Could a Familiar Face Come Back to Coach in Indy?
The year is 2015, and the Indianapolis Colts have just finished back-to-back 11-5 seasons.
The Colts have advanced to the AFC Championship game for the first time since 2009 with second-year quarterback Andrew Luck. A big reason for the team's success was the play of the Colts' offense, which was run by coordinator Pep Hamilton.
The team ended the season as the sixth-highest-scoring offense and the third-highest in total yards. The unit was seen in such a light that it led to Hamilton being considered as one of the up-and-coming coaches across the NFL, so much so that he interviewed for two different head coach openings that cycle with the Buffalo Bills and then-Oakland Raiders.
This is why what happened next during the 2015-16 season was even more surprising. The seemingly rising Colts started the season 3-5 at the halfway point. After losing to the Carolina Panthers in overtime, the Colts chose to fire their once highly sought-after offensive coordinator in Hamilton. The reason was that the team's offense and Luck had struggled mightily through the first half of the season.
Head coach Chuch Pagano even shared his reasoning at the time.
Through the first eight weeks of the season, we have felt our offense hasn't performed at the consistent level that we need. Because of this we’ve decided to go in a different direction and relieve Pep Hamilton of his duties as offensive coordinator.
The 2015-16 season as a whole is one many Colts fans would love to forget. It has left a very sour taste in many minds at the thought of Hamilton returning to the team under new head coach Shane Steichen. And while that season remains part of evaluating Hamilton's coaching career, what he's done since needs to be considered.
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After being fired by the Colts, Hamilton spent time with the Cleveland Browns, the University of Michigan, and even the XFL in different coaching roles before finally landing with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020 as the quarterback coach. Steichen was the newly appointed offensive coordinator, coming off half-a-season as the interim after his predecessor, Ken Whisenhunt, was fired mid-season the year prior.
At the time, the team was gearing up to make the choice to move off long-time franchise quarterback Philip Rivers and was looking at their draft options at the position. This increased the importance of their hire at that spot dramatically. The team elected to hire Hamilton and would end up drafting Justin Herbert out of Oregon with the No.6 overall pick. Herbert, at the time, was seen by many to have talent but would take time to be truly ready for the pro level.
The Chargers, themselves, showed their own belief in that notion as they elected to sign veteran Tyrod Taylor to be the team's starter for the 2020-21 season. That plan would not come to fruition as a rare medical mishap led to Herbert having to be thrown in as the starter in Week 2 of that season. Steichen and Hamilton had a tall task to tailor the offense in an escalated timeline to give their rookie quarterback the best chance of success.
Week 2 had the Chargers taking on the division rival Kansas City Chiefs and star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Herbert not only looked ready for the pro level that day, but he went toe-to-toe with one of the best in the league. The Chargers lost in overtime, 23-20, but Herbert threw for over 300 yards on the day. He would go on to win the 2020 Offensive Rookie of the Year award and was seen around the league as one of the up-and-coming quarterbacks in the entire league.
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Even after his success with Herbert, the Chargers decided it was time to fire their head coach Anthony Lynn which led to Hamilton’s services being available. He would end up accepting a slight promotion to become not only the quarterback coach for the Houston Texans but their passing game coordinator as well. The Texans found themselves in a situation that season where their star quarterback at the time, Deshaun Watson, was refusing to play for the team as he had requested a trade. So the team had to find options elsewhere.
Houston would bring Hamilton a familiar vet in Taylor, who he worked with the year prior as well as drafting Davis Mills in the third round to round out their QB room. That year, Taylor would go down with an injury yet again early in the season, which pushed Mills to the front of the depth chart.
It's not often you see QBs taken outside of round one have success at the NFL level and Mills had his struggles early on. But after time, he was able to improve to the point of having the third most amount of yards and second most touchdowns among his class.
The next season, Hamilton saw yet another promotion where he now became the offensive coordinator and play caller for the Texans. Mills' play led the Texans to push off drafting a quarterback at least one more season as they would give him another season to show whether or not he could be a long-term option at the position.
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The newly appointed head coach of the Colts, Steichen has a lot of decisions to make when building his offensive staff for a team that finished near the bottom of the league in nearly every offensive stat imaginable.
With the team moving towards selecting a rookie quarterback near the top of this year's draft, the importance of these hires is elevated. When looking at a few of the openings at offensive coordinator, quarterback coach, and passing game coordinator, the chances for Hamilton to reunite with his former colleague Steichen seems possible.
And with Hamilton having dealt with not one but two recent rookie quarterback situations, his resume seems to point towards having him on this staff being positive. Colts fans still hold a distaste for Hamilton, but maybe it is time to look beyond his first failure in Indianapolis and look at his entire body of work and, specific experience with young quarterbacks in this league.
