Bengals finalized plans for No. 1 pick in March, opted not to tell Burrow

The Cincinnati Bengals knew their plans for the No. 1 overall pick weeks before the 2020 NFL Draft.

In a meeting with owner Mike Brown, executive vice president Katie Blackburn, and vice president Troy Blackburn in late March, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin and head coach Zac Taylor finalized the decision to select LSU quarterback Joe Burrow.

"Everybody got to speak," said Tobin told MMQB's Albert Breer. "Everybody was on the same page. It was universal agreement in that meeting. No doubters. No detractors. It was basically, 'This is the guy that this whole group sees as No. 1. We think it's clear. Here are the reasons. ... We're all comfortable with this, this is where we're going, let’s move forward.'"

Although Cincinnati knew what its Round 1 draft plans were in March - and most of the football world figured it out months earlier - the team opted not to tell Burrow before last Thursday.

"We never outright told him, 'Hey, you're the No, 1 pick,'" Taylor said. "It was possible the way I phrased a lot of things, where he's a smart guy, he can put two and two together. There was never a moment where we said, 'Hey, Joe, we're picking you at No. 1, congratulations.' That never happened until the actual phone call on draft night. But again, he's a smart guy and I think he was probably able to piece together some things I said."

Taylor added, "The cool thing is (the pick) never changed. It never flopped. It never wavered."