Rams win apparent bidding war with Bengals for DL coach Eric Henderson

The Cincinnati Bengals and head coach Zac Taylor had an eye on Los Angeles Chargers coaching assistant Eric Henderson.

But the Los Angeles Rams got to him first.

Word broke the Bengals and Rams were interested:

Source tells me @Bengals & @RamsNFL are trying to add @Chargers assistant d-line coach Eric Henderson to their respective staffs. I'm told Rams have made an offer. @Coach_Henny played for CIN from 2006-2008.

— Alex Marvez (@alexmarvez) February 22, 2019

It didn’t take long for the Rams to win out:

The #Rams are hiring former #Chargers assistant DL coach Eric Henderson as their new D-line coach, source said. He also spent time at Oke St before joining the Chargers. A promising young coach.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 23, 2019

The Bengals losing out here isn’t much of a surprise, as the team finally just nailed down a defensive coordinator days before the combine. It will take some time for the new leader of the unit to establish his staff.

Adding to this, it makes sense for a coach like Henderson to join the Rams — working under Sean McVay is a fast track to promotions right now…as new Bengals coach Taylor can confirm.

In the bigger scheme of things, this is quite a bit less concerning than how long it took the Bengals to find a defensive coordinator.