Tag: zac taylor

Zac Taylor doesn’t sound like he expects a Tee Higgins trade

Bengals coach Zac Taylor is the latest to comment on a potential Tee Higgins trade.

The most important thing Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor discussed Monday at the NFL league meetings in Orlando, Florida, was the injury return timeline of quarterback Joe Burrow.

But the status of franchise-tagged wideout Tee Higgins wasn’t far behind.

Asked about a Higgins update after the trade request, Taylor made it clear he doesn’t think anything of the sort will happen.

“We’re excited for Tee to have a great year for us,” Taylor said, according to Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We think he’s our best chance to help us win a Super Bowl. I’ve enjoyed working with Tee the last four years; I expect this year to be no different.”

This is the typical Taylor-type response to this situation, though it’s more notable than usual because it follows a recent report that suggested the Bengals are willing to listen to trade offers for Higgins.

Listening is quite different than actually trading, though. The Bengals wouldn’t be doing their due diligence if they didn’t at least evaluate offers, though what they probably want in return is more than other teams will suggest on top of needing to give Higgins a top-of-market extension.

As with Jessie Bates III a couple of years ago, the likeliest solution remains Higgins playing next season on the tag, which is essentially the minimum of what Taylor suggested Monday. The team and Higgins have until mid-July to work out a long-term extension.

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Zac Taylor comments on Joe Burrow’s injury comeback timeline

Another injury update on Joe Burrow.

The latest update on Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow sounds quite a bit like the last one.

And that’s a good thing.

Speaking with reporters at the NFL’s annual meetings this week, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor gave a similar, positive update on Burrow’s recovery from the season-ending wrist injury.

“It’s positive,” Taylor said, according to ESPN’s Brady Henderson (h/t Ben Baby). “It’s right on schedule, and so we’re encouraged with everything we thought it was going to be and where he’s going to fit into our offseason.”

That’s in line with everything members of the organization and Burrow himself have said publicly over the last few months.

Burrow had recently suggested that his target to get back throwing is mid-May, which would mean right around the team’s organized activities.

Interestingly, Burrow also revealed that he’s considering changes to his offseason working training regiment in response to recent injuries.

Barring something unexpected, the next major Burrow update should be around the time of the draft when coaches and team personnel get in front of microphones again. Then, May, Burrow’s expected date to ramp up.

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Look: Bengals’ Zac Taylor in 2024 NFL head coach photo

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor makes an appearance.

An annual staple of the offseason is the snapshot of current NFL coaches at league meetings.

There, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor appeared alongside his colleagues in the official picture.

Typically, these shots weren’t all that notable during the Marvin Lewis era, considering how long that ran. Usually, they’re good for a laugh on social media, at best, because someone like Andy Reid would don a funny shirt.

This year, it’s worth pointing out that Taylor appears near new Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan, his former offensive coordinator. He’s not, however, near his former mentor and current Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay.

In other words, Taylor’s near the beginnings of his own coaching tree in this year’s photo:

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Zac Taylor’s presence at Texas Pro Day could hint at Bengals draft direction

Zac Taylor doesn’t attend many pro days — so this is a big deal.

The Cincinnati Bengals said a lot during a normally secretive draft process this week at the Texas Pro Day.

There, head coach Zac Taylor attended the event, which given how few he attends each year, was possibly a pretty big sign of where the draft might be going for the Bengals.

Texas has some massive names heading to the draft this year:

  • DL Byron Murphy
  • WR Adonai Mitchell
  • TE Ja’Tavion Sanders
  • RB Jonathon Brooks
  • WR Xavier Worthy

Those top three names are commonly listed as top-50 prospects and the other two aren’t all that far off, either.

Murphy would make a lot of sense for the Bengals if he falls to them in the first round, given the loss of DJ Reader and Murphy’s do-it-all upside. But it’s best not to sleep on wide receivers, either, with Tyler Boyd likely not coming back. Mitchell and Worthy would be field-stretchers who fit the offense.

If nothing else, it’s a sign to keep a close eye on those Texas prospects during the draft itself.

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Sheldon Rankins cites Geno Atkins, shares funny Zac Taylor story

Sheldon Rankins had some interesting words for Zac Taylor.

New Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins arrived with a bang at Paycor Stadium this week after a brief trip to free agency that resulted in him signing with the team.

In fact, Rankins says his first encounter with Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was a hilarious-sounding one.

As Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com tells it, Rankins brought up that whole three-sack game he had against the Bengals last season as his Texans picked up the win:

Rankins says he greeted Bengals head coach Zac Taylor not with, “hello” but with “why the hell (sort of) didn’t you slide to me?”

For some Bengals fans, the performance might’ve been a bit of deja vu in a different jersey. Rankins, after all, went on to reveal that one Geno Atkins inspired the way he plays.

“Geno was part of the inspiration for a lot of my power rushes,” Rankins said, per Hobson. “The way he was able to shock guys and come out clean and then cause a lot of destruction. With him being a shorter guy, I was trying to watch guys with similar body types and movement. Geno, Aaron Donald, Jurrell Casey. I watched those guys always looking to grow my game.”

