Coley Harvey, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Mike Brown sees Vance Joseph 'as a star,' says Marvin Lewis

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis made the media rounds in Arizona on Thursday as he fulfilled various Super Bowl Week appearances.

It was during a seven-minute appearance on ESPN's "NFL Insiders" in the afternoon that Lewis spoke publicly for the second time about the standoff the Bengals and Broncos had this month over assistant coach Vance Joseph.

Last week during the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, Lewis told Bengals.com and the Cincinnati Enquirer that the decision to block Joseph, one of the Bengals' co-defensive backs coaches, from leaving for Denver was "a hard one."

It was so hard because team president Mike Brown recognizes Joseph's value, Lewis said on the television show Thursday.

"My boss and owner sees him as a star," Lewis said, "and a guy that, as I told Vance, he could be sitting in my chair very quickly."

Lewis then added, laughing: "It could be next year."

Viewed in several NFL circles as an up-and-comer in the coaching ranks, the 42-year-old Joseph had been granted permission by the Bengals to interview for the Broncos' head-coaching vacancy that came open when John Fox was fired following Denver's divisional-round playoff loss to Indianapolis. Four days after Joseph's interview, former Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak was announced as Fox's replacement.

Not long after, word leaked that Kubiak and his new bosses favored bringing Joseph on board as they tried to fill their empty defensive coordinator position. Before joining the Bengals last offseason, Joseph had served as Kubiak's defensive backs coach for three years when Kubiak was the head coach of the Houston Texans.

Once they discovered the Broncos' intentions, the Bengals blocked Joseph from voiding his contract in order to leave for the coordinator position. Had he instead been offered the head-coaching job, perhaps their stance would have been different.

Denver on Wednesday hired longtime coach Wade Phillips to run the defense.

"Vance understands how things work. All coaches do," Lewis said Thursday. "Anytime you're in that situation as a coach, the very first thing should be if I can be released from my contract. As we know, as you look across the league, some are and some aren't, and that's part of the process.

"As Mike reminds me, his No. 1 devotion is to the Cincinnati Bengals. That's what he's in charge of is his club and our club, and what's best for us."

Though Lewis might have been joking about it, the Bengals do seem to have the makings of a succession plan in place in the event 2015 is his final season. For now, Lewis is set to coach next season on the final year of a contract. The team hasn't given any indication if it plans to sign him to an extension sometime this offseason.

Along with Joseph, the Bengals also already have another former head coach on their staff in Hue Jackson, the offensive coordinator who interviewed for the Buffalo Bills' opening this month.

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