Bengals coaches Mike Zimmer and Jay Gruden possible Redskins candidates

Cincinnati Bengals assistant coaches can't be interviewed for vacant head coaching positions until after Wild Card weekend. When they're allowed, figure that names like defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer and offensive coordinator Jay Gruden will float around for virtually every vacancy.

According to Chris Mortensen with ESPN, Zimmer and Gruden are in play in Washington.

Probably not much of a surprise, but per @mortreport on "SportsCenter," #Bengals coordinators Jay Gruden, Mike Zimmer on Redskins' radar

— Coley Harvey (@ColeyHarvey) December 30, 2013

Redskins' candidate list likely to include Jay Gruden, Mike Zimmer, Lovie Smith. Redskins inquired through third party about David Shaw.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 30, 2013

Zimmer recently said that he was more focused on getting the Bengals defense ready for the playoffs, rather than preparing for possible job interviews.

"I hear guys say the last couple weeks at the end of the season they're preparing their stuff for their interviews, and I'm like, I'm never doing that," Zimmer told USA TODAY Sports on Friday in his office at Paul Brown Stadium. "My job is to take these players and try to do the best we can every week. I don't even look at that until after it's done."

Currently there are four openings, as of this posting, in Houston, Washington, Minnesota and Cleveland. There are eyes currently in Oakland, Tennessee, Detroit and Tampa Bay, but all four could go either way. Oakland, Detroit and Tampa Bay feel safe at the moment, but things could dramatically change without notice -- aka, Rob Chudzinski.