Odds and insights on new NFL coaching choices

You may have heard that the Houston Texans and Atlanta Falcons have fired their coaches. These were coaches who have brought these teams to the post-season. But they were not winning lately, and this is very much a "what have you done for me lately?" league.

Bill O'Brien and Dan Quinn may find work of they want it; perhaps as assistants somewhere. But how will their former teams fill the void?

BetOnline has posted odds on who might fill these vacancies. And you'll see names of some of the "usual suspects" in there. Some of them will get their head coaching opportunity in the off-season. But where will that carousel stop?

TO BE FALCONS NEXT HEAD COACH

Okay, this would be an interesting proposition. You can throw out Saban (25-1); he's not going back to the NFL. He's not far from retirement. And you know, Dabo Swinney (6-1) is in a similar boat, in that he has built an empire where he is and has a lot of recruiting advantages, not to mention a league (ACC) that is "agreeable" as far as level of competition is concerned. Seriously, why would he want to leave all that good stuff? When it comes down to it, he becomes "just another guy" in the NFL. And once these college czars get a taste of the pro game, they see that it's a different ballgame, because it's a level playing field as far as player procurement goes.

Lincoln Riley (3-1) may be on a different trajectory altogether. Riley is only 37 years old, so he has a substantial coaching future ahead of him. He gets a lot of credit for turning three transfer quarterbacks (Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts) into huge stars at Oklahoma. And no one would be surprised if he had NFL ambitions. But it might be a little too early for him.

Jim Harbaugh (15-2) isn't building an empire; in fact, he has kind of underachieved at Michigan. And he can't do much against Ohio State. Besides, he has almost coached a team to a Super Bowl win. A lot of praise has been heaped upon Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich (7-1), but this may be one of those deals where we'd have to see how far Tom Brady takes him. If things take a left turn, he won't be so "hot," at least not like Chiefs O-coordinator Eric Bieniemy (4-1). Raheem Morris (10-1) is the interim coach in Atlanta right now; the last time he was a head coach, his Buccaneers led the league in turnovers and he was relieved by Greg Schiano. Arthur Smith (16-1) is the son of Washington Football Team minority partner Fred Smith (of FedEx fame). Can Dad buy a piece of the Falcons?

TO BE TEXANS NEXT HEAD COACH

Among the ranks of assistant coaches, there emerges a "Flavor of the Year," or the month, as it were, to ease into a head coaching position. That guy at the moment is Eric Bieniemy (even money at BetOnline), the former star running back at Colorado who is offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. But those who have witnessed the overall failure of Adam Gase at Miami and with the Jets have to be cautioned about committing to someone who may bed advancing himself while piggybacking onto a great quarterback, as Gase did with Peyton Manning and Bieniemy may have done with Patrick Mahomes.

There maybe a similar caution about Josh McDaniels (6-1), considering that Bill O'Brien, who was unceremoniously dumped to create this opening, was also one of those Bill Belichick assistants who went crashing. And not the only one, mind you. It's probably going to happen to Detroit's Matt Patricia, and already happened to McDaniels in Denver. Also, GM's remember him taking the Colts job and then suddenly changing this mind. Who really wants that?

There are other usual suspects on this list, and Mike Gundy (20-1) is mentioned too. You may recall that the Oklahoma State coach backed down when challenged by one of his players when it came to wearing the name of a TV network on his T-shirt , for heaven's sake. Instead of telling a player under his charge that it was none of his business, Gundy capitulated. Do you really think that an NFL owner, managing an asset worth over $3 billion, is going to leave it in the hands of a guy like that?

I'd really like to see Greg Roman (9-1) get this job. He transformed an offense on the fly in San Francisco and helped the Niners get to the Super Bowl. He made the Buffalo Bills one of the best rushing teams in the NFL. And he completely rewrote the playbook - quickly - to make Lamar Jackson an MVP-level quarterback in Baltimore, with his innovative run designs. Just imagine what he could do with someone like DeShaun Watson.

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