Gang Green interviews Panthers OC Brady
The remote interviews are coming fast and furious. Unlike Adam Gase’s plodding offense during his two years in charge of the Jets, the team has picked up the pace this week when it comes to finding a new head man to replace the ousted coach.
Gang Green added a fourth name to the list of candidates who have conducted a remote interview this week as the team interviewed Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady on Saturday.
Brady, 31, just finished his first season as the Panthers offensive coordinator under first-year NFL head coach Matt Rhule. He joins Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, ex-Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh to have interviewed with Jets brass.
Before joining Rhule with the Panthers, Brady served one season as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach with LSU. Led by Joe Burrow, the 2019 Tigers went undefeated and won the national championship. His previous NFL experience came as an offensive assistant on Sean Payton’s Saints staff in 2017 and 2018.
Like Bieniemy and Saleh, Brady is attracting plenty of attention this offseason as he has also interviewed with the Falcons, Texans and Chargers for their openings.
General Manager Joe Douglas is believed to be the key decision maker in picking Gase’s successor after acting owner Christopher Johnson fired Gase immediately following the Jets’ Week 17 loss to the Patriots on Sunday. Gase’s squad lost 13 straight games to open his second season in charge and finished with a 2-14 mark, the second worst season in team history. Overall he went 9-23.
Rhule praised Brady in an interview with the Panthers website in July.
“For being such a young guy, he is a football grinder,” Rhule said. “A lot of guys, they have a system and they’re so smart — Joe’s a grinder. He’s constantly working on football, and I think the players recognize that.”
“The reason why I wanted to hire Joe was (that) at LSU he ran a version of the Saints’ system,” Rhule added. “As a college coach, I studied NFL tape all the time. Obviously, with them being in the NFC South, I have so much respect for (head coach) Sean Payton, their system, their ability to consistently execute and play at the highest of levels. And so you see Joe with his own take put on something that’s really strong fundamentally and sound fundamentally.”
Brady is getting plenty of attention in this hiring season despite the Panthers having the league’s 21st overall offense and ranking No. 24 in scoring. But the team lost star running back Christian McCaffrey for all but three games in a season they finished a disappointing 5-11.
On the plus side, the Panthers had four players record at least 1,000 yards from scrimmage — running back Mike Davis and wide receivers D.J. Moore, Robby Anderson and Curtis Samuel. The Panthers are only the fifth team in the Super Bowl era to accomplish that feat.
Douglas, who was hired after Gase in 2019, promised he would be casting “a very wide net” to find Gang Green’s next coach. He is expected to talk to Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus in the next few days.