Bengals Assistant Coach Kragthorpe Makes Room At East-West Game

Bengals assistant quarterbacks coach Brad Kragthorpe has a new title in front of a new room this week at the East-West Shrine Bowl. But it’s business as usual for the 31-year-old third-generation coach who has already been in the profession for nearly a decade.

As the East quarterbacks coach for Thursday’s college all-star game (8 p.m.- NFL Network) at The Star in Frisco, Tex., Kragthorpe has a star-studded task in the practice facility of the Dallas Cowboys. He has eight days to get three big-time triggermen ready to play in a system he has to learn as well as teach.

But Kragthorpe, heading into his sixth season with the Bengals, can call on a nest of connections to make the week easier.

For instance, the East’s offensive coordinator is Drew Terrell, the Arizona Cardinals’ passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. The Cards offensive coordinator, a former Browns quarterbacks coach in Drew Petzing, has just completed his first season after spending the past three years on the staff of Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, himself a former Bengals quarterbacks coach.

“Ironically, AVP leaves us and goes to Cleveland,” Kragthorpe says of that first season he came to Cincinnati in 2019 as an offensive assistant. “A lot of our terminology came with him and it’s been a good carryover for myself, it’s been nice.”

And in another instance, one of the guys Kragthorpe is coaching this week, Kentucky’s Devin Leary, arrived already doing some familiar things. It turns out that Leary’s OC in Lexington, Liam Coen, worked with Bengals head coach Zac Taylor several years ago with the Rams.