The Washington Redskins are moving on from offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Redskins have granted O’Connell permission to talk to other teams.
It’s rumored that O’Connell is waiting to if New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will be named the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. If so, O’Connell will join his good friend McDaniels as the Browns offensive coordinator.
O’Connell served as the Redskins offensive coordinator in 2019 after joining the team’s coaching staff as quarterbacks coach in 2017.
O’Connell is viewed as one of the better young offensive minds in the NFL.
When the Redskins fired Jay Gruden after a Week 5 loss to the Patriots, O’Connell’s name surfaced as a candidate to serve as interim head coach and/or head coach on a permanent basis. Instead, the team named Bill Callahan interim head coach.
Upon the hiring on Ron Rivera last week, the Redskins had hoped to retain O’Connell. He interviewed with Rivera, but it was described as a “two-way interview.”
That meant Rivera was set to impress O’Connell into staying as much as O’Connell needed to impress Rivera to get the opportunity to stay.
Rivera interviewed former Panthers offensive coordinator Scott Turner as well, and a report stated the Redskins had interest in former New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur in the event O’Connell didn’t return.
The standstill now makes sense given O’Connell is rumored to want to join McDaniels on his potential staff, if named the Browns head coach.
If not, he is sure to have other opportunities around the league.
His departure is unfortunate given the work he did with rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins and the Redskins offense, especially later in the season with three starting rookie wide receivers.
Now, the Redskins will turn into another direction, while O’Connell weighs his options for another opportunity.
