On Tuesday, the Bengals backed away from a trade for Arnold Ebiketie after it was revealed the deal could cost Cincinnati a future compensatory draft pick.
During his press conference on Wednesday, head coach Zac Taylor explained the situation from the perspective of Bengals director of player personnel – and de facto general manager – Duke Tobin.
“Obviously, we tried something yesterday” Taylor said. “Duke was very explicit with me when he came in and talked to me about how he wanted this portrayed. I’m not comfortable doing it, but I’ll do what he asked. We made an effort to add some depth to Cashius (Howell). As we got into it, it was going to cost more than we originally anticipated.
“He’s really apologetic about it and wants to make it clear: Philly was a great business partner. That was on our side. Certainly, we have a ton of confidence in our front office and the way they do things. They gave us the players that allowed us to be 6-2 right now and play at such a high level. So, we’re going to put that behind us and move forward, and be excited for this game on Sunday. Our locker room is in a great place right now.”
Taylor noted that Tobin didn’t really tell him how everything happened and didn’t ask.
“It doesn’t really matter to me. It probably took me three minutes all day yesterday without watching the tape,” Taylor said. “So we have a lot of confidence in the way these guys operate and we’re just going to move forward.”
With this, the Bengals failed to take any timely action to improve the team. Taylor said he and Tobin liked where the team was.
“I think you can talk to the players in the locker room, they really like where we’re at,” Taylor said. “So this is a team with a lot of confidence right now. I know it’s a fun time — the weeks leading up to the trade deadline — for the fans… but the truth is we really like where we’re at. Our guys are playing with a high degree of confidence and we’ll continue to move forward.”
Gn sports
