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Wonder what compelled Duke Tobin to do a postseason interview at all? I do know some of the beat writers like Dehner, Morrison and Egger have pretty much roasted Tobin on podcasts for becoming invisible. I'm sure that has gotten back to Tobin. So now he has given an exclusive interview to a beat writer, but not to those who called him for going silent in the wake of a very disappointing season. Because a Tobin interview is such a rarity and this one likely will be behind a paywall, hopefully someone will either post it or let us know EVERYTHING he said to Kelsey Conway in the article.

Almost every player (not named Burrow) they have signed to a long term extension has since struggled mightily - Hubbard/Pratt/McPherson, etc. When they signed Hendrickson to a one year extension it was clearly not long enough. Now it will cost them much more to sign him to a longer extension. Logan Wilson may not be terrible but I don't think he's great either. Ditto BJ Hill.

Bengals not having much luck, period. At least not lately.

Makes me physically ill. Erick All had a great backstory and was set to be a star pass-catching/inline blocking TE for the Bengals for years. The type of TE that could line up anywhere and the defense would never know what was coming. And now this...

Daniel Jeremiah: This is an interesting draft class. The strength is the middle class. Picks 20-60 are pretty much the same.

Daniel Jeremiah says in his initial Top 50 he has a whopping 16 DL slotted in there.

Pretty easy to read some of these quotes and conclude that there's going to be significant roster turnover on the defensive side.

Very weak CB class. It is an unusually good year for DTs in the draft. That is a position that has been weak for several years before this one. Weird that they are all coming out at once.

The Bengals need to fix their defense, get their kicking game straightened out. Then they can go back to being the team to lose to the Chiefs by 3 points in the AFCCG.

Last year it was Diggs who dropped the big pass late against the Chiefs in the playoffs.

The problem the Bengals face is that they place a value on a free agent and refuse to budge. The upcoming free agent class isn't a particularly strong one, but there are a lot of bad teams with new GMs/coaches with a ton of salary cap space to overpay this FA class. Teams like the Patriots, the Raiders, the Bears ,etc. all have huge OL needs and tons of money to spend to accelerate their rebuilds.

If they fail to resign Higgins, they will need to draft at least one WR too. That would seem like a must for a team that throws the ball as much as the Bengals.

When Taylor-Britt was coming out of Nebraska, he was considered far more of a man-to-man CB than a zone guy because of his physicality. This new style of defense (if it happens) might be right in his wheelhouse. Newton played quite a bit of it too at the college level.

Golden sometimes likes to run 4-3 sets depending on the opponent. Wilson/Pratt are the only 2 drafted LBs under contract for next year, with the possibility that Pratt gets kicked to the curb. So LB is more of a need position than many fans think imo.

Here is one: 59. G Brandon Scherff, Jacksonville Jaguars After a rash of injuries kept Scherff on the shelf for a handful of games in each season from 2018-21, he bounced back in a major way by starting every game over his three-year contract with the Jaguars from 2022-24. The top-five pick doesn’t quite have All-Pro/Pro-Bowl tape anymore, but he is still a very capable starter, particularly in pass protection.

Never gonna happen of course, but could the Bengals get any draft compensation if they elevated Trey Brown to GM themselves?

Logan Wilson was the 1st pick in the 3rd round...pick 65. This would likely be the last (or one of the last picks) in the 3rd round...like around pick 100.

The job entails far more than just drafts, and Trey Brown doesn't have final say anyway. I'm sure he will interview well. He is always impressive in podcast interviews, more so than most of the others. I know a lot of Bengals fans want those late 3rd round compensatory picks. Otherwise, where will the next Zach Carter or Jermaine Burton come from? Paul Dehner Jr. @pauldehnerjr #Bengals exec Trey Brown landing a second interview in NY is an important development to follow. Brown has tracked for bigger jobs for a few years now, but his presence is invaluable inside the #Bengals already small personnel department. Major impact in critical offseason.

Looks like Trey Brown is one of the 3 finalists for the Jets GM job. They interviewed a ton of guys for the position, but it seems like only 3 have been invited back for second interviews. I'm torn on this. I would like the draft compensation that would come with a Trey Brown hire for the Jets, but worry that he might be the most effective person in the Bengals front office.

