Jim Caldwell Denies Rumor He Turned Down HC Interview Requests from Raiders, Vikings

It was [.

Tim Daniels wrote a column for the Minnesota Vikings.

The file is about Gary Landers.

Jim Caldwell denied a report that he turned down interview requests from the Las Vegas Raiders and Minnesota Vikings to discuss their head coaching vacancies.

Jim Caldwell is a player for the National Football League.
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There was a report that I turned down opportunities to interview for the head coaching job in Minnesota and Las Vegas. The reports are not true.
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The Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars were both interested in Caldwell, but he turned them down.

The Raiders and Vikings reached out to Jim Caldwell, the former Colts and Lions coach, to interview him, but he declined both requests. My understanding is that Caldwell is in the running for one of the other open jobs in Chicago and Jacksonville, and he is reaching out to candidates for his staff.

A head coach for seven years, Caldwell had a 62-50 regular-season record with four playoff appearances, three with the Colts and one with the Lions. He led Indy to the Super Bowl, but was defeated by the New Orleans Saints.

His tenure with the Lions ended after the last season. Since his departure, Detroit has compiled a 17-46-2 record.

He was hired by the Miami Dolphins to be their assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach, but he stepped away from those roles before the start of the season to focus on his health. He was a consultant.

At the time, Caldwell said that he would be stepping back due to some medical problems.

The 67-year-old Wisconsin native has jumped back into the coaching carousel and has attracted interest from several teams as he looks to extend his career into a sixth decade. He began working as a graduate assistant at Iowa in 1977.

He's still trying to keep his options open despite the speculation that he was already starting to build a staff for either Chicago or Jacksonville.

He drew praise from Manning, who said that he was well-liked by players.

Jim Caldwell has meant a lot to me. He became my quarterbacks coach and I felt like my game improved. I thought Jim had a lot to do with that step up. We tried to do a routine every day in the meeting room on the practice field in different drills.

It's not clear if the Raiders and Vikings will request an interview with Caldwell following his statement on Saturday.

The two teams are looking for a new head coach.