Bengals reportedly set to hire former Seahawks assistant head coach

It has been just over seven weeks since the 2024 season of the Seattle Seahawks ended, and while things have been quiet in terms of roster moves, there have been plenty of tweaks to the coaching staff. Specifically, the Hawks replaced offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb with Klint Kubiak, and Kubiak has quickly moved to hire assistants who can help install and run his system.

However, the Seahawks aren’t the only team hoping for significant improvement from coaching changes, as the Cincinnati Bengals are reportedly hiring one of Pete Carroll’s former assistant head coaches to help run the defense of new defensive coordinator Al Golden by snapping up Sean Desai from the Los Angeles Rams.

At first glance reports that the Bengals are set to hire Desai may give the appearance that the “Coached with Sean McVay” bullet point on the resume remains a hot commodity. However, the connections driving this hire likely go much deeper than the fact that Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was a member of McVay’s staff with the Rams for a pair of seasons prior to taking over as head coach of the Bengals in 2019.

Specifically, from 2006 to 2010 Desai served in a variety of roles with the Temple Owls as a graduate assistant, outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator under then head coach Al Golden. As noted above, Golden will take over as the defensive coordinator of the Bengals in 2025 after having spent the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator for Notre Dame.