While it’s unclear at this moment whether Nick Saban wants to return to coaching, FS1 host Nick Wright believes that the chance to coach Joe Burrow with the Cincinnati Bengals would be one of the more intriguing options that could become open. Saban may have available to him.

Several people who have been close to Saban throughout his illustrious coaching career, including former Alabama quarterback turned ESPN broadcaster Greg McElroy and Saban’s former assistant coach Lane Kiffin, have each recently claimed that they don’t believe Saban is done coaching.

This has prompted FS1 host Colin Cowherd to share several potential landing spots for Saban, all of which he believes are at the NFL level and not in a return to coaching college football.

Last week on The Herd, Cowherd outlined how he believes Saban would entertain an offer from the Dallas Cowboys if Jerry Jones were to come calling. And on Tuesday, joined by his FS1 colleague Nick Wright, Cowherd shared another potential destination for Saban, introducing a scenario where Saban coaches Arch Manning after the Cleveland Browns draft him.

“Six coaches a year get fired,” said Cowherd. Coordinators are at best a coin flip. If I was Cleveland and I got the No. 1 pick, and they are in the running for the worst team, I would draft Arch Manning and I would hire Nick Saban. If you ran a team in this league or owned one, you would not call 73-year-old Nick Saban?”

Wright doesn’t think the possibility of Saban returning to coaching at the NFL is a ridiculous idea at all, admitting that while Saban may not be his top coaching candidate if he were an NFL owner, he is someone who “has the energy” at 73 years of age to coach in the NFL.

“I don’t know that he would definitively be my number one choice first phone call because Mike Tomlin might be available after this year,” said Wright about Saban. “I’m just picking that name out of the hat. But you know what I mean? Very often, there’s a really good coach who just time has passed at his destination who comes available. So, I’m not saying Nick Saban would be the number one candidate for every job, but the idea that your take was a hot take, I think is ridiculous.

“Age not withstanding, he clearly has the energy, the attention to detail, the football mind. And, I do think that what NIL has done is it has leveled the playing field in as much as if Saban went back to college, his historic recruiting prowess would be muted to a degree. In a way it wasn’t while he stacking up national championships.”

As far as Cowherd specifically naming the Browns as a team that could be a good fit, Wright had another team in the state of Ohio in mind, bringing up the possibility of Saban coaching Joe Burrow in Cincinnati.

“I’ll throw a different one at you that is same state, different team. If this coming year goes the way I think it might for Cincinnati, I think Nick Saban is an interesting idea there. Listen, got to coach up the defense, got to have someone to actually have as big of a voice in the organization as the owner, got to clean up some of the nonsense going in the years they deal with every year, again, most of which is owner-related. And let Joe and Jamar handle the offense. Almost offload the offense to them.

“You handle the details, finding some of the edges in young players from the college game that you’re very aware of their skillset, and coach up the defense. Because the only point that you made that I disagree with is, if I’m Nick Saban and I want to do this, I’m not that interested in a studs-to-the-top-down rebuild. I’m much more interested in, I’ve got three or four years. Let me see if I can have a contender immediately. I think the Bengals who, if they miss the playoffs again, probably will be looking for a new coach. I think they could be an attractive one.”

“If this coming year goes the way I think it might for Cincinnati, I think Nick Saban’s an interesting idea there.”@colincowherd and @getnickwright discuss Nick Saban potentially returning to the NFL pic.twitter.com/p9gQM7GSQt

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) July 22, 2025

Given Saban’s age, the win-now timeline that the Bengals seemingly have would undoubtedly be a better fit than coaching a rookie quarterback in Cleveland.

While there are some roadblocks to Wright’s proposed plan ultimately coming to fruition, it is at the very least an intriguing possibility to watch if Saban does eventually publicly express his desire to return to coaching.