Andrew Buller-Russ
Jeff Saturday coached his last game with the Indianapolis Colts on Jan. 8. Ever since, team owner Jim Irsay, general manager Chris Ballard and the rest of the front office have been searching for the franchise’s next locker room leader. We’ve seen three other teams hire new head coaches this offseason, but the Colts have been patient and overly thorough with their interview process.
With over a month passing since Saturday’s tenure possibly ended, the Colts would seemingly be set to make a decision in the next few days. As Mr. Irsay noted on Tuesday, the organization is “days not hours” from making their hire.
With the Kansas City Chiefs set to battle the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, could the Colts be waiting to announce their hire due to his participation in the league’s season finale?
Zak Keefer of The Athletic gets the “sense” that Irsay flew to Philadelphia to meet with Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen in person just prior to the coach’s in-person interview that occurred a day later.
This would seem to indicate that Steichen could be the frontrunner to land the Colts’ head coaching vacancy. Considering how long the organization has taken to make an announcement, waiting until after the Super Bowl would make sense, only if the Colts have their heart set on a coach participating in Sunday’s event.
While initial reports suggested the Colts could be poised to embark on a rarely-seen third round of interviews, that is no longer the belief. The current understanding is that the next head coach of the Colts will be coming from their current pool of candidates, which includes:
- Jeff Saturday – Interim Colts head coach
- Shane Steichen
- Brian Callahan – Bengals offensive coordinator
- Raheem Morris – Rams defensive coordinator
- Aaron Glenn – Lions defensive coordinator
- Wink Martindale – Giants defensive coordinator
- Rich Bisaccia – Packers special teams coordinator
Of the above group of candidates, only Steichen’s team is playing in the Super Bowl. If you’re the Colts, why else are we waiting so long? Keep in mind, the Arizona Cardinals are still waiting to hire their head coach too.
Related: 5 valuable free agents the Indianapolis Colts could target during offseason
