Bengals Offensive Coordinator Jay Gruden Will Wait To Interview For Head Coaching Jobs

With the success that the Bengals have had over the past three seasons comes the inevitable discussion and worry of losing their assistant coaches for greener pastures as head coaches elsewhere. There are still a handful of vacancies out there and Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden has been rumored to be a candidate of interest for some of those open jobs.

After his first two seasons with the Bengals, Gruden has become a hot commodity around the league because of his work with Andy Dalton and other young offensive cast members. Though his name was kicked around after the 2011 season, Gruden chose not to interview and received a contract extension with the Bengals. In 2012, he did interview for the job with the Cardinals, but didn't get the gig.

Gruden knows that he's a viable candidate once again this season, but is preferring to keep focused on the task at hand with his team in the playoffs.

Jay Gruden hasn't been told about any interviews yet. Said he'd like to wait till end of CIN season. "If I miss an opportunity, so be it"

— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) January 3, 2014

Keeping in mind that Gruden can't interview with another team until after January 12th because of league rules, this is a wise move by Gruden if it's true. He can focus on the team succeeding in the postseason, thus not only potentially achieving team victory, but adding more notches in his belt for interview ammunition as the Bengals hopefully advance in the postseason.

Still, teams don't like to wait long to find their next head coach and with so many names being kicked around again this season, the Bengals coordinators may find themselves grabbing the short straw once again. Bengals fans probably wouldn't have a problem with that though.