NFL Rumors: Recent Chatter Surrounding 2021 Head Coaching Vacancies

The defensive coordinators for two of the eight remaining teams in the NFL postseason are generating a good amount of interest on the head coaching market. 

Brandon Staley of the Los Angeles Rams and Todd Bowles from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have earned interest from some of the six teams with coaching vacancies. 

None of the open head coach jobs have been filled yet, but interviews have taken place across the league with a variety of candidates. 

Some interviewees, like Bowles, have previous experience in charge of NFL franchises, while others, like Staley, are trying to impress general managers and owners enough to land their first head-coaching gigs.

Recent NFL Coaching Chatter

Brandon Staley

The MMQB's Albert Breer reported that Staley would interview with the New York Jets and Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. 

Breer mentioned that the Chargers require any potential hire from a defensive background to have "a very detailed plan" for the quarterback position.

The Chargers are set up for more success than the Jets because they have a franchise quarterback in place with Justin Herbert, which may lead to them landing a top offensive mind instead of Staley.

New York has more questions to answer because Sam Darnold is not guaranteed to be the starter in 2021 and an offensive build from scratch may be required. 

Staley turned himself into an intriguing head coach candidate by molding the Rams defense into one of the best in the NFL. 

The Rams held the Seattle Seahawks to 278 total yards and forced a pair of turnovers in the wild-card round win at Lumen Field. 

Los Angeles conceded the fewest total yards by a wide margin in the regular season. It allowed 4,511 total yards, while Washington finished in second with the concession of 4,873 yards. Pittsburgh and New Orleans were the only other franchises to let up fewer than 5,000 total yards. 

If Staley lands one of the six open jobs, he would be the third former assistant of Rams head coach Sean McVay to earn a head coach position. Green Bay's Matt LaFleur and Cincinnati's Zac Taylor are the other two. 

The difference between Staley and LaFleur and Taylor is that the former works on the defensive side of the ball. LaFleur and Taylor were hired for their offensive minds. 

Todd Bowles

According to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo, Bowles is "expected to meet" with the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons. 

Since Bowles was previously the head coach of the Jets, he would likely be in the mix for five of the six vacancies, if the other three teams were interested in him.

Bowles led the Jets to a 10-6 campaign in 2015 before the team dropped to the bottom of the AFC East. He finished with a 26-41 record in New York. 

The 57-year-old worked his way back into the coaching carousel through two years in charge of the Tampa Bay defense. 

The Buccaneers gave up the sixth-fewest total yards in the regular season and benefited from that unit to reach the divisional round of the postseason.

Atlanta and Detroit brought in defensive minds for their last head-coaching hires, but Dan Quinn and Matt Patricia were both unable to sustain long-term success and were fired before the end of the 2020 season. 

The Lions and Falcons finished in the bottom five of total yards allowed, so it would make sense if both ownership groups turned to a defensive mind to fix the corresponding units to support offenses with solid veteran quarterbacks in Matthew Stafford and Matt Ryan. 

Those two situations could be ideal for any defensive mind since that coach would not have to worry about reconfiguring an entire offensive unit. A few additions may be required, but neither team needs a complete overhaul that would attract attention away from rebuilding the defense. 

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Statistics obtained from Pro Football Reference