I should have listened to DJ Khaled. Suffering from success is a real thing after all. Liam Coen has the Jacksonville Jaguars prepared to lock down their third division championship within a ten-year span, but the rookie head coach may need to plan for a possibility his organization isn't quite familiar with.
Jacksonville is usually looking for the next great head coach instead of worrying about its own staff being poached by others. Over the years, Shad Khan toiled to hire the best resumes, systems, and cultures he could to turn his franchise into a consistent winner. Now, other organizations are looking for one of his assistants to take them to the gridiron's promised land.
Grant Udinski is young and doesn't call plays for the Jaguars, but that hasn't stopped national reporters from mentioning him as an aspirant general managers see as a wild card in the upcoming hiring cycle. With that, envisioning the former Viking as a surprise hire won't be that difficult if Trevor Lawrence continues to re-establish himself as a Top-10 quarterback this postseason.
Believe it or not, Grant Udinski could be one and done with the Jaguars
Here's what makes Udinski a realistic candidate: the New York Giants are casting a very big net. According to a recent report from ESPN's Jordan Raanan, New York will consider coaches with offensive and defensive backgrounds and those with and without prior head coaching experience.
While elaborating on the long list of potential candidates, Raanan slotted Udinski in the young guns section. He didn't give much information on the 29-year-old's viability as a future head coach, but this isn't the first time we've seen reports from the national media floating his name in the air.
Last month, Jonathan Jones dropped a nugget on CBS Sports' website claiming that Udinski could be interviewed for head coaching roles within the next few weeks. However, the NFL Insider explained that rules regulating front offices' behavior are the reason for this development.
Liam Coen can block teams from interviewing the Jaguars' current OC for the same job. Simply offering the opportunity to call plays wouldn't be enough of a vertical move to speak to Udinski without needing clearance from the franchise. In his report, Jones mentioned that head coaching interviews have been used to recruit non-play calling assistants for lateral moves with more responsibility in the past.
So, Udinski being a bona fide candidate to lead an NFL franchise before he's 30 isn't really the issue here. Football has become an offensive sport, and offensive minds are usually the ones favored during coaching searches. The quickest way to become an NFL head coach is to prove you can design or call an explosive offense that immediately places a team in the best position to succeed.
Udinski can show teams the nuances of the Jaguars' system during head coaching interviews to make his case, but he may be inclined to pursue play-calling opportunities if general managers hold his current lack of authority against him. I wouldn't blame him for that, and Liam Coen's path to his dream job shows that it could actually be the right move.