A big reason why the Cincinnati Bengals are staring down a third straight season of missing the playoffs is the front office. Let's call a spade a spade. De facto GM Duke Tobin is most to blame.
Sure, Tobin doesn't have the typical resources to work with in a personnel department. That's fair to say in his defense. What isn't fair to say in his defense is pretty much anything else.
Congratulations, you drafted Joe Burrow No. 1 overall and decided to pair him with his favorite wide receiver from LSU, Ja'Marr Chase. Pretty much every other draft pick since Chase in 2021 is an abject disaster.
So while it's twisted to root for somebody's downfall, Tobin has had to take zero accountability for a role he entered with so few merited qualifications in the first place. There's at least a snowball's chance in Dante's Inferno that Tobin could be on the way out, though, based on a new insider report about GMs on the hot seat.
NFL sources cast doubt on Duke Tobin's job security in Bengals front office
Mike Jones of The Athletic surveyed many sources around the NFL from executives to other folks in the know about GMs with tenuous job statuses. Duke Tobin was mentioned, and that is newsworthy — even if Jones ultimately concluded Tobin will stay put.
"League insiders wonder about Tobin’s job security given the Bengals’ shortcomings over the last two seasons and the double-digit loss campaign they appear to be headed for in 2025. [...] While questions about Tobin’s future have been raised by rival executives, others point to Bengals’ owner Mike Brown’s frugality and Burrow’s injury as reasons they believe Cincinnati will stand pat despite another disappointing end."
It's wild to me that all the big Bengals-centric X/Twitter accounts and myself have been on public record for years telling Tobin and his minions what to do in the draft. They never do what we expect or recommend, and the team has suffered because of it.
Playing armchair GM is admittedly different than holding an actual post with an NFL team. At the same time, it's like Tobin and the personnel department are trying to sabotage Burrow's prime and tick off the fan base. The staunch conservatism when it comes to swinging major trades for superstar players is baffling. The refusal to double down on draftees or free-agent signings who have worked out like Jessie Bates and Trey Hendrickson gives off weird energy.
Then when it comes to draft strategy itself, at the risk repeating myself ad nauseam, you can't convince me there's any rhyme or reason to how the Bengals build their roster. You just can't.
Whomever is assembling Cincinnati's internal big board isn't doing a good job at all. The bizarre, super-avoidable gambles the Bengals take with prospects like Shemar Stewart will never cease to astound me.
Drafting two off-ball linebackers in the next three picks, with Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt, and Oren Burks still on the roster at the time, should've been a fireable offense. Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter are awful players as rookie starters, too. Clear downgrades for a defense that couldn't afford any. We've seen what's happened as a result.
Congratulations to the #Bengals, who made it to the bottom. I wasn't sure this week's game with the Steelers was bad enough, but the Bengals now have the worst defensive DVOA ever measured (through 10 games).
— Aaron Schatz 🏈 (@ASchatzNFL) November 17, 2025
(Higher DVOA = More Offense) pic.twitter.com/Co8mObe7F9
Whatever good fortune Duke Tobin had before might've been more attributable to longtime Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. He saw how great teams were assembled elsewhere in the AFC North in Pittsburgh and Baltimore before he landed in Cincinnati.
In retrospect, it feels like Lewis might've had more to do with building those good Andy Dalton teams in the pre-Burrow era than Tobin did.
I mean whatever. Say you're a big Duke Tobin person. He's been the Bengals' director of player personnel since 1999. That's plenty of time to deliver a Super Bowl. Tobin has cost Joe Burrow three seasons of his prime with little to show for it.
Change for change's sake can be a good thing. In Tobin's case, it's the best thing for this Bengals organization. Just don't think Mike Brown will do it. That said, the fact that it's being discussed by NFL execs and other sources in this Athletic piece gives me hope that Tobin's ouster could finally happen.