Bengals’ Director of Scouting Discusses His Drafting Process

When they return to file their reports, they’ll also need to submit the names of the 45 prospects they’re allowed to interview in 18-minute sessions at the Feb. 29-March 3 NFL scouting combine. The two weeks or so leading into the scouting extravaganza in Indianapolis are the scene of another round of meetings with ownership.

The scouts had a bunch of reasons to put Battle on that list of 45 prospects, starting with need and his SEC-tested 44 starts for the Crimson Tide across four seasons.

“In those initial meetings, we went over all of his character and medical information that we had from our school visits throughout the fall. Obviously, he checked all those boxes as far as character and intelligence,” Potts says.  “When you have that much on your college resume, you feel like you’ve been scouting him already for three or four years.”

The coaches, who no longer attend next week’s Senior Bowl in the name of efficiency, won’t get involved until they head to Indy with lists of players supplied by the scouts. The coaches are welcome to pop in and head coach Zac Taylor and his coordinators are occasional guests.

“Usually before we go to the combine, they’re not far enough in the process at that point to say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a really strong feeling about this guy,’ unless he had previous exposure to the player,” Potts says. “After we get through the combine and they’ve been exposed to interviews with the players and they’ve had more time to watch more tape on the players and see how they perform in the combine, they’ll start to develop stronger feelings.”

That’s when the scouts begin to get feedback from the coaches. “I’d like to do a little more on his guy. Can you send me to this guy’s pro day?” Or maybe, ‘This guy really turned me off. He may not be a good fit for  us. Maybe we should use our time and efforts elsewhere.”

Pro days are the campus visits that take place the…