HOUSTON – Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik is still in heavy demand after not landing the Tennessee Titans’ head coaching job that went to Brian Callahan.
Slowik has been scheduled for second interviews in-person with the Washington Commanders and Atlanta Falcons, according to league sources.
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Slowik had virtual first interviews with the Seattle Seahawks, Commanders, one of his former employers, along with the Falcons, according to league sources. Slowik had already completed interviews with the Titans and Carolina Panthers, his first interviews in this hiring cycle.
Slowik is regarded as instrumental in the growth of Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, the expected NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. They built a strong relationship all season, along with Texans quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson, a candidate for offensive coordinator jobs with the New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Browns.
“I knew he was going to push me hard, He was going to be hard on me,” Stroud said. “He held me at a standard all year. Held me accountable. A lot of times when you’re playing good ball, guys, they kind of let you do what you do and leave you alone. Bobby was always on me about the little details in my position and I appreciated that because you don’t always get that. He was always just hard on me, but also showed me a lot of love, a ton of love.
“Very knowledgeable, can really dice a defense up. Puts a lot of trust in his players and really just never got away from what he knows. Of course, tailored his coaching to what was here at the Texans, but he did what was at the core of his heart and I could appreciate that. Whatever happens with those guys, they deserve whatever is coming to them. It’s been a blessing working with them, but if they come back, that would be cool, too.”
Whether Slowik lands a head coaching job this year remains undetermined. A source emphasized that Slowik’s interview with the Titans went extremely well and he has a background with Titans general manager Ran Carthon from their time together with the San Francisco 49ers where Slowik was a passing game coordinator.
“It’s the same as last week,” Slowik said before the Texans’ 34-10 loss to the Ravens. “Very grateful for every consideration. Grateful for the opportunities. Grateful to DeMeco (Ryans), to Nick [Caserio], to the Texans organization for giving me this opportunity. But, right now, I couldn’t tell you what’s going on. I’m entirely locked in on the Ravens. I know here pretty soon, that process is going to start pretty quick, but I’m going to cross that bridge when I get to it. Right now, I’m just Baltimore.”
When it comes to choosing an NFL head coaching job, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans was picky. He wouldn’t take just any head coaching vacancy.
One year after being involved in multiple coaching searches, including the Minnesota Vikings, the former Pro Bowl linebacker set his sights on coming home and signed a six-year lucrative contract with the Texans to become the sixth head coach in franchise history instead of joining the Denver Broncos.
SEE ALSO Panthers request interview with Texans OC Bobby Slowik for head coaching job
Ryans, 39, a former NFL Assistant Coach of the the Year with the 49ers as the architect of a top-ranked defense, is advising Slowik to proceed with caution as he draws interest from NFL teams for their head coaching vacancies.
“Yeah, my advice to Bobby is to be selective,” Ryans said. “You only get one opportunity to do it, and you want to make sure you’re selective and that you’re going to – if you get the opportunity – going to a place that you feel like you can be effective.”
Slowik worked in the same office as Ryans when they were with the 49ers and they have risen in the coaching ranks together.
The Texans, with Slowik calling the plays, improved to 12th in total offense after finishing 31st last season with Pep Hamilton running the offense. They rank 13th in scoring offense, averaging 22.2 points per game.
“With me, selecting Bobby as the offensive coordinator, Bobby is a guy that I’ve known since I’ve been in coaching,” Ryans said. “I’ve known him, I’ve worked with him for six years we’ve worked together. We’re both ‘QCs’ [quality control coaches] together, so we were both ground level guys, just grinding. Bobby is just a guy who is very detail-oriented in everything that he does. He’s a very smart guy.
“Off the field, just family man – really great father, great husband. Just a trustworthy guy and Bobby has done a tremendous job with everything that’s been asked of him. He’s done a great job with it and I’m happy to have Bobby onboard. He’s done a great job all year. We wouldn’t be here where we are standing today without Bobby and his entire staff and what they’ve done.”
Slowik, in his first year running an NFL offense, was pivotal in the development of Stroud.
Slowik, 36, previously worked at Pro Football Focus as an analyst.
Should Slowik or Johnson leave, Ryans will have to make adjustments to his staff. If Slowik gets a job, Johnson could be promoted to run the offense. If Johnson leaves, there are candidate within the coaching staff to coach Stroud. That includes Bill Lazor and Shane Day.
“First off, it’s a credit to our staff and the success that we had throughout the year, and a lot of people are trying to see what’s going on in Houston, and a lot of people want to have interview requests,” Ryans said. “Of course, it’s kind of the nature of success. When you have success, other people want to see what’s going on and probably want to take some guys to help them out as well. It’s a tough part of it, but it’s part of the business. That’s what happens, and we’ll have to have contingency plans available if guys happen to leave.”
Like the Texans’ seventh-ranked passing offense and 13th ranked scoring offense and 12th ranked total offense, Slowik has grown since the first game of the regular season: a 25-9 loss on the road to the Ravens. That was one of the few games that Stroud, an NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner who finished the regular season with 4,108 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and five interceptions, didn’t throw a touchdown pass.
The Texans needed to start off with a less complex approach, and that made a difference in the outcome.
“I think the biggest part with that – and I use the phrase ‘rock my boat’ a little bit, like I started with the ‘505,’ and it’s the first game we’ve had under this scheme, and you need to start with the ‘101,’” Slowik said. “And, we didn’t do that, and we didn’t really give anybody a chance. And after that, we kind of changed how we were approaching some things, how we coached some things, how we were setting some things up, and the other part of it is in that game, I think we all got a really clear picture of what we were really good at as an offense and as specific individuals on the offense.
“And guys have just grown from there. They’ve expanded what they’re good at. They’ve amplified the things they showed in that game that they can do really well, and that really kind of, like I said, set the table for the rest of the year. From that point on, we’ve had a pretty focused vision for what we want to do on offense, and I think everybody has been on the same page in that regard.”
The collaboration between Stroud and Slowik has been successful all year. Stroud became the only NFL quarterback other than Tom Brady and Joe Montana to lead the NFL in passing yards per game and touchdown-to-interception ratio.
And Slowik has worked with several different personnel groupings, including major changes to the offensive line due to season-ending injuries to Tytus Howard, Jarrett Patterson, Kendrick Green and Kenyon Green as well as rookie star wide receiver Tank Dell suffering a broken left fibula and shifting starting running backs from Dameon Pierce to Devin “Motor” Singletary.
“Yeah, it’s been good,” Stroud said. “Trust is everything. That’s something Bobby talked about a lot, and we know how important it is, especially offensively to trust the next man to do their job so you’re able to do yours so you can win. So, like I said before, Week 1 to now, we’ve built a lot of trust and chemistry together, and I think it’s starting to show on film, and you can kind of just feel it in the locker room, how close we are. So, it’s a lot of different things that go along with trust that we’ve been able to build.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com