far along, you know, when your season goes kibbutz and you're out of it, you're into this area a lot quicker. And we have stability on our coaching staff. And so we are far along. We feel very confident in what we wanna do, who we'd like to do it with, and we'll see if those things can come together. But we feel like we're really prepared for this event and for free agency.”

The most important traits?

“The number one trait, you have to love football. You have to be playing football because you enjoy the game. If you're playing football just because of what it brings you, it's normally not gonna be a long-term thing for you. You have to be playing football because you love doing it. And so we really wanna know, does the guy love football? If it didn't bring the things that NFL football brings, which are great, but if it didn't bring those things, would he still be playing? Would he still be playing in the Arena Football League or wanting to go to the CFL? Or does he love the game? And then we can build off of that. Does he have the traits to play? Does he have the speed, the size, the strength? Does he have the production? Can he develop the production? Those things all come after, ‘does the guy enjoy being out there, being in the locker room and competing?’ And that's the number one thing we're trying to find. It's not easy to put a pin on that. Nobody will raise their hand and say, nah, I'm not about that. They'll tell you they're about it, but you have to judge their actions, how they play, their interactions with their teammates, the information you get from the sources at the school, and you have to divine whether the guy really enjoys what he wants to do for a living.”

Duke Audio Only Transcript

Feb 24, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Cincinnati Bengals general manager Duke Tobin speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Would you consider restructuring Burrow's contract?

We look at all areas to increase our competitiveness if we have to. Cap dollars have to be counted, so if we can accomplish what we want to accomplish without pushing things into future problems, we'll do that. If we need that, we'll consider that as well. Like I said, we're open to doing anything we need to do to improve our team where we're satisfied we're gonna win a championship. That's our mindset, and that's the way we're going into the offseason. But we have resources right now, and we'll see what we can get done. When free agency kicks off, you never know exactly what is gonna happen. There's 31 other teams doing exactly the same thing we're doing, and 30 teams looking to improve and one team that's happy. So we're not alone in our needs. There aren't enough elite type players to service 32 teams, and we're aware of that. We're trying to be strategic and find the guys that'll fit our system, our scheme and elevate us to a championship. That's what we're focused on.

How do you view the though of going all in and taking a big swing?

We're always looking if there's an opportunity that we feel warrants it. You have to give up things, and when you take a big swing, there's a big chance you miss. And it can stay with you for a long time and keep you in the dugout, if we're staying with baseball. We don't want to stay in the dugout. That's not a place we want to be. You don't get to take a big swing for free. Big swings take big compensation. I would probably argue that one of the best trades in the league this year was us bringing Joe Flacco to us, because it re-energized us and it gave us a chance. So when things present themselves like that, we will take advantage of it. But it's got to be worth it. We don't ignore opportunities that are out there. We never do. Most people aren't changing teams in the middle of the year because they're doing great for their team, or their team is doing great. There are a lot of opportunities out there, and I think the offseason is the time to build your football team from the ground up. And that's what we're gonna try to do this offseason.

Is the pass rushing talent there in free agency?

There is. There's 31 other teams hunting. But there are guys that we like, that we can envision in our scheme elevating our team. They have to be interested in us. They have to make it to free agency. It's got to fit within the context of what we're talking about and all those things. It's also a good rush draft. There's a lot of guys in the draft that we have high regard for. So it's exciting for us when we look at 'How would this guy fit?' Each guy is a little different analysis. This guy is probably gonna be in this range. How would he fit? Would he elevate us enough? How would this guy fit? What does it do with our current team? How do we deploy the guys that we have on our roster? I don't think that the guys we have on our roster can't elevate our pass rush. Because I think we have a lot of guys that are young in their career that can elevate our pass rush. You've got to get to third down to get that pass rush. It's a two-pronged approach. You want to be good on first and second down as well. And it's not just who's doing it, but what they're doing. And we're working on all those areas to get it fixed. But there are opportunities in every bucket of bringing players in. And we're gonna look at all the buckets.

