Los Angeles Rams Offensive Coordinator Matt LaFleur to interview for vacant Tennessee Titans head coaching job

Well, here’s a turn that was perhaps less than anticipated to kick off the 2018 offseason.

Los Angeles Rams Offensive Coordinator Matt LaFleur will interview for the Tennessee Titans’ head coaching job per the LA Times’ Gary Klein:

The Titans decided not to extend the contract for their previous head coach Mike Mularkey today. The opening certainly makes for an attractive one as a team coming off of a playoff appearance with a young franchise QB in Marcus Mariota.

As for LaFleur, it’s an ominous signal just less than a week after QB Coach Greg Olson agreed to leave the Rams for the Oakland Raiders as their offensive coordinator under new Head Coach Jon Gruden. That the Rams’ offensive staff is attracting attention after finishing with the best scoring offense in the NFL is no surprise. That LaFleur is attracting attention as a potential head coach with just a single year of offensive coordinator experience after seven years as a quarterbacks coach split between the Washington Coach Hirers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Atlanta Falcons is.

It also could serve as a marker for LaFleur’s career interest. In 2017, Head Coach Sean McVay called the plays for the Rams’ offense. The Titans’ interest in LaFleur might well serve as an indicator that LaFleur is seeking greater authority than was vested in him this last year. McVay himself served his first year as offensive coordinator without the playbook mic in Washington under Head Coach Jay Gruden. He was handed those duties in his final two years as OC before taking the Rams’ head coaching job.

Could something similar be in the cards for LaFleur in the next two years in LA with the youth trend developing among the coaching ranks in the NFL?

Stay tuned...