Bill O’Brien laying groundwork to jump to NFL job?
By Hayden Kane
As the last two weeks of the NFL season wind down, the coaching carousel will be set in motion once again. Each year there seems to be a hot candidate from the college ranks, and this year there is no question who that will be.
Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien, who already has experience in the NFL on the New England Patriots, will be aggressively pursued by teams with vacancies. This morning, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com and Adam Schefter of ESPN both report that O’Brien might be laying the groundwork on his end to take advantage of one of those opportunities and become an NFL head coach.
Could Bill O’Brien jump to NFL? We’ll see. But several teams who’ll be in the market for a new coach believe there’s a real chance he does.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 22, 2013
One Penn State official said Bill O’Brien’s rep recently approached the school about potential reducing his NFL buyout even further.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 22, 2013
Looking at the known vacancy (Houston Texans) and certain potential vacancies (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Minnesota Vikings, or even the Detroit Lions), this might be the perfect year for O’Brien to take such a job. Any number of positions could set him up for an “Andy Reid in Kansas City” situation, with a tremendously talented roster that underachieved under the previous regime and pops right away for their new coach.
If it works out this way, O’Brien could end up with one heck of a run these last few years.