The San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins both need new head coaches for the 2016 season, and both NFL franchises have reportedly targeted the same man, Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson. Both teams have requested to interview him, according to Michael Silver and Jeff Darlington of NFL Network.
To follow up on the @JeffDarlington report: The 49ers, like the Dolphins, have also put in a request with Bengals to interview Hue Jackson
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 5, 2016
That Jackson would be a hot commodity shouldn’t surprise anyone.
The former head coach of the Oakland Raiders never got a fair shake at that job. He was fired after an 8-8 campaign in 2011, and Oakland still has yet to reach the .500 mark since his dismissal (that should change soon).
Oakland’s loss was Cincinnati’s gain. Jackson rose swiftly from being the team’s secondary coach in 2012 to its running backs coach in 2013 and finally to the role of offensive coordinator last season. His encouragement and guidance helped transform Andy Dalton this past year into one of the league’s hottest signal-callers before his hand injury.
Both the Dolphins and 49ers have young signal-callers in need of that same kind of guidance, and Jackson’s creative offensive mind is perfectly suited to taking advantage of the rules of the game today.
The two teams will have to wait to interview Jackson until at least Sunday after the team’s first playoff game. Likely, they won’t be the last to reach out to him before the jobs are all filled in vacancies around the league.