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Remember all of the fun we had last offseason with Bill O'Brien rumors floating around? Well, get ready for round two.
This morning, CBS Sports's Jason La Canfora reported that the Minnesota Vikings and Houston Texans have both already approached the second-year Penn State head coach about their current or soon-to-be coaching vacancies. La Canfora added that O'Brien "is ready to return to professional football, according to pro and college sources". Last year, O'Brien's name was tied to searches in Arizona, San Diego, Cleveland and Philadelphia. He reportedly spoke with the Browns and Eagles to hear them out, but in the end, decided that Penn State was the place for him.
Now, rumors have started again after O'Brien led the Nittany Lions to another winning season despite only playing with around 60 scholarship players. In two years, BOB is 15-9 with wins over top-20 teams from Michigan and Wisconsin in 2013. His ceiling at Penn State is only going to rise over the next few years with the reductions in the NCAA sanctions as it pertained to scholarships. O'Brien, who has already shown his chops as a recruiter, will have the ability to sign a full allotment of recruits in two years time, right when the bowl ban that the team received will be lifted.
Already this offseason, O'Brien saw two of his assistant coaches, former quarterbacks coach Charlie Fisher and former linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden, submit their resignations.
A lot of the talk last offseason during O'Brien's journey wading the waters of the NFL surrounded his buyout clause which was around $18 million. After signing an extension this offseason, that number would be reduced to $7.73 million if he went to the pros now.
Sit tight, BSDers. As always, when we have more information, we'll pass it on to you.
