Bengals Booth Podcast: Who Stays And Who Goes

the most likely and least likely to return. Plus we'll also discuss some key players going into the final year of their contracts and the likelihood that the Bengals signed them to extensions before the start of the season, most notably A. J. Greene and Tyler Boyd. And in this week's fun Facts interview, you'll get to know the Bengals

Director of Player Personnel, Duke Tobin. Among other things, we'll look back at his memories of hanging around his dad's super old champion Chicago Bears, and we'll discuss Duke's career as a college and arena league quarterback. All of that is straight ahead, but first, here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,

Google Play, or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention since the little indicator on the dashboard that shows what side of the car the gas tank is on. I rent cars on my travels quite a bit, and I always try to save a few bucks by refilling the tank before returning the car. It used to be a pain in the butt to pull up to the pump, get out of the car, only to discover that the tank was on the opposite side. Now you look at that little indicator and always pull up on the proper side.

A simple but brilliant innovation. Time to talk football. The Bank Goals announced on Friday that they have extended tender offers to five players whose contracts expire next Wednesday, when NFL free agency begins. The most interesting move involved offensive lineman Trey Hopkins, who received a second round tender and thus becomes a restricted free agent. That means that Hopkins can negotiate with other teams, but the Bengals have the

right to match any offer he receives. If they elect not to match the offer, the Bengals get a second round pick in this year's draft from the team that signs him. If trade does not agree to a deal with another team, he's guaranteed a big race from the Bengals. Second round tenders get good money, a one year deal for three point one one million in Hopkins case, unless he agrees to a longer deal. The Bengals also issued tenders to cornerback Tony McCray, guard Alex Redmond, defensive tackle

Josh Tupo, and safety Brandon Wilson. That means the Bengals retain their exclusive rights for the upcoming season. Now time to bring him. My broadcast partner Dave lapham Lap. The topic for this podcast his free agents. They specifically the Bengals own free agents. Guys that their contracts run out, they become free agents, well, the Bengals try to bring

them back. In some cases, you've got restricted free agents, and then you've got guys that aren't free agents this year, but it's coming and they may try to extend them now before they reach that point. So let's start with the guys that are unrestricted free agents, beginning with Darkques Denard. His contract ran out last year. They gave him his fifth year option as a first round draft pick made a lot of money last year, eight point five million bucks. What do you think how likely is it that he

is retained. I think there's a good chance they retained Darkues Denard. I think a lot of people thought that he may get extended, but it didn't happen. I do think you know a guy that can play slot in outside like he's shown, he's very good inside. He's an excellent tackler coming out of Michigan State with Mark D'Antonio, the guy that we know a lot about. I mean, he's he's unbelievable. He doesn't mismit very many tackles at all.

But the primary thing for the guy in the back end has to do is cover people, and he's shown that he can. He can do it on the inside and the outside. And I think he's a good locker room influence. And there's a lot of reasons to sign dark Ques Denard, but sometimes you know it just doesn't fit. The player wants more than than is budgeted, and you feel like you'd better spend better off to spend your money elsewhere, and those decisions are going to be made.

But my mind, Darkus Denard is a guy that I would consider, you know, signing to a new contract for sure. I would imagine he is going to get close to the top of the scale for a slot corner, which isn't the kind of money that the outside guys make. And to me, that probably makes it a little easier to bring him back. I think it does, and I think too worst case scenario, a guy like darkus Denard I think could kick inside to safety, you know, because

he tackles so well and he's physical that way. I mean, he'd be a very good cover guy at the safety position. Now, you don't pay safeties like you pay cover corners like you're talking about, and if you can place a lot corner, no reason to kick him inside to safety. But if you sign him to a long term deal and toward the end of it, if it's like you know what, jeez, maybe he's going to have to go inside. That's happened many times in the NFL. You don't find in the NFL.

You don't find guys going the other way. You don't find him going safety getting kicked outside the corner. But toward the end you do find them periodically going from corner inside to the safety position. But it all depends how well you know stocked you are at safety. But I do think that dark Oise Denard gives you a lot of position versatility and a lot of football IQ and you know, a very tough, physical football player. The Bengals top three tight ends on the depth chart when

healthy are all unrestricted free agents this year. Let's start with Tyler Eiferd. He came back last year on a heavily incentivized deal based on how healthy he could stay. Unfortunately for Tyler and the Bengals, he was not able to stay healthy. I guess he wound up making about five and a half million. He could have made eight and a half million. Does he come back to Cincinnati on a similar deal or does he go elsewhere in a similar deal? Why? I mean, I think I think

it's almost going to be like hit the redo. You know, like when you're playing in your backyard and you can't decide which play which way of the place should have gone to a duover. You know, it might be a duover with the exact same structure, and I think his

mindset would be the exact same. You know, there might be there were other teams that were interested in Tyler Eifford out there, and I mean he felt a sense of obligation to stay with the Bengals because you know, they've been so good to him through all of these injury issues and rehabilitations, and so I could almost see the exact same thing, bring him back again for a one year deal, highly incentivized and because man, we know Dan when he's out there, it's different. It is totally different.

