With former New Orleans Saints OC Klint Kubiak taking the identical place with the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday afternoon, the Saints at the moment are searching for their third offensive play caller in as a few years. The crew has thought-about a number of offensive-minded head coach candidates who might take over play-calling duties from Kubiak. They’ve already accomplished an in-person interview with New York Giants OC Mike Kafka and have plans to interview Philadelphia Eagles OC Kellen Moore and former Dallas Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy for the vacant place. Moreover, they requested to interview Washington Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury, however he has but to reply. Now that the Commanders have been eradicated, they can persuade him to fly in for an interview. Nevertheless, it’s trying unlikely he’ll depart Jayden Daniels after only one season.
That stated, it’s nonetheless attainable the Saints resolve to go within the route of Darren Rizzi or Miami Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver. Right here’s a possible candidate to be the subsequent OC of the black and gold, whether or not as play caller or to additional develop below a longtime offensive thoughts:
Photograph by Tim Warner/Getty Photos
On Friday, the Houston Texans made the stunning choice to half methods with one of many 2024 teaching cycle’s hottest head coach candidates in OC Bobby Slowik.
A serious change in Houston: The #Texans are shifting on from offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, sources say, after an up-and-down offensive season.
Regardless of reaching the divisional spherical, coach DeMeco Ryans hopes for extra. OL coach Chris Strausser can be out. pic.twitter.com/UYOdNiADAx
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 24, 2025
Slowik had a formidable begin to his tenure in Houston. He performed a pivotal function within the improvement of 2023 AP OROTY C.J. Stroud, who delivered among the finest rookie quarterback campaigns we’ve ever seen whereas main the 10-7 Texans to their first postseason look since 2019 and securing a Wild Card playoff win at simply 22 years previous. So, to see one of many league’s rising offensive minds already out of a job only a yr later, one thing needed to have gone incorrect, proper?
In the end, they simply didn’t take the leap that many envisioned regardless of including shiny new weaponry in gamers like All-Professional WR Stefon Diggs and Professional Bowl RB Joe Mixon. They completed the common season with the Seventeenth-ranked whole offense averaging 21.9 PPG (nineteenth) and 319.7 YPG (twenty second). Nevertheless, they suffered a number of key accidents down the stretch which actually didn’t assist Slowik, Stroud, or the remainder of the offense’s case.
Stroud completed the 2024 season with 3,727 passing yards, 20 landing passes, and 12 interceptions, in comparison with the 4,108 passing yards, 23 landing passes, and simply 5 interceptions thrown his rookie yr. And whereas the sophomore stoop was actual for Stroud, Houston believes a good portion of those setbacks stemmed from the dearth of changes in Slowik’s scheme from the earlier season and that opposing groups had been in a position to shortly catch onto their tendencies in 2025—blocking particularly. This finally led to the choice to half methods with Slowik and think about taking a extra revolutionary strategy at offensive coordinator subsequent season.
Personally, I really feel prefer it may very well be value trying into, particularly if New Orleans finally ends up rolling into 2025 with McCarthy or Moore as head coach. What are your ideas on Slowik probably becoming a member of the Saints as offensive coordinator?
