The way it’s shaping up right now, the Indianapolis Colts could very well have their top choice when it comes to filling their defensive coordinator opening.
With the Atlanta Falcons hiring Jeff Ulbrich to be their defensive coordinator–he was not someone the Colts have interviewed–there are now only three teams currently searching for defensive coordinators. That would be San Francisco, Cincinnati, and New England as new head coach Mike Vrabel builds out his staff.
So far, the 49ers have only interviewed Robert Saleh and DeShea Townsend for the role. It feels like San Francisco is waiting on Saleh, who is still interviewing for head coaching openings.
With the Bengals, meanwhile, a recent report from Sports Illustrated says that they are down to two finalists for the defensive play-caller opening in Patrick Graham and Al Golden.
Lastly, with the Patriots, the priority right now seems to be on finding an offensive coordinator. According to NBC Sports, there haven’t been any reported interviews for the defensive coordinator opening.
Tying this all back to the Colts, all of the coordinator names mentioned above are not candidates who Indianapolis has interviewed.
The five candidates in for interviews with the Colts have been Ephraim Banda, Steve Wilks, Lou Anarumo, Wink Martindale, and Dennis Allen.
Right now, time is on the Colts side. At least based on the reports mentioned, there isn’t any competition for who Indianapolis wants to hire.
However, as I wrote about recently, that could change somewhat quickly. As the six other head coaching openings get filled, those teams will begin filling out the rest of their coaching staff, at which point, some of the candidates who the Colts are interested in could draw interest elsewhere.
One would think the Colts would want to make a decision before then, so that way they can offer their top choice the job without having to worry about another team showing interest as well.