All eyes on Gregg Williams

Gregg Williams                                  (Getty)

The silence has been deafening over the past few days for those of us on the outside of the Texans defensive coordinator search effort.

Rod Marinelli was the only interview to date - at least that we know of - and he took a job as Chicago's defensive line coach on Saturday.

The next card to be played is probably going to be Gregg Williams, and before I go on let me preface this by saying I have no idea whether the Texans are even considering Williams.

But I would hope they are.

If not, why haven't they just named Frank Bush the coordinator and moved on already?

Maybe the job is Bush's unless they can get Gregg Williams.  How's that for wild speculation?

Williams is on the interview circuit as we speak. 

Based on reports, Williams visited New Orleans on Thursday and Green Bay on Friday.   Williams could also be a candidate to return to Tennessee to backfill Jim Schwartz if Schwartz decides to pursue the head coaching gig in Detroit.

Mike Nolan has also visited Green Bay, and considering his ties to head coach Mike McCarthy I would suspect he's the leading candidate there.  Although Nolan's name is being tossed around for the Denver job.

Then late yesterday, there were also reports that Sean McDermott was a candidate in Denver and Green Bay, although he's still under contract with the Eagles (and still playing) so I wouldn't expect to hear anything from him for a while.

Yeah, it's a bit of a 'fluid' situation.

Back to Williams.

Jeff Duncan wrote in The Times-Picayune that "Houston and Green Bay are already courting [Williams] with equal ardor [as the Saints]. 

Duncan presents the case - along with lots of kisses and rose petals thrown in Williams' general direction - that the Saints job would offer Williams the fastest track to success since the Saints offense is already "Super Bowl caliber."

Yes the Saints have the edge at quarterback, but they have issues too, such as Duece McAlister's contract situation and Reggie Bush's health.

Plus the Saints are not in good shape in terms of salary cap, which has no effect on the ability to sign a coordinator, but can stunt the growth of a team, at least for another year. 

In addition, the Saints only have four draft picks this year, and only one in the first three rounds, which means they are what they are, except that 1st rounder, and the low to mid range free agents they can sign during the off-season.

Williams commands a lot of money because he's in demand and he's had some success. 

But contrary to Duncan's mushy gushy article, Williams has had some down years.  We touched on that in Part I of the coordinator search series.  Plus, he was a failure as a head coach.

But I think he's one of the best candidates available to be the next Texans defensive coordinator.  That is, if the Texans are even interested. 

The Saints filled their vacant defensive line coach position Saturday by hiring former Broncos defensive line coach Bill Johnson.  So if they do land Williams, he already has his line coach. 

What is it with teams bringing in position coaches before coordinators?

Anyway, keep your eye on the Gregg Williams story because things are setting up for him (and Nolan in GB) to be the next cards to be played in the defensive coordinator hiring game. 

It seems like New Orleans may have the inside track on Williams but who knows, maybe his agent was using them as leverage to get more money out of Bob McNair.

Again, the silence is deafening.