New Bengals coach saw ‘agendas’ at work in defensive coordinator search

The Cincinnati Bengals’ long-running search for a defensive coordinator finally came to an end this week when they announced the hiring of Lou Anarumo on Thursday. Their search has been ongoing since the end of the Super Bowl, with multiple candidates for the position being reported. They experienced some embarrassment when a college defensive coordinator decided to return to Florida rather than take their job.

Taylor spoke with the media on Thursday and said he “learned a lot about agendas” during the hiring process. This is largely due to the information leaks he saw.

I asked Zac Taylor if he was surprised about how much info was circulating regarding the search for a DC: "I certainly learned a lot about agendas throughout this whole thing, but at the end of the day, the good thing is, I don’t have time to look at my phone or anything else."

— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) February 21, 2019

Taylor also said it may have felt like the search went on for a while, but it really lasted a normal amount of time — just a few weeks.

Zac Taylor said he felt like the right thing to do was wait on hiring a staff until the Super Bowl was over. … "It feels like it’s gone on forever because we’re the last team to make these hires, but in reality, it’s taken the same amount of time that you would normally take"

— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) February 21, 2019

The Bengals going through the process after other new coaches had already made their hires led to them receiving extra attention. That and the perception that they were turned down by multiple candidates also reflected poorly. Now that they have a coach, they will be judged based on their on-field performance next season. Cincinnati was No. 30 in points allowed and No. 32 in yards allowed last season, so Anarumo has a lot to work on.