Jim Caldwell, erstwhile head coach of the Colts and Lions, wants to return to the league in 2019 and is expected to be on some teams’ list of head coaching candidates, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. Caldwell agreed to work as a consultant with the reincarnated XFL back in July, but an NFL head coaching job is likely a bit more tempting.
Caldwell, a longtime assistant with the Colts, became Indianapolis’ head coach in 2009 after Tony Dungy retired, and he guided his club to an AFC championship in his first season at the helm. The Colts lost the Super Bowl that year, however, and while they returned to the playoffs in 2010, they finished the 2011 campaign with a 2-14 record and Caldwell was fired at the end of the season (though to be fair to Caldwell, Peyton Manning missed the entire year due to injury).
Caldwell resurfaced in Baltimore as the Ravens’ quarterbacks coach in 2012, and though he never served as an offensive coordinator at any point in his career, he was promoted to OC later that year when Cam Cameron was fired, and he oversaw Joe Flacco‘s historic playoff run that culminated in a Super Bowl championship. He remained the Ravens’ OC in 2013 — though without nearly as much success — and the Lions hired him as their head coach in 2014.
He did take the often moribund Lions to the playoffs twice during his four years in Detroit, and nearly made it for a third time last season. But the team largely underachieved in 2017, and Caldwell was fired in January 2018.
Caldwell is far from a sexy hire, but his experience and his 62-50 regular season record as a head coach does make him worthy of consideration, and it appears he will at least garner some interest around the league next month.
Caldwell was mentioned as a potential OC candidate after he was fired by the Lions, and he may be able to land a high-level coaching position even if he does not get another head coaching job.