Bengals OC Jackson interviews with 49ers

Just hours after Cincinnati lost a heartbreaker to Pittsburgh in a wild AFC wild-card game – and after meeting with the San Francisco 49ers about becoming their next coach – Cincinnati’s offensive co-ordinator interviewed for the Browns’ coaching vacancy.

Largely considered the favorite to be selected as the coach with a potential offer coming soon, Jackson met in length with the Niners in Cincinnati, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team isn’t announcing its candidates or interviews scheduled or completed.

The Browns have previously talked to Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, Cowboys secondary coach Jerome Henderson, Jaguars assistant head coach Doug Marrone, Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin and Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase, who signed on as the Dolphins’ head coach Saturday. One of Jackson’s young offensive assistants that season was Paul Guenther, who is now the Bengals’ defensive coordinator.

If they draft a young quarterback like a Jared Goff high in the draft, then suddenly Jackson would have his quarterback of the future to work with.

Former Raiders executive Amy Trask, now a CBS analyst, raved about Jackson on the pre-game show today. “And I speak to them about the challenges under which Hue labored, many of which were not apparent to the public”. The 41-year-old has drawn interest from other teams because of his success with the Panthers, who went 15-1 in the regular season and had a first-round bye in the NFC playoffs. The Panthers also led the league with 24 interceptions and with 39 takeaways overall. His defences have finished in the top 10 in each of the past four seasons.

This is the way the 49ers have been headed for several days now-basically, I’m told, from the moment they ended their interview with Chip Kelly on Thursday York and GM Trent Baalke immediately believed Jackson was their guy. Really what we’ve done is establish a tradition in Carolina of playing defense.

McDermott has only worked for two teams in the past 17 years – Carolina and the Philadelphia Eagles – so he could bring some form of stability to an organization that has been opposite of stability over the years. He is now in his second year as Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator and in his sixth year on the Bengals staff.

If the Browns are prepared to hire Jackson, they will likely have to act fairly quickly.