Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is starting to climb a pretty interesting list.
With the farewells of Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll and even Mike Vrabel this week as a new hiring cycle starts, Taylor took a pretty dramatic leap up the longest-tenured head coaches list.
As NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero pointed out, the following names are the three longest-tenured coaches in the NFL now:
1. Mike Tomlin (17 seasons)
2. John Harbaugh (16 seasons)
3. Andy Reid (11 seasons)
Taylor is already in the top 10 now, tied for seventh place with five seasons as head coach already.
Granted, that’s not even close to the 16 years of Marvin Lewis by any means, but one has to wonder just how far up the list Taylor can climb after the success of the rebuild and Super Bowl berth, plus a near-miss on another already.
Also of note? The top two spots belong to AFC North coaches, which plays a big part in the division being one of the strongest ever this year.