Last year's New Year's coaching surprise was Bill O'Brien joining the Texans; shortly before the ball dropped to close out 2014 we learned that Doug Marrone was bouncing from Buffalo, opting out of his contract with the Bills.
The TL;DR version of why: new ownership made his future in Buffalo uncertain. But perhaps Marrone has his eyes on another job too. According to Rich Cimini of ESPN, the Jets have "strong interest" in Marrone for their vacant coaching position and "the feeling is mutual."
So would this marriage end up happening? Here are five reasons indicating it could.
Heavy Interest
If you're going to land somewhere you need to be wanted. And it sure sounds like the Jets want Marrone, or are at least extremely interested in him. Charley Casserly, retained by Jets owner Woody Johnson to aid in the coaching and GM search, is reportedly "infatuated" with Marrone.
"He was totally infatuated with [Marrone]," a source told Cimini. "You have to know Charley: When he gets on something, he's a pit bull. I know he's got Woody all lathered up."
Johnson's not mincing words when talking about his interest in Marrone either. He told the New York Daily News it's "good news" that Marrone's available and the Jets "will look at him."
“I just found out Doug Marrone is available. We will look at him. He is a coach who was with us. And I know him a little bit," Johnson said.
“This is pretty good news. I was shocked. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Doug, and I have good memories of him."
History
As Woody alluded to, Marrone's got a history with the Jets. He coached New York's offensive line from 2002 to 2005, so there's familiarity there. But Marrone isn't just a New York football guy. He's a New York guy.
From Cimini:
Marrone grew up in the shadow of the Throgs Neck Bridge and used to say it gave him chills as he rode through the Bronx on the team bus on the way to the Jets' home games. In those days, the Jets trained on Long Island.
Now the Jets train at SUNY Cortland, which is the first place Marrone coached in his career, as the tight ends coach in 1992.
He's consistently migrated to the north east during his run as a coach and has crazy ties to the area and team.
Head-to-Head
Marrone dominated the Jets during his two seasons with Buffalo.
| Doug Marrone vs. Jets | ||||
| Matchup | Result | Points Scored | Points Allowed | Yards |
| @ Jets, 9/22/13 | L | 20 | 27 | 328 |
| vs. Jets 11/17/13 | W | 37 | 14 | 313 |
| @ Jets 10/26/14 | W | 43 | 23 | 280 |
| vs Jets 11/24/14 | W | 38 | 3 | 336 |
So, yeah, Marrone completely embarrassed Rex over the course of his two years in Buffalo, beating him 3-1 by a combined score 138-67 and hanging 35-plus points on a Rex Ryan defense three different times.
That has to sit well with Woody (now) or at least make him sit up and take notice.
Ex-Girlfriend Factor
Ever notice your buddies (and probably you but you didn't realize it) all tend to date boring, dark-haired girls after they break up with crazy blondes? People subconsciously skew the opposite of the person they last dated when they pick a new mate. NFL teams are no different.
Whenever teams hire a new coach, they typically go after a guy who's the opposite of their last coach. In that regard, Marrone is a perfect fit.
He's an offensive-minded guy (Rex Ryan was staunchly defensive). He's quiet guy who doesn't provide the media a whole lot of brash honesty; Rex is a loud guy who tells the truth almost to a fault.
Actual Coaching!
So how about Marrone's success with the Bills in general? He was a conservative coach, almost to a fault. He's not Bill Belichick 2.0 when it comes to going for it on fourth down, at least in this stage of his coaching career.
But Marone succeeded in Buffalo, a hard place to win. His 9-7 record in 2014 wasn't enough to get the Bills in the playoffs, but he helped that team win nine games with EJ Manuel and Kyle Orton at quarterback (Orton's retirement, a lack of a first-round pick and Manuel's presence probably contributed to Marrone leaving the Bills too).
It was the first season above .500 since 2004 and just their second season above .500 since 1999. Drew Bledsoe and Doug Flutie were involved in those respective seasons, to get an idea of how long ago it really was.
Marrone's won multiple ways too. In 2013 the Bills ranked just 22nd in total points and 19th in total yards (EJ Manuel, Jeff Tuel and Thaddeus Lewis quarterbacking!) but managed the No. 2 rushing offense in the NFL on the most attempts.
2014's team was just 18th in offense but ranked fourth overall in defense in the NFL. Jim Schwartz did a tremendous job coaching up an incredibly talented defensive line of Mario Williams, Kyle Williams, Jerry Hughes and Marcell Dareus.
Worth noting: the Jets have a similar core group with a defensive line featuring Sheldon Richardson, Muhammad Wilkerson, Damon Harrison and Quinton Coples. They've also got worse skill-position talent than Buffalo.
The big concerns here are 1) the offense failing to consistently flourish under Marrone, particularly in the passing game and 2) how much input he had in deciding to draft Manuel.
Marrone's bold move to Orton in the middle of 2014 paid off big-time dividends but if he was a huge proponent of taking Manuel in the first round, that should be a major red flag.
Whatever the case it's clear Marrone, now a free agent with $4 million guaranteed no matter what he does in 2015, could very much wind up landing with the Jets.
