SENIOR MAN

That coaching continuity isn’t to be taken lightly in an offseason head coach Mike Tomlin left the Steelers, John Harbaugh got let go by the Ravens, and Kevin Stefanski got booted hours after the Browns beat the Bengals in the finale at Paycor Stadium.

That leaves Taylor, 42 years young, the senior coach in the AFC North heading into his eighth season in Cincinnati.

“Strange,” said Taylor when asked how it feels to be the division’s senior man. “I’ve got a lot of respect for those three guys I’ve been competing against the last few years, and obviously great coaches and (they) have had a lot of success. So, it’s a little strange, but I’m sure that I’ll get used to it very quickly.

“I’m glad we have continuity. So I don’t have to make a lot of changes and we are able to be in the spot we are here on Feb. 24th.”

SLANTS AND SCREENS

Tobin beefed up his scouting staff back in May when he hired NFL college and pro veteran scouts Josh Hinch and Tyler Ramsey, and added an analytics guru in scouting research analyst Trey LaBounty. At their first combine, Tobin is pleased with how LaBounty has teamed with director of football research Sam Francis and Tyler Gross, the club’s senior application developer, in easing the workload of the scouts.

“I would rather have the guy watching the player than doing the grunt work on the back end of it and typing in the who all is going to the Senior Bowl database and ranking, comparisons and all that kind of stuff,” Tobin said. “I want the guys doing what they’re paid to do and doing what their talent says they should do, which is evaluating. So we’re always looking for efficiencies, and we found that in our data team that Sam and Trey and Tyler have put together.

” We’ve got a pretty complex and robust scouting system now that we have built from the ground up over time, and they’ve elevated it to another level that gives us all the resources we want when our scout is looking at the guy, needs the comparisons, needs the background on the guy, needs everything to evaluate the guy correctly.” …

Last offseason’s hot topic was the Bengals’ effort to get off to a good start after Taylor’s first six seasons netted one win in the first two games of the year. Asked about getting more physical in training camp this year, Taylor pointed to last year’s 2-0 start. That despite Burrow suffering an injury early in the second game.

“I feel like we started the season 2-0 and played OK in those first two games. We just need to build off that start,” Taylor said. “I thought our training camp was good. We want to keep it fresh for the players. We don’t want it to be the same routine every year, whether that’s offseason or training camp.” …

Safety Jordan Battle got a lot of love from Taylor and Tobin. A third-round pick in 2023 out of Alabama, Battle blossomed into a solid strong-ish type safety and it looks like they’re searching for his running mate in the draft or free agency.

“He’s scratching the surface of what he can be. And I think we put a good group around him, I think he can, help direct it,” Tobin said. “He’s got a lot of traits you look for in the position. And I feel like Jordan is a guy that’s developing a leadership role on our team, which you have to have in the back end there.” …

If Bengals right guard Dalton Risner’s agent, the ubiquitous Drew Rosenhaus, is here and he always is, there could be a conversation. Both have indicated they want to extend as the sides seek the right number.

“I’ve got a ton of respect for him, really enjoyed getting to know him. He’s really, you know, a fantastic person just to be around in the locker room on a day-to-day basis,” Tobin said. “And he’s a guy that we’ve talked to, and we’ll see if we can get something done. He’s got decisions to make, and we’ve got decisions to make, and he’s a guy that we like a lot.