7 defensive coordinator candidates for the Bengals to consider

[Arkansas Bengal]

 

Story by Matthew Minich

It should surprise no one that Lou Anarumo is still this team’s defensive coordinator. Al Golden left for Notre Dame a few seasons ago, and Robert Livingston is now working with Coach Prime in Colorado. Firing Anarumo in the middle of the season doesn’t make the Bengals any better.

 

Still, it looks as though that day is coming. For all of the epic game plans that the magician has concocted, this unit just isn’t getting any better. Week in and week out, it is the same mistakes. Poor tackling and missed assignments cannot be a problem in December.

 

So, if the job were to open up as the season draws to an end, who could make this defense better? Here are seven names I’d consider.

 

Big Names NFL Guys

 

Robert Saleh - Former Head Coach - New York Jets

Saleh’s defenses in San Francisco were known for generating pressure and creating turnovers. That is exactly the kind of defense the Bengals need.

Saleh is a well-respected coach who could attract some excellent free agents. He would be a huge addition and could be exactly what this team needs to get back on a winning track.

 

Matt Eberflus - Former Head Coach - Chicago Bears

First off, the defensive coordinator doesn’t call timeouts (and neither does Eberflus *ba dum tsss).

Seriously, though, don’t worry about what he is as a head coach. Think back to what he was as a coordinator. In Indianapolis, Eberflus instilled a culture of accountability. He was known for making the scheme easy for players to understand and expecting maximum effort. His defenses were disciplined and never outworked. This sounds like exactly what the Bengals need.

Eberflus has learned from some of the best defensive minds in football, including Monte Kiffin, Rob Ryan, Dean Pees, and Rod Marinelli.

 

Mike Pettine - Assistant Head Coach/Outside Linebackers Coach - Minnesota Vikings

Pettine came up under Rex Ryan in Baltimore. He followed him to New York and was entrusted with running the Jets' defense. He was also the defensive coordinator in Buffalo and Green Bay with a stop as the Browns head coach in between (hey, nobody’s perfect). Now he is working under Brian Flores in Minnesota where he has provided guidance for the young head coach.

 

Pettine has a long track record of success and has coached some excellent defenses. He would be a fantastic hire.

 

Up-and-Coming NFL Guys

Steve Clinkscale - Defensive Backs Coach - Los Angeles Chargers

With all of the hype being given to Jesse Minter, it’s surprising that Clinkscale isn’t getting more attention. Clinkscale served as the defensive backs coach and co-coordinator at Michigan before following Jim Harbaugh and Minter to the NFL. Prior to that, he coached at Kentucky, Cincinnati, Illinois, Toledo, Western Carolina, and Ashland.

 

The Youngstown native was given the co-coordinator title in his second season at Michigan and was part of the Chargers' impressive defensive display this season. He could be the next big-name coordinator.

 

 

Jim Leonard - Defensive Backs Coach - Pass Game Coordinator - Denver Broncos

A former UDFA who managed to carve out a decade-long career in the NFL, Leonard eventually returned to his alma mater at Wisconsin to start his coaching career. He climbed up the ranks from assistant to coordinator where he quickly made a name for himself. He put together some impressive defensive units and was considered one of the best coordinators in college football. His units showed a toughness and tenacity that has been lacking in Cincinnati lately.

 

Leonard is currently on a Broncos defensive staff that has done some impressive things this season.

 

College Coordinators

Like Leonard, these coaches are true teachers who have shown the ability to quickly develop talent and have defended a wide variety of offensive schemes.

 

 

Tosh Lupoi - Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers - Oregon

No, not Josh Tupou.

 

With experience as a defensive line coach in the NFL, Lupoi is currently the defensive coordinator at Oregon. Prior to that, he held the same position at Alabama. When you hire a Saban guy, you know you are hiring a grinder.

 

Lupoi has put together some impressive defenses and is a really hot name in college football. A jump back to the NFL as a coordinator could be a great move.

 

 

Bryant Haines - Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers - Indiana

While his boss Curt Cignetti is getting a lot of love for the team’s 11-1 record, Haines isn’t getting a lot of buzz yet.

