NFL Rumors: Jack Del Rio Top Candidate for Bengals DC After Zac Taylor Hire
New Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor might turn to a veteran coach to run his defense. According to Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Jack Del Rio is one of the candidates and potentially the front-runner for defensive coordinator:
Del Rio, 55, served as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars (2003-11) and Oakland Raiders (2015-17) before spending a year away from the game in 2018. He also had stints as the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers (2002) and Denver Broncos (2012-14).
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Del Rio's defenses have finished top-10 in points allowed five times and yards allowed seven times over the course of his career, though in his last stint with the Raiders, his teams never finished better than 20th in either category.
Nonetheless, Taylor—who is just 35 and has only been in the NFL since 2012—would be wise to add an experienced coach to run his defense. Taylor's experience is on the offensive side of the ball, serving as the assistant quarterbacks coach for the Miami Dolphins in 2012, the quarterbacks coach in Miami from 2013-15, the interim offensive coordinator in 2015, the assistant wide receivers coach for the Los Angeles Rams in 2017 and the quarterbacks coach in LA this past season.
"Zac is a bright coach with an offensive mind and background, which is important to have in today's NFL," Bengals owner Mike Brown said of the hire, per Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com. "And he's young. He embraces new ideas and new ways to do things, which will be a good thing for us. I believe our team will be exciting and fun to watch with him at the helm."
That may be the case, but if New England's 13-3 win over the Rams proved anything, it's that defense is still incredibly relevant, even in the pass-happy, modern NFL. And Del Rio's experience as a head coach would also be valuable for Taylor, who doesn't have head-coaching experience at the college or professional level.
In other words, it would be a nice fit for the Bengals.
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