There wasn’t much intrigue about whether the Bengals would hire Brian Callahan as their offensive coordinator because Raiders coach Jon Gruden revealed Cincinnati’s plans for his former quarterbacks coach from the Senior Bowl last month, but the team didn’t make the move official on Thursday.
That meant it was the first chance for head coach Zac Taylor to talk about what Callahan’s role will be with the Bengals. Taylor will be calling the offensive plays and said that he’ll look to Callahan to share ideas gleaned from working with Gruden and Gary Kubiak as they put together the Bengals’ attack.
“He’s been around a prolific offense in Denver and operated in similar systems that we did in L.A, so I think it will be a great blend of ideas and cohesion. It’s important to hire people challenging you,” Taylor said, via the Bengals website. “As the head coach, you get pulled in a lot of different directions. As the play caller you always need somebody to get you started in the right direction. I can speak through him to the staff when I’m not around those meetings. He needs to be a big idea guy. On game day I’ll be calling the plays, but it will be a collective effort with those guys. This is not all about me. It has to be about the whole group creating the game plan and coming through on game day.”
With Marvin Lewis at the top of the coaching staff for 16 years, the Bengals have had a consistent approach for a long time. Whatever Taylor and Callahan come up with, 2019 will be an entirely new look in Cincinnati.