NFL Rumors: Colts Shockingly Name Ex-Player Interim Head Coach

The Indianapolis Colts sent shockwaves around the NFL with a coaching staff decision Monday afternoon.

And no, we’re not talking about the firing of Frank Reich.

Roughly an hour after the Colts announced the removal of Reich, which came on the heels of a blowout road loss to the New England Patriots, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Jeff Saturday will serve as the interim head coach in Indianapolis. Saturday, who played 13 of his 14 NFL seasons with the Colts, had been serving as an ESPN NFL analyst since 2013 and never has coached above the high school level.

How rare is Saturday’s hiring? According to his now-former colleague, Field Yates, the longtime center became only the second person in NFL history to be named head coach without any prior coaching experience in the league or in the college ranks.

It should be noted that Indianapolis had sensible internal candidates to replace Reich in the interim. Defensive coordinator Gus Bradley has 33 years of NFL coaching experience, including four as a head coach in Jacksonville, and senior defensive assistant John Fox has coached in the league for four decades and led a team to a Super Bowl in one of his 16 seasons as a head coach. The Athletic’s Zak Keefer also pointed out that special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone is a “rising head-coaching candidate.”

Saturday’s first game at the helm in Indianapolis will be Sunday when the Colts visit the 2-6 Las Vegas Raiders.