HoosierCat

I believe this was Covington’s first year as DC in NE. He has a rep as an up-and-comer but I dunno. Not really feeling it here.

Not a Bengals change, but the Titans fired their GM today. Callahan is staying but you have to think his position is shaky with a new GM on the way. His seat could heat up real fast next season. https://www.nbc4i.com/sports/sports-illustrated/arena-nfl/si-cincinnati-bengals-nfl/7ddc7345/titans-fire-general-manager-ran-carthon-retaining-brian-callahan/

Don't hate it. He had some success there. Also reported to be up for the Jags' HC job, but again could just be a Rooney Rule interview, who knows.

Now Paycor fired? Stadium could have a new name after Paycor is acquired by Paychex for $4.1 billion: https://www.wlwt.com/article/paychex-paycor-acquisition-agreement-bengals-stadium-name/63360446 "Paychex Stadium" might be the most ironic name possible for a Bengals stadium...

Trey Brown popping up again in GM talk. https://www.cincyjungle.com/2025/1/6/24337506/trey-brown-new-york-jets-interview-gm-search-cincinnati-bengals I’d guess it’s just a Rooney Rule interview request. As there’s no reason anyone in the Bengals’ personnel department should still have a job, I’d be happy to see the Jets hire him. Bengals would get two third round comps if they do.

Size plus hands plus speed plus toughness is hard to beat! Like it.

Coda…

Ok so we all know who Army is rooting for now. And of course we are all rooting for Baltimore and Pittsburgh to lose. Beyond that, I’m rooting for Tampa, because I want to hear the grinding sound of a million teeth coming from Cleveland when Baker Mayfield hoists the Lombardi.

Bengals pick at 17 this year. They have had the 17th pick four times: 2012 Dre Kirkpatrick — meh. Didn’t suck but never got much above replacement level. 2005 David Pollack — one of the great what-ifs. Struggled with a position change to LB, seemed to be coming on, then the injury and done. 1998 Brian Simmons — solid contributor but ultimately meh. 1987 Jason Buck — bust. I guess history says go offense here…

Sound good to me as well, but probably not to Zac. He just took his mulligan by canning Lou. It’s playoffs or bust for him next season. And if next season starts out on the “or bust” category like always does somehow, he is certainly not going to want to have a former HC handy for the FO to promote.

Scratch Evero. Panthers are keeping him on. https://www.panthers.com/news/notebook-ejiro-evero-to-return-as-defensive-coordinator

The Bengals' struggles to build a team around Burrow (and Dalton and Palmer and etc.) are explained in part by their financial strategies. They dedicate exactly as much money to players as they are required to by the CBA (no cash over cap) and dole that out as conservatively as possible (no guarantees beyond year one). Outside of players they are notoriously frugal (the infamously skimpy scouting organization is one example) though that has moderated here and there recently (facilities upgrades over the last couple of years are a notable example). Now, does that make it impossible to win a championship? In my opinion, no, but it sure doesn't help. And as we have seen it's very difficult to sustain unless they continually hit, year in and year out, on young (and cheap) talent in the draft. This is why their failure to invest in scouting is so maddening.

Solid list of possible Lou replacements from Dehner here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6040311/2025/01/06/bengals-defensive-coordinator-candidates/ His candidates: Notre Dame DC (and former Bengals LB coach) Al Golden Eagles secondary coach Christian Parker Denver Broncos DB coach/pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard LA Rams pass game coordinator/assistant head coach Aubrey Pleasant Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero Dennis Allen Matt Eberflus Robert Saleh Mike Zimmer Paul notes that Allen and Pleasant are guys Taylor tried to get before hiring Lou, and that Evero was on the same Rams staff as Zac.

Sonofa...damnit, COB, do something useful: jump in that time machine, go back a few weeks and hit the mega millions, convert it all to gold bars, go back in time again to 1986, convert the gold back to dollars and buy as much stock as you can in microsoft, come back to today and you're richer than tesla boy AND BUY THE FRIKING TEAM!!! Do I have to think of everything around here???

Or not. Taylor insisted all the firings were his decisions, really tough, yadda yadda yadda. No hints as to candidates. Not much to say player-wise since the storm has delayed a lot of the end-of-season player meetings. Lots of talk about processes. Going to be doing a lot of processes. Might need to upgrade from 16k to 32k RAM, so much processing.

When it comes to coordinators and head coaches, firings are always unfair to some degree. It's rarely 100% the coach's fault. But that's part of the job, and these guys know that when they sign up. Lou's time finally ran out, and really, a six-year run is pretty good in this league. I wish him the best, as long as he's not coaching against us.

Just a note, Taylor has a press conference scheduled for 12:30, should be interesting.

I expected Lou would get the boot. You just can't lose games on defense the way the Bengals did this season and expect to keep your job. That three-game stretch where the offense put up 33+ points in each game and the team went 0-3 made this inevitable. As for Hobby and Bettcher, that feels like mostly "well, the new DC will want to bring in his guys so we'll let you two get a jump on your job search" moves. If I were Burks and Kovacs (the secondary coaches) I wouldn't be making long term plans... Pollack should have been gone years ago.

Thanks, thread title updated.

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/news/cincinnati-bengals-fire-defensive-coordinator-lou-anarumo-01jgy0x33a6y Bettcher, Hobby also out.

Jags will be bring a new HC when they come to town too. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jaguars-fire-doug-pederson-as-head-coach-after-three-seasons-jacksonville-retains-gm-trent-baalke/

CINCINNATI (Jan. 6, 2025) — After a disappointing 9-8 season that saw the Cincinnati Bengals miss the postseason for the second straight year, the Bengals today announced the firing of three staff members: assistant equipment manager Billy Dubobble; Stan “Jocko” Jockson, the attaché to the junior assistant defensive quality control coach; and apprentice groundskeeper Turf Ferguson.

They were flexed into some of those spots because they’re an exciting team to watch, even when they lose. Trust me, ratings and ad revenue guide those decisions. The current Bengals are quite good for business from an NFL perspective. As for the point, well, I guess everyone has their quirks. Me, I’m just morbidly fascinated by all the ways this organization finds and/or creates to fail. Of all the football teams in all the world, they’re the Charlie Brownest.

And the pick is in. Bengals will have the 17th selection come April. As the only team to finish 9-8, they will pick in the same spot every round. In other news, Brian Callahan pulled his best Zac Taylor impersonation, guiding the Titans to the first overall pick.

Well, when the Pats come to town, we know one thing they won’t have, Jerod Mayo. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/patriots-fire-jerod-mayo-after-first-season-in-new-england-post-bill-belichick/ Quick hook in NE. ETA: ah, makes sense now. The fix is in for Vrabel to take over. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/mike-vrabel-interviewed-with-jets-to-put-pressure-on-patriots-could-be-eyeing-move-to-new-england-in-2025/