Initial comments ...

"All in all, I thought we did a heck of a job. I'm really pleased with the job our scouting staff did. They did a lot of work on these guys. I thought it was great collaboration between them and the coaching staff. And so, we're really excited about this group that we added over these last three days. They are really going to help our football team. You don't always get to hit every single area, but that's just the way it is. We took a lot of great players that we have conviction on. The scouts did a lot of great work on these guys, and we're happy to make them all Bengals and get to work."

Can you touch on the last three picks, starting with Brian Parker II?

"Brian Parker has a lot of flexibility along the offensive line. A local guy, St. X grad, played at Duke. We just feel like there's a lot of flexibility there to play tackle, guard and center. He can really play all five positions for you. So, (we're) ready for him to get in here and compete.

"Jack (Endries), a really good career. Two years at Cal playing with (Fernando) Mendoza, and then he went to Texas and had a productive year there as well. We think he fits really (well) with our room to come in here and compete in all phases — special teams, run game, pass game. I feel like he's got a really high ceiling there to come in and fit in well with that group with James (Casey), so let him earn his way there.

"And then Landon (Robinson) is just too good to pass up. I know we have addressed the D-tackle position with the trade (for Dexter Lawrence). I feel like we have a really good room there, but he was just one of those guys who is too good to pass up. You're sitting there in the seventh round and have a great player there you really like. We've had him in the building before, and we just felt like we needed to add him to the mix and let him come in here and compete."

Why did you guys like Robinson so much?

"He checked every box along the way. We liked him on tape, we liked the character reports, and then every time (our) people got around him, he just kept increasing in value. Again, you're sitting in the seventh round, and you want this guy to come in here and be a Cincinnati Bengal."

You mentioned that you can't address everything, but you didn't address linebacker. Is it something you revisit now with a veteran, or do you roll with what you have in the room?

"We'll see. We'll have this conversation now that the draft is over of what we want to do. But again, it is one of those things where there was value at other positions that we didn't want to pass up. Linebackers went before you got a chance to maybe get the next guy you would have wanted. And that's just the way the draft always goes. It's the way free agency kind of goes sometimes. We do have a lot of belief in the room we have, and so those guys will continue to compete. If we do something after the draft, that remains to be seen."

How many of these players do you project can step in and contribute right away and are not so-called developmental projects?

"I think all of them have the ability to come in and compete for opportunities to get on the field. We're not looking to draft practice squad players. We're looking to draft guys that we envision have an opportunity to come in here and compete. It doesn't mean it's always going to play out that way, but (we're looking for) guys that we think can compete and help us win now and have roles for them in the future. To answer your question, we're not seeking practice squad players to draft. That may be how it ends with some guys, but we have a real vision for all the players we brought in."

Are you looking for Endries as a tight end?

"Get into the room, compete and go from there. I think there's a lot of value there — a lot of production over the three years he played college football. He started a lot of football games, and there's still some upside with him as well. James (Casey) spent time with him, went to his pro day and has interacted with him a lot. Our scouts have been down there as well (and) just have a lot of belief in him."

It feels like he can both catch and line up on the line?

"He can. Now, it's just the difference of getting to the NFL and doing it against bigger, faster guys. We'll see how that plays out. We have a really good room there — a room that has my respect. He's going to have to earn the opportunity and the role with the team, because you know all my feelings on the tight ends in that room. It's a group that has really earned their way, but (we) also like having everyone compete for their jobs. We'll see where it goes from there."

When people talk about the draft, we love the word upside. But with your top four picks, you see really high ceilings. Was upside something specifically you were looking for with those guys?

"They all have a lot of upside. That's just the cleanest way I can say it. I do think they are all really talented players. We brought them in here because we see a high ceiling — a high upside —with all of those guys. I'm excited about the whole group."

Was this a draft where you focused on that more than addressing specific positions?

"I felt like we were able to do that. Even though we came into the draft with some spots we wanted to hit, I never felt like, 'We have take this position so let's take this guy.' It was never that way just by the way the draft fell, which is exciting. We felt like we were able to hit positions of need, but with the value we really wanted. I just feel really good about the way it fell for us."

Was it a 'best player available' draft?

"Oftentimes, we sat on a player for 25 picks and got him a lot of times. Any time you draft a player, you probably saw them slightly higher than a lot of other people because that's why they were there for you to draft. But it's also great when the scouts have a belief in a guy, and the coaching staff has a belief in (the same) guy. Those guys sitting next to me kind of said that earlier here. There's a lot of love for the guys we're bringing into the building. That's really exciting for our future."

