Udinski proud after head coach interviews fade

Grant Udinski says he was honored to be considered for head coaching roles after taking himself out of the Browns search and watching other vacancies get filled. The Jaguars offensive coordinator has now signed an extension as he prepares for his second season

For a stretch in January, it looked like Grant Udinski’s name could be on the fast track out of Jacksonville. Head-coaching talk swirled around the Jaguars offensive coordinator as teams weighed their next move going into 2026.

But the path didn’t open the way he may have first imagined. Udinski took himself out of consideration for the Browns job that ultimately went to Todd Monken. He also interviewed with the Bills, where Joe Brady filled the vacancy by being promoted from offensive coordinator.

Udinski didn’t let the door closing elsewhere change his focus inside the building. Instead, he stayed with the Jaguars, receiving a contract extension as he enters his second season with the club.

Speaking at a Tuesday press conference, the now-30-year-old said the head-coaching process was something he valued even if it didn’t end in a job offer. He called it “a great process to go through.”

“I was honored to be able to be considered for those opportunities. and really. it’s a testament to the work that our team and our offense has put in to—really—raise my status and elevate me to even be considered. ” Udinski said. via a transcript from the team. “You go through that process and you learn a lot about what you believe in and what you think and what you really are convicted in… you have to whittle it down to the things that are most important to you and your core values.”.

He described the interviews as more than just a résumé exercise, framing them around priorities and decisions made under time pressure.

“So. a lot of what you’re learning is really maybe things that you already knew. but what are your priorities?” Udinski continued. “That kind of becomes the focus of those interviews because it’s such a short period of time where you’re trying to put together all of your plans and thoughts in a clear and concise manner.”.

Still, the honor didn’t come with any sense of arrival. Udinski said he feels the work can get better—even in the role he has now secured through the extension.

“There’s a lot of things that I look back on last year’s season and just like we talk about evaluating where we need to improve as an offense. a lot of it will start with me as the coordinator. ” Udinski said. “And there are really simple things that I think I could have communicated this better. I could have communicated this more clearly.”.

He also pointed to more complex problems—things tied to how certain play packages were built and presented.

“And then there are maybe more complicated things where we built a certain package of plays in a way where I felt like I could have done a better job of putting those plays together,” Udinski said.

He didn’t soften the message when he tried to quantify it. “I probably have a list of 200 things that, unfortunately, I could improve on.” Then he flipped the mood toward accountability.

“The bright side of that is there’s 200 things that I can improve on,” he added. “So as a coordinator. for me personally. it’s the same approach that we take with the offense when we say we want to run the ball better. well how does that start with my role?. What am I doing?. How am I influencing the run game to make sure that that’s actually possible?”.

Udinski tied it directly to the daily job: evaluating, adjusting, and making sure the things he controls line up with the offense the Jaguars want to be.

“So just like we sit down and evaluate those things, I’ve got to do the same thing for myself.”

Grant Udinski Jaguars Todd Monken Browns Joe Brady Bills head coach interviews offensive coordinator contract extension NFL