Grant Udinski: I was honored to be considered for head coaching opportunities

For a time in January, it seemed as if Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski would be a head coach in 2026.

But the now-30-year-old Udinski took himself out of consideration for the Browns job that went to Todd Monken. And while he also interviewed with the Bills, Joe Brady filled that vacancy with his promotion from offensive coordinator.

So Udinski stuck with the Jags, receiving a contract extension as he enters his second season with the club.

He told reporters in a Tuesday press conference that he felt like going through head coaching interviews was “a great process to go through.”

“I was honored to be able to be considered for those opportunities, and really, it's a testament to the work that our team and our offense has put in to kind of raise my status and elevate me to even be considered,” Udinski said, via transcript from the team. “You go through that process and you learn a lot about what you believe in and what you think and what you really are convicted in because you think about all the different things you've come across over your time in coaching or even before coaching, and you kind of have to whittle it down to the things that are most important to you and your core values.

“So, a lot of what you're learning is really maybe things that you already knew, but what are your priorities? That kind of becomes the focus of those interviews because it's such a short period of time where you're trying to put together all of your plans and thoughts in a clear and concise manner.”

Udinski, whose ascent in coaching has been quick, noted he still feels like he has plenty of room to grow in his current role.

“There's a lot of things that I look back on last year's season and just like we talk about evaluating where we need to improve as an offense, a lot of it will start with me as the coordinator,” Udinski said. “And there are really simple things that I think I could have communicated this better, I could have communicated this more clearly. And then there are maybe more complicated things where we built a certain package of plays in a way where I felt like I could have done a better job of putting those plays together.

“[I] probably have a list of 200 things that, unfortunately, I could improve on. The bright side of that is there's 200 things that I can improve on. So as a coordinator, for me personally, it's the same approach that we take with the offense when we say we want to run the ball better, well how does that start with my role? What am I doing? How am I influencing the run game to make sure that that's actually possible? So just like we sit down and evaluate those things, I’ve got to do the same thing for myself.”