"I wouldn't assume that we're going to bring in somebody that doesn't like big, doesn't like fast, doesn't like explosive. You're looking at a receiver, if he doesn't catch a ball you're not going to find a coach that says give me that guy. We're all looking for the same thing in common. We're evaluating the individual traits these guys have. We can cross those other bridges when we come across them. Really, the art of scouting is what deficiencies do you accept? Because everybody has deficiencies. Everybody is looking for the same positives and then what deficiencies are you willing to accept? A lack of size? A little lack of speed? A little lack of strength? What deficiencies are you willing to accept? When you get to that point, then we'll bring our staff on board and see what their thoughts are."

And, Tobin left no doubt that the new coach's staff is going to be a reflection of the people he wants.

"We've always felt that way. And we'll have ideas about what's needed as well. And we'll come to an agreement on staffing levels at different positions as a group," Tobin said. "We're not looking to bring somebody in and restrict them in any way. And so when you get a whole new staff, sometimes you get new ideas and new thoughts that are worthwhile. That's part of the process we're going through right now. We certainly welcome new thoughts and new ideas and we're flexible to incorporate those."

Tobin's rise in the draft room and Brown's confidence in him has mirrored a shift in personnel matters over the last decade. But even though their draft process isn't as coaching-centric as it was in the previous decade, Tobin says the assistants remain key ingredients in the recipe.

"We want everybody to have a chance to weigh in on it," Tobin said. "If we have real splits in opinions, we try to work through those, get everybody on board. If we're still split at the end, normally we go different directions. Because we want the (head coach) when he walks in the building to have the best chance of success possible. And you do that by having everybody on board with the guy when he comes in to build it.

"We'll involve the new coaching staff and whoever we have in the building in the process the same way. We don't want to take away from their ability to work on football, work on schematics, work on playbook, those types of things. So they'll have plenty of time to do that. But we'll involve them in the process and try to get them up to speed and see what their opinions are when we hit the draft time. There's plenty of time."

It looks like who is ever the guy is going to have Dalton as his guy as he heads into his ninth year and turns 32 in mid-season.

"We're very comfortable with Andy," Tobin said. "We think he's got a number of years left. We feel like we can win with him. But with any position group, we don't just throw away the whole draft board at a group just because we're satisfied with who we have. We'll evaluate them and look at them and see if there's an opportunity to add a guy at every position."

During a season the Bengals finished last in defense, speed became a concern. The concern has become a need in January. Of course, scouts always look for speed. But they're looking for it faster now.

"The game is getting faster, so on defense, you know, I think we're going to be looking for speed, which we always are. You're never looking for slow, but you know that's going to be a focus of what we do," Tobin said. "We want guys that can run, that can cover. The game is becoming a passing game, so you want guys that can cover on the two-back levels, that can run, that have some flexibility to them, that have a feel in coverage because that's such a vital component of the game that we play right now.