National Football League

NFL coaching changes: Texans to hire Smith, Saints go with Allen

Updated Feb. 7, 2022 6:23 p.m. ET

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The NFL offensive coaching carousel appears to have come to a stop.

Here is the latest on the recent coaching moves across the league:

New Orleans Saints

The Saints are keeping it in-house.

Weeks after longtime head coach Sean Payton stepped down, the Saints have informed defensive coordinator Dennis Allen that he will step into Payton's shoes and lead the franchise into the immediate future. Allen has previous head coaching experience, serving as the Oakland Raiders' head coach for a little over two seasons (2012-14). Under Allen, the Raiders posted back-to-back 4-12 seasons before he was fired after starting 0-4 in 2014. He's served as New Orleans' defensive coordinator since 2015.

Houston Texans

Lovie Smith, who served as the Texans' associate head coach and defensive coordinator this past season, is expected to be named the team's next head coach.

Smith will replace David Culley, who was fired on Jan. 13, less than one year after he was hired as the team's head coach. 

Smith has plenty of head coaching experience under his belt, serving as the head coach of the Chicago Bears from 2004-12 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2014-15. His career record as an NFL head coach sits at 92-90 (.505), which includes a 3-3 mark in the postseason. He was named the 2005 AP Coach of the Year after leading the Bears to an 11-5 record and a spot in the postseason.

Sandwiched in between his NFL head coaching stints in Chicago and Tampa Bay, Smith served as the head coach at the University of Illinois, where he posted a 17-39 mark from 2016-20. 

Smith joins Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins), Robert Saleh (New York Jets), Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Ron Rivera (Washington Commanders) as the league's current minority head coaches.

Miami Dolphins

Despite the headlines in Miami revolving around former head coach Brian Flores in recent weeks, the Dolphins still needed to make a move to replace Flores this offseason –– and reports are they landed their guy on Sunday. 

Most recently, the 38-year-old Mike McDaniel served as offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers for a single season under Kyle Shanahan, helping the Niners make a run to the NFC Championship Game. He was the team's run game coordinator during the three seasons prior to becoming OC and previously served in offensive positions with the Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons, among other franchises.

Minnesota Vikings

Although unofficial, reports are that the Vikings have tabbed Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell as their next head coach, replacing Mike Zimmer.

O'Connell, 36, has helped lead the Rams offense for the past two seasons and was the Washington Commanders OC in 2019. 

Jacksonville Jaguars

Former Philadelphia head coach Doug Pederson is the man who will take over as head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars following a rocky season with Urban Meyer.

Pederson coached the Eagles from 2016 until 2021, famously leading them to victory in Super Bowl LII. He was let go following the 2020 season after compiling a 4-11-1 record that season and finishing last in the NFC East. 

Over his five seasons in Philly, Pederson went 42-37-1, winning two NFC East titles and one NFC title en route to the Super Bowl win.

Pederson also helped Philly succeed in another crucial area: grooming their young QB, Carson Wentz. In 2017, Wentz posted one of the best seasons of his career under Pederson, leading the Eagles to an 11-2 record with a league-leading 78.5 QBR. The Jags likely hope that Pederson will be able to similarly shepherd 2021's top NFL draft pick, Trevor Lawrence. 

Las Vegas Raiders

One of the hottest names in the coaching market is off the board, as the Las Vegas Raiders inked a deal with longtime Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

The move comes after a highly-controversial, up-and-down season involving Jon Gruden, who resigned on Oct. 11 after a report detailed his use of racist, anti-gay and misogynistic language in emails over the course of several years.

The Raiders were able to pick up the pieces from there, winning a wild regular-season finale over the Chargers to cement a playoff berth under interim coach Rich Bisaccia, but were eliminated by Joe Burrow and the Bengals in the wild-card round.

New York Giants

The Giants decided to keep things close to home.

A week after hiring former Buffalo Bills assistant general manager Joe Schoen, the Giants went back to the Buffalo well again, hiring Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as their new head coach on Friday. 

Daboll is often credited for overseeing the development of Bills star quarterback Josh Allen after spending the last four seasons running the Buffalo offense. He previously served as offensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide (2017), Kansas City Chiefs (2012), Miami Dolphins (2011) and Cleveland Browns (2009-10).

The next task in front of Daboll is to reenergize a Giants franchise that hasn't had a winning season since 2016 and has one playoff berth in the last decade. New York, under its last head coach Joe Judge, went 10-23 over the last two seasons, and this past regular season, finished 31st in total offense and points per game.

Denver Broncos

The Broncos hired Green Bay offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett as their new head coach in a move that's sure to spark intrigue, given Hackett's close ties to Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who has been openly uncertain about the future of his career.

Hackett was scheduled to interview with the Jaguars on Thursday, but the Broncos stepped in Wednesday night to keep that from happening.

Hackett replaces Vic Fangio, who was let go after going 7-10, the Broncos' fifth straight losing season. It will be Hackett's first stint as head coach.

The Broncos have about $50 million in projected cap space, 11 picks in the upcoming draft and a strong defense. But they were lacking in quarterback play, with Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock both getting starts. Now the Rodgers speculation is inevitable.

Chicago Bears

Having fired Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace after the team finished third in the NFC North at 6-11, some thought the Bears might seek out an offensive-minded coach to groom young quarterback Justin Fields. 

Instead, they went with Eberflus, who will join new general manager Ryan Poles in trying to turn around a franchise that has missed the playoffs in nine of the past 11 seasons.

Eberflus spent the past four seasons as defensive coordinator of the Colts, with whom his squad finished in the top 10 in scoring defense three times.

Chicago also interviewed Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and former Colts and Lions head coach Jim Caldwell.

Dallas Cowboys

There has been much speculation in Dallas that head coach Mike McCarthy's job could be in jeopardy after the team's disappointing exit from the playoffs. And now, the reported decision by Quinn — a hot commodity who has interviewed for several head-coaching jobs — to stay put figures to only add fuel to the fire. 

Quinn helped turn around the Cowboys' defense. A year after it allowed a franchise-record 473 points, the squad finished seventh in points allowed per game and led the NFL with 34 takeaways.

He has been a head coach before, having led the Atlanta Falcons to a 43-42 record from 2015 to '20 and guiding them to the Super Bowl in 2016.

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