AFC Rumors: Bengals, Broncos, Browns, Raiders

Bengals

• According to Albert Breer, there’s been talk that the Bengals could bring Marvin Lewis back as their head coach in 2019 before owner Mike Brown turns over more control of the team to his children.
• Broncos HC Vance Joseph has come up as a potential addition for the Bengals, given his prior experience in Cincinnati.

Broncos

• Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com says Broncos HC Vance Joseph is “all but done in Denver.”
• Breer mentions that Broncos VP John Elway dove deep into offensive trends in the college game during the fall and an outside-the-box hire wouldn’t be out of the question for Denver if they can’t land John Harbaugh somehow.

Browns

According to Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports, it’s unclear who will be making the coaching hire for the Browns. Initially, the word going around about the Browns was that owner Jimmy Haslam was going to make the final call on the next head coach with GM John Dorsey being the lone point man. However, Robinson now isn’t sure that’s actually going to be the case.

In fact, Robinson reports that Dorsey didn’t get to choose the team’s interim head coach and actually preferred to keep Todd Haley and have him take over for Hue Jackson. That obviously didn’t turn out to be the case and the Browns instead went with Gregg Williams.

After speaking to sources who know the Browns, Robinson says he’s more certain than ever that CSO Paul DePodesta has been “more influential than anyone outside of the organization understands” and the public has been led astray with regards to the current power structure in Cleveland.

Robinson believes DePodesta had a more significant hand in the process of replacing Jackson and ultimately firing Haley than anyone realized. In fact, Robinson thinks DePodesta has more power than most think he does and Dorsey has less.

According to Robinson, Mike McCarthy will get consideration for the Browns’ job along with Williams, but Cleveland is simply focused on hiring the best coach for them, as opposed to an offensive mind.

• Albert Breer reports that the Browns’ head-coaching search will be “absolutely wide open.”

Raiders

• Albert Breer says the word around the NFL is that current Cardinals GM Steve Keim would be a “top candidate” for the Raiders’ GM job if available.