 

Indiana ranks second in the NCAA in total defense, giving up an average of 244.8 yards per game this season. That’s pretty impressive, given that they are sandwiched between top-ranked defenses like Ohio State (No. 1) and Texas (No. 3), both of which have substantially larger budgets and much more prestige on the recruiting trail.

 

The ability to do less with more may be just what the doctor ordered in Cincinnati.

 

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/7-defensive-coordinator-candidates-for-the-bengals-to-consider/ar-AA1vhODH?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=aa857012178a4a368f372fa1666adbd8&ei=75

[UncleEarl]

Now you're talking!

 

Eberflus sounds great to me, but the solid NFL guys are often too expensive for the Brown family checkbook.

 

I would expect one of the "up and coming" guys who will be cheaper.  Much cheaper.

[texbengal]

I def like Eberflus or Saleh, and I've always liked Jim Leonhard. For that matter, Al Golden was a good LB coach here and maybe he'd want another shot at the NFL as a coordinator, since he's been a sucessful one in college, as well as a former HC (at U of Miami). 

And I'm not sure what happened in Buffalo, but I always like Leslie Frazier. No, he wasn't great under Marvin, but it was very early on - and it wasn't like they were loaded with defensive players then. I thought he was a solid DC after that.

As UE said, NFL guys, especially former HCs, will be looking for major coin and that's not the Bengals' style. That said, the opportunity to coach on a team that has guys like JB and Ja'Marr would be intriguing and if the team went on a run, it'd be a good resume builder for a guy wanting to get another HC gig. 

 

[sparky151]

Recently fired guys like Saleh and Eberflus are still getting paid at the HC rate by their former teams. So they won't be asking for a lot as usually whatever they make in their next job reduces the payout on the old contract. It would be like the Russel Wilson situation. 

[-GoBengals-]

 

id say lou has a slightly higher than 0% chance of getting fired. 

 

since its not public, I imagine his contract mirrors taylors in length, as that is fairly common, if so, he is inked through 2026, so id imagine the bengals arent likely to pay $3million to a coach who would be one of, if not the best DC on the market if let go.

 

 

[sparky151]

12 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

 

id say lou has a slightly higher than 0% chance of getting fired. 

 

since its not public, I imagine his contract mirrors taylors in length, as that is fairly common, if so, he is inked through 2026, so id imagine the bengals arent likely to pay $3million to a coach who would be one of, if not the best DC on the market if let go.

 

 

 

Do you think the Bengals give fully guaranteed contracts to coaches? I don't. Coaching contracts typically have rolling guarantees and severance that goes down over time and is subject to offsets. 

[-GoBengals-]

3 minutes ago, sparky151 said:

 

Do you think the Bengals give fully guaranteed contracts to coaches? I don't. Coaching contracts typically have rolling guarantees and severance that goes down over time and is subject to offsets. 

 

all coach contracts are guaranteed. its not possible to give non guaranteed contracts to coaches, 100% of all coaches contracts are guaranteed. Every coach, every team, everytime. nothing goes down, nothing is rolling, severance is 100% pay, the ONLY variation is if they take another job, whatever the new team is paying them is deducted from what you owe them. every cent of every contract is paid out.

[|High School Harry|]

41 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

 

id say lou has a slightly higher than 0% chance of getting fired. 

 

since its not public, I imagine his contract mirrors taylors in length, as that is fairly common, if so, he is inked through 2026, so id imagine the bengals arent likely to pay $3million to a coach who would be one of, if not the best DC on the market if let go.

 

 

That's a scary thought.  But I can see it.

 

My Defensive Coordinator Coach Crush is still Mike Vrabel.  Which won't happen but

not sure what it would take to get him away from Cleveland... former head coach,

Ohio roots... yes, please.

[MichaelWeston]

This list is fine but Dennis Allen isn't on it, and he is probably the lead candidate having interviewed last time. 

Then Salah and Eberflus. 

 

They will want someone who can just run the D on their own and having someone with head coaching experience will help. 

 

Those are the top 3 I assume

Pettine is an AHC so I am not sure he can even interview for a DC job

 

The list is also missing Brandon Staley. 

