Jaguars planning to interview O’brien
The Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to interview Alabama offensive coordinator and former Houston Texans head coach Bill O’brien next week, a person familiar with the situation confirmed to the Florida Times-union, part of the USA TODAY Network. The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
According to CBS Sports, general manager Trent Baalke pushed Jaguars owner Shad Khan to put O’brien in the mix of candidates to be considered for the job.
In seven seasons with the Houston Texans, O’brien won four AFC South titles. However, O’brien is best remembered for trading away star wide receiver, Deandre Hopkins, because of a personal feud in 2019. As part of the trade with Arizona, the Texans also sent a fourth-round pick in exchange for running back David Johnson and a secondround pick.
O’brien, who served as both general manager and head coach, was fired by the Texans after an 0-4 start during the 2020 season. He returned to college football this past January, becoming Alabama’s offensive coordinator. He helped develop Alabama quarterback Bryce Young into a Heisman Trophy winner this season. The top-ranked Crimson Tide will play the No.3 Georgia Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff Championship game Monday.
Former Jaguars coach Doug Marrone and O’brien are best friends. Marrone is in his first season as Alabama’s offensive line coach after serving four years as the Jaguars head coach before he was fired after the 2020 season when they finished 1-15.
The Jaguars have already interviewed former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, former Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell and Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.
Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett confirmed he is going to interview for the Jaguars’ head coaching job next week.
Hackett said the Jaguars reached out early to him, but he owed it to the Packers organization and players to let nothing get in the way of wrapping up the No. 1 playoff seed in the NFC last week. The Packers (13-3) clinched the top seed with a 37-10 victory against the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday.
”It’s absolutely an honor to be even considered for something like this,” Hackett said during a virtual call. ”So we’re going to do it during the bye because we wrapped up that No. 1 seed. It’s a dream for any football coach to have an opportunity to potentially become a head coach.”
Hackett, 42, joined the Jaguars’ staff as quarterbacks coach in 2015 and was promoted to coordinator midway through the 2016 season under former head coach Gus Bradley.
When Marrone was named head coach in January 2017, he retained Hackett as coordinator. However, Marrone fired Hackett after 11 games into the 2018 season.
Hackett’s departure came after the Jaguars had lost seven consecutive games and their offense ranked 28th in the NFL in scoring (17.9 points per game) and 22nd in total offense (346.5 yards per game).
Hackett was hired by Green Bay in January 2019 and is in his third season with quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers has emerged as the MVP front-runner with 35 touchdown passes and just four interceptions with a 68.6% completion rate.
”Smart players make great players,” Hackett said. ”You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t have that ability to know all those nuances then it’s very hard to do. You have to have real tough guys and real intelligent guys — that’s kind of the starting point.”
A person familiar with the situation confirmed the Jaguars interviewed Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich on Friday.