Bill O’Brien rumors: Alabama OC emerges as ‘primary candidate’ for NFL job, per report

Bill O’Brien has worked with both Bill Belichick and Nick Saban — 2 of the greatest coaches in the history of football — during his career.

For the past 2 seasons, O’Brien has served as Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama. From 2007 to 2011, O’Brien was on Belichick’s staff with the New England Patriots.

Now, according to Tom Curran of NBC Sports, O’Brien has emerged as the top candidate to take over as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator in 2023:

The primary target is former Patriots OC, former Penn State and Texans head coach, former Alabama OC Bill O’Brien. There is unanimity on all sides that O’Brien’s the best person for the job and — while there are other candidates with merit — the familiarity ownership and Mac Jones have with O’Brien and O’Brien’s willingness to return mean it would be an upset if he doesn’t get the job.

Under O’Brien in 2022, Alabama finished with the nation’s No. 4 scoring offense, tied with Georgia at 41.1 points per game. The Tide also finished 11th in yards per game, averaging 477.2 yards per contest.

DC Pete Golding left for Ole Miss recently, so if O’Brien leaves, too, Saban will have 2 coordinator roles to fill before 2023. We’ll see what the future holds in Tuscaloosa as rumors about O’Brien continue to swirl.

Adam Spencer

Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.