I don’t know about the Cincinnati Bengals front office themselves, but their fan base is prepared for the Joe Burrow era to begin in 2020. However, an ESPN report recently had them prepared to trade the no. 1 overall selection in the 2020 draft.
Still, Adam Schefter said Sunday that this report was premature and the Bengals have no intention of trading the first overall. Furthermore, the Bengals are coming out and saying all the right things.
Bengals have no intention of trading the No. 1 overall draft pick no matter the interest they get in it, per league sources.https://t.co/oRUlfeWH4n
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 19, 2020
Their director of player personnel Duke Tobin says it’s still ‘early in the process’ which is what we hear this time of year from teams holding the first overall selection.
“I don’t know that any decision has been made for what we’re going to do in April,” Tobin told Bengals.com. “We’re early in the process. We certainly haven’t had any meetings to determine that at this point. Those will be meetings we’ll have as we go through the process.”
Mel Kiper has Burrow rated as the second best player in the draft. Equally important, the Bengals could use a reboot at the quarterback position. While Andy Dalton is remarkably solid, he’s probably reached his ceiling. If the Bengals want to start playing for Super Bowls, they need someone like Burrow who can elevate the talent around him more than Dalton has been able to do.
This week is the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. It’s an event that gives the Bengals some time for extra evaluation of the top prospect.
“We’ll have a lot of opportunity to get to know him through the process,” Tobin told Bengals.com. “We feel very comfortable by the time we have to make a decision in the draft on him and the other players as well.”
This storyline could take many twists and turns before the draft occurs. Or the Bengals could stay quiet and conservative and just take Burrow with little drama and lots of fanfare. Either way, the NFL will be a great time with Burrow in the mix. Being that he is an Ohio-born kid, it makes for a good story if he lands in Cincinnati.
