As the Bengals wait to hire Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor as their next head coach, there already are ideas about who might be Cincinnati's next defensive coordinator.
Former Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio is expected to be a candidate for the position, league sources told ESPN.
Taylor is expected to pursue a veteran NFL coach for such an important job because other young, inexperienced head coaches have done the same in the past. After being named the Rams' head coach, Sean McVay hired veteran NFL defensive coordinator Wade Phillips in 2017, and Andy Reid hired veteran Jim Johnson in 1999 when he first became an NFL head coach with the Eagles.
People around Taylor want him to follow a similar path by bringing aboard a veteran coach to run the Bengals' defense, sources said, and he and Del Rio share the same agent.