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Cincinnati Bengals News & Rumors

Bengals Hire Ex-Cowboys OL Coach

By | at January 11, 2018 7:08 pm

  • The Bengals hired former Cowboys offensive line coach Frank Pollack, Hill reports. Pollack coached Dallas’ O-line from 2015-17. He’ll replace Paul Alexander, whom the Bengals fired after more than two decades on staff. Alexander could make this a swap, with Hill reporting he interviewed Thursday to become Cowboys offensive line coach.
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Bengals Notes: Davidson, Van Pelt, Staff

By | at January 10, 2018 9:05 pm

The Bengals are attempting to hire a new offensive line coach for the first time in more than two decades after firing Paul Alexander, and the sheer amount of candidates means the club’s interview process is being extended, according to Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link). As staffs around the league continue to be altered, more experienced OL coaches are becoming available, so Cincinnati’s plan to have a new hire in place quickly has been consequently changed. In-limbo Cardinals offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin has reportedly interviewed for the position.

Here’s more from the Queen City:

  • Goodwin isn’t the only candidate to fill the Bengals’ offensive line coach position, as former Broncos OL coach Jeff Davidson has also interviewed for the job, reports Mike Klis of 9News (Twitter link). Davidson, who was fired by Denver last week, has been an NFL coach since 1995 and worked for a variety of teams. He also offers past play-calling experience, as he served as the Panthers’ offensive coordinator from 2007-10. Aside from Goodwin and Davidson, Utah OL coach Jim Harding is also reportedly a candidate to land in Cincinnati.
  • Former Packers quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt is under consideration for a job with the Bengals, per Alex Marvez of the Sporting News (Twitter link). While it’s unclear exactly which position Van Pelt would fill, it’s fair to assume he’d take over at QBs coach for Cincinnati. Like Davidson, Van Pelt has been an OC before, as he called plays for the Bills in 2009. The Bengals are in need of a new quarterbacks coach given that Bill Lazor — who formerly held that title — is now being retained as their full-time offensive coordinator.
  • The Bengals have promoted assistant secondary coach Robert Livingston to the primary role, according to Owczarski (Twitter links). Livingston, who’s coached in Cincinnati for the past three seasons, originally started as a scout, which should come in handy given that the Bengals use their coaching staff to scout more than any team in the league. Given that former secondary coach Kevin Coyle wasn’t retained, Cincinnati is still on the hunt for another defensive backs coach to work alongside Livingston, per Owczarski.
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Bengals Interview Harold Goodwin

By | at January 10, 2018 4:44 pm

  • Cardinals offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Harold Goodwin has interviewed recently with the Bengals and Raiders for their OL coach positions, Kent Somers of The Arizona Republic tweets. It seems unlikely that Goodwin will return to Arizona in his current role following the retirement of head coach Bruce Arians.
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Bengals Interview Jon Kitna

By | at January 9, 2018 6:54 pm

The Bengals have interviewed former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna for a position on their staff, according to Alex Marvez of the Sporting News.

At present, it’s unclear for which position Kitna interviewed, but Cincinnati does have a vacancy at quarterbacks coach. Bill Lazor formerly held that title, but he’s now the full-time offensive coordinator following the firing of Ken Zampese. Kitna, who spent five seasons with the Bengals during his playing career, doesn’t have any NFL coaching experience, but he has served as a high school head coach since 2012.

Kitna, 45, played under Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis for three years, and was Lewis’ first starting quarterback when the latter took over in Cincinnati in 2003. Lewis recently inked a two-year extension to remain in the Queen City, and hiring Kitna would add another level of familiarity to the Bengals’ staff.

Kitna’s potential addition won’t be the only staff change in Cincinnati, as the club is parting ways with secondary coach Kevin Coyle, per Marvez. Additionally, the Bengals are considering both pro and college coaches as they seek to replace offensive line coach Paul Alexander, and one scenario could involve promoting longtime consultant Jim McNally to OL coach, reports Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. Utah assistant head coach/offensive line Jim Harding has also interviewed for the position, tweets Marvez.

