Marvin Lewis - Pro Football Rumors

Marvin Lewis Doesn’t Foresee Extension Before Season

April 6th, 2017 at 5:46pm CST by Sam Robinson

Marvin Lewis‘ contract has been one of the primary issues facing the Bengals this offseason. However, the 15th-year coach does not expect that to be resolved before the start of the 2017 season.

Regarding his contract, Lewis said he doesn’t “anticipate anything happening” before the season begins, Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com reports. Lewis is under contract through the 2017 season. He’s signed several Bengals extensions, including one last April that runs through the ’17 slate.

Lewis said today both sides are fine with the current situation. Mike Brown had dinner at Lewis’ house in Arizona during the owners’ meetings last week.

“It’s not really a subject that’s on my mind,” Lewis said of a re-up, via Terrell. “I don’t think it’s on Mike’s mind either. I’ve gone into many seasons without a new contract. It’s not a focus for me.”

This continues a back-and-forth offseason for the 58-year-old coach on this topic. Lewis said from the Senior Bowl in January he was seeking an extension to help put his coaches’ minds at ease. A month later, Lewis backtracked on that by intimating his staff perhaps shouldn’t be especially comfortable coming off a 6-9-1 season. The Bengals, of course, previously ventured to five straight AFC wild-card games without winning one.

Brown’s shown consistent confidence in Lewis, and it’s obviously not certain the coach will enter the season as a rare lame duck. But as of now it’s pointing that way.

Marvin Lewis Backtracks On Extension Push

February 26th, 2017 at 7:49pm CST by Sam Robinson

Marvin Lewis‘ desire for another Bengals extension may have stemmed from wanting to see his staff more at ease instead of securing his own future. But the longtime Cincinnati leader appears to be backing off of this push.

Lewis is signed only through the 2017 season. He told Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com he wouldn’t mind an extension into ’18, but some urgency at Bengals headquarters might not be the worst thing after the most recent season Cincinnati completed.

“I don’t think [an extension is] critical or crucial. If things work out we would look to do that,” Lewis said, via Hobson. “I think some people are sometimes more at ease with that. Maybe that’s not where we need to be. Maybe that’s not the right place for us to be right now … everybody is year-to-year, right?”

The 58-year-old coach took the Bengals to the playoffs six times in a seven-year span, from 2009-15, but saw a veteran-fueled team fall well short of expectations last season. The Bengals signed him to a one-year extension last April despite the team coming off of a wild-card collapse, cementing a fifth straight loss in this round. Cincinnati then finished third in the AFC North at 6-9-1 — its worst record since 2010.

Lewis added that he doesn’t have a set date at which he plans to step away from the game. Going into the season as a lame-duck coach would still be an interesting development for the league’s second-longest-tenured HC, given the Bengals’ consistency this decade.

Marvin Lewis Wants Bengals Extension

January 25th, 2017 at 4:52pm CST by Sam Robinson

Marvin Lewis will enter his 15th season as head coach of the Bengals and would prefer to work out an extension to keep the window open for future years. The longtime Cincinnati leader is entering a contract year but wants to extend his coaching window in southwest Ohio beyond 2017 and continue to pursue the franchise’s first championship.

“We’d like to agree to something at some point,” Lewis said, via Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer, regarding an interest in receiving an extension. “It puts, I think, everybody’s mind at ease going forward for their futures. A lot of the people in the building, it makes it easier on them.”

The 58-year-old coach resided in the same position last offseason but ended up avoiding lame-duck status by inking an extension in April. The last coming out of Cincinnati on this topic was not centered on an extension for the league’s second-longest-tenured coach, but Lewis appears to be pointing to the security for his staff with the desire to sign for at least one more season. Owczarski notes Lewis and Mike Brown continue to work on the coach’s deal.

The Bengals are coming off one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history, but Brown elected to stay the course with Lewis. His teams qualified for the playoffs from 2011-15 and have done so on six occasions in the past eight years, but the the veteran-fueled Bengals slunk to 6-9-1 in 2016.

