Duke Tobin is furious over the Bengals whiffing on this Tee Higgins succession plan

The Cincinnati Bengals always have and probably always will do things differently. They are the NFL's last mom and pop shop operation. Duke Tobin may be their director of player personnel, but he is the main man in the front office not named owner Mike Brown. Tobin has developed a great reputation for drafting players and fielding competitive rosters ownership somehow always actively undermines.

When doing a Q&A with Kelsey Conway of The Cincinnati Enquirer, Tobin answered some tough questions about the state of the team and the construction of the roster. Cincinnati has not qualified for the playoffs the last two years after having been to the AFC Championship Game the two seasons prior. While the main focus was on Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins, Jermaine Burton caught some strays.

When asked if Burton has done enough to merit a roster spot on next year's team, Tobin offered this.

"He's done nothing, and he's going to have to start doing something quickly. We knew we were taking a risk. We felt comfortable that we could help him through some of the challenges he's had in the past, and we're going to continue to try to help him. But this is professional football, and you have to take accountability, and you have to be accountable to your teammates, your coaches, and the team that you're playing for, and he has to figure that out."

No, Tobin was not done in his vicious takedown of the former Georgia and Alabama star wide receiver.

"He's got to figure that out fast. He's a very talented player, and we knew that there were risks in taking him. We knew there were rewards in taking him. We know what both of those are. We're hoping for the rewards. We're giving him the resources he needs to get to those rewards, but at the end of the day, you can't want it more for somebody than they want it for themselves. And we're hoping that Jermaine figures that out."

Like many wide receivers before him and countless that will follow him, Burton is a talented, but mercurial player. At Georgia, I was always wanting him to be better than what he ever was. When he transferred to Alabama after the Dawgs beat the Crimson Tide in the national title bout, it could not have looked worse optically. Now in the early part of his NFL career, not much looks to be changing.

With Higgins likely gone in free agency, where does that leave Cincinnati to go about replacing him?

Duke Tobin lets Jermaine Burton have it in a Q&A with The Enquirer

While I do trust Tobin more than most front-office executives to make smart decisions during the draft process and in free agency, it is still impossible for him to overcome the organization he works with. Had The Browns not messed with Higgins' money, he would be under a new contract already, hoping to provide a bright future for the Bengals franchise and their passionately rabid fan base.

Instead, he is likely gone. While I am not sure if the native Tennesseean goes to play for his former offensive coordinator Brian Callahan like Tyler Boyd did last year in Nashville, that is still a landing spot I am not ready to fully cross off just yet. Tobin will once again have to pick up the pieces when it comes to the Bengals being cheap. Taking fliers on misfit players like Burton is what they always do.

Ultimately, I trust the Bengals' innate ability to draft high-end talent once again. They also do a fine job of signing up-and-coming, under-the-radar talent in free agency. Again, I find Tobin to be very good at his job, incredibly underrated at that. However, the Burton failure only further magnifies the Higgins debacle we all saw coming from a mile away. At least the Bengals still have Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase.

I appreciate Tobin's honesty about Burton because it is incredibly rare to see someone go on record.