Cincinnati Bengals fans finally got some good news on Friday that they’ve been waiting to hear.
According to ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler, Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan is no longer in the mix to land the Indianapolis Colts head coaching job.
Fowler reported on Friday that Indy has also eliminated New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and New York Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale as well.
#Colts have begun narrowing down the field. Giants OC Mike Kafka, a finalist in AZ, is out of the running in Indy, per source — as is Bengals OC Brian Callahan (per @AlbertBreer) and Giants DC Wink Martingale (per @MikeSilver)
Indy’s long, winding search appears closer
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) February 10, 2023
Callahan had already been eliminated for the Arizona Cardinals job so this all but guarantees that he’ll be back in Cincinnati next season.
It also likely means that Bengals quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher will be leaving Cincy if he’s offered an offensive coordinator job.
Pitcher is currently in the mix for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator gig.
If Pitcher leaves, the Bengals’ best course of action would be to promote assistant wide receivers coach Brad Kragthorpe to quarterbacks coach.
Kragthorpe worked with Joe Burrow at LSU in 2018 (Kragthorpe was an offensive analyst in Baton Rouge) before joining the Bengals’ staff in 2019 as an offensive assistant working with quarterbacks. He worked with Burrow in Cincinnati in 2020 before moving into his current role as assistant wide receivers coach in 2021.
Another possibility would be to hire Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach Joe Brady, who worked with Burrow at LSU in 2019.
Brady, however, might be holding out for another offensive coordinator gig (he was the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021 under Matt Rhule).
Either way, it looks like the Bengals will have some important continuity in Cincy for at least one more season.
