New York Jets fans need to dig deeper when considering Marcus Brady as an OC candidate
Former Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Marcus Brady interviewed for the New York Jets‘ offensive coordinator vacancy on Sunday.
Brady is a candidate that most Jets fans scoffed at when they saw he was in the running. “Why are we considering the guy who led Indy’s terrible offense and was fired mid-year?”
If you dig deeper, it becomes clear why Brady is actually a much more promising candidate for the Jets than many realize.
Yes, if you merely analyze him on the surface, Brady does not seem intriguing. The 43-year-old was promoted to the Colts’ offensive coordinator position in 2021 and got fired just 25 games into his tenure. Indy let him go after Week 8 of the 2022 season, while the team was 3-4-1 and scoring 16.1 points per game. Head coach Frank Reich was fired one week later.
Prior to becoming the Colts’ offensive coordinator, Brady joined Indy as an assistant quarterbacks coach in 2018 and was promoted to quarterbacks coach from 2019-20. Before coming to Indianapolis, Brady spent six years as an offensive coordinator in the Canadian Football League.
It doesn’t seem great. But there are legitimate reasons to believe in Brady.
Brady was not on the market for long. Three weeks after he was fired, he joined the Philadelphia Eagles as an offensive consultant. Brady reunited with Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo, each of whom he worked with in Indianapolis. Sirianni was the Colts’ offensive coordinator and Patullo was the Colts’ wide receivers coach and pass game coordinator. It says a lot about Brady’s reputation that he quickly latched onto another staff mid-season.
Many people in Indianapolis believe Brady was scapegoated. They thought he was a bright offensive mind who did an effective job of calling plays and getting receivers open but was hung out to dry by poor talent and poor execution. There are even reports of players in the locker room being upset that Brady was fired.
Lawrence Owen is one of those people. Lawrence, who hosts a podcast with current Colts starting safety Rodney McLeod, joined the Cool Your Jets Podcast to discuss Brady’s tenure with the Colts. He did a great job of breaking down Brady’s scheme, philosophies, play-calling tendencies, adaptability, strengths, weaknesses, and reputation in the locker room – including the reaction of Colts players when Brady was fired.
This is the sixth interview we have done in our series breaking down the Jets’ offensive coordinator candidates. All six guests provided honest and unbiased intel on the candidate in question, breaking down the good and the bad. The goal of these interviews is never to sell Jets fans on the candidate, but simply to provide a thorough overview so Jets fans can form their own educated opinions.
With that in mind, I feel comfortable saying that our interview with Lawrence sold me on the candidate more than any other interview. Take a listen and you will find out why Marcus Brady is an underrated option for the New York Jets.
New York Jets Offensive Coordinator Candidate Breakdowns | Cool Your Jets Podcast
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I think a major concern should whether the new OC will be willing to call running plays. Some OCs today can’t seem to stand the run game! The Jets have already invested heavily in it with the Hall and Carter draft picks, and that was predicated on using the Shanahan model. A healthy run game also benefits the Jets given their problems at QB. Even if they bring in Carr, for example, he is still no Peyton Manning. Whatever guy they bring in will benefit from a strong running game. Going away from the run game after it spent years building it will be just another way the Jets will be going nowhere in circles as it has for over 50 years.
My list for OC is Kubiak, Reich, Olsen, and Marcus Brady so far. Experience is the best teacher. Calabrese needs to go and get replaced with an experienced QB Coach. Zach’s Mechanics were horrible. I’m actually shocked that you guys haven’t written an article about that yet.
Love your list, I agree with you 100%, there is no telling if Kubiak, wants back in coaching and if he does would it be in NY? There are 10 OC jobs available he could probably get a more stable QB position.
I do think Reich is possible. He’s from NY, and he’s got Joe connections. Yes, he’ll get some interviews for HC jobs and may land one but, if he can’t this could be a nice landing spot for him.
Olson is interesting, I didn’t know much about him until Michael’s pod, but it seemed to me he’d be better as the QB coach/Sr. Offensive assistant, the Greg Knapp role. The LV podcaster, didn’t think he was a great play caller but did say the QB’s will develop for sure.
Couldn’t agree more on Calabrese, I’m not sure why he wasn’t the first one fired? The QB play as a unit was bad. I know White put up some nice numbers but look closer, he couldn’t get the team into the end zone, especially when it counted.
I have to believe there are some guys under the radar who haven’t been made known yet. I’m hoping maybe Todd Monken will get a look.
Any thoughts on Todd Monken? I liked him as a HC candidate a while back.
I’d be interested, I remember liking him as one of the best head coach candidates back in 2019
I agree and think that entire staff was the scapegoat. Taylor was hurt all year, and look at what they did without those guys. It was embarrassing. I’m good with Brady over all of the other candidates except Olson. I’m not 100% sold on Olson but he seems to bring something this team needs. Experience. Your guest on the pod indicated he’s much better with QB’s so for me that would be the trump card.
I think there is someone not known yet that will get the job. Call me crazy, but is Reich doesn’t get a head job, he’s got ties to Joe? He could be the guy? I’m all in on that….