Big swing in free agency versus draft

The draft ,you’re giving up the piece your’e using on the player. In free agency ,it’s a financial obligation. If you’re talking trades, it’s future players who could be long term players for you. We dont want to throw away chances at finding guys in the draft who can be long term real guys for us. We’ve found guys in about every round who have changed our team and been exceptional players. When you give up those picks, you’re giving up the chance to find those guys. You need those guys on your team. You can’t have a team full of highly paid guys. That cap doesn’t support that. You have to have guys on rookie contracts proving snaps and roles for you and developing in their careers.

You can’t have a bunch of 20 million dollar players at every position. The math doesn’t work. When you give up a young player that’s a four year player, and a chance at finding Geno Atkins in the fourth round, just give up that fourth round pick and nobody cares. If you name Geno Atkins, everyone would care. It would have effected us pretty heavily. We try to maintain as many opportunities to find good young players as we can. There are definite needs on our football team. Those are the areas we’ll try to fill in with more proven veterans.

Trade deadline 2025

We have those conversations. The opportunities aren’t always there. When you’re talking trades there are a lot of elements. The players health, age, contract, the current production. If you’re in the swing of the season and you have a chance, and the guy is helping you have that chance, you’re looking to keep the chance alive. If you dont have a chance at the trade deadline, which is not often, this year we had a real chance. We weren’t looking to weaken our football team this year. Until we were out of it we thought we had a chance and were trying to build the best team possible.

Tag and trade

All trades are difficult. You have to find a partner. you have to have cooperation with your players. Trades can be complicated. That hypothetical scenario would be very complicated.

Evaluate ability to find guys who fit

Some are better than others. I don’t give up on any player that’s on our football team because I see talent in everyone. If I didn’t see any talent, they wouldn’t be here. If I didn’t see and future, they wouldn’t be here. We don’t waste time with guys that we give up on. I’m hopeful for a lot of players we have. When you get Pro Bowl guys in the later rounds, you feel great about that. I feel really good about our process, what we’re looking for, why we’re looking for it and what we’re trying to uncover. There are a lot of things you can’t control in football and life in general. Injuries, motivation changes, opportunities. Those things have to come together for players to maximize themselves. When one of those elements isn’t there, sometimes it’s hard for that player to overcome that.

Board versus need

In general, what I prefer is staying with the bucket of player we evaluate of worthy of that pick and not going down. In that bucket sometimes we’ll take need. It’s a conversation of is need more important, if there’s a glaring player we evaluated that we believe is at a level higher than everyone else, you probably just go with that guy. In a year, that might be something that looked really smart. In the past, we’ve done that. Whif was that way. We was the best player available and we took him. When we have a guy like that that stands out on our board, we’re normally not going to pass. There are times when maybe we had guys at the bottom of a bucket and guys at the top of a bucket and went with immediate need. It’s always a temptation. When we do that and it doesn’t work out that’s my fault. Our philosophy is we want guys worthy of the pick we’re making.

We might be forced to. It depends on what’s available to us. It’s not like we need a defensive tackle so we rank the top 10 defensive tackles in the draft and take the 10th best defensive tackle at 10 overall. We’re not going to do that. We’re going to rank the 10 best players and go beyond that. If there are opportunities and we’re not satisfied and there’s an opportunity to trade back for more picks, we’ll do that. We always are open to doing that kind of stuff. The opportunity is not always there. If you’re not super excited about who’s there, the odds are the other team is not super excited about coming to your pick. That happens more than not and there’s not an opportunity at the time to move out of the pick. You have to be prepared to take a player. If what’s left for us at 10 is a dropdown, that’s what we’ll take. If it’s the best of the next, and we’ll feel good about it. When you’re as high as we are in the top 10, you can’t eliminate any position. You have to be open minded to taking the guy that’s clearly the best football player.

Positional value for safeties changed?

