It now appears the Bengals’ have their next head coach, and it’s just a matter of when they can announce it.

Today, the Bengals have let go of three assistant coaches. Apparently, they’ve been told the next head coach already has several assistants lined up to replace them, according to NFL Network reporter Michael Silver.

Numerous current Bengals assistants are being let go today and told that the next coach has other assistants to replace them. This strongly suggests that an outside candidate will get the job. — Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 10, 2019

Paul Dehner of the Cincinnati Enquirer added that about half of the current staff is expected to stay:

Expectations are about half the #Bengals staff will remain. — Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) January 10, 2019

Jeremy Rauch added that his source says it’s a slam dunk that the next hire will be outside of the organization.

Source was confident enough to say it's a "slam dunk" the Bengals will hire from the outside. https://t.co/iQzeOJIUMd — Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) January 10, 2019

Combined with previous reports over the last few days, it appears the Bengals next head coach will come from a group that includes Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Rams QBs coach Zac Taylor and Rams passing game coordinator Shane Waldron, though I would venture to guess Waldron is more of an offensive coordinator candidate if Taylor gets the job.

That means former secondary coach Vance Joseph and current assistant Hue Jackson are out of the mix. Joseph is actually already interviewing for other jobs.

If we had to guess, it’s looking more and more like it will be Bieniemy.

Is that the smirk of a man with a job already lined up? https://t.co/TKXs4FRP04 — Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) January 10, 2019

Of course, nothing is ever a done deal until the ink is dry (see Josh McDaniels), but it looks like whoever the Bengals think they’re getting is set on being the team’s head coach in 2019.