I think Al Golden mentioned yesterday how one of the mock drafts you did earlier this week played exactly how it was with Cashius falling to you. How did the mocks go when you were preparing and going between best player available, drafting for need and trying to balance how you're going to attack it?

"I don't remember that particular story with Cashius being there at (pick number) 41, but that was a pleasant surprise for us. You just always have to do the exercise where you're ordering guys in the first round and then where you are picking in the second round. I think it just fell in our favor with guys who we thought were really good fits for where we are as a team and some needs that we had. It just fit us really well. Maybe there are some years where one of the players we took doesn't fit a particular need but would come in here and we have a vision for (him), but this year it did. It's just a really exciting group."

It seems like a lot of your draft picks came in for top-30 visits. Was that a change you guys made this year or it just fell that way?

"It just fell that way. There are certainly guys we liked that we brought in that went elsewhere. I'm thinking Brian Parker came in here, and that was my first chance to meet him. There may have been another one I'm forgetting right now. Landon came in, too. It's a good group, and I wouldn't read too much into it (regarding) the guys we brought in and the guys we drafted."

When you were evaluating Landon, obviously everyone is going to bring up his size and that he played for Navy, but produced like crazy over the past couple of years. What goes into an evaluation like that when it's a smaller school?

"He did really well at the all-star game, as well. That's another chance to play against different competition. That's the opportunity he got, and he took advantage of it. All the data and film you have access to, and everybody that watched him liked him, so here he is."

When you look at the goals you want to accomplish as a team this year, is it starting to feel like you have the defensive line to do that?

"I definitely do. I'm really excited about the group we have. It's a really deep, solid group (that has) veterans with experience, youth that's still developing, and rookies that are now entering the mix. I'm really excited and really happy about the depth that we have up front."

We were talking about the competition at tight end and the competition in the defensive line room. That's going to be great ...

"Yeah, it's going to be great. It's going to make everybody better. It's going to make the guys across from them better because there's not a lot of drop-off as you go from guy to guy. Every unit is going to get a chance to compete against guys you're going to see in the season for different teams. I'm really excited about the depth that we've developed along with the starters we have."

Where do you see T.J. Slaton Jr. in your defensive line plans?

"You never have enough defensive linemen and defensive tackles. To be able to keep these guys as fresh as possible and roll through (with them) is an outstanding thing to be able to do right now. I'm not here today to lay out playing time or anything like that right now, but I'm really pleased with the group we have."

What about undrafted free agents? The next 24 to 48 hours is pretty critical in that regard. What can you address in that area?

"I'm going to stay in this room as long as possible and let them deal with it up there (laughs), so let's just keep this thing (the news conference3) going. It's a difficult, frustrating process sometimes. The scouts each have a position they're working through with the position coaches, and I'm happy to be an overseer where I just pop in room to room, offer people a slice of pizza, and say, 'If you need me to make a phone call, I'm happy to do it.' Those guys work really hard at this part of the process."

Getting back to Landon Robinson, did Jerry Montgomery coach him in the East-West game?

"He was around him at the East-West (Shrine Bowl). I am pretty certain he coached him at the East-West. I'm trying to think of my notes specifically did Jerry coach him at the East-West, or did Jerry just like him at the East-West. I can double check on that. We had a lot of coaches in the all-star games. We maybe didn't get all the players that they had coached and really liked, but it was a good reference points on all those guys. The willingness for coaches to do that right after our season ended, to go take a week away from their families after a long year and go put in the time to coach these guys and get to know it, our coaches were really willing to do that. And sometimes you have to submit your name and be selected. Not always are our coaches selected to do it. I can take a handful of guys that went and did it, and it was really good reference point for our staff."

If you look back at your plans to reconstruct the defensive line back in January or February to where it is now, how many events were there along the way and how challenging was it since you used about every avenue possible to do this? How many changes were there and did it kind of go along with the plan you were looking at in January?

