The Most Interesting Things Zac Taylor Said During His Pre-Draft Press Conference

Zac Taylor is the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. Some of the other 31 NFL head coaches have the power to control the roster and make the calls in the NFL Draft.

The only calls Taylor makes are on the phone with their chosen player. And he’s totally okay with that.

While Duke Tobin and Bengals ownership trust Taylor to win football games, that trust is reciprocated from Taylor to Tobin to nail the draft year after year. Being part of the process is enough for the coach entering his fourth year in the job, and he had some things to say at his fourth pre-draft press conference on Monday afternoon.

Pool of options at 31

The odds of the Bengals landing their best prospect this year are slim to none. Slim might actually be incredibly generous. There won’t be a Joe Burrow or Ja’Marr Chase available at the 31st pick, but there could be a Tee Higgins, who was picked 33rd two years ago.

Asked how many realistic options the team will consider with their first pick, Taylor said that number would be more than a handful.

“I would say it’s probably a range bigger than five [players], to be honest with you,” Taylor said. “But we were in this situation two years ago – Tee Higgins at 33. … You’re playing the same game you’re playing now at 31, trying to predict and do our own drills to see who might be there at 33. It’s going to be a decent lineup of players, I imagine.

Landing Higgins in the lead in the second round proved to be a boon for Cincinnati. You can always count on a few well-rated leads that outlast consensus expectations. How far they fall involves too many variables to make a general statement about it. Higgins proved to be as impactful as the first round they ranked him in. They also expect to pick a similar talent at 31.

But they may not get the guys this time around, so being comfortable with multiple players in one place is never a bad thing.

What happens in trading

A decently sized option pool also bodes well for a recovery scenario. If there are many options of the same rank and you can go back and get one, it should increase the likelihood of a deal coming through.

But there has to be a call first, and they can’t manifest it out of thin air.

Taylor says the remaining available players matter as much as the compensation offered to vacate their spot.

“Probably a combination of both,” Taylor said. “At the end of the day, we have to expect a pick no matter which number we choose. I think that’s where the experience upstairs really comes in. The number of drafts that Mike Brown, Duke Tobin, everybody’s been in, and the experience they have in trading – when , for what value, why – far more than what I bring to the table. So it’s a fun process that I’m involved in to see them work with patience and calmness is similar to what we have to do in games. It’s their game. …I think the experience really pays off in those times.

Experience puts it lightly. Tobin and the Brown family have had second-round trades in four of the last five drafts. The end result has been hit or miss in terms of which players they end up with, but the compensation has always looked attractive at the time of the trade.

This is the risk inherent in trading, you are asking to limit your options. Having confidence in the option pool is paramount.

A non-answer that was indeed an answer

Age isn’t always talked about when it comes to draft prospects, but it’s undeniably a factor in who gets picked early or not. Younger players who are drafted high were likely very productive as underclassmen and enter the league at or above the level of older rookies. Their youth theoretically gives them a longer bonus and a longer career in general.

Due to COVID-19, several players in this year’s class ended up playing five or even six years in college. As a result, you have guys with early turns turning 24 or even 25 during their rookie seasons.

Taylor was asked about the influx of older prospects and whether that has increased the average age in this class. He couldn’t give a clear answer, but… he did?

“I think it’s hard to say,” Taylor said. “I couldn’t tell you, all the players you talk about in the top 100, how old they are. It certainly comes back, but I couldn’t tell you if overall it’s an older group than ‘he wasn’t in the past. Where are older players moved? Maybe they came back because they weren’t the best picks and ended up in sixth or seventh I couldn’t tell you.

Translation: It didn’t affect the top of the draft, but there could be more older guys being drafted late.

Drafting the younger side is usually what the Bengals do. Their top three picks last year were all 21-year-olds. Their top picks in recent memory (without Burrow) were 22 or younger at the time of those respective drafts. Excluding Chase, Higgins, Joe Mixon, Jessie Bates III, Sam Hubbard, Jonah Williams, Evan McPherson, Carl Lawson and Tyler Boyd, only Hubbard was over 21 when he was drafted.

William Jackson III, Logan Wilson and Burrow were each 23 years old, so like everything, outliers exist.

But no, the COVID-19 “super seniors” likely won’t impact the Bengals or anyone in the first two rounds.

Spoiler alert?

We know Taylor and the team are going to target defense early in the draft, so that makes sense. They’ve done a lot of work on cornerbacks and safeties, and there’s an immediate and future need for players in those two positions.

They also familiarized themselves with defensive tackles, in particular the 3 techniques.

When asked if the future of the receiver market might impact how the project circumvents them, Taylor gave an example that seemed pretty specific.

“Hard to say,” Taylor said. “Because if you need a d-lineman, but you’re thinking about the future receiver scorer, and you’re going to leave a huge hole there at technique 3, it’s hard to win games. It’s hard to deal with it all, it’s Duke’s job to deal with it all, I just like being part of it.

Despite re-signing BJ Hill, the Bengals actually have a hole at 3-tech. They don’t have a soul behind Hill, and they don’t have anyone good enough to play a couple hundred snaps next to him in their forward five-man packages.

It could have been an innocent example that Taylor gave to answer the question, or it could have been based on them coming into the project with a need there and planning to meet it. Adjust your simulations accordingly.

You can watch the full press conference here.