Officially
Andrew Billings Jersey White , Zac Taylor has been the Bengals head coach for nearly two weeks. Unofficially, it’s been a month since they decided he was
their guy to replace Marvin Lewis.And Taylor is exactly as close to hiring a
defensive coordinator as he was when he was just another assistant who knew Sean
McVay.Fletcher Page of the has taken a deep look at the Bengals’ search for a
defensive coordinator, which is a more important job considering Taylor has
never been a head coach and could use the kind of ballast McVay enjoyed in Wade
Phillips.To run down the guys who haven’t taken the job so far takes a minute,
so you should probably sit down. And take a deep breath. And grab something to
eat.Vance Joseph interviewed for the head coaching job, but when he didn’t get
that, signed up quickly with Arizona. Jack Del Rio reportedly wanted the job,
but Taylor didn’t view him as a fit
Jeff Driskel Jersey White , and Dom Capers talked with the Bengals but that never went anywhere either. Taylor wanted to land Saints defensive
coordinator Dennis Allen, but Allen turned him down to stay in New Orleans.Then
the search moved to phase two, and it appeared Todd Grantham was the
front-runner for the job, but got a raise at Florida and stayed there instead.
The Bengals wanted to interview Saints secondary coach Aaron Glenn, but the
Saints are blocking that as is their right.That leaves a group including
former?Falcons coordinator Marquand Manuel and Rams assistant Aubrey Pleasant.
Pleasant interviewed this week and worked with Taylor for two years in Los
Angeles, but he has no coordinator experience, and just two years in charge of a
position.? Manuel was fired after two years as coordinator in Atlanta.The bigger
concern for the Bengals might be the concerns cited by guys who said no thanks.
Specifically
Womens John Ross Jersey , Grantham was reportedly worried about their aging front seven, which would have made for a tough transition to a 3-4. And if
a guy doesn’t think he can work with what’s on hand, it compromises his future
earning potential.Staffs elsewhere around the league are basically finalized,
which is what can happen when league rules prohibit teams from formalizing deals
with coaches involved in the playoffs. That puts Taylor significantly behind,
especially in the search for what is probably the most important position to his
success or failure as a head coach. During a press conference on Tuesday,
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor discussed his philosophy of hiring assistant
coaches and said he “would never do anything to tarnish the reputation” of the
team by bringing anyone other than the right people into the organization.Those
comments got a second look on Thursday when the Bengals announced that Jim
Turner will be the team’s offensive line coach. Turner was fired by the Dolphins
in February 2014 after the release of the report about allegations of bullying
levied by former Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin.That report alleged
Turner was aware of and participated in homophobic taunting of players and
Turner was later suspended while at Texas A&M for including slides found to
be offensive in a presentation during an event for female football fans. Turner
remained at the school until taking the job under Taylor, who worked with Turner
in Miami and helped bring him to the University of Cincinnati for a couple of
weeks before A&M came calling.Taylor explained why hiring Turner does not go
against his earlier comments. Taylor said “on the surface sometimes things look
a certain way
Clark Harris Jersey White ,” but that he knows Turner and his familiarity with the past situations leaves him “very comfortable” with bringing him onto
the staff.“He’s a great person, great human,” Taylor said, via the . “He’s
somebody I trust … Everyone gets caught in some situations sometimes they wish
they would do differently. I know those situations inside and out. I feel very
comfortable bringing Jim in here and all the other guys we are going to bring
in.”The Bengals job is Turner’s first in the NFL since being fired by the
Dolphins.
