Jonathan Gannon a Finalist in Houston
Jonathan Gannon beat the snow around the Delaware Valley Friday night and into Saturday, heading to Houston before the storm hit for his second interview with the Texans.
The Eagles defensive coordinator is the second-known finalist joining, former Philadelphia backup quarterback Josh McCown, who had his second interview on Friday.
The Athletic reported that Houston GM Nick Caserio, like Gannon, is a John Carroll University alumnus but Gannon did not go to the Cleveland-area Division III school that has produced such league heavyweights as current Eagles personnel executive and former Jacksonville GM Dave Caldwell, New England OC Josh McDaniels, who is likely to get the head-coaching job in Las Vegas in the coming days, Baltimore OC Greg Roman, LA Chargers GM Tom Telesco, and Patriots de facto GM Dave Ziegler, who may join McDaniels with the Raiders.
The confusion comes from the fact that Gannon is from the Cleveland area and is close to a number of people on the JCU tree. Former JCU coach Tom Arth once wanted to hire Gannon as his defensive coordinator but the young coach decided to stay on his NFL path and recommended Brandon Staley to Arth instead, who has since gone on to become the head coach of the Chargers.
Gannon is also very close to McDaniels, who was a teammate of Caserio at JCU, since their days together in St. Louis where Gannon once worked as a pro scout.
In fact, Gannon was hired in Indianapolis by McDaniels before he backed out of the deal to coach the Colts, not Frank Reich. McDaniels also planned to bring Gannon along to Cleveland and last year in Philadelphia had McDaniels gotten the Eagles' job.
Gannon first interviewed with the Texans on Jan. 18 before meeting with Denver and Minnesota about their head-coaching positions over the next two days.
By all accounts, Gannon interviewed well at each stop but the Texans are considered to be the only team he's still in the mix for after Denver hired former Green Bay OC Nathaniel Hackett.
Minnesota is still in the market for a HC after hiring South Jersey native Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as its new GM but is likely looking to get away from any Mike Zimmer-tint and Gannon was a former Zimmer assistant there.
There is some thought that the Texans would like to pair Gannon as the HC with McCown, an Eagles' backup in 2019-20, running the offense.
Houston Chronicle reporter John McClain, who has covered the Texans for their entire existence, recently labeled McCown the frontrunner but there are hurdles to go in that direction because the nearly two-decade veteran, while well-regarded by everyone, has no actual coaching experience and would be going directly from the field to a head-coaching position.
JOHNSON TO PACKERS?
In other coaching news, Eagles QB coach Brian Johnson is expected to interview with Green Bay for its open OC position after the Packers lost Hackett to the Broncos.
Johnson, though, is regarded as a longshot there even if Hackett takes either QB coach Luke Getsy or OL coach Adam Stenavich to be his OC in Denver, the other would be the favorite in Green Bay.
Complicating that, however, is that new Chicago coach Matt Eberflus is believed to be interested in Getsy to be his OC so the Packers need contingency plans and Johnson is part of that process.
As for outside candidates to date, the Packers have interviewed Chargers tight ends coach Kevin Koger for the job.
Last season was Johnson's first as an NFL assistant and he was instrumental in the improvement of Jalen Hurts at the QB position. Before arriving in the NFL, Johnson, 34, was a college offensive coordinator at three different schools — his alma mater of Utah, Houston, and Florida.
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
