Greg

Olson

Scot Loeffler is currently Philly’s quarterbacks coach, but it’s possible the Eagles let him go, allowing new OC Sean Mannion to pick his replacement. In a similar vein, Olson should be let go by the Raiders once they land Klint Kubiak as their next head coach. Mannion previously played under Olson in Seattle. Per Garafolo’s sources, Mannion would be interested in reuniting with his coach in Philly.

Olson was born to be a Raider. Literally. The 62-year-old coach is in his third stint with the team since first being hired as offensive coordinator in 2013, and also spent three years as their OC from 2018-2021 under Jon Gruden. Now, instead of having to get better play out of Derek Carr, Olson will take on the task of fixing Geno Smith, who took an unprecedented 10 sacks in Week 12’s loss to the Browns. The Raiders currently ranked 31st in points scored and are 30th in yards. Running back Ashton Jeanty has had his moments, but is also underwhelming to the tune of 166-604-4 on the ground while averaging 3.6 YPC. While it’s hard to imagine the Raiders doing a complete 180 midseason, it’s also hard to imagine things will continue as they have. We’ll get our first look at the Olson-led offense in Week 13 when the Raiders face the Chargers.

Olson served as the Raiders’ offensive coordinator under John Gruden and joined the Rams in 2022. He previously worked under Sean McVay as the Rams’ quarterbacks coach and has had multiple stints as an offensive coordinator earlier in his career. Olsen is an experienced coach but isn’t the most exciting option to pair with Justin Herbert.

This will be Olson’s third stint with the Rams after leaving L.A. for the Raiders’ OC job in 2018 under coach Jon Gruden. He previously served as coach Sean McVay’s QBs coach and before that was the Rams’ OC in St. Louis from 2006-07. Olson gives McVay an experienced righthand man with the departure of OC Kevin O’Connell. Liam Coen was hired as O’Connell’s replacement at offensive coordinator.

It’s not clear whether Olson tested positive for COVID-19, but he won’t be at Thursday night’s game. Gruden will take over as the Raiders’ offensive play caller. Hopefully he’ll be able to keep his mask on in this one.

An NFL assistant 13 of the past 14 years, Olson coordinated the Raiders’ offense in 2013-14, and Tampa Bay’s from 2008-11. In between, he served as coach Mike Mularkey’s QBs coach in Jacksonville. It’s not a flashy hire, but Olson did good work with Derek Carr and Terrelle Pryor in Oakland, and Josh Freeman in Tampa. The Jags obviously believe he’ll be able to coax improvement out of sophomore QB Blake Bortles, who was wildly erratic as a rookie. The news leaves ex-Broncos OC Adam Gase without an obvious landing spot.

The longtime NFL coordinator served as Gruden’s QBs coach and offensive coordinator Gruden’s final year in Tampa (2008). He was fired from his most recent coordinating job in Jacksonville in the middle of the 2016 season. Olson served as Raiders coordinator from 2013-14. Gruden had previously believed to be targeting Jets OC John Morton, who would be a better hire than Olson.

QBs coach Nathaniel Hackett is expected to take over as coordinator. This firing seemed inevitable with Blake Bortles getting worse every week. Olson certainly did not help matters by abandoning the running game even when it was working in recent weeks, something which reportedly upset coach Gus Bradley, but the offense is being held hostage by Bortles’ mechanical issues, issues the new coordinator failed to fix as the QBs coach. Perhaps the team enjoys a new-coach bump, but the Jags’ offensive issues are not going away as long as Bortles is playing like a bottom-tier quarterback.

Olson was in the mix to be the Bills’ new OC, but apparently was getting passed over and will take a position coach gig with the Rams. Olson coaxed a big year out of Blake Bortles as the Jaguars’ OC in 2015 but was canned by Jacksonville back in October after a horrid start. He was also instrumental in developing Derek Carr in Oakland as a rookie. Olson previously was the Rams’ OC back in 2006-07 under then-coach Scott Linehan. Olson’s next project is Jared Goff.

Olson guided Blake Bortles to a monster year in 2015, but the wheels fell off this season and Olson was fired in October. Olson had a tendency to abandon the run game and put too much on Bortles’ plate at times. He would be an underwhelming hire in Buffalo. Chiefs co-OC Brad Childress has also been linked to the job, but he is reportedly “out of the picture.”