Play-caller
- Calls plays: Zac Taylor (HC) — confirmed. Taylor publicly confirmed he retains play-calling for 2026 and said handing duties to OC Dan Pitcher "wasn't on the table" (ESPN, Jan 2026; SI/AllBengals clarification, Feb 2026). Pitcher interviewed for the TB play-calling OC job and the CLE HC job but stayed (Yahoo/SI, Jan–Feb 2026).
- Tenure with team: 8th season as HC/play-caller (hired 2019) · Prior relationship with QB1: Burrow's only NFL HC (drafted 2020).
Last 3 play-calling stops (Taylor's only play-calling stop is CIN; rows split by recent season):
| Stop (team, yrs) | PROE | Neutral pass% | Sec/play (neutral) | Motion% | PA% | 11 / 12 / 21% | Condensed% | RB tgt share | WR1 TS | Inside-10 pass% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CIN 2025 | +4.3% (Draft Sharks); +1.7% (nfelo — model differs) | 63.5%, 1st (Draft Sharks) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | <19.5% (Taylor cut PA from 2024's 19.5% — PFF, 2026) | UNVERIFIED (historically 11-heavy) | UNVERIFIED | 18.3% (111 of ~608 targets, calc from data/stats/2025/receiving.csv) | 30.4% — Ja'Marr Chase (data/stats/2025/receiving.csv) | UNVERIFIED (green-zone PROE 7th once Burrow returned Wk 12 — NBC Sports, 2026) |
| CIN 2024 | +2.9%, 1st in NFL (web search summary, 2026-07-07) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | 19.5% (PFF, 2026) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED (Chase led NFL in targets — triple-crown season) | UNVERIFIED |
| CIN 2019–23 (tenure summary) | Consistently pass-tilted with Burrow healthy; top-2 in pass attempts/pass rate every healthy-Burrow year since 2021 (Draft Sharks, Jun 2026) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED |
Read: Taylor with a healthy Burrow is the most reliably pass-tilted caller in football — top-2 pass rate, league-leading PROE, extreme shotgun (92% of dropbacks, 3rd-highest — SharpFootball, 2026), low play-action, and a true alpha-feeding WR1 history (Chase ≥30% TS). He funnels the ball to Chase/Higgins/Brown and starves everyone else; pace is unremarkable and the run game exists to serve script. The 2025 raw numbers were still pass-heavy (66.2% raw pass rate — data/stats/2025/pbp_summary.csv) even with Burrow missing 9 games.
Scheme family
- Run scheme: zone-lean with gap/duo mix — one-cut zone runner profile fits, which is exactly Chase Brown (1,019 yds on 232 carries in 2025 — data/stats/2025/rushing.csv). Light boxes are common because of the pass threat.
- Pass-game family: McVay-tree origins that have evolved into a shotgun spread dropback game — 92% shotgun (3rd-highest), low play-action, condensed/motion usage modest. Fantasy shape: high pass attempts, boundary alpha volume (Chase/Higgins), healthy RB target lane, slot is the WR3's (Iosivas) domain but thin on volume behind the big three.
