They also fit LaBounty, 25, into a new position a year after he broke into the NFL in Buffalo as a football analytics intern. Working under director of football research Sam Francis, LaBounty is canvassing two floors at Paycor Stadium as a bulwark for the scouts as well as a sounding board for Francis in the coaching wing.
"It broadens our base, and it will be a great opportunity to support our scouts with data and analytics as we're going through the process," Tobin says. "Trey's a guy who has a lot of upside in a different number of areas with his football background. He'll support the organization in a lot of different ways because of his versatility and skill set."
With scout Christian Sarkisian using his seven years with the Bengals as a springboard to Northwestern's general manager of athletics, Tobin attacked the vacancy with old-school experience and new-school analytics.
"Experience has to matter somewhere along the line," Ramsey says as he heads into his 16th season in the league. "Especially in this day and age of NIL and the transfer portal. You have to have deep relationships and trust across college football to actually do your job at a high level."
Of course, it wasn't always like that for Ramsey, coming out of the University of Washington with that business degree and first bit of self-scouting. A wing T high school quarterback in the Seattle suburbs with three Division I running backs who threw about 40 passes his senior year, Ramsey went to school for school.
When he re-educated himself in the wake of the banking collapse, he realized he could have a career as an NFL scout. When he entered into an interview process for the Seahawks with ten other candidates that included former coaches, players, and scouts, Ramsey's presentations got him the one slot as an assistant.
Six months later, the GM and the coach were gone. But the new team of head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider kept Ramsey as they went on a run of five straight NFC West titles, back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, and a ring.
In Seattle, Ramsey had a front-row seat to Carroll's youthful energy, complete with the meetings that began with some crazed competition, as well as Schneider's shrewd roster building. Scott Fitterer, the Seahawks vice president of football operations, took Ramsey to Carolina in 2021.
Experience led to Ramsey watching all teams work on the road, and he noticed how the Bengals scouts seemed to work easily with the coaches.
"Just seeing the coaches out there in pro days collaborating with the personnel department," Ramsey says, "it's a really cool setup. It gives you a lot of responsibility. As a scout coming in, you always want to do more. Help the pro guys out in free agency, you want to have an impact on game day and in the building. I like the collaboration."
Ramsey also noticed Bengals senior personnel executive Trey Brown, the old UCLA cornerback. He admires how Brown puts prospects through the paces.
"Sometimes the old DB in him comes out and he really gets after them," Ramsey says.