Rod Marinelli helped lead a big turnaround for the Cowboys’ defense this season, and it looks like he will be taking his act to Tampa Bay.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio says it is expected that Marinelli will join the Buccaneers and become their new defensive coordinator.
Coaching Tampa Bay would reunite Marinelli with Lovie Smith, under whom he coached in Chicago from 2009-2012. Marinelli also was very successful as the defensive line coach for the Bucs from 1996-2001, where he helped get the most out of stars Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice. In fact, during his Hall of Fame speech, Sapp gave Marinelli heaps of praise and credit.
Marinelli was the defensive line coach of the Cowboys two seasons ago when they were 26th in the league with 27 points allowed per game. With him as the DC this season, they improved to 15th in the league at 22 points allowed per game.
PFT says it is unclear what will happen with current Bucs DC Leslie Frazier. The Bucs were 25th in the league at 25.6 points allowed per game this season.
