With the NFL coaching carousel still in full swing, a handful of notable names from college football continue to be tied into the hoopla at the next level. While it is beginning to look more and more as though Jim Harbaugh will be staying at Michigan in 2022, our old friend Bill O’Brien could be trending his way back to the NFL. But it may not be as a head coach.
ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported, via Twitter, that O’Brien could be a top target to join the staff of the New England Patriots if current Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel is named the next head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
If the Raiders and Josh McDaniels get a deal done to make him the next Las Vegas HC, a potential OC replacement in New England could be former Patriots’ assistant Bill O’Brien.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 27, 2022
Ironically, if McDaniel is named the next head coach of the Raiders (a job that previously was tied to some Harbaugh rumors and O’Brien heads to the Patriots, O’Brien would be succeeding the very coach who succeeded him when O’Brien was hired to be the head coach at Penn State. Is this the football version of the circle of life?
O’Brien could have another potential path to returning to the NFL as an offensive coordinator. It has been reported O’Brien could head to the New York Giants to fill the role if the Giants hire Brian Flores to be their next head coach.
One name I've heard mentioned as an OC possibility if Brian Flores were to land as head coach with Giants:
Bill O'Brien.
Not the only choice, obviously, and no guarantee that it would happen, but names are always fun.
And OC is absolutely a big part of Flores' candidacy imo.
— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) January 21, 2022
O’Brien is coming off his second season as the offensive coordinator at Alabama. Many Penn State fans have fond memories of O’Brien from his brief, and important, time as head coach of the Nittany Lions, but the fans down in Tuscaloosa are not nearly as enamored with BOB. It is to the point where a good number of Alabama fans are actively rooting for O’Brien to accept a job elsewhere so head coach Nick Saban can find a new offensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide.
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