Kellen Moore is expected to be named the New Orleans Saints head coach any hour now, and belief within the industry is that ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky could join his former teammate in New Orleans.
On Monday, Orlovsky said goodbye to his colleagues at ESPN, and to say this was intentionally vague would be akin to calling water wet.
"I'm taking a break," Orlovsky said. "Won't be on TV for a long time... Never know what the future holds, but I'm taking a break and I'm sure (co-panelist Ryan Clark) is as well."
Obviously, in this context "a long time" could be until NFL training campus resume in July... or it could be 25 years from now after a long and successful NFL coaching career. Who can say?
Orlovsky, who has no coaching experience, played with Moore in Detroit in 2014. The 41-year-old has been open about his being open to coaching in the right situation presented itself. "If it's the right place, right time, right people," he said on Pat McAfee's show last month, "it seems to be a really, really fun experience."
This isn't new, either. Adam Schefter wrote about his colleague receiving calls from NFL teams five years ago.
Television has long been a short-cut to high-level coaching positions, a phenomenon that's not exclusive to football. Steve Kerr jumped from TNT to become the Phoenix Suns general manager in 2007, jumped back to TNT when that didn't work out, and then jumped to the Golden State Warriors head coaching position in 2014. Jimmy Dykes had never coached women's basketball until he took over at Arkansas in 2014, and is now back at ESPN after three seasons in that role. Brian Griese left ESPN to become the San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks coach in 2022, a role he's still in today.
Orlovsky might add his name to that list, or perhaps not, he'll pop back on our televisions later this year, and we'll still be doing this five years from now.
Either way, we'll find out soon enough.