Paul Dehner, Jr. - The Athletic: Golden, 55, is a familiar face for Bengals coach Zac Taylor after he served as the linebackers coach in Cincinnati for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Golden left the Bengals to become Notre Dame DC after the team’s Super Bowl loss to the Los Angeles Rams in February 2022. The Bengals are looking for a coach capable of getting more out of the eight top-100 picks on the defensive side of the ball that have disappointed in recent years. Cincinnati’s defense fell to 25th in points allowed per drive in 2023 and 26th in 2024. A coach with a background of success connecting at the college level adds to Golden’s appeal and he can undeniably make that claim. Notre Dame ranked second in FBS in scoring defense this past season and seventh in 2023. The Bengals went 9-8 and missed the playoffs by one game despite an MVP-level season from quarterback Joe Burrow, a triple crown season from wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and a sacks title from Trey Hendrickson. The team went 3-4 when scoring at least 33 points. The rest of the NFL was 79-7. Cincinnati was searching for a new defensive coordinator after firing Anarumo on Jan. 6. He worked as the Bengals’ defensive coordinator for all six years Taylor has been at the helm. Former Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham was also a finalist for DC. Golden first made a name for himself as the head coach of Temple University from 2006 to 2010. He took over a program that went 3-31 the three seasons before his arrival. In Golden’s final two years at Temple, the Owls finished 17-8. Golden turned his success there into becoming the head coach at the University of Miami and held the job for four seasons, going 32-25. Golden shifted to the NFL for the first time in 2016, coaching tight ends and linebackers before landing with Taylor in Cincinnati in 2020. Advertisement How Golden became the fit in Cincinnati Golden had more connections to Taylor and the Bengals than any candidate and it wasn’t close. Golden truly never left Cincinnati. When he coached linebackers in 2020-21 he bought a house on the same street as Taylor. They were neighbors, and his three children were in Cincinnati high schools. Golden took the job in South Bend after the Super Bowl, but he didn’t sell his house or move his family. He stayed neighbors and close friends with Taylor despite spending most of his time in-season at Notre Dame. Once he started excelling for the Irish and illustrating a unique ability to motivate and teach young players the match started to make as much sense for the Bengals as it did for Golden not having to drive to and from South Bend anymore. Beyond that, knowledge of the unique structure of the Bengals’ organization is critical considering how involved the defensive coordinator will be in evaluating and drafting players. The Bengals ask their coaches to stay involved in the draft and free agency more than any team in the NFL. The family ownership creates another unique balance for all core members of the coaching staff. Plus, Taylor focuses mostly on the offensive side of the ball, leaving the defensive coordinator to essentially serve as head coach on the other side of the ball, largely with free reign. Golden arrives well aware of it all. This also falls in line with a successful move made last year by one of Taylor’s closest coaching friends, Matt LaFleur. The Packers coach made a move at defensive coordinator and plucked Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley from the college ranks. The Packers jumped from 22nd in points allowed per drive in 2023 to sixth this past season. With the Bengals expected to lean heavily into their youth movement on defense, the idea of a coach with a background in college had advantages against those with histories predominantly in the NFL. Even more so to add a fresh voice, but also one where both sides know exactly what they are getting into. — Paul Dehner Jr., Bengals beat writer Who the Bengals are adding as a defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery, 45, will take over as defensive line coach after one year in New England. He will be entering his 20th season coaching the defensive line between the college and pro game. Montgomery bounced around major college programs before landing with the Green Bay Packers in 2015. He spent nine seasons in Green Bay, working his way up from a defensive line assistant to defensive line coach and run game coordinator before leaving prior to last season. Montgomery took a job as the Patriots’ defensive line coach, but that proved to be short lived in the first season under Jerod Mayo, who was fired and replaced by Mike Vrabel. Advertisement This marks an interesting addition to the Bengals’ staff along with offensive line coach Scott Peters and his assistant Michael McCarthy, who also come from the Patriots’ staff. Both sides of the New England trenches will move to Cincinnati as they try to revitalized a struggling area of their roster. His task will be front and center developing a defensive line that struggled mightily in 2024, seeing regression from a collection of high draft picks and minimal production from every veteran not named Trey Hendrickson. Zac Taylor fired defensive line coach Marion Hobby as part of the defensive overhaul. — Dehner Jr.

This wasn't the last play in regulation anyway. The Bills would have still had plenty of time to get in field goal range for their excellent kicker.

I think you are overthinking this. The biggest reason that Lee was available as a 7th rounder is lack of versatility. Only 8 OL are usually active on gameday and the 3 reserves usually have to be versatile to account for any injuries. Doesn't mean Lee can't develop into a starter, but if he does it will only be at center. Also, because Lee is known as a pass protector rather than as a run blocker, he is a better fit for teams who throw the ball a ton - like the Bengals. Lee (known for pass pro coming out of Miami) is certainly a better value as a 7th rounder than Volson (known as a run blocker in the Dakotas) was as a 4th rounder for a team that mostly runs their offense out of the shotgun.

Considering his poor size-strength profile as a draft prospect, I thought it was jaw-dropping that Matt Lee evolved into the 6th linemen in mostly short yardage jumbo packages. That role is usually filled by a bruiser smash-mouth type, not a pure center noted for excellent pass protection. So that was a strange choice.

Amazing how McDaniels always lands back on his feet after he takes another hit.

According to PFF, Cappa led in all three of his major protection categories in the other direction, finishing last among all NFL guards in pressures (51), hurries (36), and sacks allowed (eight, tied with Houston's Shaq Mason).