Coaching/GM Notes, Pt. 2: Arians, Gase, Wolf

January 1st, 2017 at 11:48am CST by Rory Parks

Here is Part 2 of our coaching/GM rumors post. Part 1 can be found here.

Despite his health concerns, Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians expects to return in 2017, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). Schefter tweets that one of Arians’ top assistants, offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin, is expected to interview for a head coaching job with the Rams, Jaguars, and Bills.
As the 49ers get prepared to search for a new head coach and GM, a ghost from the past has reared its ugly head. According to Jay Glazer of FOX Sports (via Twitter), San Francisco was prepared to hire current Dolphins head coach Adam Gase two years ago. The team informed Gase that he was the choice, but GM Trent Baalke intervened at the last moment and convinced ownership not to hire Gase. The 49ers chose Jim Tomsula instead, and it has been all downhill from there.
The Packers are not expected to make major coaching changes–although offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett could get head coaching interviews–but GM Ted Thompson could step aside and become a senior scouting adviser, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. One reason, according to Rapoport, is that Director of Football Operations Eliot Wolf is a highly-coveted football mind, and if he’s not promoted soon, Green Bay could lose him.
The Bengals are not expected to fire Marvin Lewis, who is signed through 2017, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. However, Lewis is not expected to get another one-year extension this offseason, which means that another disappointing campaign in 2017 could spell the end of his tenure as Cincinnati’s head coach.
Jets head coach Todd Bowles will likely be back for a third season, but offensive coordinator Chan Gailey is expected to be fired, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post.
The Ravens are expected to part ways with OC Marty Mornhinweg, and assuming they do, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Greg Roman is someone to “keep an eye on.”
Browns coaches have “deep concerns” with the direction of the team’s personnel department and are expected to push owner Jimmy Haslam for changes in that regard, according to La Canfora. While head coach Hue Jackson is not planning to request the removal of top football man Sashi Brown, the coaching staff would like a proven, old-school talent evaluator involved in player selection to provide something of a checks-and-balance system to Brown’s analytics-based approach.
La Canfora suggests that, if the Lions miss the playoffs this season, GM Bob Quinn could at least think about a coaching change, and his Patriots ties could lead him to consider Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia, with whom he established strong relationships during his time in New England. While I personally could imagine Quinn’s being interested in McDaniels, I cannot see Patricia as a legitimate head coaching candidate at this point.

AFC North Notes: Bengals, Ravens, Coaches

December 27th, 2016 at 4:46pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Head coach Marvin Lewis revealed earlier this month he’d return to the Bengals’ sideline in 2017 “if asked,” though ex-NFL tight end and current ESPN Radio 980 host Chris Cooley reported Sunday that the 58-year-old was going to retire. However, Lewis isn’t going to walk away, according to ESPN’s Ed Werder. Thus, unless Cincinnati unexpectedly fires Lewis, he’ll remain the league’s second-longest-tenured head coach (behind New England’s Bill Belichick). The Bengals have gone just 5-9-1 this year under Lewis, who previously helped them to five straight playoff berths. Cincy hasn’t won a postseason game in any of Lewis’ 14 years at the helm, though, having posted an ugly 0-7 mark.

More on Cincinnati and one of its AFC North rivals:

While it’s unclear when exactly Ravens head coach John Harbaugh‘s contract expires, it runs through at least the 2018 campaign, a team source told Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com on Tuesday. At 8-7, the Harbaugh-led Ravens will miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season, but his nine-year tenure has nonetheless been a resounding success. Overall, Baltimore has gone 85-58 in the regular season under Harbaugh, made six playoff trips and won a Super Bowl.
Bengals left tackle Andrew Whitworth, an impending free agent, said last week that he’d be open to playing guard going forward, but the 35-year-old walked back those comments to a degree on Tuesday. “My first choice is to play left tackle in 2017 somewhere,” Whitworth told Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “Hopefully here. My No. 1 choice is here.” Whitworth shifted to left guard last Saturday in the Bengals’ 12-10 loss to Houston, thereby enabling second-year man Cedric Ogbuehi to protect Andy Dalton‘s blind side. But Whitworth regards his own pass-blocking talent as “rare” for a left tackle and aims to man that spot in 2017, which will be his 12th season.
The Ravens should fire Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator, Marty Mornhinweg, Mike Preston of The Baltimore Sun opines. The Ravens installed Mornhinweg as the interim coordinator to replace Marc Trestman in the middle of this season, but the results haven’t been much different. Preston says the Ravens need someone who is more than an X’s-and-O’s guy and has a dominant personality. In his view, quarterback Joe Flacco doesn’t have that type of personality and that leaves the offense without a clear leader.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Bengals’ Marvin Lewis Likely To Return In 2017

