Many have said that Josh McDaniels’ top priority this offseason was to become head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
Well, those assumptions might be wrong.
The Browns on Sunday reportedly hired Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski as their new head coach. The decision likely means that McDaniels, an Ohio native, will return as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots next season.
According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, McDaniels isn’t too broken up about being rejected by the Browns. Ultimately, it just wasn’t a good fit.
“It was obvious that McDaniels was the favorite in the eyes of the public,” Rapoport said Monday afternoon. “But the reality is this was something where it seemed like both sides were really fine with the way this came out. The Browns are pretty happy with Kevin Stefanski … and, for McDaniels, it just wasn’t the right fit. Also, remember, he wanted to make sure this organization was aligned properly. And there’s a lot of people in that building that I imagine would’ve lost some power had McDaniels come in. And I’m not sure everybody was a big fan of that. It sounded like he was much more in favor of cleaning out some of what was currently there than they were.
“This was not going to work. He did it, he went on the interview, gave his best effort. But I think both sides are pretty pleased with this outcome.”
From NFL Now: With the #Browns hire of Kevin Stefanski, the #Patriots get OC Josh McDaniels back. pic.twitter.com/A4IqJVZStY
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 13, 2020
There still is a chance McDaniels isn’t in New England next season. It’s possible some other team will fire its head coach and make a run at McDaniels.
For now, however, Patriots fans can expect to see the 43-year-old back on the sidelines at Gillette Stadium in 2020.
