Duke Tobin stood up Friday and took the heat as he gazed into the same kind of crucible that beckoned after the four-win season of quarterback Joe Burrow's rookie year.
Tobin, the Bengals' director player personnel, plans to respond with largely that same staff that built a Super Bowl roster during that 2021 offseason using just the right mix of homegrown talent and free agents. Asked Friday about expanding his scouting staff, Tobin pointed to the raft of defensive players his department signed that season that ended in Los Angeles with the Bengals 39 seconds from hoisting the Lombardi.
"You're talking about B.J. Hill and Larry Ogunjobi and Trey Hendrickson," said Tobin, who could have added cornerbacks Chidobe Awuzie, Mike Hilton, and Eli Apple. "All guys brought in by our scouting department, all guys identified by our scouting department, recommended by our scouting department, and all worked out well. Can that happen? Yes, it could happen.
"I really believe in the group that we have here. Why do I believe in them? Because they have shown that they can do it. They're a collaborative group; they're a smart group. They've been there before … We have done it before. We have done it before with a team full of draft choices and had high-level football teams. We have done it before with a blend of free agents and draft choices and they have also taken us to the Super Bowl with a number of (free agent) signings. We can add to the team in a lot of different areas. We have excellent scouts who give us the analysis. It's on us to make the right decisions."
Tobin did what no lone person has done in the history of Paycor Stadium Friday when he gave a news conference in excess of an hour. In those 63 minutes he sketched a general offseason plan that he believes can give the Bengals a Super Bowl win with a roster he called, "a championship team, in my mind. We have elite, world-class players."
"We have emerging talent on defense. I don't think we're there. I think we have guys that can grow into being there," Tobin said. "On offense, I'd put our talent up against any team in the league. It's better than most.
We've got to stay healthy, produce, and not score nine (defensive touchdowns) for our opponent. I'd put it up against any team in the league. We feel like we're a championship-caliber team. We're 6-11. I'm 6-11. How could you feel that way? You're an idiot. That's the way I feel."
Without the injured Burrow for nine games and with three different quarterbacks, the Bengals generated the 12th most points in the league with the second most touchdown passes. In large part, that was because of the Oct. 7 trade Tobin swung with Cleveland for quarterback Joe Flacco, the Bengals' first trade ever with the Browns. He says few people in the universe could have done what head coach Zac Taylor did with Flacco in that brief amount of time.
"I saw things this year I wouldn't have thought I would ever see. Somebody (Flacco) walk into the building two days before a game, pick up an incredibly complex offense. Go out with people he just shook hands with and make it work. That is amazing," Tobin said.
"That speaks to him. It also speaks to our coaches and how they are able to immediately pivot and regenerate something that gave us a chance.
"Other parts of the team decided it wasn't going to give us a chance. That's on me. That's on me. But there are things that worked and things that showed me, hey, we've got the right people in this building. Because that doesn't happen. That was a rare, rare thing that you can create something out of nothing and then have the success that had. I'm proud of that."
That's why the offseason plan centers on adding talent to the defense. A defense that bounced back in the eight games after the bye to allow fewer than 18 points per game with draft picks such as cornerbacks DJ Turner II and Dax Hill, as well as defensive end Myles Murphy, stepping up their games to match their draft notices.
"It would be a different story if I didn't see young players progressing and, I didn't see a progression of understanding, knowledge, and execution of our defense," Tobin said. "It would be a different story. Believe me, it would be a big different story in my mind. But the reason that it's not is that I see growth. I see growth in a 24-year-old Myles Murphy and young corners who have taken the jump, and (safety) Jordan Battle who has taken the jump."
Murphy, Turner, and Battle, as well as 1,000-yard, 69-catch running back Chase Brown, all came out of the 2023 draft class and are now eligible for extensions. Tobin says he's all for quick, no-drama deals and indicated the Bengals are ready to do contracts with structures they haven't always embraced with guaranteed money stretching beyond the first year.
"It depends on the player. It depends on the player, and what's required. We'll do what's required if we have to secure a player that we think can help us win," Tobin said. "I think the organization is willing to do anything it takes to win. I've been here long enough to know that. If that wasn't the case, I wouldn't say it."
And that means defense. On Friday, it kept coming back to defense. With Hendrickson and Joseph Ossai free agents and first-round pick Shemar Stewart coming off an injury-plagued rookie season, Tobin made no secrets about his designs on the edge or a quicksilver three technique.
"They have to be able to pressure the passer," Tobin said. "You'd like to be able to pressure with four. I think we need pass rush. I think that relieves some of the strain on the coverage. So I'm a guy that believes in the front on both sides of the ball, that is my focus."
It certainly has been in five of the last eight drafts when the Bengals have taken a linemen No. 1. With the 10th pick this April, that smacks of a big man.
"People might not believe that, but that is my focus. They might believe I love throwing the ball down the field and having great wideouts," Tobin said. "But I want to build the front. I always want to build the front. And so there are a number of pieces that we think we need and can add, and we'll see if we can."
The other piece, Tobin says, has nothing to do with player acquisition but everything to do with player execution. In the last two seasons, the Bengals have lost seven games where they had the lead or a tie with 1:54 left or later.
"It falls at all of our feet. My feet. Our players' feet," Tobin said. "We put a lot of work into getting the technique taught. Then the technique isn't implemented on the last play of the Chicago game, and you end up where you end up (a win gone with 17 seconds left). There's a focus, a strain, and a finish that we have to instill … We have to get to that point where that focus, strain, and finish is in our DNA.
"It's frustrating for our fans. It's frustrating for us. I hate that it's frustrating for our fans," Tobin said.
But Tobin knows frustration is an offseason away from jubilation.
"We have a football team that has a lot of positives to build on and a lot of things we're proud of and a lot of reasons for optimism," Tobin said. "Nobody's happy when it's not going well. I think Zac mentioned that. It's Paul Brown's famous quote, 'Winning makes believers of us all.' We want to get back to the happiness we had out in LA at the Super Bowl, and we feel like we can, but we're not there yet."
