Matt

Nagy

Nagy never worked directly with Harbaugh, but Schefter notes that Harbaugh coached under Andy Reid, who has been somewhat of a mentor to Nagy. The two have spent well over a decade together between Philadelphia and Kansas City. Reid even stumped for Nagy as a head coach this offseason. On the other hand, he just replaced Nagy, whose contract was up, with Eric Bieniemy as the team’s offensive coordinator. Nagy just spent three years in Kansas City and the team never finished better than 15th in points per game. Defenses have changed to stop teams like the Chiefs specifically, but the results speak for themselves. Perhaps the change of scenery will inject some creativity into Nagy’s offense, but we aren’t holding our breath.

Per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Nagy is exploring a few OC openings. In other words, none of the head coaching interviews worked out. That dream died when the Titans passed on him in favor of Robert Saleh. With his contract in Kansas City up and Eric Bieniemy expected to fill that role, Nagy is now on the search for a new OC gig. The Eagles are in desperate need of a creative coordinator to invigorate their stagnant offense, but it’s hard to see Nagy as the man for the job. He just coached Patrick Mahomes for three seasons and failed to finish better than 15th in points scored.

Saleh was initially set to meet with the Titans virtually on Sunday, but instead pushed his interview to Monday so he could hold an in-person meeting with the team. His interview comes shortly after the team wrapped things up with former Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, who is believed by some to be the front runner to land the position. Schultz reported earlier that Saleh, Nagy, and Jeff Hafley were believed to be the top three choices for the Titans, who recently saw Hafley get taken off the market by the Dolphins. If there’s any truth to Saleh and Nagy being the Titans’ top options, they’ll likely move quickly to close the deal with their preferred candidate as they look to find the coach best fit to lead the franchise and No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward into the future.

49ers DC Robert Saleh is meeting with the Titans this afternoon and giving his final sales pitch. McCormick adds that Packers DC Jeff Hafley may get “full-court press[ed]” by the Dolphins this afternoon before he can get to Tennessee. Nagy and the Titans have been a rumored pair for a long time — it was one of the first names to emerge after the firing of Brian Callahan. Perhaps the sudden availability of Sean McDermott will get the Titans to keep things cool for a bit — it sure doesn’t feel like anyone else is as imminently interested in hiring Nagy as they are, as the Titans are the only place so far we have with a reported second interview for the former Chiefs OC. Or perhaps this is going to wrap up in short order. Stay tuned.

The Titans already conducted a virtual interview with Nagy. They will now meet him in person later this week. They are also pursuing Packers DC Jeff Hafley, who is likely their first choice. If Hafley doesn’t take the job, Nagy could get a second chance at leading a team. He went 34-31 with the Bears after a successful run as the Chiefs’ quarterbacks coach and eventually offensive coordinator. His latest stint as the Chiefs’ OC has not gone as well. With the best quarterback on the planet at his disposal, Nagy’s Chiefs have topped out at 15th in points per game over the past three years. It’s hard to see him doing better with Cam Ward under center.

A hot candidate this cycle after doing a multi-year penance for his Bears tenure with the Chiefs, Nagy has commanded a lot of interest but no obvious spot where he might be considered the favorite. Especially with John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski likely to be first in line amongst recent retread head coaches, Nagy could have to wait a while for his second chance to actually develop.

Nagy for some reason could have his choice of head coaching spots in the coming weeks. The Chiefs offense under his control became strikingly ordinary and uncreative. The former Bears head coach has deep connections around the league, however. Sometimes that’s all that matters in a head coaching search. Nagy would be tasked with a total rebuild of the Cardinals, Titans, or Raiders. Only the Titans have a potential franchise QB in 2025’s first overall draft pick Cam Ward.

Nagy has obvious connections to the job as Titans GM Mike Borgonzi had been with Nagy in Kansas City before taking over in the Titans’ GM role. It’s hard for us to find good things to say about Nagy given how the Chiefs offense appeared to meaningfully regress as soon as he took over for Eric Bieniemy as offensive coordinator — that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s Nagy’s fault, as Tyreek Hill also left around the same time, but it’s also hard to point to Nagy’s work the last two years as something that should guarantee him interviews.

These are both very logical fits as GM Mike Borgonzi has worked with Nagy on the Chiefs and Smith was a long-time Titans OC under Mike Vrabel. There’s familiarity with both of them in the building. Neither hire would be particularly inspiring as failed head coaches in Atlanta and Chicago, respectively. But of course it’s going to take a while for the coaching candidate cycle to truly pick up and we don’t know yet who will emerge as a new name.

Nagy got his first start as a head coach in 2018 with the Bears and immediately led them to a 12-4 record while also being named the AP Coach of the Year. Unfortunately, Nagy hitching his coaching future to Mitchell Trubisky proved to be a fruitless endeavor, as he and the Bears toiled with back-to-back 8-8 seasons in 2019 and 2020 before falling to 6-11 in 2021. A long-time branch off the Andy Reid coaching tree, Nagy has more than 10 years of experience in working with Reid, which will make him an attractive hire for anyone looking for a head coach on the offensive side of the ball. Nagy will once again need to get the quarterback position right in his first season if he lands with the Jets, which could prove challenging with this year’s QB class.