Lincoln Riley was asked about his interest in the NFL almost immediately after the Cleveland Browns fired Hue Jackson.
The first question Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley at Monday’s press conference wasn’t about the team’s blowout win vs. Kansas State or this week’s game vs Texas Tech. Of course, it was about his interest in the NFL, specifically, the Cleveland Browns where there is now an opening after they fired Hue Jackson.
Jackson was fired about an hour or two before Riley met the media, so I’m sure he was prepared to field questions about his future, and the natural tie to the Browns where his former quarterback, Baker Mayfield was taken with the top pick in the NFL Draft.
Riley gave the canned response you’d expect of any sitting head coach with a job to do and dismissed any interest in the NFL and is keeping his focus on the Sooners and trying to beat Texas Tech.
“Right now, I could care less about the NFL, Riley said. Right now we’re trying to win this game and make a run.”
Would you expect Riley to say anything else? No way, he’s going to say something to the effect that he’s always had his eyes set on the NFL and he can’t wait to see what his future holds in store at the next level. He gave the type of answer Oklahoma fans expected, but also gave himself a way to wiggle out of that in the next month by putting the caveat, “right now” at the beginning of his statement.
Perhaps if he is asked this question after his agent speaks to the Browns and learns about their interest in him and how much they’d be willing to pay him to pluck him out of Norman and drop him in Cleveland.
It’s hard to take anything a coach says at face value when it relates to potential future job speculation. In this case, Riley will be a top target of the Browns when they begin reaching out to candidates. That likely hasn’t happened yet, and the questions about his future will not stop, in fact, they’ll likely intensify until he issues a flat-out statement that he will not be the next coach of the Browns and/or he signs a new contract extension to remain at Oklahoma for the foreseeable future.
I think Riley would be awesome in the NFL and it’s already clear he’s awesome at Oklahoma. Jobs like Oklahoma don’t open up all that often, whereas anywhere from five-eight NFL jobs open every winter. Would Riley be itching to leave a top-five job at Oklahoma to take over the worst franchise in the NFL?
Right now, it doesn’t appear that is something he’s all that interested in. Check back after Thanksgiving though to see if his answer has changed at all.