Duke Tobin, Zac Taylor say John Ross has a future with Bengals

As expected, the rumors surrounding wide receiver John Ross were one of the first things Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin had to address Wednesday at the scouting combine.

Also as expected, Tobin denied the rumors, which were ignited by a tweet on Tuesday from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Rapoport said the Bengals have been seeking offers for Ross, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2017 draft.

Duke Tobin said there have been NO discussions about trading John Ross.

— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) February 27, 2019

Duke on Ross' fit: We're not giving up on him. Like a lot guys he's looking for a niche

— Geoff Hobson (@GeoffHobsonCin) February 27, 2019

Zac Taylor faced the same questions after taking the podium:

Zac Taylor says John Ross has a “very exciting future” with the #Bengals. “I can’t wait to get to work with him.”

— Fletcher Page (@FletcherPage) February 27, 2019

Granted, the Bengals wouldn’t say anything otherwise even if they were listening to offers on Ross.

But a Ross trade is tough to imagine. He scored seven times in what amounted to his rookie season last year, and a new offensive-minded staff might be able to spur his development as opposed to giving him away.

Joe Mixon has already been spoken out on the idea of trading Ross.