The 14-3 Buffalo Bills are a hot team in the NFL playoffs, as well as the offseason hiring carousel. While we’ve already been hearing about interview prospects for GM candidate Joe Schoen and head coach candidate Brian Daboll, now you can add another to the list: defensive coordinator/assistant head coach (and former Minnesota Vikings head coach) Leslie Frazier. Per a report by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Houston Texans intend to interview Frazier for their head coach opening. Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle corroborated the report.
Frazier, 61, is in his fourth season as Buffalo’s defensive coordinator, and his 21st season coaching in the NFL. In 2010, after Brad Childress was fired with a 3-7 record, Frazier took over as an interim head coach and led the Vikings to a 3-3 finish. He was retained as the full-time head coach, though his first full season had a 3-13 record between a rookie in Christian Ponder and an aging Donovan McNabb. In 2012, Frazier’s team hit 10-6 and qualified for the playoffs, but lost in the Wild Card Round to the Green Bay Packers. After a 5-10-1 finish in the 2013 season, Frazier was fired. He had a 21-32-1 record as a head coach overall.
With the Bills, Frazier has coached one of the league’s most consistently effective, well-coached (if not necessarily elite) defenses for each of the last four years. If Frazier were hired and the Bills needed an internal replacement, they could consider linebackers coach Bob Babich or defensive line coach Eric Washington (both former defensive coordinators) or promote defensive backs coach John Butler.