Approval Poll: Bengals hire Colt Anderson as assistant special teams coach

The Bengals lost one of the hottest young names in coaching when Brayden Coombs left to become the Lions’ special teams’ coordinator. Coombs spent the last decade serving as Cincinnati’s assistant special teams coach, and the team announced that his replacement will be former NFL player Colt Anderson.

What are Anderson’s qualifications? Well, he played eight seasons in the NFL, and most of that was as a special teams player. He racked up 102 tackles, two forced fumbles and an interception over 87 games. He came into the league as an undrafted free agent, but eventually carved out his role as a special teamer.

This is Anderson’s first coaching job, and it just happens to be with one of the league’s best special team units and coach, Darrin Simmons, who the Bengals just extended this offseason. It is safe to say that Anderson won’t be expected to fill Simmons’ shoes for at least a few seasons, but Anderson could eventually be the guy who is promoted if another NFL team comes knocking for Simmons with a head coaching opportunity elsewhere.

Simmons was also recently promoted to assistant head coach. That could mean that this season Anderson is groomed to handle the special teams unit more next season as it appears Simmons’ responsibilities keep getting larger. In year one, we shouldn’t expect much of a difference with Anderson learning from Simmons, but it may be something to keep an eye on in the future.

What are your thoughts on the Anderson hire?