Leonard is a great option. 

 

Clinksdale is an interesting guy that I hadn't considered. 

 

The Defensive coordinator job at Oregon probably pays more than Cincinnati. 

[MichaelWeston]

He starts the article with 2 premises that don't make sense. 

 

1. It doesn't make sense to fire Anarumo....

 

It does because he is in charge of rotations and he is keeping players off the field who need to play

 

2. Al Golden and Livingston are gone so there isn't an option....

 

James Bettcher was the DC for both Arizona and NYG

[sparky151]

3 hours ago, GoBengals said:

 

all coach contracts are guaranteed. its not possible to give non guaranteed contracts to coaches, 100% of all coaches contracts are guaranteed. Every coach, every team, everytime. nothing goes down, nothing is rolling, severance is 100% pay, the ONLY variation is if they take another job, whatever the new team is paying them is deducted from what you owe them. every cent of every contract is paid out.

 

That's certainly not true at the college level as lots of coaching contracts are public due to state FOIA laws. NFL contracts are private since the coaches aren't unionized. But since they aren't I'd say it's about a 99% probability that not every NFL coach's contract is fully guaranteed at signing. There's a fair amount of movement of coaches both ways between colleges and the NFL. It seems pretty unlikely that coaches are giving up fully guaranteed payouts in the NFL for jobs in college which typically pay less and have less financial security. The highest paid college head coaches make a little of 10 mil per year with coordinators and assistants scaled down from there. Several NFL head coaches are thought to make 20 mil or more. Ben Johnson was supposedly asking for 15 mil as his starting salary when he turned down the Commanders last year. Harbaugh got 16 mil per from the Chargers. 

[UncleEarl]

16 hours ago, sparky151 said:

 

That's certainly not true at the college level as lots of coaching contracts are public due to state FOIA laws. NFL contracts are private since the coaches aren't unionized. But since they aren't I'd say it's about a 99% probability that not every NFL coach's contract is fully guaranteed at signing. There's a fair amount of movement of coaches both ways between colleges and the NFL. It seems pretty unlikely that coaches are giving up fully guaranteed payouts in the NFL for jobs in college which typically pay less and have less financial security. The highest paid college head coaches make a little of 10 mil per year with coordinators and assistants scaled down from there. Several NFL head coaches are thought to make 20 mil or more. Ben Johnson was supposedly asking for 15 mil as his starting salary when he turned down the Commanders last year. Harbaugh got 16 mil per from the Chargers. 

 

I can tell you NHL coaching contracts are 100% guaranteed.

[I_C_Deadpeople]

53 minutes ago, UncleEarl said:

 

I can tell you NHL coaching contracts are 100% guaranteed.

Yup, players as well

[Randle P McMurphy]

Robert Saleh - Could attract some excellent FA's....................that the Bengals won't sign because..................so you can scratch his name off the list.

 

Matt Eberflus - Instilled a culture of accountability.  That's a big NO NO anywhere around the Bengals!  Scratch him off the list.  

 

Mike Pettine - From what I've read, (IF I'm reading it right!) the Vikings could block him from taking a DC's job.

 

Yes, being named assistant head coach after serving as defensive coordinator is considered a lateral move in the NFL.

Yes, NFL coaches can make lateral moves, but teams can block them. 

So if going from DC to AHC is a lateral move I'd guess the opposite, (from AHC to DC) would be the same.  

 

 

22 hours ago, GoBengals said:

 

id say lou has a slightly higher than 0% chance of getting fired. 

 

since its not public, I imagine his contract mirrors taylors in length, as that is fairly common, if so, he is inked through 2026, so id imagine the bengals arent likely to pay $3million to a coach who would be one of, if not the best DC on the market if let go.

 

 

 

I seriously doubt the Bengals are paying Lou $3 million a year.  I'd say it's closer to half that.  

[Jamie_B]

https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/01/19/business-of-football-end-of-season-coaches-fired

 

With and without cause

Business and legal issues surrounding the contract can linger long past the blowup of the coaching staffs. Unlike the vast majority of player contracts, coaching contracts are effectively guaranteed. The firing team has to pay off the remaining years of the coach’s contract. That obligation, however, comes with caveats.

