Gregg Williams was surprisingly shown the door in Cleveland after he led an impressive turnaround as the interim head coach of the Browns over the final eight games of the season, but it may not be long before he finds a new job.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington report that Williams is being considered for the defensive coordinator job with the New York Jets, who hired Adam Gase as their head coach this week.
Here’s a coach under consideration to become the Jets’ new defensive coordinator: former Browns’ interim head coach Gregg Williams, sources tell @JeffDarlington and me.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 10, 2019
Williams has been a defensive assistant in the NFL for nearly 30 years. He had one head coaching stint with the Buffalo Bills from 2001-2003. He spent the last two seasons as the DC in Cleveland and held the same position for three years with the Los Angeles Rams before that.
While Williams deserves credit for the way the Browns managed to turn things around, it seems like the team felt that had more to do with Hue Jackson’s firing and the work then-offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens — whom the team just hired as its head coach — did with rookie Baker Mayfield.
Williams was at the center of the Bountygate scandal with the New Orleans Saints, and that is probably why he has not landed another full-time head coaching job. If the Browns didn’t even want to keep him as their head coach after the team came alive, that probably means the bragging he did after being named interim coach was a bit exaggerated.
