TAMPA, Fla. -- When Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Dirk Koetter first joined Jack Del Rio's staff as the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2007, he may not have been thinking 'big picture,' but Del Rio was -- he believed Koetter, who was in his first NFL coaching stint, would go on to become an NFL head coach one day.
“Yeah, I did. Just like Mike Smith," said Del Rio, who's been the coach of the Oakland Raiders since 2015. “I think Dirk’s very organized, a detailed guy. Good teacher, good relationship with the players. I just felt like Dirk was a really good fit at the time and I think he proved that he was with the product that we put out there.