Every snap he took last year, they never played based defense. One time they were nickels. So you know, I mean, the Bengals offensive coaches knew when Tyler vats on the field, they knew exactly what they were facing. And he still gets favorable mismatches. He gets matchups that are you know, positive for him. So he's he's different. I mean, his injury I think was the first of the dominoes that

that started a fall and really disassembled that offense. I mean, it was a shell of itself as a season unfolded. I think he was the he was the lead domino. CJ. Zama wound up being their top tight end last year, career high forty three catches for four hundred and thirty nine yards. He also played special teams. It's a late pick. So he has not made a lot of money, and this to this point of his career two and a half million dollars over four years. He's got a chance

to get paid he does. And and the other thing that he did as as a former player, he played hurt. I mean at shoulder was not good and he played all but probably twelve of the sixteen games he played in pain. He played, uh, you know, sacrifice him for the better of his teammates. So I think I think everybody in the locker room looked at him, and a lot of guys told both of us during the course of your Man that dude's he's a battler man, that that's one tough guy. I mean, he's sucking it up.

He's doing this, you're doing it. So I think he really got a long line of admirers based on the way he performed and how he had to perform him, you know, with respect to not being one hundred percent physically for a good part of it, and still put up the numbers he put up. So I think he's going to get paid. I agree with you. Then there's Tyler Croft, third round draft picked two years ago. He was really good as a red zone weapon. This past year, he only played in five games because because of a

foot injury. I don't know if he can bring them all back. Is he the odd man out? If if C j Uzama signs and maybe Eyford decides to return. I know the thing is that you're you're always because of the Tyler Eifford injury question. You're always like, how many do I need? Do I need another one? As an insurance policy? But how much money can you spend at the tight end position? Um? You know, you can't pay all of them like their Pro bowlers, you know.

So it's it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting. They're gonna have to make make some decisions there. But it is incredible that uh, that that that that room. You know, it's like somebody, you know, some terrorists dropped a bomb in that room. I mean they're all beaten up and um and Uzami. You know, even though he played, he was another one. They didn't have very many healthy bodies uh to deal with at that position group, which is a very very key position in today's NFL, particularly in

this offense that Zach wants to install. Tight End's big tight end is a big factor so you have to have, you know, multiple guys that can perform um a lot of variation in their physical abilities, you know, and doing different things. So it is a very very key position for this offense. Preston Brown came to town last year on a one year, four million dollar deal, wound up playing seven games, played okay, considering he had a bad ankle. What do you think is Preston Brown come back? Yeah,

that's a that's a great question. That's going to be um. You know, obviously the linebacker position was a was a real disappointment last year. It's it's almost like Murphy's law. I mean, the guy didn't miss any games in college, doesn't miss any games in the NFL, comes to Cincinnati and barely plays, misses a bunch of games when he returns to his hometown. So I mean, yeah, they've they've

got they've got limited tape. I think to evaluate him on when he was healthy, he was trying to play through it through the injury, and I think it really did affect his play. Um. But but he's a he's a big body guy that runs pretty well. But you know they're going to go in other other directions, other areas at the linebacker position. His his is a difficult one. I think for this uh, for this new coaching staff to evaluate, that's going to be an interesting one. Let's

go to the O line. Bobby Heart started every game a right tackle, didn't get particularly rave reviews from Pro Football Focus and others. Is he on this roster next year? I don't think so. You know, I think that I do think that that Bobby Hart gave everything he had to give. Bobby Hart maximize his abilities, and Frank Pollock helped him maximize his abilities. But I think, but man, you have to line somebody up out there at the tackle position. I mean, how many can you draft that?

