The Cincinnati Bengals decided to move on front defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo after the season and he’s quickly turned around and become a hot item on the NFL rumor mill, scoring his first interview in the process.
While the Bengals and Zac Taylor felt it necessary to move on after this season’s debacle, others think it’s a misstep.
Specifically, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce gave a semi-insider’s perspective on the situation.
“I don’t know what the f–k is going on over there,” Kelce said on the new episode of “New Heights.” “That was a wild, wild move I did not see coming, because I thought that, from the outside, their defense was playing really f–king good toward the end of the year.”
Travis’ brother, Jason, added something interesting: “I don’t think they had the horses on defense that they’ve had in the past and Lou got handcuffed. I don’t know that it made sense. He’s proven how good of a defensive coordinator he is with good players.”
As Arrowhead Addict’s Matt Conner suggested, from this perspective, one would think the Bengals almost did the Chiefs a favor.
This is a debate that raged within the Bengals fanbase well before the team made any move. Did the front office fail Anarumo by letting big names like DJ Reader and Jessie Bates get away? Or did he fail to adapt and properly develop talent like Dax Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt, among others?
There’s no easy answer, but it probably isn’t a great sign to hear people within the NFL suggest the Bengals got it wrong.
Then again, the Bengals can’t base their decision on whether to keep a coach around how he performed against a single opponent, either.