 

Teams must designate how they are terminating the coach’s contract. In order for the fired coach to continue to receive payments, the firing must be “without cause,” meaning there have been no breaches of the contract; that essentially the coach was fired for his performance rather than any off-field actions. Were there some kind of material breach—defined loosely in most contracts so as to give the team greater latitude—the team could designate the firing as “for cause” or “with cause.” The latter designation is at issue with Urban Meyer and the Jaguars—and, I would think, with Jon Gruden and the Raiders—as the Jaguars and Raiders may be trying to avoid payments totaling up to $50 million by claiming a with-cause firing due to breach of contract and/or misconduct. The Meyer and Gruden cases aside—and there are, of course, lawyers—virtually all NFL coaching firings are without cause, meaning the coaches are due the remaining monies on their contracts from the firing team. Unless…

Mitigation

Guarantees in coaching contracts are offset guarantees, meaning the firing team’s financial liability is reduced if and when the coach secures work and is paid by another team during the term of the contract. While the firing team has an obligation to pay off the contract, the fired coach has a duty to mitigate, meaning he has an obligation to seek and find a similar coaching position with another team (that can be a college team as well). In other words, the fired coach cannot simply sit and collect his paycheck; he has to mitigate and try to find another job, with the payments from the new job offsetting the amount owed from the firing team.

 

Having dealt with this issue from both sides, having represented the team side in a couple of these cases as well as the coach’s side, I know the issue of the duty to mitigate is a sticky one. And it is extremely hard to enforce.

It is very hard for the firing team to know if and how 1) the fired coach is out there looking for a similar job; or 2) a job was truly offered to the fired coach. I am aware of at least one team that hired a private investigator to check on a well-paid fired coach to see if he was mitigating and trying to find a new job.

Like I said, the issue of mitigation can get messy. And there will be lawyers.

 

Reputation

Reputation-wise, the mitigation issue told me a lot about how a couple of NFL teams operate.

I dealt with the mitigation issue when managing legal and business issues with the Packers. After we fired a coaching staff in Green Bay, we found ourselves with many fired coaches being hired by other teams. Usually, the other team did the right thing, paying the fired coach a market-value contract for that job, often similar to what we owed him, sometimes wiping away our financial burden completely. However, in a few cases, the other teams were not as upstanding.

 

In one case, the new team—knowing we were paying the fired coach—agreed basically to not pay the fired coach. In another case, a team paid a coach we had fired around $10,000, when market value for that position was close to $200,000. These teams, of course, were trying to save money because, well, we were paying them anyway and, in their eyes, why not? As for the fired coaches, they certainly weren’t going to complain; they were upset with us about being fired, so they didn’t care how little the new team reduced our obligation to pay them.

In these cases, I had to get the league office involved to arbitrate and force these teams to pay market value to these coaches.

These situations showed me how certain NFL teams operate to save a few bucks at the expense of league “partners.” I will never forget these experiences, and they know that I know how they operate. And no, I will not name them here, but they know who they are.

 

The business of the NFL is cutthroat not only between players and teams, but can be between teams as well. Live and learn.

[Jamie_B]

In short if any of our coaches got fired it would be "without cause" because there isnt any misconduct it would simply be for performance, which means we would be paying them for remaining years on their existing contract.

 

 

[LostInDaJungle]

15 minutes ago, Randle P McMurphy said:

I seriously doubt the Bengals are paying Lou $3 million a year.  I'd say it's closer to half that.  

They pay Zac $4.5M. (FWIW, Andy Reid is #1 at $20M. Harbaugh and Tomlin both come in at $16M. Stefanski is $3.5M)

"Anarumo has been the Bengals' defensive coordinator since 2019. Anarumo's estimated salary is $1.5 million." ~cincinnatti.com

And anyone who thinks Anarumo is one of the top DC candidates is just as nuts as the guy who thinks Zac Taylor would be more in demand than Mike Tomlin. If the Bengals were owned by anyone else, Lou would be bagging groceries right now. No one is out there going "Hey what about the guy who gave up the most points in NFL history?? Do you think he's available?"

