Louis Riddick on Get Up.

I feel like every offseason for the past several years, ESPN NFL analyst Louis Riddick has been tied to various NFL GM jobs that have been opened.

Back at the start of 2017, Riddick interviewed for the open 49ers job that eventually went to a different broadcaster – John Lynch, then with Fox. A few month later, Riddick was linked to the Chiefs job that went to Brett Veach, though he denied the reports from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. At the end of the year, the Giants interviewed him for their GM position, but hired Dave Gettleman.

On Wednesday, Riddick’s ESPN colleague Adam Schefter reported that Riddick was interviewing for the Texans GM job, and had an interview with the Lions on deck.

In addition to those two open jobs, the Jaguars and Falcons currently have openings at GM. Riddick was linked to the Falcons job a week ago, and the Jaguars have “expressed interest” in talking to him. Several other jobs could also open up over the next two weeks.

I don’t begrudge Riddick at all for being open to a potential GM role with a team, but if he ends up getting one of those jobs this offseason, his bosses at ESPN are going to be forced to alter the Monday Night Football booth for what would be the fourth straight season. That has to be frustrating, even if the network is losing an analyst to a much more hands-on role with a team and isn’t just backpedaling into his previous job after a year as an analyst (not going to mention any names, Jason Witten).

The fact that Riddick keeps getting linked to open jobs indicates to me that he’s thought of quite well inside the game, and will probably end up getting a front office job sooner rather than later. That’s disappointing for viewers, but is only a good thing for Riddick’s career going forward.

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.