The Houston Texans are expected to hire Matt Burke as their defensive coordinator, NFL Network reported Friday.
The network also reported former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury would interview for the offensive coordinator role.
Burke, who interviewed with the Texans this week, most recently worked as the defensive line coach of the Cardinals.
Burke, 46, would represent the first big hire for DeMeco Ryans, who was named the Texans head coach on Jan. 31. Ryans, 38, spent the past two seasons as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator.
Kingsbury went 28-37-1 as head coach of the Cardinals, who cleaned house after a 4-13 season ended in January. Kingsbury, 43, said he immediately was headed to Thailand with his girlfriend, denying at the time he would be interested in the offensive coordinator position with the Los Angeles Rams.
With the Texans, the opportunity is slightly different in that Kingsbury is a Texas native, and Houston is 175 miles from his hometown of New Braunfels. He has deep roots in the state, where he played quarterback at Texas Tech and later coached Patrick Mahomes in Lubbock. He was an assistant coach at Texas A&M when Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy.
Burke previously was defensive coordinator in two of his three seasons with the Miami Dolphins (2016-18). He has worked in a variety of coaching roles with the Tennessee Titans (2004-08), Detroit Lions (2009-13), Cincinnati Bengals (2014-16), Philadelphia Eagles (2019-20) and New York Jets (2021).
The Texans ranked 30th in yards allowed (379.5) and 27th in points allowed (24.7) this past season.
–Field Level Media
