Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor Not Concerned About Attracting Quality Assistants
CINCINNATI — The Bengals are going to have at least five assistant coach vacancies to fill in the coming weeks.
They aren't retaining offensive line coach Jim Turner, defensive line coach Nick Eason, wide receivers coach Bob Bicknell, defensive assistant Gerald Chatman or running backs coach Jemal Singleton.
Despite a poor 6-25-1 record over the past two seasons, head coach Zac Taylor isn't worried about attracting the right candidates.
"There’s plenty of good football coaches that are available in this league," Taylor said on Monday. "We’ll find the right fits when we get to that point. Never have any concern about getting the right pieces of the puzzle here."
Attracting the right candidates is going to be much easier said than done. That could be part of the reason defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo is expected to return for a third season.
How many quality coaches want to take a job with his boss on the hot seat to start 2021?
The Bengals finished strong, winning two of their final three games, but Taylor could be a poor start away from being fired. The only quality coordinators interested in a role like that are ones with their eyes on succeeding Taylor as head coach.
That's going to be the challenge the Bengals face in the coming days. Attracting a quality offensive line coach needs to be priority No. 1, especially if they plan on taking a tackle or guard early in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Bicknell, who did a good job in Cincinnati, is going to be hard to replace. With A.J. Green likely out, taking a young wide receiver on the first two days of the draft becomes a real possibility.
Finding good position coaches is less of a challenge than convincing a proven defensive coordinator, but neither will be easy with a 6-25-1 record.
Despite the ugly mark, Taylor is confident the Bengals will win much more next season.
"That's my expectation. Certainly I'm tired of losing," Taylor said. "We've put in a lot of work and we believe in the players we have and the coaches we have. We certainly expect to win a lot more football games than we have. That's the standard we have to set going forward."
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