The 2025 NFL Draft is in the books. While head coach Zac Taylor and defensive coordinator Al Golden go about adapting No. 1 pick Shemar Stewart and his draft class to the Bengals playbook, guys like senior personnel executive Trey Brown have already had fleeting thoughts of the 2026 prospects.

Brown and the staff of director of player personnel Duke Tobin are re-grouping from last weekend's extravaganza and Brown was kind enough to de-brief Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson in their conversation.

GH: What did you feel like walking out of the building on Saturday night after signing your last college free agent, signifying draft weekend was over?

TB: When you add great players to the team, especially where we are as a team, where we feel like we're really close to doing something special, I felt really good. I think every draft pick or every player we sign is critical to getting us right back to where we want to get to.

And I think this weekend was a really good example of that because we had an opportunity to add some really good pieces to our organization. When you go back to August 2024 and we sit now here in April 2025, and you have a handful of players who are really going to help you get back to what you want to get to, that's exciting.

GH: You've been looking at a guy like the third-rounder, Georgia guard Dylan Fairchild, for two years. Maybe more.

TB: Absolutely. Some of these guys, three, four years. When you identify a guy, how he's going to fit. The next thing is, well, how do you acquire him? How do you get them on the team? You know this guy's a good player. You know he fits in your system the right way. You know he can pass protect, you know he can get to the passer, you know he can block. You know he can tackle. How do you acquire the guy? And that's what's so exciting about the draft.

You've got the evaluation on the guy, you know how he fits, and then you get a chance to acquire a guy and bring him to your organization. That's the best thing for us in this business.

GH: Take Fairchild. Exactly how much went into scouting a rookie who has a shot to be the opening day left guard?

TB: We've had a lot of success identifying some guys here recently from that program. Last year, our first-round pick, Amarius Mims, came right out of the same offensive line that Dylan was on. And Mims was an outstanding prospect for us and now it's great having him blocking for Joe Burrow at that right tackle position. When you look at the Georgia Bulldogs program, they have a lot of talented players, especially on the offense and defensive lines.

And I know from guys like myself who go into Georgia, to get the opportunity to see guys like Dylan competing with some of the best linemen in the country day in and day out at practice is something that we value when we're evaluating a prospect like Dylan coming out for the draft. We spend time at Georgia getting to know the player, maybe from his practice habits, his approach, how competitive he is.

GH: You watch practice live, right?

TB: Absolutely, it's a big eval for us, especially there at Georgia because it's so highly competitive there from rep to rep. We spend time watching the practice and we get a chance to evaluate the film and when you looked at Dylan, there are a lot of things that we really liked for our offense, for our scheme when you talk about athleticism, strength, lateral quickness, being able to mirror inside against some high-level defensive tackles.

He checked those boxes, and it just wasn't me going in there. Our college director, Mike Potts, goes in there. We also sent a bunch of our offensive staff down to the Georgia pro day to meet with him directly. To spend some time with him as, we would say, quote, unquote, get some hands on the prospect and really feel the pop off the bat. See him in person.

GH: That seemed to be critical with Fairchild because it won over offensive line coach Scott Peters. Scott said Fairchild was the firmest player he ever put hands on as a coach.

TB: I think Duke and Zac and all the guys on our staff do a great job really wanting to go out there and do the work. Because the more work you do, the more confidence, conviction you have when it's time to make the pick. So that's a good example on how that factored in with Fairchild. When you've got guys like myself and Mike going into the school and then watching the tape. Then you have your offensive coordinator, your offensive line coaches get a chance to see them in person.

We got a chance to meet with him at the combine and speak with him. We check a lot of boxes across the way where ultimately, when it's time to make that pick, we've got a lot of confidence in making that pick and getting a chance to put him right into our offense at the guard spot.

GH: The first-round pick, Shemar Stewart, was so good at the Senior Bowl, he was able to leave mid-week as a projected top ten pick. You have to feel pretty good you got him at 17.

TB: We felt we were lucky that he was there. You can never have enough good pass rushers. We've got a lot of good guys in that room currently, a lot of guys that can get after a quarterback with some high-end traits. And if we keep adding to that room, that's never going to be a problem. I think in this league, the more that you're going to apply pressure on the quarterback is a premium, and that's what Stewart does. He puts pressure on the QB. He has a lot of physical tools, and he has a lot of ability that's going to translate well to our level. I think that he's another guy that our coaches have a great vision. On how to maximize his value.

GH: How specific does that get with the coaching staff? It sounds like you have very specific conversations with Zac. If we draft this guy, how many are dressing at that position on game day? Or if this guy dresses on game day, who doesn't dress? Pretty detailed, right?

TB: Yeah, we have a conversation about everything. And I think the coaches do a great job articulating the role in which they would fit within this scheme. How would they utilize this guy? Is he going to play inside, is he going to play outside? Is he better on third down? Is he the best on first and second down?

We've also got a vision on the player. What we see in terms of how his skill set, his physical traits, how that would translate to what we do in our scheme. And that's the dialogue that we have. And it's ongoing. It's all the way through the draft. It's the whole time we're on the clock.

And ultimately, and I always say this, we have to find the best players for the Cincinnati Bengals. There are some guys that we're going to look at and who we like and are great players. But they're not good fits in our scheme. And vice versa. That's what our job is. To find Cincinnati Bengals and Shemar Stewart was a great example on what fits for us.

GH: Talking to the coaches at A&M, it sounds like you've got a guy who can rush inside and out.

