The Bengals today hired three position coaches for the 2016 staff:● Jacob Burney was hired as defensive line coach. Burney is in his 21st NFL season for ’16, his last assignment covering five years (2010-14) with the Washington Redskins. “Jacob is a great taskmaster with tremendous experience,” said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. “He started under Bill Belichick at Cleveland and has worked under some other great head coaches as well since he came into the league.”-● Bill Lazor was hired as quarterbacks coach. Lazor (pronounced “LAY-zer”) was offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins from 2014 through Nov. 30 of this past season. He replaces Ken Zampese, who was promoted Friday from Bengals QBs coach to offensive coordinator. “With Ken’s elevation to coordinator, I’m ecstatic about bringing in Bill,” Lewis said. “He’s bright, and energetic and he also has experience under great head coaches. He’s got everything we’re looking for to continue to uplift our offense.”-● Kevin Coyle was hired as defensive backs coach. Coyle was an 11-year member of the Bengals defensive staff (2001-11) before departing in 2012 to become defensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins. “After being away for four years as a coordinator, Kevin comes back as another asset for (Bengals coordinator) Paul Guenther,” Lewis said. “We know Kevin as a great coach of secondary technique and as a coach with great ability to add ideas for game planning.”-Burney is from Chattanooga, Tenn., and he was a three-time All-Southern Conference selection at Tennessee-Chattanooga. He coached 11 seasons in college before entering the NFL as defensive line coach with Cleveland in 1994. Prior to joining Washington, he also had NFL defensive line coach assignments at Carolina (1999-2001), and Denver (2002-08).-Burney’s 2014 Washington line helped the Redskins rank 12th in the NFL in fewest rushing yards allowed as the defense posted 36 sacks. His 2013 unit helped the Redskins rank fourth in the NFL in third-down conversion percentage (34.0) and tied for second in negative rushing plays by opponents (72).-Over Burney’s seven seasons in Denver, the Broncos three times ranked in the NFL’s top five in rush defense. Over his full Denver tenure, the Broncos ranked 10th in fewest total defensive yards allowed.-Coyle’s hometown is New York City (Staten Island), and he played DB at the University if Massachusetts. He coached for 23 years in the college ranks before joining the NFL with the Bengals, and his first college assignment was in 1978-79 as a graduate assistant at the University of Cincinnati.-Coyle served as Dolphins coordinator from 2012 through Oct. 8 of this past season. The Dolphins had back-to-back top 10 finishes in the NFL in fewest points allowed in 2012 and 2013, finishing seventh in ’12 and eighth in ’13. Both of those units had more than 40 sacks.-Coyle spent his first two Bengals seasons as cornerbacks coach and was promoted to defensive backs coach in 2003, when Lewis joined Cincinnati as head coach. In Coyle’s nine seasons a Bengals DBs coach (2003-11), the defense ranked fifth in the NFL in interceptions (160), and 133 of those were by DBs.-With Coyle as his position coach in 2005, CB Deltha O’Neal set a Bengals record with 10 INTs, tied for first in the NFL, and DBs had 23 of Cincinnati’s league-leading 31 INTs.-Lazor is from Scranton, Pa., and was a three-year starting QB for Cornell.With the Dolphins, Lazor aided in the development of QB Ryan Tannehill, who passed for 4045 yards in ’14. Lazor’s accomplishments at Miami also included a 4.7-yard rushing average for the offense in 2014, ranked second in the NFL.-In 2013 at Philadelphia, Lazor had a central role in Nick Foles winning the NFL passing title (119.2 rating). His earlier NFL years included work under prominent NFL head coaches, including Dan Reeves (2003 with Atlanta), Joe Gibbs (2004-07 with Washington) and Mike Holmgren (2008-09 with Seattle).-Lazor has previously served as an NFL quarterbacks coach with Washington (2006-07), Seattle (2008-09) and Philadelphia (2013).
