Patrick Graham, Demarcus Covington, and Matt Eburflus. These are just some of the names who have been associated with the Cincinnati Bengals’ search for a new defensive coordinator.

But there is one name that nobody is talking about, and maybe they should be.

Mike Zimmer.

“I still have a lot of fondness for Cincinnati,” Zimmer said in an exclusive interview with John Acree of Cincy Jungle Tuesday evening. “The fans were great to me. The ownership is really good. I enjoy Mike Brown. We had a lot of good discussions.

“I loved my time with the Bengals. We had some good teams there. But I don’t know what the future holds.”

Zimmer was named the defensive coordinator for the Bengals on January 15, 2008. The following year, Zimmer earned NFL Assistant Coach of the Year honors from Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers and from CBSSports.com after guiding the Bengals’ defense to the No. 4 ranking in the league.

In 2011, Cincinnati finished with the 7th-ranked defense in total yards and finished 9th in points allowed.

In 2012, Cincinnati was the 6th-ranked defense in total yards and ranked No. 8 in points allowed. On January 15, 2014, Zimmer was named the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.

Zimmer was fired after the 2021 season and was out of coaching until this year when he joined the Dallas Cowboys as defensive coordinator. Zimmer’s contract with the Cowboys expired earlier this week.

Although Zimmer confirmed that he has not spoken with Bengals’ head coach Zac Taylor about the open defensive coordinator position in Cincinnati, he did text Taylor yesterday with an offer to help with the search for a replacement.

“They were really good to my son, and I would help him any way I could,” Zimmer said.

Zimmer’s son, Adam, was hired by the Bengals as an assistant defensive backs coach in 2013 and returned to the team as an offensive analyst in 2022 before his tragic death later that year.

And it certainly sounded like Zimmer would be interested in at least discussing a return to Cincinnati if there was any interest on the part of the Bengals.

“I enjoy coaching a lot,” he said, “and my home is in Northern Kentucky. When I was with the Bengals, I bought this property. I’m actually about 25 minutes from the stadium. This is my home. This is my offseason place. I’m just seeing what comes about.”

Despite his coaching absence from the city, Zimmer has remained a fan of the Bengals and has stayed in touch.

“Actually, Lou [Anarumo] had called me once last offseason and talked to me about how I did things. He was asking me some football questions. And a couple of years ago, I went down for a practice, and a couple of guys came up to me and had good things to say.”

Cincinnati traveled to Dallas for a Monday night game on December 9th and came away with a 27-20 victory, thanks in large part to a botched blocked punt by the Cowboys. That would be the beginning of a five-game winning streak for the Bengals to close the season.

“I thought we played well against Cincinnati,” Zimmer said. “ We probably should have beat them. Zac and I talked after the game, and we both had a lot of nice things to say about each other.”

Although Zimmer is not sure what the future may hold in store for him, he is sure of one thing: There are a couple of places he would love to end up.

“If there were two or three teams you said you really wanted to go to,” Zimmer said, “Cincinnati and Dallas obviously would be the top two. We’ll just kind of see where it goes. Either situation is really good. No one’s contacted me from Cincinnati.”

And Dallas, who is in the market for a new head coach, is up in the air, as well.

“I don’t really put my hat on anything there, either.”

When Zimmer left Cincinnati at the end of his six-year tenure as defensive coordinator, he wrote an open letter to the fans thanking them for making his time in the Queen City so special.

And, who knows, maybe it is time for the second act. It certainly seems like a match that could work out great.

But if nothing else, you have to really appreciate his willingness to help the Bengals find their next defensive play-caller.