Bengals promote Robert Livingston to the coaching staff

The Cincinnati Bengals have announced that Robert Livingston, the team's Southeast Scout since '12, has moved to the team's coaching staff under the title of Defensive Quality Control/Special Teams Assistant. Livingston, who joined the team's scouting department after serving as the defensive quality control coach at Vanderbilt University, replaced Bill Tobin as the SE scout -- Bill Tobin is the father of Duke tobin, the team's Director of Player Personnel. Livingston was also previously on the Furman University football staff in '10 and played a three-year career ('07-'09) as a free safety at William & Mary.

Cincinnati has always applied a less-is-more approach with their scouting department, which also includes Steven Radicevic (West Coast scout), Bill Tobin (now the Midwest scout), Greg Seamon (the East Coast scout) and Duke Tobin, who oversees most of the scouts and focuses on Texas, as well as various parts throughout the country. John Cooper remains with the franchise as a scouting consultant.

"We are streamlined and we don't have people falling all over each other going across the country," Duke Tobin said last year. "We are streamlined for a reason. We've got three guys who have been drafting players in this league for 40 years each (Mike Brown, Pete Brown, Bill Tobin). You know what, when you get an opinion from a guy who has been doing it 40 years do you need three other opinions? Probably not. You probably need one more or two."

As for Livingston, his role will generically be in video breakdowns and game plan preparation, and he also will assume on-field duties.