They also share faith-based values summed up in the title of Dungy’s autobiography, “Quiet Strength.”
“Faith was number one. That’s the same for me, and it all stems from that,” Walters says. “Faith, family, then football, and so just a great role model, and really someone I try to emulate my coaching style after because it made such an impact on myself, and I know everyone who played for him, and I want to do the same.”
So Walters isn’t wrapped up in a crusade to be a head coach or even an offensive coordinator. Since he’s been here, he’s had two interviews to be an OC, both with first-year head coaches DeMeco Ryans in Houston and Jonathan Gannon in Arizona.
“I take it year by year. I know there’s a lot on a head coach’s plate,” Walters says. I have four kids, and I look at the demands of a head coach, sometimes. Right now, I love being a receiver coach with the guys I’ve got, and I love developing.”
Walters has had the touch, from the draft’s fifth pick in Chase to a practice-squad retread in Mitchell Tinsley. Besides developing a stacked room that includes the red-zone antics of sixth-rounder Andrei Iosivas, Walters is part of Taylor’s best-and-brightest braintrust that has included a future NFL head coach in Brian Callahan and a current offensive coordinator in Dan Pitcher, who interviewed for Cleveland’s top job last month.
Taylor makes sure his offensive assistants share the responsibilities of a coordinator. In his first season, Walters was in charge of game management, and then moved into red zone situations for a couple of seasons. Now he’s been charged with managing first- and second-down base passes.
“We all have our area of expertise, and they rely on everybody in terms of game plan, input, and so on,” Walters says. “I’ve learned a lot from Zac, Cali when he was here, and Pitch, on how to do things. If that ever comes my way, being a coordinator, then you kind of take the good of what we’ve done here and go from there.”
His old coach certainly believes he’s got what it takes. It was news to him Walters decided not to interview in Chicago. But not breaking news.
“That’s him” Dungy said. “He loves working for Coach Taylor. He loves his receivers … He believes in what he’s doing. He loves his guys. They’ve got something special going.”
That’s why, speaking of the next Super Bowl, Walters is still a Bengal.
“Right now, I want to be a part of this. The receiver room, and it’s part of the Cincinnati Bengals,” Walters says. “I feel like we’re going to do something special this upcoming season, and I want to be a part of it.”