It’s been more than a decade since Leslie Frazier last served as a head coach, but the current Bills defensive coordinator could soon get his shot. ESPN’s Dan Graziano passes along that multiples sources have connected Frazier to the Colts potential HC vacanacy.
There are a few things going for Frazier. The coach does have some connections to Indy, as he served as the Colts assistant head coach/defensive backs coach in 2006. Further, as Graziano writes, Frazier has the support of Tony Dungy, and the former head coach’s “word carries some weight” within the organization. Frazier actually interviewed for the Colts’ head coaching gig back in 2018 before the team hired Frank Reich, so there’s clearly some respect for his coaching ability.
On the flip side, Frazier’s wheelhouse is on the defensive side of the ball. Graziano writes that the organization could be seeking both a quarterback and an offensive play-caller this offseason, and some could assume that those holes would be easier to navigate with an offensive-minded coach. Further, Frazier’s track record as a head coach wasn’t great. He helped guide the Vikings to the playoffs with a 10-6 record in 2012, but the team otherwise went 11-26 during his two-plus seasons at the helm.
Still, there’s no denying Frazier’s ability to coach a defense. Since taking over as Buffalo’s defensive coordinator in 2017, the Bills have developed into one of the top defenses in the NFL, including three top-five finishes in defensive yards allowed between 2018 and 2021. Buffalo’s emergence has led to more and more head coaching opportunities for the coordinator. Just this past offseason, Frazier interviewed for head coaching jobs with the Dolphins, Bears, and Giants, and he was generally considered the runner-up for the gig in New York.
The Colts fired Reich following a 3-5-1 season. Jeff Saturday unexpectedly took over as head coach and won his first game in the position, but the Colts have since dropped three straight. Considering Saturday’s lack of coaching experience, he was always deemed a temporary solution as the HC spot.
After the Bills win the Superbowl this year, Frazier, unfortunately, will be everybody’s Rooney rule interview.
Like the way bills won the Super Bowl 4 years in a row oh wait ? 0 super bowls in franchise history haha
I hope they give Saturday the job permanently. He deserves it
It’s almost irrelevant whether or not a HC candidate is “deserving” of the job. Having favorable connections are what count now. Of course Saturday has an endorsement from Irsay so that should trump anything others bring to the table.
Edlemon – it’s his team
Fisher – I agree with Saturday losing the interim label. Interview Frazier, Ryan’s, etc; but the best choice of those available is Saturday. Let him hire his own staff, stop using Reich’s plays, draft a QB in the top 10 of the first round (maybe top 5). Then with a 3rd place schedule they can get above .500 next year, maybe make the playoffs.
Frazier as a HC again? How exciting. Like drinking a vanilla shake and eating a big bowl of mashed potatoes while watching the paint dry in your freshly renoed beige kitchen. Sign me up.
DeMeco Ryans would be a much better choice. More then deserves a chance.
Better to have a highly coveted journalism degree than be a football coach.
George Plimpton’s experiment to be a QB for the Detroit Lions (old copies of Paper Lion are still out there) was a comic disaster, so an adventure in coaching would be even more ludicrous.
Edlemon – we’re talking about the Lions; any comparison is irrelevant.
Unless he’s improved since his Vikings days he shouldn’t be given a head coaching job, he’s a good coordinator but he was a mediocre at best head coach.
Jim Caldwell also had Dungy’s vote of confidence and look where that went.
Five winning seasons out of seven as a head coach, and one of the losing seasons was when Indy lost Manning and rolled with Curtis Painter to tank.
Who anointed Dungy?
The legacy of Vikings employment is a big fat nothing. They’ve been a disappointment since 1976 and totally ruined by Red Mcoombs and Denny Green.
So tired of hearing, and seeing Tony Dungy out there with his ‘expert’ options. The only people people he endorses are people who are overrated, out of a starting job, or a job in general. Such players as Jamis Winston, Colin Kapernick, RG 3, Jamarcus Russell (that one killed me with laughter), Hue Jackson, Leslie Frazier, and Brian Flores (have to admit he may be right on that one), to name a few off the top of my head. Think about what all these people have in common and then try and think of the people who are opposite them that he has come out and publicly endorsed? Think of one? Me neither.
Sorry, but I have a real problem with that, just as I would with a person who championed only for the opposite of Dungy. Can’t take their opinions as sincere and unbiased for the best person for the job.
He also endorsed Josh McDaniels for the Indy job. He was also one of Tim Tebow’s biggest hype men once upon a time. Dungy has a long track record of being incorrect in his praise for white people, too.
Frazier had four years as a head coach to show something and he didn’t (W21-L32). Better to give someone else a chance who might actually turn out to be something.
He had three seasons and change after taking over as interim coach when Childress bottomed out. He also took over just in time for the team to be dismantled. The end of the Williams Wall, the collapse of Brett Favre, the drafting of Christian Ponder, and the departures of Hutchinson and McKinnie. He’s hardly the most exciting choice for a head coach, but the idea that his potential as one should be judged entirely by that job a decade ago is silly. Plenty of coaches do better their second time around, and going for untested NFL head coaches has yielded an awful lot of duds the last few years.
(With that said, if I were going to give a current defensive coordinator his second shot at being a head coach this offseason, I think Raheem Morris is a more interesting and promising choice.)
Think S.Payton will be the next HC in Indianapolis. Proven winner and knows how to coach younger players.
They don’t have a QB, better teams will be available.