Welter’s appointment comes three months after the NFL announced the hiring of Sarah Thomas as the first full-time official.
“It’s going to be the natural evolution of everything,” Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons said. “It starts off with the NFL hiring a female official. Next is going to come a coach, and before long it will be a head coach at some point. I think it’s an exciting time in that regard. It’s something you learn to accept and look forward to. I’m sure she’ll do a fine job.”
The Bengals have a long history of bringing in young coaches through the Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship program, with Lewis himself being a product of it.
Arizona head coach Bruce Arians hired Welter, a former rugby player at Boston College who played 14 seasons in women’s pro football and was the first female to play a non-kicking position in a men’s league, as an assistant inside linebackers coach who will work with the team through the preseason.
“I thought what Bruce Arians said was great: ‘Whether it’s a man, a woman or the Green Hornet teaching you how to play football, the players want to know if you can get them better,’” Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said. “If you can get a player better, they’re going to listen to you, point blank. I don’t see it as an issue at all.”
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