December 13th, 2016 at 9:06pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Bengals will almost assuredly miss the postseason for the first time since the 2010 campaign, but head coach Marvin Lewis is still likely to return next year. Lewis said he will once again serve as Cincinnati’s coach in 2017 “if asked,” according to Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer, and the club’s ownership is overwhelmingly likely to welcome him back, per Enquirer scribes Paul Dehner Jr. and Jim Owczarski on today’s Bengals Beat Podcast.

[RELATED: Bengals Cut Mike Nugent]

Cincinnati inked Lewis to a one-year extension this spring, locking him up through 2017. Lewis, who has been coaching the Bengals since 2003, is the second longest-tenured head coach in the NFL, behind Bill Belichick in New England. During his 13+ seasons with the team, Lewis has led Cincinnati to a 115-99-3 regular-season record and has earned a playoff spot seven times. However, the Bengals have yet to win a postseason game under Lewis, going 0-7 in those contests.

Despite the lack of playoff success, the likely return of Lewis shouldn’t come as a surprise, especially given that Cincinnati preaches continuity above all else. Under owner/GM Mike Brown, the Bengals aren’t a team that makes reactionary decisions, and because Lewis exerts a strong influence on personnel decisions, his status as head coach is especially secure.

The Bengals haven’t officially been eliminated from the 2017 postseason, but their odds are extremely slim: FiveThirtyEight gives Cincinnati less than a one percent chance of making its way into the tournament.

AFC Notes: Browns, Bengals, Pats, Titans

November 27th, 2016 at 9:29pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

After Cleveland fell to 0-12 with a loss to the Giants on Sunday, Browns head coach Hue Jackson had a meeting with his bosses and showed up 40 minutes late to his press conference. Jackson then assured reporters, including Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com, that his job is secure. “Let me go on record saying I have full support of Jimmy and Dee (Haslam) and Sashi (Brown) and his crew,” stated Jackson. “We’re not apart or splintered or whatever term you guys want to use. There’s none of that going on.” Jackson, who’s in his first year with the rebuilding Browns, was fighting back tears and said “being 0-12 is probably the hardest thing ever.”

North Notes: Jackson, Lewis, Jeffery

October 23rd, 2016 at 12:36pm CST by Rory Parks

Hue Jackson has his work cut out for him as the head coach of the Browns, but he had the opportunity to succeed Marvin Lewis as the Bengals‘ head coach if he so chose. As Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes, “Jackson confirmed this week that he passed up an opportunity to succeed [Lewis] in Cincinnati, taking the Browns job instead.” Of course, even if Lewis wanted to hand the baton to Jackson at some point down the line, it would have been difficult for Jackson to turn down a head coaching job elsewhere, as there is no guarantee that Cincinnati ownership would have gone along with Lewis’ plan, or that Lewis would have even been around to pass the torch.

Jackson, though, was also motivated by the opportunity to rebuild the Cleveland franchise, and by his friendship with Lewis. Jackson said, “That is Marvin’s football team. He’s been there a long time. It’s hard to ever replace a best friend that way and be there waiting behind. I didn’t think it was the right thing for me to do. I didn’t think it would be right for their team.”

