On Sunday morning, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Brad Childress and Greg Olson are being targeted to become the next offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills. Childress is believed to be the front-runner for the job, as things stand right now, but it looks like Olson will be the first candidate that the Bills interview.
Childress, who currently serves as the OC for the Kansas City Chiefs, has free time now to be interviewed as his Chiefs were eliminated from the playoffs last night by the Steelers; whereas Olson has been unemployed since October, when he was fired from as OC of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Ex-#Jaguars OC Greg Olson is interviewing for the same spot with the #Bills, source said. He's a candidate along with Brad Childress
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 16, 2017
While Childress and Olson essentially have the same amount of years of service in the NFL (17 for Childress vs. 14 for Olson) and have both fielded a variety of roles on the offensive side of the ball, there’s a belief that Childress would be a better fit because of his experience working with a mobile quarterback in Alex Smith the past four seasons.
While I agree Smith’s style of play is comparable to that of Taylor’s, enough credit isn’t being given to Olson the work that he’s done with some of the mobile passers that’s he’s been paired with in his career. As OC of the Buccaneers, Olson contributed to former NFLer Josh Freeman’s strong 2010 season, and in 2015 Blake Bortles had breakout year for the Jags under Olson’s direction.
The biggest question mark, and one that Bills fans should be worried about, is what effect Olson will have on the Buffalo’s running game. The Bills have been the kings of rushing the last two seasons, and no matter who is under center in 2017, the Bills are poised to be pretty good in this category once again.
Olson, however, has not ever had any of his teams finish better than eighth in rushing.