TB: He was definitely moved around a lot at Texas A&M. It's truly valuable for us. When you can have a pass rusher that you can really align them anywhere to go attack maybe the weakness of an opposing offensive line. Maybe that's a 4 technique. Maybe that's outside in a wide nine. Maybe in some packages, he's got to kick into a 3. I think Al does a great job in how he's going to utilize these guys. Somebody like Shemar, when we looked at him, he has the skill set to do a lot of things, and he has the experience moving across the defensive line. I think that's a great chess piece to have, and a great tool for Al and his defensive staff to use when we're going to line up on Sundays and try to go out and get after the quarterback.

GH: It's like what you said about the second-round pick, South Carolina linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. Great fit for the division. He strikes me as almost Raven-esque.

TB: He strikes me as a Cincinnati Bengal. He's big, he's fast, he's physical, He's smart. He's a leader.

GH: An AFC North backer ….

TB: He's an AFC North linebacker and he's a perfect fit for what we want to do here in Cincinnati. In terms of how his skill sets match up to what Al and his staff want to do. You always want to find guys in this division who are physical. You always want to find guys who have a nose for the football.

You want to find guys, especially at linebacker, who are high character, guys that have leadership qualities, because there is a lot on those guys' plates. The demand of getting guys lined up, understanding the play call, being one of the leaders on the defense. And so there's a lot that's put on linebackers in our league. Mr. Knight has those qualities to ascend at our level.

GH: How do you see the other linebacker, Barrett Carter, the fourth-rounder from Clemson? Obviously if you took him there (and maybe in the third), he's much more than a cover backer.

TB: He's perfect for us. When you look at guys that play at all three downs at linebacker in this league, one of the characteristics that really pop out is athleticism. When you turn this guy on tape, boy is he athletic. He can run, he can hit. He was another one of those guys with great leadership qualities out there at Clemson. And they put a lot on his plate there in terms of what he was asked to do coverage-wise. In this league, there are a lot of balls going in the air. When teams are trying to get matchups, one of the first things they try to do is go after the linebacker. The way this league has gone over the last 10 years, the ability for these linebackers to cover is really a high trait that we look for.

When you turn on Barrett Carter's tape, of course, he can run and hit, go sideline to sideline. But on third down, when it's time to cover a tight end or back, that is something he did well on tape that we love seeing, that would really translate to the things that we do on defense here.

GH: And he's not small at 230 pounds.

TB: This guy is well built. He's a well-oiled machine. He is productive, and he can do a lot of things for the defense.

GH: You guys were linked to defensive tackles at any point. One thing that showed, to me, is you guys like the D-Tackles you drafted on the second night last year, Kris Jenkins Jr. and McKinnley Jackson.

TB: In the draft, you have to manage both (the current lineup) and taking the best player. With the way we look at it, we have a lot of good defensive tackles in our room currently. It's another piece of the puzzle. when you talk about the draft and then mixing it with free agency. We look at guys now, before camp, at the cut-down period.

We went out and signed B.J. Hill back, who was an unrestricted free agent this year. We signed T.J. Slaton, so we signed two defensive tackles in free agency that we're really excited about, and we did spend some resources last year in the draft with Kris Jenkins and McKinnley Jackson, who we feel are great players as well. We want to constantly add players to every position. It didn't work out in the draft at defensive tackle, but we made sure that we wanted to address those defensive tackle needs in free agency, which we did, and we will continue to go through the process all the way through the season and even during the season.

GH: Duke had said coming into the draft, because we were at the end of the COVID-era classes, this was the most guys ranked as draftable in quite some time. Does that help get more players, such as D-Tackles, in free agency and maybe prevent trading down trying to reach for guys?

TB: We targeted a couple of guys after the draft that we feel good about that will be great additions to that room. It's just like everything else. You want to keep adding great players to every position. It doesn't matter where you come from. Drafted in the first round, second round, college free agent, seventh-round pick. We just want the best player.

GH: Duke had mentioned you guys wouldn't mind trading out and getting some more picks at some point, but it ended up that you guys seemed pretty happy staying where you were. It looked like most, if not all the guys you picked, you had them rated higher than where they went.

TB: At some point those draft picks have to turn into players, right? And when you're confident about the players that you're selecting, you don't want to lose out on these guys. A lot of these guys, were targets for us going into the draft, guys that we really liked who we wanted to add to our offense, our defense, our special teams, and I think we did a good job being able to identify some guys going into the draft and then being able to come away with them. That's a really fulfilling process when that's allowed to happen.

We're always open to business for moving up, moving back. We're constantly in the draft room, talking to teams. What are you offering? We like this, we like that. But ultimately, you've got to do what's best for your organization. And at those times, we felt like selecting those particular players was best for our organization.

GH: Do you have a guy out of the six …. I don't want to call him a favorite, but anybody you've got an extra, interested eye on?

TB: No, I'm excited about all of them. I wish I could give you one, but I guess that's the beauty of it. The feeling of coming out of the draft so excited.

GH: I'll give you two guys who I think are flying under the radar. Guys who I think can end up making big enough impacts that they'll be viewed as steals. Stewart and the fifth-round pick, Miami offensive lineman Jalen Rivers, a solid pass-protecting tackle who projects to doing it at guard, too.

TB: I'll leave you with these two guys. You can never have enough linemen. Offensive and defensive lines are critical in this league and we were able to add guys on the offensive and defensive lines that can really help us. That play multiple positions, that are versatile, that are tough, that are smart. And I think the Cincinnati Bengals fan base is going to be real excited to see these guys when they get out there. It always starts in the trenches, and those guys you mentioned are going to be great pieces. Right in the middle, right in the core of the offensive and defensive lines.