Bengals act quickly to help replenish their scouting department with new hire from rival AFC team

The Cincinnati Bengals lost one of their scouts this week, and they acted very quickly to compensate for that loss.

Trey LaBounty, a former football analytics intern with the Buffalo Bills, is now a scouting research assistant for the Bengals. 

LaBounty updated his LinkedIn profile and announced his new position on the website Tuesday evening. 

"Thank you to Ownership, Duke Tobin, Samuel Francis, and all the amazing people within the Bengals organization for believing in me and my ability to add value within the intersection of scouting, research, and analytics," LaBounty wrote. "I can’t wait to get to work, helping us to build the best roster possible, and bring a Lombardi home to Cincinnati."

According to LaBounty, his prior analytics gig with the Bills entailed providing "decision makers with the quantitative information necessary to make the best decisions possible." He was hired by Buffalo in June of 2024 and previously worked as a data analyst for Stanford football.

Stanford was where LaBounty also played four years of college football and earned a Master’s of Science in Management Science and Engineering with a focus in Computational Social Science. His Bachelor's degree in MSE was in Finance and Decision Making. 

LaBounty played along the defensive line for the Cardinal, but played one more season at tight end for Miami University in nearby Oxford, Ohio. It was at Miami where he earned a Master's in Sports Analytics.

LaBounty's new title with Cincinnati isn't the same as the one Christian Sarkisian left behind this week after he became Northwestern's new general manager, but the timing of his hiring is very likely related to Sarkisian's departure. The Bengals employ a small number of scouts under director of player personnel Duke Tobin, director of college scouting Mike Potts, and director of pro scouting Steven Radicevic. LaBounty will have a role underneath all three in some capacity.