According to Jason La Canfora, former Bengals HC Marvin Lewis is seen as a top candidate for the 2020 NFL head coaching cycle by several front offices.
La Canfora says Lewis is viewed as one of the most experienced options who will be available at the end of this season and someone who did a lot with inferior football infrastructure in Cincinnati.
Now that the Bengals have bottomed out at 0-9 so far in their first season without Lewis, it makes his work to turn Cincinnati into a consistent playoff team more impressive in retrospect.
Per La Canfora, the NFL has also been encouraging teams to be more thorough and diverse in their head coaching searches this offseason after the 2019 cycle was dominated by young, white, offensive-minded hires. Lewis is well-positioned to take advantage if the trend swings the other way this year.
Lewis did not actively pursue another NFL head coaching job after the Bengals let him go following the 2018 season, preferring to take a step back from football. He landed with Arizona State in a special advisor role to HC Herm Edwards and has been in that position this year.
Lewis, 61, was hired as the Bengals’ head coach back in 2003 and spent 14 seasons with the team before being fired after the 2018 season.
In total, the Bengals compiled a 131-122-3 (51.8 percent) record under Lewis, including seven trips to the postseason but no playoff wins.
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