Bobby Slowik has been seen as an up-and-coming young assistant coach since he joined Kyle Shanahan’s staff with the San Francisco 49ers back in 2017.
He’s ascended the ranks from defensive quality control coach his first two seasons in Northern California to spending the 2022 season as San Francisco’s passing-game coordinator on offense.
The 35-year-old Michigan Tech grad is now joining DeMeco Ryans’ staff with the Houston Texans. According to multiple media reports, Slowik is headed to Houston as its offensive coordinator.
This is somewhat of an upset in that Ryans — a former top assistant in San Francisco — had met recently with Kliff Kingsbury for this position. Apparently, the reigning NFL Assistant Coach of the Year viewed Slowik as a better candidate than his well-known counterpart.
Bobby Slowik got his start as a coach at the NFL level with the Washington franchise back in 2011 as a defensive assistant. He worked under Shanahan’s father on a staff that included current head coaches Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan and Mike McDaniel.
This hiring seems to suggest that Houston is going with a west-coast offense. It’s a similar scheme to the one that Shanahan runs in San Francisco, which will lead to speculation about impending free agent Jimmy Garoppolo potentially landing with the Houston Texans.
The Bobby Slowik hiring also comes a short while after Ryans brought in longtime assistant Matt Burke to be his defensive coordinator. Burke has served in a variety of different roles since retiring from the NFL as a player, including being the Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator in 2017 and 2018.