Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin largely kept to the organization’s expected talking points while discussing extensions before the 2023 NFL draft.
Asked about the broad extension situations for names like Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins and Logan Wilson, Tobin said those on the to-do list don’t impact the draft at all.
“You can’t predict when and if they’ll get done,” Tobin said, according to The Athletic’s Jay Morrison. “We’re working to try to have as many good players on our football team as we can and try to keep them as long as we can — the ones that are producing and really fit well here. We’re trying like heck to get those guys extended, renegotiated.
As Morrison went on to note, extensions by the team haven’t really happened before the calendar turns to May over the course of the last decade.
Meaning, Tobin’s talking points and the lack of extensions so far aren’t surprising at all.
While those extensions won’t impact the draft, what might is the team looking one year ahead again like they did with the pick of Dax Hill last year. Seeing Tyler Boyd doesn’t have an extension yet could mean the team looks at slot wideout prospects such as a certain UC Bearcats player.
But for now, no news on Burrow, Higgins and Wilson, is business as usual.