Rams tight ends coach Thomas Brown is both on the HC and OC radar. In addition to meeting with the Texans about their top coaching position, the young assistant is on tap to discuss the Commanders’ play-calling role.
The Commanders are set to meet with Brown and Dolphins running backs coach Eric Studesville about their offensive coordinator position, John Keim of ESPN.com tweets. Studesville will talk with the NFC East team Monday, while Brown’s meeting is slated for some point next week.
While this search is progressing, multiple candidates have bowed out of the pursuit early. Both Jim Caldwell and Darrell Bevell indicated they would not meet with the Commanders. The former Colts and Lions HC is not interested in OC gigs, while the Dolphins’ QBs coach rebuffed overtures from the Commanders and Jets about play-calling roles. Washington still has conducted interviews with former OCs — Pat Shurmur and current QBs coach Ken Zampese — but some first-time options are involved in this search as well.
Brown, 36, met with the Texans about their HC role Tuesday and has also come up as a possible option to succeed Liam Coen as Rams OC. Sean McVay jettisoned a host of assistants this week but retained Brown, who has been on the rise for a bit now. The Vikings interviewed the three-year Rams staffer for their OC role in 2022. Brown spent nine years in the college ranks before joining McVay’s staff in 2020; he has coached both the team’s running backs and tight ends.
Studesville, 55, has both been an interim HC (with the 2010 Broncos) and an OC (with the 2021 Dolphins) previously, but the veteran assistant has primarily coached running backs throughout his lengthy NFL run. Both the Broncos and Dolphins kept Studesville on despite changing coaches multiple times during his tenure. Both John Fox and Gary Kubiak kept the Josh McDaniels hire on in Denver, while Studesville has been with Miami through the Adam Gase, Brian Flores and Mike McDaniel regimes. Studesville, who shared Miami’s OC role with George Godsey in Flores’ final season, has been an NFL staffer since 1997.