The Indianapolis Colts have made a flurry of rather massive and shocking moves in the last handful of weeks. On Monday, they fired Frank Reich and named Jeff Saturday as the interim head coach. Let’s take a quick look at the last few weeks for the Colts, shall we?
- Benched Matt Ryan for Sam Ehlinger
- Fired OC Marcus Brady
- Became the lowest-scoring offense (PPG) in the NFL
- Fired HC Frank Reich
- Hired Jeff Saturday as interim HC
What a couple of weeks it’s been for the Colts, eh?
Indianapolis Colts getting ready to raid another NFL team’s coaching staff?
So where does Jim Irsay go from here? It obviously wasn’t Frank Reich’s fault that Andrew Luck decided to retire, and Reich is still likely going to be a coveted option elsewhere now that the Colts have let him go. When you’re in QB purgatory, there’s only so much a head coach can do.
Which NFL teams should be expecting to hear from the Colts in the coming weeks/months as they begin their search for a new full-time head coach (assuming Saturday doesn’t get promoted when this is all said and done)?
Philadelphia Eagles
One potential 2023 NFL head coaching candidate that will start being talked about more and more in the coming weeks/months is Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen. In the last handful of years, we saw Steichen work with Justin Herbert in Los Angeles (during a pandemic, no less) and help set him up for instant stardom before going to the Eagles and really helping elevate the game of Jalen Hurts.
The work Steichen has done with Herbert and Hurts the last couple of years will give NFL teams a lot to think about regarding what he could do working with their next young quarterback.
New Orleans Saints
When a head coach gets fired from an NFL team in 2022, there’s going to be a connection to Sean Payton, more than likely. If Payton decides to unretire from coaching, some team would have to trade for him as he’s under contract with New Orleans for two more years, but don’t be shocked if Jim Irsay tries to pull something off there, making Payton his no. 1 target in the offseason.
Buffalo Bills
Despite the departure of Brian Daboll to the New York Giants, Ken Dorsey has managed to keep the Buffalo Bills’ offense humming, at least for the most part. NFL teams know that the key to getting good quickly is to improve at the quarterback position, and Dorsey has certainly been working with a good one in recent years. Now that he’s calling plays for the Bills, his candidacy and chances at being a head coach next year have gotten a significant boost.
San Francisco 49ers
One of the top head coach candidates in the 2023 cycle will undoubtedly be San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans. In fact, you can’t help but think that the 49ers are just preparing to lose him no matter what this coming offseason, as often as his name gets brought up.
Ryans played a lot of games against the Colts as a player when he was a linebacker for the Houston Texans, but perhaps now he could find himself trying to resurrect the Indianapolis franchise as its next head coach.