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Bengals Notes: Zampese, Bicknell

By | at January 8, 2018 7:28 pm

  • Contrary to a previous report, former Bengals offensive coordinator Ken Zampese was not interviewed by the Browns on Monday, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com tweets. When he does interview with the team, it will be for an offensive assistant job and not necessarily for the OC position.
  • The Bengals announced the signing of Bob Bicknell as the team’s new wide receivers coach. Bicknell, who has 25 years of professional and collegiate coaching experience, was Baylor University’s WRs coach in 2017. Meanwhile, defensive line coach Jacob Burney has been retained with a new two-year contract extension (Twitter link via Alex Marvez of The Sporting News).
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Bengals Hire Teryl Austin As DC

By | at January 8, 2018 2:43 pm

The Bengals have made up their minds on a defensive coordinator. On Monday, they officially announced the hiring of Teryl Austin.

Austin will take over Paul Guenther‘s post now that he is moving on to become the Raiders’ DC. Although the Raiders were interested in Austin for a job alongside Guenther, the Lions’ defensive boss of the past four seasons with migrate to Cincinnati.

Austin and the Bengals were in talks about this job on Sunday night, and those discussions quickly led to an agreement.

The Bengals were also interested in Vic Fangio, so this removes an avenue for the veteran defensive leader whom the Bears want to retain. As for Austin, this will be his second DC job. After overseeing the Cardinals, Seahawks and Ravens’ secondaries, he led the Lions’ defense from 2014-17.

Although Austin’s units did not finish as top-tier groups after his first season, when they finished second in total defense, the 52-year-old coach received steady interest over the past few offseasons. He participated in 12 HC interviews, including his most recent with the Lions last week. And though Detroit’s Jim Caldwell successor hasn’t been decided, Austin taking his name out of consideration provides a fairly clear indication the franchise was looking elsewhere for its next head coach. Matt Patricia is viewed as the clubhouse leader.

Guenther had served as Cincinnati’s DC since 2014. The Bengals ranked as the league’s No. 18-ranked defense (16th in points allowed).

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Bengals Negotiating DC Deal With Teryl Austin

By | at January 7, 2018 9:01 pm

A sought-after name on the HC interview circuit in recent offseasons, Teryl Austin may be backing off those pursuits for the time being.

While he interviewed for the Lions’ HC job, the Bengals are negotiating with Austin to become their next defensive coordinator, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets, adding the deal is not yet finalized but that could be imminent.

The Bengals interviewed Austin on Friday; he’s the only candidate the franchise has interviewed thus far in the process. The Lions blocked Austin from interviewing with the Packers but did not stand in the way of their DC speaking with Cincinnati representatives.

Rapoport notes (via Twitter) Austin is not yet eliminated for the Lions’ HC job, but he’s likely headed to western Ohio if he doesn’t get that job. Matt Patricia‘s viewed as the Detroit favorite.

The 52-year-old assistant’s been the Lions’ DC for the past four seasons. Prior to that, he spent three seasons in command of the Ravens’ secondary. Austin, who also oversaw the Seahawks’ and Cardinals’ secondaries during the 2000s, conducted a whopping 12 HC interviews over the past three offseasons. He spoke with the Rams and Chargers last season only to see those teams move in different directions.

Austin’s Lions defenses have not been top-tier units over the past three seasons. Statistically, they topped out at No. 18 in 2015 and ’16 in total defense before dropping to 27th in that category this season. In 2014, though, the Lions finished second in total defense to put Austin on the HC map.

The Bengals had hoped to keep Paul Guenther in charge of their defense, but he plans to join Jon Gruden’s staff in Oakland. Cincinnati also sought Bears DC Vic Fangio, but it appears Bengals brass is ready to hire Austin.

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Bengals To Interview Bob Bicknell

By | at January 7, 2018 4:13 pm

  • The Bengals will interview Baylor wide receivers coach Bob Bicknell for the same position in Cincinnati, according to Marvez (Twitter link). Bicknell coached in the NFL from 2008-16, most recently with the 49ers, and interviewed with Chicago last offseason. Cincinnati, meanwhile, lost WRs coach James Urban to the division-rival Ravens.
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2018 Offensive/Defensive Coordinator Tracker

By | at January 7, 2018 3:25 pm

While at least six NFL teams are making head coaching changes this offseason, the number of clubs replacing offensive and/or defensive coordinators figures to be much higher than that. In addition to all those teams hiring new head coaches, who may want to bring in their own assistants, several clubs also figure to make changes on one side of the ball or the other after getting disappointing results in 2017. And, of course, the teams whose coordinators landed head coaching jobs will need to replace them.

