Like Father Like Son: Adam Zimmer’s impact on the Cincinnati Bengals
By Jason Marcum
May 10, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals third round draft pick safety Shawn Williams (40) listens to defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, right, during the Bengals rookie minicamp at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
Adam Zimmer is already living his dreams of coaching in the NFL, and making it even more special this year will be that he’ll be doing it alongside one of the great defensive minds in the NFL today, who just happens to be his own father, Defensive Coordinator Mike Zimmer.
Adam was hired in February to be a defensive assistant, helping coach defensive backs and special teams. This after coaching and learning the NFL game under the likes of Gregg Williams, Joe Vitt, Romeo Crennel and Gary Gibbs. This, while spending much of his 8-year coaching career working with linebackers like Pro Bowlers Jonathan Vilma, Tamba Hali, Justin Houston and Derrick Johnson.
The biggest contributions h’es made for the Bengals hasn’t been anything on the field, but the amount of detail and hard work he puts into preparing PowerPoint presentations before the start of offseason workouts on the coverages for each Bengals defensive back. Those Powerpoints helped show Bengals DBs how they were lining up in previous games, and what they should be doing.
"“It’s so much more of a passing league now that you really want to know how everything works. Now that I’ve worked with the linebackers and the DBs, I know how to put it all together. So I think it’s going to be really good,” said Adam Zimmer about coaching DBs so far.“DBs are different than linebackers. And it’s been an adjustment learning exactly what they’re doing. You kind of have a good feeling what they’re doing behind you when you’re with the linebackers. But now it’s like ‘OK, you have to be 14 yards deep on this spot on the field all the time.’ You don’t know all those little details unless you’re coaching them.”"
Veteran players like Leon Hall are already seeing the impact he’s making and love the work he’s doing:
"“He’s more outspoken than I thought he was going to be, in a good way. He’s in there coaching guys up,” Hall said. “He’s a little more reserved but kind of talks like his dad. This is the call and this is how it is supposed to be done, which is good.”"
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