College Football Analyst: 'Lane Kiffin Is Considering NFL Jobs'

It's been over 15 years since Lane Kiffin last held an NFL job of any kind. But after the immense success he's been enjoying at Ole Miss, could he be ready for a second shot? One analyst certainly thinks so.

Appearing on The Colin Cowherd Podcast, college football analyst Josh Pate addressed the persistent rumors and speculation on what Kiffin's next job will be. Every college football program in the country that needs a coach is looking at him and the Ole Miss athletic department has yet to tie him down with a long-term extension.

But Pate asserted that Kiffin may not be preparing for a different college head coaching job. Rather, he could be looking at an NFL job instead.

“Yeah. I think he is (considering the NFL). I think several of them are. I think there’s some names considering the NFL that would totally and completely put jaws on the ground if the names ever got public. I think these guys are always considering the NFL. Now, you’d never get the truth out of most of them, but, yeah,” Pate said. “I mean, look. You know the kind of mentality it takes to succeed at the highest level of college football, especially if you specialize on a side of the ball. It goes hand in hand with the kind of mentality that thinks I could win the NFL, I could win on Sundays. I want to test myself against the best. I want to see how my offense does.”

Pate also pointed out that Kiffin's ill-fated two-year run with the Oakland Raiders back in the 2000s probably still eats at Kiffin. He mused that Kiffin might want to return to the NFL to prove that he's better than the coach who went 5-15 from 2007 to 2008.