Report: Bengals hire Oregon assistant Jordan Salkin to offensive coaching staff

The Cincinnati Bengals are adding an offensive staffer while the Oregon Ducks are losing one, as Jordan Salkin has officially accepted a position at the NFL level.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the now-former Ducks assistant is headed to the Queen City to go work under Zac Taylor and alongside Joe Burrow. Here was Thamel’s tweet reporting the news:

“Sources: Oregon offensive analyst Jordan Salkin has accepted a job with the Cincinnati Bengals. He worked with quarterbacks at Oregon and will be an offensive assistant in Cincinnati. He’s worked with the Dolphins and as an analyst at Texas.”

Salkin makes his return to the NFL with Cincy following the team’s offensive coordinator change, which featured a promotion from within with QBs coach Dan Pitcher taking over the unit. Now, he’s adding some more help to the offensive staff.

Of course, Cincinnati’s offensive coaching shakeup started back in January when the Tennessee Titans opted to hire Bengals OC Brian Callahan, who served in that role since Taylor took over the franchise in 2020, although he was never the play-caller, as the head coach kept that responsibility his own. But after that move, the Bengals universally promoted from within prior to the Salkin hire.

He could be taking over the role previously held by Brad Kragthorpe, who was an assistant quarterbacks coach for Cincinnati last year, but also served in various roles on the offensive staff since the start of Taylor’s tenure. With former QBs coach Dan Pitcher getting the call to take on the OC role, Kragthorpe has now elevated to being the quarterbacks coach himself, and it appears Salkin is coming on to be an assistant to Pitcher and Kragthorpe as a someone who works closely with the QB position.

Here were some words from Pitcher when his promotion to offensive coordinator was announced a couple of weeks ago:

“This is the ideal scenario. I’ve had the luxury of growing up here. This is where I learned how to be a coach and doing it under some really good people. It’s not often you get the chance to take all those steps in your career in one place. And to be working for really good people who want to see you succeed, and in turn you try to provide value for them in a role like this. I think it’s pretty special. This is what I was hoping for all along.”