With reports circulating on potential candidates, interview requests, and actual meetings, we’ll use the space below to keep tabs on all the latest updates on teams hiring new offensive and/or defensive coordinators. This post, which will be updated daily, can be found under the “PFR Features” menu on the right-hand side of the site.

Updated 3-6-18 (5:53pm CT)

Offensive Coordinators

Arizona Cardinals (Out: Harold Goodwin)

Buffalo Bills (Out: Rick Dennison)

Carolina Panthers (Out: Mike Shula)

  • Norv Turner, former offensive coordinator (Vikings): Hired

Chicago Bears (Out: Dowell Loggains)

  • Mark Helfrich, former head coach (Oregon): Hired

Cincinnati Bengals

  • Bill Lazor, interim offensive coordinator (Bengals): Retained

Cleveland Browns (vacant)

Denver Broncos

  • Bill Musgrave, interim offensive coordinator (Broncos): Retained

Detroit Lions

  • Jim Bob Cooter, offensive coordinator (Lions): Retained

Green Bay Packers (Out: Edgar Bennett)

Indianapolis Colts (Out: Rob Chudzinski)

Kansas City Chiefs (Out: Matt Nagy)

  • Eric Bieniemy, running backs coach (Chiefs): Promoted

Miami Dolphins (Out: Clyde Christensen)

  • Dowell Loggains, former offensive coordinator (Bears): Hired

Minnesota Vikings (Out: Pat Shurmur)

New York Giants (Out: Mike Sullivan)

New York Jets (Out: John Morton)

Oakland Raiders (Out: Todd Downing)

Philadelphia Eagles (Out: Frank Reich)

Pittsburgh Steelers (Out: Todd Haley)

Seattle Seahawks (Out: Darrell Bevell)

Tennessee Titans (Out: Terry Robiskie)

Defensive Coordinators

Arizona Cardinals (Out: James Bettcher)

  • Al Holcomb, linebackers coach (Panthers): Hired

Baltimore Ravens (Out: Dean Pees)

Carolina Panthers (Out: Steve Wilks)

  • Eric Washington, defensive line coach (Panthers): Promoted

Chicago Bears

  • Vic Fangio, defensive coordinator (Bears): Retained

Cincinnati Bengals (Out: Paul Guenther)

Detroit Lions

  • Paul Pasqualoni, defensive line coach (Boston College): Hired

Green Bay Packers (Out: Dom Capers)

Houston Texans (Out: Mike Vrabel)

  • Romeo Crennel, assistant head coach (Texans): Hired

Indianapolis Colts (Out: Ted Monachino)

  • Matt Eberflus, linebackers coach (Cowboys): Hired

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Gus Bradley, defensive coordinator (Chargers): Retained

New England Patriots (Out: Matt Patricia)

New York Giants

Oakland Raiders (Out: John Pagano)

  • Paul Guenther, defensive coordinator (Bengals): Hired

Seattle Seahawks (Out: Kris Richard)

  • Ken Norton Jr., former defensive coordinator (Raiders): Hired

Tennessee Titans (Out: Dick LeBeau)

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Packers, Bengals Interested In Vic Fangio

By | at January 7, 2018 10:17 am

Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is receiving head coaching consideration from Chicago — he interviewed for that position on January 3 — and he is also drawing plenty of interest as a defensive coordinator elsewhere. Per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, at least the Bengals and the Packers wants to talk to Fangio about their DC vacancies.

Vic Fangio (vertical)

Biggs reports that Chicago recently denied the Bengals’ request to interview Fangio, but as of Tuesday, Fangio will be able to meet with whomever he wants, as both his three-year contract with the Bears and the end-of-season grace period that prevents coaches from bolting immediately without permission will have expired.

We learned yesterday that John DeFilippo would be open to retaining Fangio if DeFilippo is hired to become the next Bears head coach, and Biggs suggests that the Bears would like to keep Fangio as DC regardless of whom they hire as a head coach. Nonetheless, Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune tweets that there are “significant doubts” as to whether Fangio would want to stay in Chicago under such a scenario.

The Bears have already interviewed a number of head coaching candidates and are interviewing Chiefs OC Matt Nagy today (see our up-to-date head coaching tracker here). But even if Fangio is open to remaining with the Bears as a DC, it could be difficult for Chicago to keep him if their head coaching search stretches on too long, as he is likely to have opportunities to accept or decline in the near future. Nagy, though, is the last-known candidate for the Bears to interview, as it does not appear as if they will get a shot at the highly-coveted Steve Wilks.

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