Cincinnati Bengals safeties coach Robert Livingston to become Deion Sanders' DC at Colorado
More change is on its way for the Cincinnati Bengals coaching staff as a long-time assistant is moving on to a bigger opportunity. Per NFL Media's Ian Rapoport, Bengals secondary/safeties coach Robert Livingston is set to become the defensive coordinator for Colorado University. He'll be calling plays for Deion Sanders' defense starting this fall. Livingston has […]
More change is on its way for the Cincinnati Bengals coaching staff as a long-time assistant is moving on to a bigger opportunity.
Per NFL Media's Ian Rapoport, Bengals secondary/safeties coach Robert Livingston is set to become the defensive coordinator for Colorado University. He'll be calling plays for Deion Sanders' defense starting this fall.
Livingston has been with Cincinnati for over a decade. He started out as a scout from 2012-14 before joining the coaching staff in 2015. His first coaching position was defensive quality control and assisting special teams for one of the best Bengals teams in recent memory.
When Zac Taylor replaced Marvin Lewis in 2019, Livingston became one of seven holdovers from the previous staff. He stuck around as Taylor's safeties coach for the next four years, which helped him become the second longest tenured coach next to special teams coordinator/assistant head coach Darrin Simmons.
Cincinnati has experienced great development from its safeties under Livingston's coaching, but 2023 was an outlier to that. Second year player Dax Hill struggled with consistency as a first year starter, and veteran free agent signing Nick Scott never quite settled in. It was rookie Jordan Battle who stabilized the position group late in the season, far after the damage had been done.
Livingston has been a quality coach for many years with the Bengals, and with such uncertainty surrounding the safeties room entering next season, his loss will be interesting to monitor. Perhaps a change in leadership and direction will do Hill and Battle some good with more pressure ahead of them.
Expect the Bengals to promote from within here, as it is their standard practice. Assistant linebackers coach Jordan Kovacs makes logical sense as Livingston's replacement. Kovacs was an NFL safety for from 2013-15.
Should the Bengals make coaching changes?
A few changes may be beneficial.
