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Lincoln Riley is getting a lot of attention from NFL teams

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 25: Head Coach Lincoln Riley of Oklahoma Sooners during warm ups before the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated West Virginia 59-31. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 25: Head Coach Lincoln Riley of Oklahoma Sooners during warm ups before the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated West Virginia 59-31. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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OU head coach Lincoln Riley is getting plenty of attention from the NFL these days.

It is not unusual that head coaches at premier programs like Oklahoma draw interest from NFL team. Both Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer were lured into the NFL after there time at OU, and Bob Stoops’ name was constantly coming up while at the helm at Oklahoma when coaching jobs opened up in the NFL.

So why shouldn’t NFL teams have an interest in Riley? You can relax, Sooner fans. Riley isn’t going anywhere — anytime soon, anyway. It isn’t Riley per se that NFL coaches are interested in right now, it’s the offensive mastery that is in his brain.

After all, Riley has only been a head coach for one season, although he has been putting together offensive game plans and coaching Division I offensive units for over a decade now, including the last three years at Oklahoma.

In his first season replacing the winningest Sooner football coach in Stoops, Riley’s offense ranked No. 1 in the country in total offensive yards (8,114), yards per game (579.6), yards per play (8.29)touchdowns (80), and passing efficiency (202.67).

In Riley’s three seasons at OU, including the two he spent under Stoops as offensive coordinator, the Sooners have been the best in the nation in points per game, total offense, completion percentage and passing efficiency (the latter two courtesy of Baker Mayfield).

Riley told Sports Illustrated staff writer Albert Breer that in the time he spent as an assistant at Texas Tech, East Carolina and at OU, he only had what you would classify as one elongated discussion with an NFL coach. That all changed, though, after his first season in charge of the program at Oklahoma.

A number of NFL coaches reportedly have become interested in the level of offensive success Riley has achieved since coming to Oklahoma.

Since Chip Kelly took his high-powered Oregon offense to the NFL 2013 as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, who have started to see more college schemes, formations and plays showing up in NFL game plans.

One NFL coach told Breer that what he liked a lot about the Oklahoma offense under Riley is:

"“His (Riley’s) player know what they’re doing, and his plays complement each other.”"

He marries his running game to his passing game, Breer wrote about Riley, and makes something that is simple enough to allow players to play a breakneck speed, and at the same time is complicated for opponents and often difficult to adjust to.

Riley told Breer that he would never say never about the future possibility of coaching in the NFL, but he added the caveat that it would be “really difficult” to leave Oklahoma, adding that it was one of the best head coaching jobs — if not the very best — at any level of football.

Sounds like a true Bob Stoops disciple. The paradox is, as long as Riley and the Sooners continue to enjoy gridiron success, the more and more he will find himself rising on the NFL radar, and not to completely rule out other high-profile college jobs.

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