Cleveland, (92.3 The Fan) – A day after helping the Colts to shut down Deshaun Watson and the Texans high-octane offense, defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus met with the Browns about their head coaching vacancy.
The team confirmed the interview with Eberflus Sunday evening.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that general manager John Dorsey, who is leading the coaching search, has been joined in interviews by owner Jimmy Haslam, executive vice president JW Johnson, assistant general manager Eliot Wolf, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta and vice president of player personnel Andrew Berry.
Meanwhile it doesn’t appear that Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is a serious candidate for the job, currently.
As of Sunday evening, McDaniels had not been interviewed by the Browns and league rules stipulate that candidates from teams with a bye must interview prior to game week of the divisional round. In addition, teams are not permitted to interview prospective candidates next week from teams that advance to the conference championship games.
The Canton Repository reported last week that McDaniels had interest in the Browns job and had expressed that through back channels.
The earliest McDaniels could now interview is next week if the Patriots are eliminated by the Chargers or not until after the AFC championship game. League rules stipulate any initial or second interviews with candidates much take place before a participating team departs for the Super Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia.
A Toledo, Ohio native, Eberflus is no stranger to the Browns. He served as linebackers coach in Cleveland under Eric Mangini from 2009-2010 after spending 17 years coaching at Toledo and Missouri. Unfortunately, that was 5 Browns coaching staffs ago.
Eberflus, who was prohibited by league rules from interviewing prior to their Wild Card victory over the Texans, joined the Colts expecting to work for Josh McDaniels before McDaniels reversed course and went back to New England but Frank Reich retained him.
After being ranked 30th overall the last 2 seasons in overall defense and points allowed, the Colts finished the regular season ranked 11th overall, allowing 339.4 yards per game under Eberflus. They were 10th in the league in points allowed per game at 21.5.
Dorsey and the committee have now interviewed 6 candidates for the job: interim head coach Gregg Williams on Jan. 1, former Lions and Colts head coach Jim Caldwell on Jan. 2, Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski Jan. 3, Saints assistant head coach and tight ends coach Dan Campbell on Jan. 4 and Patriots linebacker coach Brian Flores on Jan. 5.
This week offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens and former Packers coach Mike McCarthy are expected to interview.
The team is not confirming or commenting on reports of scheduled interviews.
