Bengals announce hiring of Mark Duffner and Gerald Chatman

The Cincinnati Bengals have announced the hiring of two more assistant coaches in Mark Duffner (senior defensive assistant) and Gerald Chatman (defensive assistant).

Duffner, 65, joins the Bengals after spending the last three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as linebackers coach. Last season, Duffner served as defensive coordinator for the Bucs’ final 11 games, after the team made mid-season coaching staff changes.

Duffner brings with him 45 years of coaching experience, including 22 years in the NFL. He previously spent six seasons (1997-02) on the Bengals’ coaching staff, including two seasons as the team’s defensive coordinator in ’01 and ’02. He also has spent time with the Green Bay Packers (2003-05), the Jacksonville Jaguars (’06-13) and the Miami Dolphins (’14-15).

Duffner’s experience in the college ranks includes head coaching positions at Maryland (1992-96) and Holy Cross (’86-91). He also served as defensive coordinator at Holy Cross (1981-85) and the University of Cincinnati (’77-80). He began his coaching career at Ohio State, where he was a graduate assistant from 1975-76 under head coach Woody Hayes. Duffner was a defensive lineman at William and Mary, where he earned a degree in physical education.

Chatman, 30, joins the Bengals after spending the last two seasons at Tennessee State University, where he was defensive ends/outside linebackers coach, and then added the role of special teams coordinator in 2018.

Prior to Tennessee State, Chatman coached at Elon University (defensive line, 2016), Texas A&M University (graduate assistant, ’15), Butler University (defensive line coach and assistant recruiting coordinator, ’14), Ball State University (defensive graduate assistant, ’12-13), and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (defensive line, ’10-11).

Chatman also has held offseason coaching intern positions with the Bengals (2018), the Denver Broncos (’16) and the Green Bay Packers (’15). He played defensive tackle at Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in educational leadership and human services. He later earned a master’s degree in adult and community education from Ball State.