Now let’s take a look at a few more notes from the league’s north divisions:

The Browns recently hosted tackle Pierce Burton on a visit, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).
Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com takes an in-depth look at how Bears wideout Alshon Jefferey could fare on the open market this offseason. Historically speaking, Jeffery is unlikely to be hit with the franchise tag for a second consecutive year, and a player with his ability does not often reach the open market. Fitzgerald believes Chicago will regret not locking Jeffery up long-term, and that the South Carolina product’s next contract could pay him over $14MM per season.
Over a month after the deal was consummated, there is one more detail to pass along from the Sam Bradford trade. We already knew that, if the Vikings reach the NFC Championship Game this year, the conditional 2018 fourth-rounder they are required to send to the Eagles would become a third-rounder. But according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, if that 2018 fourth-rounder does indeed become a third, Philadelphia will send back a 2018 seventh-round choice to Minnesota.
Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press examines pending free agents at linebacker that the Lions could target in the offseason. New England’s Jamie Collins and Dont’a Hightower are both familiar to GM Bob Quinn and would represent upgrades for Detroit, although Hightower is far more likely to reach the open market than Collins. Birkett also names Nick Perry as a realistic option.
Earlier today, we learned that Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger may miss just one game and could be back in time for the team’s Week 9 matchup against Baltimore.

Extra Points: Coaches, Bell, Boykin

June 10th, 2016 at 8:32pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Here’s the latest from around the NFL:

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports examined the job security of each NFL head coach entering the season. In La Canfora’s estimation, Rex Ryan (Bills), Gus Bradley (Jaguars), Jim Caldwell (Lions), Mike McCoy (Chargers), Marvin Lewis (Bengals), Bill O’Brien (Texans) and Jason Garrett (Cowboys) are the least secure coaches going into this year. Of that group, two (Lewis and O’Brien) were at the helm of playoff teams last season. Ryan has only been in Buffalo for a year, making him the shortest-tenured member of the septet.
Free agent running back Joique Bell told SiriusXM NFL Radio (audio link) on Friday that a few teams are interested in signing him. Bell added that he hopes to join his next team in July. The 29-year-old, who stated last week that he has “two or three offers on the table,” has been on the market since the Lions cut him in February.
One of Bell’s fellow free agents, cornerback Brandon Boykin, surprisingly can’t find work this offseason. One possible reason is a report that he has a degenerative hip problem – a rumor that Boykin blames Steelers defensive backs coach Carnell Lake for starting. Lake had a chance Thursday to walk back comments he made last week about Boykin’s hip, but he opted against doing so, as Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. “I made some comments that I had at fantasy camp and I’m not going to go back on that,” said Lake. “I wish Boykin all the best; he helped us when we needed him, and I wish him the best in his career.”

Bengals Extend Marvin Lewis Through 2017

April 11th, 2016 at 8:40am CST by Luke Adams

MONDAY, 8:40am: The Bengals have officially announced Lewis’ new one-year extension, via the club’s website.

FRIDAY, 4:57pm: The Bengals have tacked another year onto Marvin Lewis‘ contract, according to Michael Silver of the NFL Network, who reports (via Twitter) that Lewis has agreed to a one-year extension, which will keep him under team control through the 2017 season.

Lewis, who has been coaching the Bengals since 2003, is the second longest-tenured head coach in the NFL, behind Bill Belichick in New England. During his 13 seasons with the team, Lewis has led Cincinnati to a 112-94-2 regular-season record and has earned a playoff spot seven times. However, the Bengals have yet to win a postseason game under Lewis, going 0-7 in those contests.

Asked at last month’s owners meetings about the possibility of extending Lewis’ contract beyond the 2016 season, Bengals owner Mike Brown was somewhat noncommittal. “He’s going to be our coach this year. That’s in the bank,” Brown said, per Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Where it goes, we’ll see how it plays out.”

Of course, Brown’s lack of an enthusiastic vote of long-term confidence for Lewis doesn’t mean the head coach is or isn’t on the hot seat entering 2016, and neither does the fact that his new deal is just for one year. Last April around this time, Lewis received a similar one-year extension, as he and the Bengals have made a habit out of working out short-term contracts that keep him from entering a season as a “lame duck.”

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.