Both New England Patriots coordinators are garnering interest as several NFL teams look to fill head-coaching vacancies.
The Green Bay Packers, who fired head coach Mike McCarthy during the season, plan to submit requests to interview Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and linebackers coach/de facto defensive coordinator Brian Flores, Jim McBride of The Boston Globe reported Sunday night.
McDaniels has been a hot name on the head-coaching market in each of the last three years. He interviewed with the San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams during the 2016 postseason and with the New York Giants, Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts last year, initially accepting the Colts job before backing out to remain in New England.
The 42-year-old McDaniels is in his eighth season as the Patriots’ OC, and he has head-coaching experience, having led the Denver Broncos for a season-and-a-half from 2009 to 2010.
Though he was not given the official defensive coordinator title, Flores took over defensive play-calling duties this season after Matt Patricia left the Patriots to take over the Detroit Lions. The 37-year-old former Boston College linebacker interviewed for the Arizona Cardinals’ head-coaching vacancy last year and impressed Cardinals general manager Steve Keim.
The Packers, Cleveland Browns (Hue Jackson), New York Jets (Todd Bowles) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Dirk Koetter) already have fired their head coaches, with the Jets and Bucs doing so Sunday after losses to the Patriots and Atlanta Falcons, respectively.
The Cardinals and Denver Broncos reportedly are expected to fire Steve Wilks and Vance Joseph, and Miami’s Adam Gase and Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis could be on their way out, as well.
