Most signs pointed to the Cleveland Browns hiring Nate Scheelhaase as their new head coach on Monday afternoon. They traveled to Los Angeles to meet with the Rams' offensive pass game coordinator after their loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.
Surprisingly, they let him walk away without a deal. Then, he met via Zoom with Buffalo, but per ESPN's Adam Schefter, he wasn't able to move the Bills off their guy. Schefter reported Tuesday morning that the Bills are promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady to head coach.
Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that the Browns aren't facing competition for Scheelhaase.
As pointed out by ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler, the young assistant coach could choose to stay in Los Angeles, as there might be an opening to fill if offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur leaves to take the Arizona Cardinals' head coaching position.
"A back-pocket item to consider with HC candidate Nate Scheelhaase: What happens with Rams OC Mike LaFleur. If LaFleur gets a head job (he's doing an in-person with Arizona), Scheelhaase would likely be a prime candidate to replace him. That's a potential option if Scheelhaase ends up wanting to wait a cycle."
Nate Scheelhaase could pursue a promotion with the Rams over Browns' HC job
The Arizona Cardinals haven't drawn much interest in this cycle, so LaFleur may not face many — if any — competition for the job.
Of course, Scheelhaase still wouldn't call plays in Los Angeles; that's Sean McVay's thing. Still, he'd get another year of experience and growth behind one of the savviest offensive minds in the game, and at just 35 years old and with two years of NFL experience, that may only help his chances of landing a head coaching job next season.
This isn't unprecedented. We saw a top-tier candidate like Ben Johnson withdraw from consideration for head-coaching gigs to stay as offensive coordinator. Then, he got more and better opportunities in the next hiring cycle.
Scheelhaase may not have much experience, but he's highly regarded as one of the main contributors to Matthew Stafford's MVP-caliber campaign. Also, given the success of the McVay coaching tree around the league, it only made sense that multiple teams were intrigued by him. He's young and hasn't called plays in the pros, but the league has been trending in that direction for the past decade.
The Browns could certainly use someone to fix their bottom-feeding offense. The quarterback situation is clearly still a major concern, and they need to fix the offensive line and add more talent at wide receiver. Whether Scheelhaase will be the one calling the shots next season remains to be seen, but it sure sounds like he's losing momentum in the race.