That's one area and free agency that you got to think, Man, if there's an and there's never any good ones out there, you know, it's always a guy just hanging on at the tail end of his career, whatever the case may be, that's out there in free agency. I mean, Andrew Worth was such a such an anomaly for him to be out there for the Rams to jump on, and they did. There's no question about it that that doesn't happen very often. A Pro Bowl caliber offensive tackle out there in free

agency that you can gobble up. But man, if they can find some kind of you know, a guy in his seventh year, you know, it's still has some years left and could be a real leader of the group and stabilized, you know, the outside at that tackle position, because you know, it stands to reason that a way here and Fisher probably won't be back. So, you know, because of that reason, I guess you can't eliminate Bobby Hart, but I'm sure if they could go in another direction,

they probably would. There are some restricted free agents. The most intriguing name to me, Trey Hopkins, only made half a million last year, played well. One called upon to fill in its center. He did. You know, I think that you know, center might be his best position. It

really is. With those long arms. We talked about the advantage that a long arms center has at nauseum, but it is it is a point, you know, a simple thing is extending the ball out so the defensive guys and this should not under your grill and you have a little bit of separation there before you know, at the line of scrims to snap it. But he's smart, not incredibly gifted athletically, obviously, or he would have been drafted higher and probably would have played sooner and all

those sort of things. But when you get him in a game, he plays, he doesn't he doesn't hurt you. So it would not surprise me if they bring him back because he does have position versatility. I stink with his long arms, he could be an emergency tackle for you as well. But he's shown he can play guard, he's shown he can play center. Is he going to light it up and be a Pro Bowl candidate? No, but you know not everybody's going to be in the Pro Bowl. All right, Let's talk about a couple of

guys that aren't free agents to be. They're still less signed through the coming year. Two wide receivers, starting with Tyler Boyd. Final year of his four year rookie deal coming up. He was not a first round draft pick, so they don't have the fifth year option. It's been a bargain. He'll make a nine hundred eighty thou approximately this year. Did they try to extend him before this season? And begins pay the man? Got to pay the man. He's he's earned it. Yeah. I think he's gonna try

to extend them. Um, you know, in my mind, what's the priority? Deniard first, Boyd's second, other way around. You know, I think whichever whichever agent comes to the table most realistic. You know, I I'd pursue both of them almost on a simultaneous basis, and tell both representatives money's on the table, who wants it now? Boyd is signed through this year, whereas Denard you'd have to sign him to bring him back, right,

That's true. So and I would. I'd probably have separate pots a little bit, but it would still be coming out of that overall, kittie, you know, So I'd i'd basically, you know, try to try to stimulate Boyd's agent too. Obviously he's going to say, look, you know if he plays this year out, you guys won't be able to afford him. Well, you know, it's going to be interesting how that, how that negotiation U unfolds. I think he's going to be unbelievable fit for this offense as well.

I think he's gonna eat it up. And because he does. He does two things well, he catches the football and he's tough. So in a crowd, I mean Andy Dalton will he's open when he's covered because he knows he'll fight for the football He's not gonna you know, he's not gonna let the other guy come down with it if it's a fifty fifty proposition. He's very physical, tremendous route runner, has a real sense for finding openings in defense. Haven't played the quarterback position. He's he's the real deal.

He's a legitimate guy. But in my mind, you know, speed, all that stuff's important, But can he catch it? And is he tough? He checks both those boxes big time. Then there's a j Green turns thirty one in July. He's already received two hefty contracts from the Bengals. His four year, sixty million dollar deal runs out at the end of this year. Arguably the best player in franchise history. He's right up there with Anthony Munio's. He's got a

third contract coming from Cincinnati. You would think he would, I mean, not only for what he's done on the field, but the way he's comported himself off the field. The guy has been a franchise dream, you know, he really has. I mean, I think that probably every owner, general manager, head coach would like to say, here's here's an example of how to handle yourself as a as a professional in the National Football League. This guy's got all kinds of talent um. I mean, look at look at Antonio

Brown and Levi and Bell. Look what happened in Pittsburgh. I mean, and the just the antithesis of that is aj Green. It's it's incredible. So he has he has that type of skill set that those guys have. He has the unbelievable like wow factor. I mean, he makes as we've seen all the years in training camp, ractice in the players say he makes catches every week. That's like what so, I mean, he hasn't any diminishing physical skill sets. You know, you can still run, jump, do

everything he's done. Has been hurt though two out of the last three years. Yeah, he has had a little bit of an injury bugaboo. I don't know, maybe maybe some of it, maybe you maybe you structure it to try to try to cover yourself that way. But with a guy his caliber, that's awful tough to do. I mean, that's very, very tough to do. But yeah, he's a guy that. I mean, when Anthony Munios was holding out all of us, like what the hell they're not going to sign him? Well, how the hell are we going

