The 2015 season was a disappointing one for Texas A&M and according to reports, that has pushed him to consider other options with word that he is “trying hard” to make the move to the NFL this offseason. It won’t stop those Kevin Sumlin coaching rumors now that the Athletic Director will be replaced too. Sumlin has come under some scrutiny of late after his top two quarterbacks announced they would leave the program but he has posted an impressive 36-16 record over the past four seasons with the Aggies and there are a number of NFL teams that would likely be interested in his services. Here is a look at the four NFL teams most likely to hire Sumlin.
Cleveland Browns
The Browns began a busy offseason by firing Mike Pettine as head coach and bringing in former baseball executive and analytics expert Paul DePodesta as the team’s new chief strategy officer and now they will need to find a new head coach to guide the team in to the next chapter for the franchise. There have been reports that Cleveland would like to hire a coach with some experience but this team has consistently surprised the football world with plenty of different experiments over the years and it wouldn’t shock anybody if they took a shot on Sumlin. There has been a lot of talk about the potential end of the Johnny Manziel era for the Browns but with his former college coach Sumlin available it will be interesting to see if anything changes with a chance to reunite the two in the Dawg Pound in Cleveland.
Tennessee Titans
Tennessee has reportedly expressed interest in a former college coach in Chip Kelly with an opportunity to reunite him and quarterback Marcus Mariota but if they miss out on the former Oregon bench boss it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them give Sumlin an opportunity to make the jump to the NFL. The Titans are a young team with a young franchise quarterback in Mariota and Sumlin could be the coach that gets the most out of him and this team as they look to build a contender in Tennessee moving forward.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers let Jim Tomsula go after just one season, so the search for a capable replacement to Jim Harbaugh will continue this offseason. It won’t be a surprise if they turn to a college coach the way that they did when they first hired Harbaugh. Sumlin is a character head coach that reportedly really wants a shot at coaching an NFL team and it would be interesting to see what would happen with San Francisco getting a fresh start next season. Sumlin is an offensive guru who has run offenses at both Houston and Texas A&M that would be familiar to Colin Kaepernick. If the 49ers think Sumlin could revive Kaepernick’s career, they’re likely to give him a shot.
Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia’s experiment with a college coach that had his own unique way of doing things just failed. When they fired Kelly, they basically admitted as much. While they are more likely to turn to a head coach that has some experience at the NFL level, it’s impossible to completely rule out Sumlin as a potential candidate for the Eagles.
The failure with Kelly is not so much that they hired him as a coach but rather that they gave him control of personnel too. He won 10 games in each of his first two seasons as coach but flopped once he took on the front office duties as well. Maybe the Eagles won’t make that mistake again with Sumlin.
Philadelphia is one of a handful of NFL teams that are looking for a head coach but don’t be surprised if he catches on with any one of the teams on this list as an assistant depending on the impression he makes on them and who these teams eventually settle on as their head coach.