Depends on who you are. I can name difference makers at every position. If you can find a difference-maker, it doesn’t matter what the position is behind his name. There’s definitely been difference-making safeties. There have been difference-making guards. The positions that are typically undervalued in free agency or whatever, there have been difference makers. And if you can find a difference maker that can elevate your football team, I think you do that.

Moving up in the draft?

You’re giving up something. You’re giving up your second-round pick or your third-round pick. And we have hopes for those players, as well. And this draft really offers guys in those areas in the way that we analyze it and the way that we look at it. It might not be a super top-heavy draft. But there’s a lot of guys that we can envision elevating our football team. You have to be willing to give those up. Do we have the conversations? Sure. We have them.

Anything you learned from the external safeties and why they didn’t work out?

It’s the who, the what, the fit, how they’re playing, what they’re asked to do, all those kinds of things have to come together and fit together. And sometimes they might have had more success doing something different. I’m not going to say that anybody was the cause of our defensive fall this year. I’m not going to call out any of our players on that. The group has to play better as a whole. What we like in safeties is what everyone likes in safeties. You want guys who are instinctive, that see the big picture. They have to have speed to cover. If they can cover in man, that really opens up a lot of opportunities for you. They have to be willing to tackle in the box. They have to be a good open-field tackler. The more space you create with those guys, the tougher the tackles get. And there are no safeties in the NFL that don’t miss tackles. You just want to limit those exposures to where they have the big to gap to make up. But space causes missed tackles more than anything. So spacing is important. That plays into some of the instincts and so forth that we really want to see in that position group. But those really factor in every position on defense. Defense is reacting to what the offense does. They don’t get to dictate all the time. And they’ve gotta see it, react to it and play fast. The more comfortable they are in what they’re doing and the more time on task they have, the faster that they can play and we saw that in some of our young guys this year. The more comfortable they got with their role, they sped up and they saw it quicker. And so I’ve got hopes for a lot of guys that are on our team right now, too.

Spent notable money in free agency, they’ve been young guys. Do you open up to over 30 guys when you need leaders?

We’re open to anybody we think has life left in their NFL body. If they’re still playing at a high level, we’re open to them. Sometimes it’ll affect the contract, the length, all that kind of stuff. But defining loads of money, which is what you said, is tough.

More than a couple of million.

You try to match the contract with the player. And you try to determine whether he’s got this much life or this much life. They’re playing longer these days and we’re keenly aware of that.

Overview of the draft?

I think there’s depth. I think there’s a lot of d-linemen who are attractive guys for different roles, as you go through the whole season or the whole draft really. I think we have almost 400 ranked players on our board right now. Guys who have enough talent to be considered draftable, which is probably a little bit heavier than normal. I always look at kind of the first five rounds. There’s enough players to satisfy our picks in all of those rounds with extra, which is good. We’re going to get one of them that way. Some years we’ve gotta keep forcing guys up the board. This year, we’re probably going to force some guys down the board a little bit. But I do think there’s depth.

Kind of in the middle round?

Now, not all 400 do we have great vision for for our football team, but we recognize somebody might draft them. But they’re not a focus of ours. I wouldn’t say there’s 400 of those. But there might be a 100 of those, which is pretty good.

Could get a guy in the fourth?

Well, we think we can get a guy in the seventh or we can get a guy in the sixth. We got two sixths and two seventh-round picks this year right now. I think we’ll be looking at guys who can contribute. There’s enough guys that there will be somebody there available that we have regard for.

Need to substantially change draft processes?

We all tweak our process a little bit. When you don’t get to the playoffs, you get started on it, I get started on it earlier. Scouts have been doing it the whole year. How you meet, what data sources, your comparisons, your team’s a little different, your needs are a little different. Some years you might be focused on free agency. Other years, you’re simply focused internally. Each year is a little different in terms of how you’re going to approach it. But in terms of how we meet and how often we meet, those kind of tweak and change every year.

How much does Joe Burrow talk about the process with y’all?

