The status of the hot seat around Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor keeps coming up before the 2025 NFL draft.
Granted, how "hot" the seat is very much depends on who is looking at it.
Bleacher Report's Moe Moton, for example, slapped Taylor in the "Heated Seats" section of his recent piece analyzing the hot seats of all NFL coaches going into the draft:
"Also, with a healthy Burrow playing at an elite level and wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase winning the receiving triple crown, the Bengals still missed the playoffs with a 9-8 record last season. Sure, you can blame Cincinnati's below-average defense, but good coaches must find a way to win games with high-level offensive talent, especially if that's their area of expertise."
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It's all fair game on Taylor right now, who just had a very deserved spot in head coach power rankings.
There will always be a war of options around Taylor, whose resume includes a franchise-altering playoff win and Super Bowl appearance, yet annual slow starts that can ruin seasons. The perception of Cincinnati's ownership and the fact he benefits from a top-three NFL passer play factors, too.
Overall? Taylor's seat is probably hotter than some would think. He's now been given the leeway to fire and hire underneath him on the coaching staff after a down year. Missing the playoffs again in the middle of Joe Burrow's prime would put the Bengals in a tough spot with Taylor, to say the very least.
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This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Zac Taylor's hot seat with Bengals analyzed before NFL draft
