Let’s Set Odds: Which Coordinators Will Get Hired First?

As is the annual tradition, the NFL saw several head coaches fired on what has come to be knowns as “Black Monday” in the league. It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly the firings are announced after the regular season is officially over. 

This season was no different and the hits began rolling in as predicted. The first head-to-roll was Vic Fangio who was fired by the Broncos late Sunday night. They couldn’t even wait a few hours until Monday. Next, the Vikings’ Mike Zimmer and GM Rick Spielman got the ax following a losing season at 8-9. Matt Nagy was also fired by the Chicago Bears and their GM Ryan Pace after going 6-11. While those two come as very little surprise to most, the firing of Brian Flores in Miami is a bit. Sure, they were 1-7 at one point but went on an epic run and almost made the playoffs thanks to some great coaching. 

This leaves, at the tie of writing, four vacant slots from head coaching jobs in the NFL. There are a number of quality coordinators in the NFL right now who would fit in well with these jobs. We thought it would be fun to set odds for which coordinators get the call. WynnBET Sportsbook doesn’t yet have odds on this prop but we can make some informed guesses in the meantime. 

Odds for Former Coordinators to be Head Coaches in Week 1 of 2022

Leslie Frazier, DC Buffalo Bills | -200

Frazier makes this shortlist as one of two coaches to be sent an interview request as of this writing. It was announced that the Chicago Bears requested an interview with Frazier who has a lot of history with the franchise. Frazier played his entire career for the Bears in the 80s and was a part of the ‘85 team. 

After his career on the field. Frazier has more than two decades of coaching experience including as a head coach in Minnesota between 2011-13. 

He was the defensive coordinator for the Bengals in 2003-04, the Vikings in 2007-10, the Buccaneers 2014-15. He has been with the Buffalo Bills since 2017. 

Byron Leftwich, OC Tampa Bay Buccaneers | -150

Leftwich has been a hot name in the coaching candidate debate recently. It was reported that he had received a request for an interview by the Jacksonville Jaguars a few weeks after firing Urban Meyer. 

As is the case with Frazier, the Jaguars drafter Lewtwich and he took over the starting QB position four games into his rookie year. He lasted four seasons in Jacksonville before eventually retiring as a Steeler in 2012. 

Leftwich has had an impressive coaching career since retiring from play. He was first hired in 2016 by the Cardinals as an intern to help quarterbacks. Less than a year later, he was the team’s quarterback coach before becoming the interim offensive coordinate in 2018. He was hired by the Buccaneers as their offensive coordinate in 2019, reuniting him with Bruce Arians. Arians have said he delegates the offense to Leftwich and even expressed his shock that nobody hired him after the Bucs won the Super Bowl last year. 

As far as futures bets go, Leftwich would be mine to snag a head-coaching gig in 2022.