NFL Rumors: Latest Buzz Surrounding Top 2017 Head Coach Candidates

When the NFL regular season comes to an end, two big events typically occur. One of them is obviously the NFL postseason. The other is the annual tradition of navigating the coaching carousel.

This year, six head coaching jobs were vacated either before the regular season ended or just after it. Five teams—the Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Diego Chargers, Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers—fired their head coaches.

The Denver Broncos saw their job open up when head coach Gary Kubiak decided it was time to call it a career.

We're now down to only five openings, however, as the Jaguars appear to have their new front office in place. According to NFL Media's Ian Rapoport, Jacksonville is removing the interim tag from Doug Marrone's job title and making him head coach. Former New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin is being brought in as executive vice president as well:

Today, we're going to examine the latest buzz surrounding the five remaining head coaching vacancies in the NFL. We'll be looking at the latest rumors and providing our thoughts on each.

Latest Buzz

Bill O'Brien Still Drawing Interest

Heading into the postseason, there was plenty of chatter surrounding Houston Texans head coach Bill O'Brien and his future with the franchise. Much of the speculation suggested that he might be out of a job by the time the playoffs were over. 

However, Texans owner Bob McNair has since insisted that O'Brien isn't in danger of losing his job.

O'Brien has also dismissed the idea that he could be interested in leaving after the postseason, suggesting that he rather likes coaching the Texans.

"I really enjoy coaching this team," O'Brien said, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. "I think one of the things about coming to work here every day is it's a great place to work because you have really good people here and you have a bunch of great players that really understand the meaning of hard work and have put a lot of time into this thing."

None of this, of course, means that teams with coaching vacancies aren't interested in the idea of bringing in O'Brien during the offseason.

Peter King of The MMQB believes O'Brien would be a strong candidate for "at least two" of the six initial openings.

It's worth noting that the Jaguars might have been one of the two teams King was speaking of—and thus, the number could be down to one. Yet, it's still interesting that someone with as much inside information as King believes there is still legitimate interest in O'Brien.

Depending on what the unnamed job offer might be, and how the postseason unfolds for Houston, we might not have heard the final word on O'Brien's future in Houston after all.

Vance Joseph Could Be Hired Soon

The Texans ended up winning on Wild Card Weekend, but the Miami Dolphins did not. This means that while O'Brien is still engaged in playoff football, Dolphins defensive coordinator and potential head coach candidate Vance Joseph is not and is available for hire.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Joseph has had a coaching interview with the Denver Broncos set up since Saturday:

If the Broncos are looking for a defensive coach to help rebuild the unit that smothered the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50, then Joseph would fit the bill. Joseph has coached in the NFL since 2005. While the Dolphins defense was far from elite under Joseph—ranked 18th in points allowed, 23.8 per game—it was good enough to help win 10 games.

Seeing as how the majority of Joseph's experience is as a defensive backs coach, he should fit in with the defensive philosophies currently shared in Denver.

Joseph could bring a familiar face back to Denver as well.

According to Alex Marvez of Sporting News, Joseph is interested in bringing in Mike McCoy as his offensive coordinator if hired. McCoy was recently fired as head coach of the San Diego Chargers and served as Denver's offensive coordinator before that.

Since Joseph has just one year as a coordinator under his belt, some are sure to suggest that he is being interviewed to satisfy the Rooney Rule, which requires NFL teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching positions.

However, ESPN's John Clayton helped dispel this idea during the regular season when he suggested that Joseph would be a "legitimate candidate" for the Cincinnati Bengals if Marvin Lewis were to step down.

According to Bleacher Report NFL Insider Jason Cole (see video above), Joseph now has a "leg up" on the competition for the job in Denver.

Patricia Could Be the Right Choice for the Chargers

With McCoy out in San Diego, the Chargers are in need of a new head coach. According to Bleacher Report's Jason Cole, the Chargers are interested in retaining offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and focusing on a defensive head coach.

If this is truly the case in San Diego, then New England Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia might be the right man for the job. He helped build a Patriots defense that is rated fourth overall by Pro Football Focus and allowed an NFL-low 15.6 points per game in the regular season.

Patricia interviewed with the Chargers on Friday. He also interviewed with the Los Angeles Rams over the weekend. While the Chargers haven't announced whether they are willing to offer him the job, this could very well be because the Patriots have yet to even begin their postseason run.

"Obviously over the weekend I was just very thankful for those opportunities and that was a great experience to go through," Patricia explained, per Phil Perry of CSN New England. "I think everything right now is Houston, turn the page as soon as I can."

We probably won't learn more about Patricia's future until after New England's postseason comes to an end, but he definitely does seem like a candidate that could help turn San Diego's defense around in a hurry.