That’s a pretty broad thing. I don’t think Joe’s worried about whether we’re meeting at 8 o’clock in the morning or 9 o’clock in the morning or 4:30 in the afternoon. I don’t think any of that matters to him. Do I talk about, ‘Hey, Joe, do you think we should meet six hours today or 10?’ That’s not really a part of it. When I talk to him, he has thoughts. And that’s good. Sometimes I give him things to think about and at least give him an awareness of what we’re thinking about. I want him to feel good about at least the reasons why. But I don’t think he’s overly focused on how we’re going about it.

Jordan Battle:

You know, he's got a lot of traits you look for in the position. And I feel like Jordan is a guy that's developing a leadership role on our team, which you have to have in the back end there. I think he can factor in the box, and he can factor in deep zones as well. So those are things that we're very positive about it. I think he's feeling pretty comfortable in what we're doing. His communication has really grown. You know, he was a good communicator at Alabama. You know, you don't play DB for Saban, and not be able to communicate and think and those are things that he's starting to, you know, feel in the NFL, and he was a big part of what Alabama did in the communication aspect and so forth. So I see that growing in him as well. But I think he can be, you know, he's scratching the surface of what he can be. And think we put a good group around him. I think he can, you know, help direct it.

Will free agency impact your plans at No. 10 overall?

Are we going to let free agency affect our draft? If the best player available is what we've done, we'll probably still do it. If there's a sizable difference, you know, we're not going to turn down a good player.

How do you feel about your DT group?

I think that it can play better. I think those guys can continue to improve. I think some of them have the talent it takes to be effective players in this league. I think the unit as a whole, you know, didn't play well as a group as it should have, as it could, but I think that's on those guys to take the teaching. We're doing things differently there, and I think that they're growing into those roles. I have a lot of regard for all of those guys, and I think they have roles going forward for us. I envision roles going forward, or they still wouldn't be here. So I haven't given up on any of them. I see talent in them. I see an eagerness to be good football players. And so I think there's still two of them are still pretty young in their career. I think BJ Hill really battled through significant things this year to where he couldn't practice all the time. I think he got that taken care of, and I think he might have a real bounce back when he can practice and so forth. But he was a warrior for us, because he had significant things that were going on in his foot and ankle. And, you know, we tried to get them to Sundays, and he battled through. That's what he's all about. Those are the type of guys you need. And then Kris was coming on, you know, before he got hurt. And I think Kris can kind of play all along the D line, which is something that Al and Jerry want these guys to have, flexibility and the ability to play in multiple techniques, I think Kris has a chance to really do that. And the more McKinnley gets to play, the more I see him coming on. He's got to earn the right to stay out there and play. And those are things that he's got to attack this offseason where he can grow his role, and we'll see if he does that or not, but he's a he's a guy that he's got quickness and suddenness off the snap, he's got enough strength to stay in there. Mastering the techniques that we're teaching will be important for him, and I think he can do that as we go forward.

How do you deal with expectations around thoughts that this is the biggest offseason of the Joe Burrow ear, pressure associated with building the roster with that in mind?

I’m pretty full speed all the time. I mean, this has never left my mind. I'm keenly aware that we have to improve when you come off a bad season like we have, and we didn't get over the hump and win these games that I felt like we should have won, that we could have won, it is hard, and you need to improve enough to where those losses turn into wins, and that's what we're focused on. We know where our team is. If I didn't believe in our team, I'd be, you know, doing what Ben wants me to do, and dumping all the players and those things, you know, but we got a team that can win it, in my opinion, win it all. That's my opinion. Nobody else believes it. Fine, but do? Am I aware of that? Yes. And do I think that we can make additions this offseason that push us over the hump? I do.

How do you block out noise/fan disappointment?

