Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik head coach profile

Bobby Slowik is drawing interest on the head coach market just one season into his career as the Houston Texans offensive coordinator.

Slowik has been the subject of interview requests from the Carolina Panthers, Tennessee Titans, Washington Commanders and Atlanta Falcons, and the hype around him is only likely to increase after Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud's excellent performance in Houston's blowout Wild Card round win over the Cleveland Browns.

With the Texans advancing in the playoffs, interested teams will need to wait a little longer if they wish to hire Slowik, but they may be happy to show that patience after his first postseason play-calling showcase.

What is Bobby Slowik's experience?

Slowik started his coaching journey in 2011 as a defensive assistant for Washington under Mike Shanahan.

He joined the San Francisco 49ers in 2017 after Kyle Shanahan was named the Niners head coach, initially continuing to work with the defense before transitioning to the offensive side of the ball in 2019.

Slowik was the passing game coordinator for the Niners last season as San Francisco won 10 straight games to go 13-4 with Brock Purdy thriving and taking the passing game to another level as a seventh-round rookie across the final five games of the regular season.

The offense's performance, and his relationship with Slowik, convinced former 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans to bring him along to Houston after getting the job as Texans head coach, and the results have been outstanding.

How has he fared in 2023?

In short, very well, coordinating a big-play offense in which his rookie quarterback has looked extremely comfortable from the jump.

Houston finished the regular season fourth in the NFL with 69 pass plays of 20 yards or more, with the Texans 13th in dropback Expected Points Added per play, per rbsdm.com.

The run game his been far more inconsistent, but no general manager or owner who watched Stroud dice up the Browns' secondary in the opening game of the postseason will have been dissuaded by that.

What is Slowik's calling card?

As his performance in getting the best out of Stroud and his previous career experience indicates, Slowik's specialty is the passing game.

He literally had the title 'passing game specialist' with the 49ers in 2021 before receiving a promotion to passing game coordinator last season.

Slowik is clearly worthy of the title he previously held with San Francisco, his impact illustrated this season by Stroud leading the NFL in passing yards per game (273.9) and touchdown to interception ratio (23:5), becoming only the third quarterback after Joe Montana in 1989 and Tom Brady and 2007 to do both in the same season.

Can he be the face of a franchise?

That is the primary unknown for a coach who is still so early in his coaching career.

He'll hope to convince teams in his interviews that the answer to that question is a firm yes. 

But the franchises that requested interviews with him all have young quarterbacks on the roster, while Washington has the chance to select a new franchise quarterback with the second pick in the draft, the Commanders set to get a shot at either Caleb Williams or Drake Maye. 

For the quartet Slowik ticks arguably the most important boxes, he can coordinate an explosive modern-day passing attack and get the best out of a young quarterback. 

In today's NFL, those abilities will go a long way to helping a coach convince a team he is the right man to head up the operation and, after what he and Stroud have achieved this season, Slowik may see his rapid ascent gather even more pace and propel him to a top job.