Sources: Bengals name QBs coach Pitcher as OC

CINCINNATI — The Bengals didn’t wait long to fill an important vacancy.

Cincinnati promoted Dan Pitcher as its new offensive coordinator, multiple team sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday. The move comes hours after Brian Callahan, who previously held the position, was formally announced as the Tennessee Titans‘ new head coach.

Pitcher, 37, has been with the Bengals since 2016, when he was hired on the staff of former coach Marvin Lewis. He has been the team’s primary quarterbacks coach since 2020, the year Cincinnati drafted Joe Burrow with the No. 1 pick.

Earlier this month, head coach Zac Taylor, the offensive playcaller, praised Pitcher’s work with backup quarterback Jake Browning, who started the final seven games of the 2023 season after Burrow suffered a season-ending injury.

“It’s Pitch’s job as the quarterbacks coach — and he’s done an outstanding job of this — to prepare those other guys for their opportunities and to tie up all the loose ends when I walk out of the room,” Taylor said Jan. 8.

“It might be, ‘Here’s what he meant to say. Here’s something that he didn’t say that we need to cover.’ That’s the role of a position coach, and Pitch does an outstanding job of that.”

In 2023, Pitcher was interviewed to be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ offensive coordinator. He was also reportedly in the mix for the same position at other teams this season before the Bengals promoted him.

Pitcher, who played quarterback at Cortland State, started his NFL career in 2012 as a scouting assistant with the Indianapolis Colts. In 2016, he joined the Bengals to work with the team’s receivers before he switched roles to work with the quarterbacks.

Before the Bengals played Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game this past January, Burrow lauded the work of Pitcher and Cincinnati’s coaching staff.

“We have a great working relationship,” Burrow said in January 2023. “I say this all the time, but I couldn’t ask for a better group of coaches for my skill set and what I do.”

The news of Pitcher’s promotion was first reported by NFL Network.