We don't mind being under the spotlight. I mean, I don't spend a lot of time on that. I view that world is kind of the upside down. You know, if you're there, you're looking for the exit as fast as you can get there, and you probably shouldn't want to go there. There isn't any exterior force that can put more pressure on me than I put on myself. And when we're not winning, I put more pressure on myself than any one of you can, or any fan can, believe me, it hurts me more and so, you know, my motivation doesn't come from national media or fans perception. It comes from me, and I feel it. I feel it before they do, because I can see it happening, maybe before they can. And so that stuff doesn't really year to year, maybe there's more, maybe there's less, but my motivation comes from within me, and believe me, I'm harder on myself than anybody outside of myself can be.

Do you still believe fewer voices are better building a roster?

Every organization comes down to very few voices. They get input. It’s going to be one, two, three, four voices that are really driving it. I trust the guys that that we’ve got. You have to evaluate the evaluators, and I've done that and I like the fact that I know our evaluators, and I know how they look at players and how they grade, and I know what their grades mean.

This one's grade might mean a little different than this one's grade, even though they're the exact same. Getting to know the information sources that you have makes it easier to trust them. If you have 25 extra information sources, you guys could all come into the draft room and present your opinions. If I'm not comfortable knowing that I should trust your opinion, then your opinion really isn't going to factor in it, and it just becomes noise.

I want to be very comfortable with the opinions that I'm trusting, and you do that by working closely with people. And the only way to work closely with people is to have a tight group, and that's the way I view it, and believe me, if I thought we had coverage lapses, I would fix that. We don't have coverage lapses. We don't have information gaps with these guys at all. Maybe we have too much information, but the decisions become very complicated with the amount of information that we have, adding complication to it that sometimes might lead you into the wrong decisions.

What has been the impact of new scouts?

I thought that Josh and Tyler really added a lot this year, and I'm getting very comfortable with how they work and how they see the game. Both of them had experience coming in. I still didn't know exactly what I was getting. Seeing them work this year, seeing their reports, their thoroughness, they fit right in the group.

And so that extra layer that we've gotten, I think we needed. That's why I did it. And I think the support from the data team of Sam Francis and Trey LaBounty and Tyler Gross have elevated our efficiencies. I'm always looking for efficiencies in scouting. I would rather have the guy watching the player than doing the grunt work on the back end of it and typing in the who all is going to the Senior Bowl database and ranking, comparisons and all that kind of stuff. I want the guys doing what they're paid to do and doing what their talent says they should do, which is evaluating. So we're always looking for efficiencies, and we found that in our data team that Sam and Trey and Tyler have put together. We've got a pretty complex and robust scouting system now that we have built from the ground up over time, and they've elevated it to another level that gives us all the resources we want when our scout is looking at the guy, needs the comparisons, needs the background on the guy, needs everything to evaluate the guy correctly. I've been very pleased with the new additions that we've had.

When you guys have had a lot of success in free agency, a lot of times it's been really nailing the mid- tier guys. What is the key to finding a good mid-tier free agent?

Without giving away, the keys to the castle, sometimes when teams have heavy turnover in every area of their team, they're looking to make changes, and maybe the changes that they're making aren't great changes, but just change. Change for change sake is not something that I'm all about. If I think the guy that we had is still the best guy of these seven guys who are available, I'm going to go with that still because I feel like he's a better player. Sometimes when you get heavy turnover around the league, you can find opportunities in guys that are maybe overlooked by their current staff. Normally, the team knows them the best, but there are opportunities when the team doesn't know them any better than you do. So that's maybe one aspect that we look at.

Other aspects are guys that have been covered up maybe with better players. Maybe that's the strength of the team that they're on, but it doesn't make them less of a player. It just gives them less of an opportunity to show that they're a player. So that can be an opportunity too, to find a guy that maybe other people are overlooking.

You said you had debriefed conversations with Burrow. Was that normal for this time of year? When does that usually occur?

He's got his own process in the offseason. He does things too, and he likes to take some time off and so forth. We have small conversations. Sometimes they're about football, and sometimes they're about other opportunities he might be having that he wants to visit on and talk about or ask permission for or whatever. He's good to work with, and I find it enjoyable when I get to visit with him.