As has been said the NFL stands for "Not for long". 3 years removed from being the Wizard, you can be just another crappy magician. Lou's out of rabbits to pull from his hat.

Lou is tied for being the longest serving D coord at just 5 years. It's position where you're either on the way up, or on the way out. Lou is not on the way up.

[claptonrocks]

18 hours ago, UncleEarl said:

 

I can tell you NHL coaching contracts are 100% guaranteed.that may be but what's the correlation to a NFL .contract?

 

 

[UncleEarl]

2 hours ago, claptonrocks said:

 

 

It suggests NFL coaching contracts would be.  Unless there is a CBA with coaches, which I'm pretty sure there is not, coaching contracts would have to follow regular contract law.  So, to fire a coach and not pay him it would have to be "for cause."  We have some lawyers around here.  They can explain or likely correct me.

[LostInDaJungle]

It's a Billion dollar franchise with a $250M salary cap.

I mean, I understand that we're discussing the realities of the Ownership... But people, sane people, are in here going "Well, Mike and Katie might be willing to waste another year with their $56M quarterback because they're too cheap to eat $3M to fire an ineffective coach." And not only is no one saying "That's nuts", but we haven't even pulled out the torches and pitchforks.

It's like throwing up your $250 gourmet dinner because you were not going to waste the $3 you spent on a rancid sandwich at 7-11. "It says it's good until next month! I don't care that we left it out in the sun and it smells funny now!"

It's kinda like when I quit smoking. I'd sit there and think, "I can't quit now, I just bought a fresh carton! Can't let that $50 of cancer and emphysema go unused! That would be wasteful!" Sometimes it's smart to "waste money" by throwing away poison instead of eating it.
 

[SmoothD]

On 12/5/2024 at 10:16 AM, texbengal said:

I def like Eberflus or Saleh, and I've always liked Jim Leonhard. For that matter, Al Golden was a good LB coach here and maybe he'd want another shot at the NFL as a coordinator, since he's been a sucessful one in college, as well as a former HC (at U of Miami). 

And I'm not sure what happened in Buffalo, but I always like Leslie Frazier. No, he wasn't great under Marvin, but it was very early on - and it wasn't like they were loaded with defensive players then. I thought he was a solid DC after that.

As UE said, NFL guys, especially former HCs, will be looking for major coin and that's not the Bengals' style. That said, the opportunity to coach on a team that has guys like JB and Ja'Marr would be intriguing and if the team went on a run, it'd be a good resume builder for a guy wanting to get another HC gig. 

 

Frazier and Marvin had different philosophies on how the defense should be ran.

Frazier wanted an attacking and blitzing defense, while Marvin wanted to be more conservative.

Leslie's subpar defense in Buffalo was due to the defensive line being undersized.

[|High School Harry|]

1 hour ago, SmoothD said:

Frazier and Marvin had different philosophies on how the defense should be ran.

Frazier wanted an attacking and blitzing defense, while Marvin wanted to be more conservative.

Leslie's subpar defense in Buffalo was due to the defensive line being undersized.

So would you be in favor of Fraizer as DC?

[SmoothD]

On 12/7/2024 at 3:03 PM, High School Harry said:

So would you be in favor of Fraizer as DC?

Not really.

 

[|High School Harry|]

14 minutes ago, SmoothD said:

Not really.

 

 

[sparky151]

On 12/7/2024 at 7:46 AM, UncleEarl said:

 

It suggests NFL coaching contracts would be.  Unless there is a CBA with coaches, which I'm pretty sure there is not, coaching contracts would have to follow regular contract law.  So, to fire a coach and not pay him it would have to be "for cause."  We have some lawyers around here.  They can explain or likely correct me.

 

Since the players are unionized the CBA has a standard player contract. The team and agent fill in the numbers but the layout is standard. They can agree on any incentives they want, etc. Coaches aren't unionized and every coaching contract is negotiated individually. Quality control guys don't have leverage so they basically take what they can get. But Reid or McVay could have clauses for anything in their deals. Dave Canales may get a full payout if he's fired since Tepper fired his predecessor in year 1. But I doubt the 1 year Texan coaches get full payouts.