3 potential replacements for Bruce Arians as Arizona Cardinals head coach

1. Bill O’Brien

He wants to be back and will not quit, and Deshaun Watson has endorsed him. But a 4-11 record this year has ramped up talk about Bill O’Brien being out as Houston Texans head coach with one year left on his contract and amid ongoing indications of a strained relationship with general manager Rick Smith.

Back in March, Texans’ owner Bob McNair effectively tabled contract extension talks with O’Brien until after this season was over. Multiple key injuries have helped bring this year’s dismal record, but it’s at best unclear if that will give O’Brien a mulligan or in any way prevent him from being a lame-duck head coach heading into next season.

After three straight 9-7 seasons and two division titles to start O’Brien’s tenure, the Texans will have to take the next step at some point. They finally have a quarterback to help that cause as Watson works his way back from a torn ACL. So, O’Brien may get another chance in 2018, with a token extra year tacked on to his contract at some point during the offseason.

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But if O’Brien is available, he won’t lack for suitors and he’ll have another head coaching job in the league pretty much as quickly as he wants. The Cardinals could already be conveying their interest to O’Brien’s agent, and if they aren’t they should be doing so very soon.