to sign a contract. Nobody can do anything more than he's done for this football team on and off the football field. My god. And I think that's how players would feel. You know, if a J. Green got into a contentious situation, my god, they're not going to sign him. Who are they going to sign? Yeah? I guess the question is in his case, do you get it done before this year as you did the last time he was up, or do you say, you know what, let's

let this one play out. See if he's healthy still, See if he's still the aj that he's been, and if so, open the vault and pay I'm the going rate. Yeah, that that could be the way, depending. I think it's all pieces of the puzzle that will you'll put into into the bigger puzzle as it happens. I mean, I think it's all going to be all right, Well, here's here's stuff that's out there. If somebody bites and jumps on it, okay, we'll move that piece. And now we

have to adjust these. There's not as much for this and much for that anymore because he took his so there is a little bit of pressure like, m Okay, do I take take this opportunity and maximize this or do I say I'm going to play it out and um, you know, because I mean it takes two to tango. The organization, you know, has has a number, the agent has a number. And if the agent says, let's play it out, I mean it could could work either way. I mean, it's it is. It's a total roll of

the dice. But when you're doing salary, you have a salary cap to work with. You're trying to figure it all out. It's it's like a moving target, you know. It's it's whoever steps up and come to the comes to the plate first, and then you adjust accordingly. Before we wrap it up, congratulations are in order for Aj and Miranda Green on the birth of their second son, Gunner Blaze Green. Is that kid going to be an athlete?

About that? It's got a great name, Gunner Blaze Green. Wow. Yeah, I'm just like with his first son, I want to sign up first to be representative of that young man because I'm sure he'll be He'll be as physically gifted as as as possible. That's great. What a great family that really is. I mean, AJ Green, you know they throw around that term pros pro. This guy Webster's Dictionary. If that term pros pros in there his pictures right there man, Thanks Lap, there will be tons of NFL

news next week. Teams are allowed to negotiate with the agents of upcoming unrestricted free agents from Monday to Wednesday. Then at four o'clock on Wednesday, March thirteenth, the new league year officially begins. That's when last year's contracts expire, the trading period officially open, so trades we've heard about in recent days don't become official until then, and free

agents can officially sign new contracts. Now. Time for this week's edition of fun Facts, and my guest is Duke Tobin, a member of the Bengals front office since nineteen ninety nine and one of the most important people in the organization. He oversees the draft, plays a key role in trades and free agency, and took part in the hiring process of new head coach Zach Taylor. Got for some fun facts for the Bengals Director of Player Personnel, Duke Tobin.

And Duke, for those who don't know, your dad is a former NFL GM your uncle, Vince is a former NFL head coach, So you've been around the game your whole life as a kid, Did your dad let you hang around his teams? Oh? Absolutely, It's really all I did other than playing sports myself. And then when I had free time, I'd be up at Hollis Hall or being a ball boy, or work in security, or pulling the nuts at the games, or just hanging around the locker room. So yeah, I grew up around pro football

and that's really all I've ever known. Did you realize as a kid how lucky you were? Well, I don't think you ever realized. I don't think any kid ever realizes how lucky they are. It was just standard. It was part of life. It was it was every day for me, and so no, you don't as a kid reflect on how lucky you are really ever. We're doing fun facts with Duke Tobin. Your dad was largely responsible for building one of the greatest and most colorful teams

in NFL history, the nineteen eighty five Chicago Bears. We're talking to Walter Payton, the Fridge, Jim McMahon, Mike did etc. You were fifteen at the time. What are your memories of that team. I've got great memories of that team. They had. They had ability, they had character, they were they enjoyed the game. Uh, they were a team, they enjoyed each other, they had fun. It was more than a job. It was their lifestyle. And when I look at players today, those are the players I compare them to.

Those are the guys I'm always trying to find. And you know, Walter Payton be in the number one, you know that's uh, when you're great a guy that's kind of the high end of the scale, and then how good is he compared to And a lot of those bears of the of the eighties or guys that that kind of shaped my opinion of what a football player should be. Where did you watch that Super Bowl? I

was on the field. It was exciting. It was I would say nerve wracking, but it really wasn't because you felt like there was wasn't anything that could stop that team. It just had had a chemistry and a uniqueness to it that it was gonna happen, and I think the players players felt it, and certainly all the support staff felt it. We're doing fun facts for the Bengals Director of player Personnel Duke Tobin. Duke, you are a fine athlete in your own right and went on to be

a college football quarterback. I found an old Chicago Tribune storing about you from your high school days. The headline was Tobin in relatively good shape, which sounds like it could be about you now, but it was actually kind of a play on the fact that you had these family ties. The article said that your dining room table was covered with brochures and letters from college teams. Did you enjoy the attention, Well, I think any young guy

enjoys the attention. We had a successful team, and the high school football experience is still by far the best football experience I've ever had, and I think for most people that's that's true. The recruiting experience was a little bit nerve racking, a little bit stressful. I was fortunate to have a choice of a lot of places to go to, and you know, I tried to make the most of it and tried to make the best decisions for me, and I had a lot of good help too.