The Bengals brought on Rankins for this very reason, hoping he can revive the entire line’s pass-rush by wreaking havoc from the middle with and alongside B.J. Hill.

So far, so good for the Rankins era in Cincinnati, it seems.

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Look: Bengals’ Zac Taylor attends college basketball game

Zac Taylor popped up at a college basketball game recently.

During the offseason, it’s usually Cincinnati Bengals players who make headlines for where they pop up in non-football activities.

But every now and then, a coach breaks through too.

Case in point, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor recently appeared at a Nebraska college basketball game.

There, the Cornhuskers took down Indiana 85-70, fueled by 20 points from Keisei Tominaga and double-digit scoring efforts from four players overall.

Before his coaching career, Taylor played quarterback at Nebraska, even winning a Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year honor while going to a conference title game in 2006.

Here’s some of the media from his appearance at the game:

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Bengals make another addition to Zac Taylor’s coaching staff

The Bengals have made another outside hire.

The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t done adding to the coaching staff.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the Bengals have hired Oregon offensive analyst Jordan Salkin in an offensive assistant role.

Salkin has a previous stop at Texas and served as a quality control assistant for the Miami Dolphins, too.

Salkin joins new pass game coordinator Justin Rascati as new outside voices join the coaching staff. That coordinator role is a completely new addition for the team and was one of several coaching moves the Bengals made after losing Brian Callahan and promoting Dan Pitcher to offensive coordinator.

This latest move, the day after the Super Bowl, is presumably the last coaching change for Zac Taylor’s staff as the offseason really gets rolling.

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Peyton Manning comments on Joe Burrow in Zac Taylor’s offense

Peyton Manning with an interesting comment about Joe Burrow and Zac Taylor.

The Cincinnati Bengals hope to trigger system continuity on the offensive side of the ball with the internal promotion of Dan Pitcher to offensive coordinator.

At the Pro Bowl, Peyton Manning touched on how important that continuity was to his own career while discussing the future of former Bengals coordinator Brian Callahan and Tennessee Titans franchise passer Will Levis with Jim Wyatt of the Titans’ official website.

Manning also gave a nod to the Bengals, mentioning how Zac Taylor will continue to do the same for Joe Burrow.

“That’s how I had it in my career,” Manning said. “Joe Burrow’s going to have the same system as long as Zac Taylor’s there. That’s a real plus for any young quarterback…It’s quarterback friendly, there’s answers on every play and as a quarterback, that’s what you’re looking for.”

What will likely be more interesting for Bengals fans to watch now about Burrow’s offense is whether it adapts some of those under-center looks that helped spur Jake Browning’s breakout.

The popular theory has been that the team was going to install those looks before Burrow’s calf injury during training camp derailed things. So while system continuity will be a thing despite the coordinator change, how said system continues to evolve could decide much about the team’s 2024 campaign.

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Zac Taylor could look outside Bengals to fill QB coach role

A coach from another team has been linked to the Bengals.

The Cincinnati Bengals could still make a minor move along the coaching staff in the wake of Dan Pitcher assuming offensive coordinator responsibilities after Brian Callahan left to serve as head coach of the Tennessee Titans.

While it was presumed that the Bengals would promote from within by having assistant Brad Kragthorpe take over the quarterbacks coach spot left vacant by Pitcher, it sounds like the team will look at outside options too.

According to Greg Auman of Fox Sports, Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight ends coach John Van Dam has been in the conversation to come to Cincinnati.

Van Dam has served in three different offensive roles since joining the Buccaneers, so he’s a candidate to come over and expand his resume while trying to climb up to a coordinator spot over time.

More to the point, one of the concerns Bengals fans might’ve raised when the team promoted Pitcher to coordinator was a lack of new voices providing fresh ideas to the offense.

Hiring someone like Van Dam from outside would help in that area, too.

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Zac Taylor will still call plays for Bengals offense after coaching change

A hint at how things could work for Zac Taylor’s offense with Brian Callahan gone.

There have been some questions and speculation as to how the Cincinnati Bengals offense might work now that Brian Callahan is off to coach the Tennessee Titans and Dan Pitcher holds the offensive coordinator spot.

While subsequent coaching moves to fill Pitcher’s quarterbacks positional role and otherwise have yet to be announced, it indeed sounds like head coach Zac Taylor will still serve as the play-caller.

This gets a nod from Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com in a recent column:

Even though it is Taylor’s show, and he says he’ll still call the plays, he also thinks a division of labor is healthy and smart. Among Callahan’s many responsibilities down through the years were protections and red zone. As the quarterbacks coach responsible for their techniques and progressions, Pitcher was also in charge of third down.

Collaboration.

Like this third down in Buffalo.

This division of duties is part of what made Callahan an attractive head coach candidate for a number of years and helped prep Pitcher for the coordinator role.

Granted, that’s not going to appease fans who want to see someone else in charge of the calls based on what they’ve seen from the on-field product over the last few seasons.

If there’s a silver lining for those fans, at least, this means the transition from Callahan to Pitcher should be about as smooth as it could get, especially compared to bringing on an outside coach.

Unless something changes, though, it’s going to be Taylor at the controls with the usual structure around Joe Burrow’s offense.

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