Bengals quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher has been a key part of Cincinnati’s success over the last two seasons and he elected to remain with the club going into 2023.
Pitcher reportedly signed a contract extension with the Bengals, though he did still interview for the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator vacancy.
But he said in an interview with the team’s website that he’s glad to stick with Cincinnati in part because of what he believes the team is capable of doing in 2023.
“We’ve got something special going on now,” Pitcher said, via Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “I’ve been a part of this from the ground up. I believe the Super Bowl is in our near future and I want to be a part of that.”
Pitcher has been with the Bengals since 2016, starting out as an offensive assistant. He became assistant quarterbacks coach when Zac Taylor took over in 2019 and was promoted to QBs coach in 2020.
Pitcher said he feels a “tremendous sense of loyalty” to Taylor and the rest of the Bengals organization.
“The Tampa thing was an awesome opportunity,” Pitcher said. “The people I met down there, coach [Todd] Bowles, Jason Licht, the general manager, and several others in the organization, I enjoyed getting to know those guys and I’m grateful for their interest they showed in me. But I just didn’t feel like this was the time to leave Cincinnati.
“We’ve got this thing headed in the right direction big time and I just want to be a part of finishing it off.”
It doesn’t hurt that Pitcher gets to work with one of the league’s best quarterbacks in Joe Burrow.
“We all know it’s a quarterback league and we have the best one, in my opinion,” Pitcher said. “There are some other really, really good ones. I know that.
“I love working with Joe every day. I think we’ve done a good job putting an environment around him where he can be his best self, his best player. I look forward to continuing to do that.”
