Four potential candidates to be the Bengals’ new offensive line coach

OL coach replacements for the Bengals: Bill Callahan

There is perhaps no better offensive line coach in the National Football League than Bill Callahan. Conveniently for the Bengals, he just so happens to be the father of offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, so it is likely that he would jump at the chance to join Zac Taylor’s staff.

However, Callahan is currently the Browns’ offensive line coach, and they are unlikely to let him get anywhere near their division rivals. Cleveland can block Callahan from making a lateral move to become the Bengals’ offensive line coach, but Cincinnati may be able to get around that with some (legal) trickery.

While teams can block position coaches from making lateral moves, they can’t block them from taking a higher role as a coordinator with another team. Callahan’s son is obviously the offensive coordinator, so he is going nowhere, but the Bengals could try to get creative in order to offer him a coordinator position.

They could give Brian a different title without changing his actual role, therefore opening a spot for Bill to have the title of offensive coordinator along with offensive line coach. Alternatively, many teams nowadays have “passing game coordinators” and “running game coordinators”. The Bengals could give Callahan one of these titles along with the offensive line position in an attempt to get around the NFL’s coach blocking rules.

It would be tough for the Bengals to pull off and they would likely have to convince the league that he was truly taking a higher role, but Callahan is such a good offensive line coach that it would be worth a shot. Just look at what he has done to the Browns’ line. What was once their biggest weakness has now paved the way to their first playoff appearance in years after just one year with Callahan on staff.