So you started out close to home, Illinois, playing football and baseball, and the starting quarterback when you got there with Jeff George. You went on to be the number one overall pick in the NFL draft. You evaluate talent now for a living strictly in terms of armed talent, How good was Jeff George? Well, he was really good. It's humbling throwing next to a guy like that because

it shows all your deficits pretty quick. And so when I showed up there, it was he was a little bit on inspiring to watch how the ball came out of his hand. One of the strongest arms, quickest releases that you can see and that I've ever seen. And I was fortunate to be on some good college teams, and I think for my job right now, that kind of helped me in shape. You know what I look for and what a good college player is because those

Illinois teams were good. And then when I went to Colorado, we had some very fine teams there and a lot of very good players that played in the NFL. You finished your college career with two years at Colorado, and the quarterback there when you got to Colorado is Cordell Stewart. Not the arm talent of Jeff George, but another guy that had practiced. It was probably kind of intimidating seeing slash his athletic ability. Yeah, and I wouldn't underestimate his

arm strength either. He had a strong arm and could throw it a long way, a different style quarterback than Jeff. Jeff wasn't mobile at all, but Cordell could really run and make plays when things broke down. Things broke down a lot, and so he had to do that. Whether it broke down because of what he was doing or what the rest of the offense was doing is probably is probably a pick him. But the other guy we had there was Vance Joseph, and Vance didn't have a

weak army either. Vance could really sling it too. So it made a lot of good connections there, and I have a lot of good friends from those days. Duke. You did get to start a game at Colorado when Cordell was injured. What are your memories of that day? Well, the better game for me was the game leading into that,

the Baylor game. I was able to come in and had some success down in Waco, and then the start didn't go the way it should of, at least the way that I wanted it to, and uh, you know, we ended up winning the game at the end, but that was up in Minneapolis. Probably not my finest hour, but oh you move on and move forward, and that probably galvanized me in a lot of ways, so probably

grateful for it. Playing football wasn't finished after college. You went to a play in the Arena League for a couple of years with the Orlando Predators in the Memphis Pharaohs. Did you make any money playing Arena League football? Uh? You know, for a guy just out of college, any money, it seems like a lot of money. And so yeah, we we We made a little bit and they put us up. They give us a place to live and room and board and you know, an automobile to drive,

and so there were some positives to it. We had a good team there as well. And I think a lot of college football players don't want to admit that it's that it's over. I probably fell into that bucket and said, hey, why not give it another year or two, ended up getting hurt and it wasn't worth giving your knee ligament for it for sure, and started scouting soon after that I realized where my lot was. A couple more fun facts with the Bengals Director of Player Personnel

Duke Tobin. Let's go inside the Bengals war room, so to speak. On draft Day, who is the most animated person that weekend? I like to think we're all pretty common collected. Probably the most animated person is whoever is the position coach for the position that we're talking about at that given moment. But we try to stay level headed and calm. We try to get all of the discussions out of the way in the weeks leading up to the draft, so that there aren't a lot of

animated discussions. We kind of know where we're heading, and if there were differences, we try to cross those bridge those differences prior to that moment in there. So a lot of it is fans would be very shocked. It's people sitting around and you know, reading their iPads and watching TV and watching the clock tick away and crossing off names and so it's a it's a pretty common room for the most part. You alluded to this earlier. There are a lot of folks out there that make

mock drafts. It is a cottage industry for people to people that know what you do for a living try to get insight for their own mock draft. I don't believe so, I don't. I don't get questions that way. I think that people are interested in what we feel and how we look at players, and we do try to have some events as the year goes on and as the draft approaches, we have some events for sponsors and suite holders and season ticket holders and so forth that we try to give them an insight into what

we do and how we do it. And we even put on some film and to say, hey, this is what we like in a player and this is what we don't like in a player. So we do try to explain the process two important people and business partners. But I don't get a lot of us from people trying to put together mock drafts. No, all right, you're off the hot seat. Thanks for the time. That's going

to do it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, stitch, your google Play, or pod Bean, and if you have a minute, give it a rating or leave a comment. Your feedback is always appreciated, and five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.