Colts won’t let Rob Chudzinski interview for OC jobs elsewhere

With the Senior Bowl practices/unofficial NFL coaching job fair in full swing, vacant positions are drying up quickly.

And so is the candidate pool, by at least one more.

Via Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Colts aren’t going to allow offensive assistant Rob Chudzinski to interview for any of the open offensive coordinator jobs.

The 49ers, Bears and Rams each had interest in the former Browns head coach, who has had varying degrees of success as a coordinator with the Browns and Panthers in the past. The former University of Miami tight end has had more success coaching up his old position, and the Colts have a solid stable to tight ends with which to work in Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen.

In Indianapolis, he’s served in a variety of roles for head coach Chuck Pagano, but he also serves as insurance in case offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton ends up with a head coaching gig in the near future.

While the Colts have denied teams permission to interview for coordinator jobs, they can’t do so for much longer.

According to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chudzinski’s contract with the Colts actually expires next week, at which point he can do what he pleases without their permission.

So by denying him the chance to interview now, the Colts might just be stalling in hopes other teams will otherwise fill the jobs they have open.

But in the wink-nod world of reality, anyone interested in the former Browns head coach can wait the Colts out, and there are avenues by which he might be aware of that interest.

Of course, this gives Chudzinski some leverage in any potential negotiations with the Colts, if they want to hang onto the former Browns head coach, and gives the Rams, 49ers and Bears reason to keep a job open if they’re really interested.


(profootballtalk.com)