Dan Orlovsky was nearly the latest former NFL player turned broadcaster to transition into coaching. Both the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts had discussions with Orlovsky about having a prominent offensive coaching role within their franchise, according to ESPN. The 39-year-old, who has been working at ESPN as an analyst since 2018, has instead decided to stay at the network.
Both Carolina and Indianapolis have changed head coaches this offseason, with the Panthers hiring Frank Reich and the Colts recently tapping Shane Steichen to lead them going forward. It's unclear from this report when these discussions with Orlovsky specifically occurred and whether or not he was sought after by these current head coaches. It's also unclear what type of "prominent offensive coaching roles" they were discussing, whether it be an offensive coordinator job, quarterback coach or something else.
It's worth noting that Jeff Saturday, the interim head coach for the Colts to end the 2022 regular season, worked with Orlovsky at ESPN, so it's possible that's where the origin of those inquirers came from and maybe progressed if Saturday was hired to be the full-time head coach.
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This isn't the first time that Orlovsky has been contacted by teams. Back in 2020, he received calls from multiple NFL teams inquiring if he'd leave the network for a job on the offensive coaching staff. Those calls came a year after he was linked to the Green Bay Packers for a coaching gig there.
Orlovsky has over a decade of experience playing in the NFL. The former UConn quarterback was a fifth-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions back in 2005 and played in the NFL until he announced his retirement in October of 2017. Over that playing career, Orlovsky started 12 games and completed 58.2% of his passes to go along with a 75.3 passer rating. Five of those starts came as a member of the Colts in 2011 where he went 2-3, and completed 63.2% of his passes with a career-best 82.4 passer rating. He also had six touchdowns and four interceptions that season.
