Bill O'Brien has been viewed as the favorite to land the Patriots' offensive coordinator job for a while, but there had not been much word on when he would actually be interviewing for it.
Until now. According to NFL Media's Ian Rapoport, O'Brien's interview for the position officially took place on Thursday.
O'Brien, who is from Andover, previously spent five seasons on Bill Belichick's staff in New England from 2007-11, serving as offensive coordinator for the 2011 season and offensive play-caller in 2009 and 2010 as well. Since leaving, he spent two years as head coach at Penn State, seven as head coach of the Houston Texans, and the last two as offensive coordinator at Alabama.
Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston reported this week that O'Brien is favored for the job by Patriots ownership. While that obviously supports the idea that he is the leader in the clubhouse, it's not necessarily a done deal just yet.
According to reports, the Patriots have also interviewed or are planning to interview current tight ends coach Nick Caley, Vikings wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell, Cardinals wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson, and Oregon associate head coach Adrian Klemm.
Rapoport added in a follow-up tweet that the Patriots could be done with the interview process by the end of the day Friday.
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