Offensive coordinator Todd Haley and Omar Khan both have been offered new jobs. After the Pittsburgh Steelers gave Haley permission to talk to other teams following the team's inability to get into the NFL playoffs this season, Haley has been guarded. Director of football operations and business administrations, Omar Khan, known for his savvy with numbers, salary cap situations and signing the big contracts. Khan had a second interview with the New York Jets on Tuesday. With the Steelers in a critical position, the organization could find themselves without both men long before the 2013 NFL Draft.
Haley has stated that he has no interest in the offer to leave Pittsburgh in favor of a head coaching position in Arizona. In a whirling dervish of conflicting reports, blog posts and Twitter messages, Haley's actions and statements haven't added up to anything conclusive. On January 9, Ed Bouchette sent a Twitter message that Haley was in Arizona interviewing for the head coaching position with the Cardinals. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com contacted Haley's agent, Jerome Stanley, who denied Haley was even in Arizona. Yet, he had a coaching source inside the Steelers organization who said Haley was. Rapoport then posted Stanley's return statement, "The report is wrong. I stand by my statement. You can report that!" By the time Bouchette got back into it, he'd hit pay dirt, saying that Steelers President Art Rooney "confirms that Haley is interviewing for Cardinals job."
Regardless, Arizona named three finalists to take the position: Ray Horton, Jay Gruden and Todd Haley. They anticipate that by Friday they will have their man. The Cardinals recently offered a league-low $750,000 to new general manager, Steve Keim. Some NFL insiders speculate that the Cardinals have been holding onto cash in the hopes of landing a coach and assistants who may ask for more money. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Cardinals owner Mike Bidwell was told by Haley exactly what he expected, wanted and needed to become the head coach. The price was steep. The fact is that Haley did interview late last week and wants a deal. And unbelievable good deal. Arizona may take him up on that offer.
Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert and Omar Khan have been the backbone of the front office. Out of nine men interviewed, the Jets narrowed their list of candidates for their GM position to Jets assistant GM Scott Cohen, former Bears GM Jerry Angelo and Khan. Khan may or may not want the position as it comes with a price; head coach Rex Ryan. Khan is not known for expertise in assessing players. That job in Pittsburgh was handled by Colbert. However, Khan's genius with numbers could aid the Jets with salary cap issues.
The likelihood of Khan going to New York is a toss-up. The Jets organization seem to want to keep Ryan out of the mix in selecting players and assessing new talent, but that is exactly what would happen if Khan were to step into the GM position. While their impatiences grows to finalize a deal, the Steelers organization would love to hold onto Khan because of the extraordinary job he's done in Pittsburgh.
A rumor that Khan would be able to nab former Steelers head coach and television analyst Bill Cowher out of retirement seems ridiculous at best.
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