"I don't think there is any way you could have predicted it would get us to the point where we are right now. I mean, that's hard to predict, but you're right. We did it every way whether it was early in free agency, whether it was a release for a guy we loved, whether it was a trade, draft — I'm really excited about the group we've acquired. Sometimes you get caught up so much in the moment of the offseason and free agency, and the angst of it all, but a lot of our best years have happened similar to this where a guy just comes at you at time you really didn't expect it to happen. I can think of Vonn Bell, who kind of came to us later in the free agency period, and what a huge boost to our defense that was over the time he was here. It happens a lot of different ways, and this is what happened this year. I'm just really happy with the work that was done upstairs and the guys that they gave us to work with."

This is the first offseason in three years that you haven't had a major star player dealing with a contract extension. Do you feel that gave you guys more time collaboratively to focus on executing to get the best players possible without having to worry about it?

"I don't know. I think sometimes it's made a lot in the public eye, but not so much here. That's the business part of things you just deal with. Outside of that, we were able to kind of put that aside. I wouldn't say that changed anything for us."

Now that the draft is done, if you go back to the end of the season, how much of the vision of what you wanted this team to look like back then came to fruition, and how pleased are you with where you are now?

"I really couldn't be happier. From a talent standpoint, we're in a really good place. From a leadership standpoint, we're in a really good place. Now you have to actually go do the work. It's fun to talk about this stuff in the offseason. This is where we are up to this point. There's no work we could have done on the field or from a chemistry standpoint. Now it's up to the players and the coaches to put it all together, so that's going to require a lot of work on the field, in the locker room, off the field, but I'm excited about the group we're going to go do it with. Players, coaches, personnel, ownership — very united right now. So now, we have to go do the work. The coaches have to do a great job putting these guys in the right spots, getting the most out of them, and the players have got to go work. They've got to work to build the chemistry with a lot of new players we brought in, bring the rookies up to speed, and go get it done on the field. I'm confident that this is a group that's really hungry to do that."

What stood out to you about Tacario Davis?

"I like all of his athletic traits. To be able to add a corner to that room with that kind of length — Dax (Hill) has good length, DJ (Turner) has got good length. So, to add to those types of guys in that area I think complements the DJ Turner's of the world really well, Josh Newton, Jalen (Davis), so it's a really good complementary room that we have right now to where we can let those guys get out there and compete and see what roles shake out for guys. I know he was injury bugged a little this year, but just his whole body of work, I think he's a rare talent to be able to add to the mix."

Was today the first time you met him face-to-face?

"Yes."

What stood out?

"He stood out. He's enormous. You just picture all of those corners we faced in the past that are long that they make everything contested, especially outside the numbers, so with the speed it's hard to run by them. Their length can be great at the line of scrimmage to disrupt the receiver's release and the timing for the quarterbacks. And they can get into plays. For longer guys, sometimes the shorter area is the challenge. He does a great job staying in phase, and if he does get beat, to be able to get back in phase and use his length to disrupt the ball. So, just really pleased to be able to get him in the third round."

What was it like dealing with the scouting department this year? Was there any difference with them being more public-facing?

"No difference for me in our process. It is awesome to see these guys get a chance because of all the work they put in. So, for the public to be able to see them and recognize the work they do and kind of put a face with the name, but for all of us as coaches, it's a really tightknit group. I love the way that we go about it here because the scouts live here in the city. I know that we've got two that we added that live elsewhere for now, so it's a really tightknit group. You know these guys, you got to bond with them, you've got relationships with them, you're able to have harder conversations with them and not no one being overly sensitive to it. They're all constructive and ultimately, it's a way to get everybody on the same page and get the guys you want in the building. It's the way I would do it until the day I die with the collaboration between our scouts and coaches. I'm appreciative that Duke (Tobin) lets us do that. He gives everyone an opinion in the room, and so everyone gets an opinion to speak their mind and lay it out, and ultimately someone's got to make a decision which he does a great job of. I love the way that we go about it. I love the job the scouts do, love that you got a chance to see three of our guys. We've got others that do a good job as well, but the three guys to have a chance to sit up here and speak I think is a very unselfish way for Duke to go about it — egoless. That's what we try to be about here in Cincinnati."

With Brian Parker II, where are you going to start him? Do you have a plan in place?

"Nothing I want to broadcast today, but I think everybody we took we do have a plan for where we're going to start with him and also the flexibility for the future. He has five-position flexibility, and that's one of the traits I really like about him."

How rare is that to find in the draft?

"It hard for me on a scale of 1-10 the rareness skill. It's hard for me to land there. It's harder to find that guy than not. He's got a lot of flexibility there from high school to his finishing time at Duke, he's done a little bit of everything, and that's good for us."