How the Bengals Changed Their Scouting Process Ahead of 2024 NFL Draft

CINCINNATI – Whenever the subject of how small the scouting department is for the Cincinnati Bengals, director of player personnel Duke Tobin always says it’s not as much about the number of voices in the room as it is having the right voices.

One of those voices in the last eight NFL Drafts has been Mike Potts, the team’s director of college scouting.

Potts’ voice has been prominent behind the scenes for nearly a decade, but Tuesday marked the first time the Bengals put him in front of the media in a press conference setting.

Bengals Scouting Director Talks Evolution of Department Heading Into Draft

It was reminiscent of what happened a decade ago when then-Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis went from being the only member of the organization to speak publicly at the NFL Combine to sharing the duties with Tobin.

Potts’ turn on the dais was necessitated when the team had to cancel Tobin’s originally scheduled news conference Friday due to the passing of his father, former Bengals scouting executive Bill Tobin.

Whether Potts continues in the more forward-facing role remains to be seen, but he spent 30 minutes Tuesday talking about where Cincinnati stands heading into this week’s draft.

“(Bill Tobin) always did tell me to keep it close to the vest in terms of the information we’ve worked all year on,” Potts said at the start of his news conference. “That being said, I’ll do my best to answer your guys’ questions as well as I can. But that’s something he taught me and will stick with me.”

The most likely first-round target for the Bengals will be an offensive tackle, but which one will depend on how many get drafted before Cincinnati is on the clock at No. 18.

One name expected to be there is Amarius Mims, who is a curious case study for scouts this season, given his incredible size and athleticism but minimal experience, making only eight starts at the University of Georgia.

One of the first questions Potts had surrounded the importance of playing time for tackles.

“It’s important,” he said. “It’s a piece of the puzzle. There are a lot of different factors, physically, mentally, character-wise, medical-wise, that we factor in. It’s definitely important.

“I think the most important thing is what his tape looks like in the snaps that he has played,” Potts added. “There are guys at a number of positions, not just tackle, that have limited play experience, whether that’s high-level guys in front of them or a medical reason as far as why this missed. It’s a factor that we have to put in there.”

Potts’ first draft with the Bengals in 2016 resulted in the acquisition of wide receiver Tyler Boyd, but it also included disappointments such as William Jackson, Nick Vigil, and Andrew Billings.

The department’s ability to learn and evolve is a big reason why the last few drafts have been so productive.

As is the case with Potts, two other voices within the organization are seeing their roles grow, he said.

Sam Francis, the team’s football data analyst, has specialized in on-field numbers since arriving in 2020, but he’s expanded his role into providing valuable data for draft research, building databases with historic rankings on anything from arm length to routes run by receivers.

“He’s been awesome,” Potts said. “I mean, the things that he’s done for us and our scouting system, and the reports that we can run have been amazing.

“Elizabeth has had a hand in that, in some of those reports that she’s helped us with as well,” Potts added, referring to Elizabeth Blackburn, the team’s director of strategy and engagement.

“I think her mindset is anything I can do to help. She always wants to lend a helping hand. Whether it’s a different perspective, looking at maybe running some reports on how players are viewed on the outside, maybe more so, so we’re not dialed in, tunnel vision on what we see and focused on our board.

“And then also looking at other teams and maybe that can help us with their needs if we want to go up and target a specific player or if we maybe can move back.”

As has been the case for most of this offseason, the conversation circled back to the offensive tackles, and specifically how it ranks to some of the ones in Potts’ recent memory.

“It’s a really good class,” he said. “I would have to look back at them. I’m so dialed in on this class right now that I would have to take a step back and think and look at where we had guys ranked maybe in previous years, but it’s a very good tackle class.”

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As is the case with the Bengals’ philosophy on scouts, it’s not about how many there are, but in making sure they have the right one(s).

“There’s a lot of guys that we like up top, and then later second, third, fourth, and so on rounds,” Potts said. “Guys with different strengths, different weaknesses, different backgrounds. So it’s really just about picking your flavor and seeing what fits us best with the Bengals and then stacking those guys on our board and order.”