Cardinals Interview Hue Jackson For OC

The Cardinals added another name to their offensive coordinator search today, interviewing former Browns coach Hue Jackson, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).

After being fired from the Browns mid-season, Jackson took a job on Marvin Lewis’ staff in Cincinnati, where he had previously served as offensive coordinator. Jackson received an interview for the Bengals’ head coaching gig after they fired Lewis, but the job ended up going to Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor. If Jackson does get the job, it would reunite him with Vance Joseph, who recently signed on to be Arizona’s defensive coordinator. Jackson and Joseph worked together for two years in Cincinnati, and together they’d provide a lot of head coaching experience for new Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury to lean on.

Jackson received a ton of criticism toward the end of his Browns tenure, but was a highly respected offensive mind and coordinator before that. All the losing the Browns did is what most remember Jackson for now, but he was a hot head coaching candidate before he took the job in Cleveland. He was rumored to be a candidate to be the Vikings’ offensive coordinator, but they opted to stay in-house with Kevin Stefanski instead.

It was reported last week that Steve Sarkisian was close to joining Kingsbury’s staff as offensive coordinator, but that fell apart when Sark decided to return to Alabama instead. Arizona has been taking their time, and interviewed former Packers offensive coordinator Tom Clements a couple of days ago. They’ve also been linked to former Giants coach Ben McAdoo and former Lions offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter. Judging by the candidates they’ve been interviewing and the earlier hire of Joseph, it seems like the Cardinals are intent on surrounding Kingsbury with a ton of high level NFL experience as he prepares for his first ever coaching gig in the pros. The Cardinals play the Browns next year, so if Jackson gets hired it would be another opportunity for some great Baker Mayfield/Jackson viral moments.

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