Report: Former Browns coach Hue Jackson a candidate to become the Vikings Offensive Coordinator

With the Minnesota Vikings off-season now in full swing, there have been some personnel matters that have already been addressed, with lots of others yet to come. We already know that GM Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer will both return, but there will be some openings on the staff.

We knew that the offensive coordinator position was going to have to be filled permanently, either with interim OC Kevin Stefanski, or another candidate. Stefanski is going to interview for the Browns head coaching job, so he might not be available.

One named that is rumored to be in the running for the OC job is one that many fans are familiar with, if you’ve ever watched the HBO series Hard Knocks:

On the surface, that makes a lot of sense. Jackson was the offensive coordinator in Cincinnati when Mike Zimmer was the defensive coordinator under then head coach Marvin Lewis. As the Bengals OC, he guided the Bengals to the seventh best scoring offense in the NFL in 2015, and Cincinnati went 12-4 that season, winning the AFC North. And while he was an OC, he was widely regarded as one of the best assistants in the NFL, which is one of the reasons he got the head coaching job for Cleveland in 2016.

But therein lies the rub. As the head coach of the Browns, Jackson turned out to be one of the more incompetent coaches in recent memory. The Browns went 1-15, 0-16, and then 2-5-1 before he was fired halfway through this last season. When he was replaced with Gregg Williams, the Browns went on a tear, going 5-2 to finish the year.

Jackson is also set to interview for the Cincinnati Bengals head coaching job, in the wake of the Marvin Lewis firing. Based on his history with that team (he was re-hired by Lewis and the Bengals right after being let go by the Browns) you would have to think he’s a leading candidate for that job, which means he might never even make it to Minnesota to interview.