HOUSTON – One year after interviewing for five head coaching jobs in the hiring cycle, Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik is involved in the latest search for head coaches.
Slowik was requested by the New York Jets to interview for their head coaching vacancy, per a league source, among multiple other candidates that include Ron Rivera, Rex Ryan, Mike Vrabel, Aaron Glenn, Vance Joseph, Matt Nagy and Joe Brady.
Slowik wound up not getting any offers last season, but did receive an upgraded contract as he remained in Houston, as did quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson when he interviewed for offensive coordinator vacancies.
After Slowik interviewed with the Washington Commanders, Atlanta Falcons,, Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers, he reached a deal to remain with the Texans. He agreed to an upgraded contract with a much higher salary, per a league source, an augmented deal supported by the McNair family, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans and general manager Nick Caserio.
“I am extremely grateful to the McNair’s, to Nick,” Slowik said in the spring after receiving his new deal. “I know I have said it in the past but I can’t say it enough about DeMeco as a coach and as a person, what all they have meant to me and how great they have been through everything. I have been blessed that the players we have are just a really enjoyable group, as players and as people.
“I have had a lot of fun and I am fired up to do it again this year. I was blessed last year to have the opportunity to have a few head coaching interviews and go through that process and see what that is like, but I can’t even begin to describe my excitement for staying in Houston and getting back at it and going out and really building on what we did last year.”
The Texans won the AFC South division title again and are in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Chargers.
The offense went backwards this season after an encouraging year in Slowik’s first season in Houston. Some of that can be attributed to offensive line issues as they allowed quarterback C.J. Stroud to be sacked 52 times. Some of it was defenses adjusting to the Texans’ version of the West Coast offense and an inconsistent running game despite the presence of Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon. And the Texans dealt with season-ending injuries to wide receivers Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell in addition to Nico Collins spending five games on injured reserve.
The Texans rank 19th in scoring offense, 22nd in total offense, 21st in passing offense and 15th in rushing offense this season, often experiencing tough sledding in pass blocking and run blocking situations that limited what Slowik could run effectively from his playbook. Throughout a trying season, Slowik has been accountable about the problems the offense has faced that included a 31-2 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas as they failed to score any points.
Nonetheless, Slowik is still regarded as an up-and-coming young coach in league circles.
He was the architect of a high-octane offense in 2023 headlined by Stroud.
“I knew he was going to push me hard, He was going to be hard on me,” Stroud said after leading the NFL in passing yards per contest and touchdown-to-interception ratio last season. “He held me at a standard all year. Held me accountable. A lot of times when you’re playing good ball, guys, they kind of let you do what you do and leave you alone. Bobby was always on me about the little details in my position and I appreciated that because you don’t always get that. He was always just hard on me, but also showed me a lot of love, a ton of love.
“Very knowledgeable, can really dice a defense up. Puts a lot of trust in his players and really just never got away from what he knows. Of course, tailored his coaching to what was here at the Texans, but he did what was at the core of his heart and I could appreciate that.”
When it comes to choosing an NFL head coaching job, Ryans was picky. He wouldn’t take just any head coaching vacancy.
One year after being involved in multiple coaching searches, including the Minnesota Vikings, the former Pro Bowl linebacker set his sights on coming home and signed a six-year lucrative contract with the Texans to become the sixth head coach in franchise history instead of joining the Denver Broncos.
Ryans advised Slowik to proceed with caution as he draws interest from NFL teams for their head coaching vacancies.
“Yeah, my advice to Bobby is to be selective,” Ryans said. “You only get one opportunity to do it, and you want to make sure you’re selective and that you’re going to – if you get the opportunity – going to a place that you feel like you can be effective.”
The son of longtime NFL, CFL and college football coach Bob Slowik, the current linebackers coach for the Calgary Stampeders and a former defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears, Slowik has learned a ton from his father and San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and his father, Mike Shanahan.
“I am always asking people who helped my career,” Slowik said. “I know I have said before Kyle Shanahan and the Shanahan family, they have always been a huge impact on me in my career. But even before that and probably the biggest influence on me growing up was my dad, growing up as a long time NFL coach. I will constantly talk to him about how the game has evolved. He watched every one of our games- things that came up through the course of the season that he remembers.
“DeMeco is huge in that. Then my staff is phenomenal. I have a lot of experience on this staff, mixed in with some youth and a lot of energy in guys that can dive in a lot of different areas, self-scout wise or across the NFL, and pull things. We talked about player, but it is not just players, but Year Two for the staff is big also. Everyone has a really clear picture of what it is we want to do and how it all fits and being able to dissect that and really take things around the league and fit it into what we want to do and what our players are going to excel at. There is growth all the way across the board.”
Aaron Wilson is a contributor to Sports Talk 790.
Photo: Alex Slitz / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images