The Bengals begin their offseason program on Tuesday and that means Zac Taylor will get his first chance to work directly with the team’s players since he became the head coach in Cincinnati earlier this year.
Taylor replaces Marvin Lewis after Lewis spent 16 years on the job and the changes in the organization go further than that. There are renovations being done to the team’s facility and that adds to quarterback Andy Dalton‘s feeling that Tuesday is the start of a new era for the team.
“With Zac getting here and the whole change … let’s make it all feel new and feel different,” Dalton said, via the team’s website. “I think he’s done great. From the day he stepped in here you felt the change. Obviously he had a plan for what he wanted and they’re doing it here. You can see it with all the construction happening here and the way the staff came together. They’re all in for what Zac is wanting to do.”
Dalton’s presence means that the team is stopping short of a total overhaul, but that could come in time. There are no current plans to extend his contract and how he responds to the new state of affairs will determine if that changes at any point this year.