The New York Jets are moving quickly to fill their offensive coordinator vacancy.
The team announced that they have completed a virtual round of interviews with five candidates. That group featured: Darrell Bevell, Ronald Curry, Frank Reich, Greg Roman, and Lunda Wells.
Darrell Bevell highlights the group as a former Super Bowl champion offensive coordinator.
Bevell won that ring with the Seattle Seahawks during the 2013 season. Seattle blew out the Denver Broncos 43 to 8 on the biggest stage of them all.
He started his coaching journey back in 1996. Across those 30 years, Bevell has been an offensive coordinator at the NFL level for 15 seasons.
Most recently, Bevell has resided in the AFC East with the Miami Dolphins, serving as their quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.
The Best of the Rest…
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic revealed on the “Flight Plan” podcast that Dallas Cowboys tight ends coach Lunda Wells is not a “serious candidate.”
Why would Wells interview with the Jets if he wasn’t a serious candidate? Well, since the team fired Tanner Engstrand, the Rooney Rule expands for coordinator interviews.
That means they have to check additional boxes to hire whom they want, and it sounds like Wells falls into that category.
Greg Roman, 53, is another super-experienced coach on this list. He has been coaching football for over 31 years. There was a brief three season sabatical in the middle of his journey that took him away from the NFL, but the other 28 years were spent in the big leagues.
The majority of his coaching adventures have included a Harbaugh. 14 of his 31 years in the league have been spent with one of John or Jim Harbaugh. This offseason, he was fired by the Los Angeles Chargers and his good pal Jim Harbaugh.
One of the guys on the list who doesn’t have as big a name is Ronald Curry. He played for eight years in the NFL as a wide receiver. Then, after his playing career, he jumped into coaching.
After spending the first seven years of his coaching journey as either an offensive assistant or a wide receivers coach, he became a quarterbacks coach. Most recently, Curry has served as the Buffalo Bills’ quarterbacks coach for the last two years.
It Still Appears the Favorite Is the Favorite
While there are some very interesting names on this list, by all accounts, Frank Reich remains the favorite to be the next Jets OC.
“The Jets are Rooney Rule compliant and can hire an OC at any time. All eyes on Reich,” ESPN’s Rich Cimini posted.
Darrell Bevell (Mia QBs/pass game) Ronald Curry (Buf QBs) Frank Reich (Stanford adviser) Greg Roman (LAC OC) Lunda Wells (DAL TEs)
The Jets are Rooney Rule compliant and can hire an OC at any time. All eyes on
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic wrote, “Likely leads to Reich.”
Likely leads to Reich.
Beat reporter Nick Faria of Jets X-Factor told me on “The Manchild Show with Boy Green Digital”: “I am more confident than ever that [Frank Reich] will be the offensive coordinator for this team.”
Even if Reich is the guy, the Jets still have multiple holes to fill on the offensive staff. It’s possible that the Jets go back to this initial list of experienced guys to help fill some of those roles.
The team is seeking a passing game coordinator after firing Scott Turner, and they need a quarterbacks coach after relieving Charles London.
Jets Interview 5 Candidates for OC Job Including Super Bowl Champ Coach