NFL teams with head-coaching vacancies can begin interviewing candidates Tuesday, which means it's time to speculate (again) about whether Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will leave New England this offseason.
The MMQB's Albert Breer believes it's possible, although McDaniels also might not jump at the first opportunity, instead taking a wait-and-see approach while plotting his NFL future.
"I do think he's gonna draw some interest. I think he's gonna be a little bit more, I'd say, judicious about it than he's been the last couple of years," Breer said on NBC Sports Boston. "I think he likes his situation. I think if you were him last year you had to look at what was happening in New England and wonder, 'Is this going to be conducive to my stock remaining where it has been?' I think now, with a young quarterback in the fold, he's got a little bit more flexibility to wait a year or two if the right opportunity doesn't come along. And I think he will be, again, judicious about which opportunities he's willing to take."
McDaniels, who had a short stint as the Denver Broncos' head coach in 2009-10, has interviewed for multiple head-coaching jobs in recent years, most notably spurning the Colts after Indianapolis announced his hiring in February 2018. Yet he's remained on Bill Belichick's staff, raising questions about whether he might someday succeed Belichick in New England.
One could argue McDaniels has boosted his stock this season, thanks in large to his exceptional work with Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones. As such, another team with a young QB theoretically could push hard to hire McDaniels. And maybe that opportunity to lead a team with a young, up-and-coming signal-caller will be enough to lure him away from Foxboro.
"To me, the name of the game here is going to be quarterbacks," Breer said. "And it's both what a team is willing to offer him from a quarterback perspective, and then what he brings to the table as far as developing quarterbacks. Remember, it's not just Mac Jones. He also developed Matt Cassel, he developed Jacoby Brissett, he developed Jimmy Garoppolo, and he helped Tom Brady reach the highest of heights. So, I think you look at that part of it, and that's why he'd be attractive to a team like a Jacksonville or Chicago. And of course, if you're Josh, you look at it and you see Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields out there. If ownership's right, if the front office structure is right, a young quarterback would be a nice carrot."
Obviously, there are a lot of factors involved. And the Patriots ultimately might do whatever it takes to keep McDaniels around for the long haul, despite his stated desire to someday be a head coach again.
The Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears represent two intriguing possibilities, though. The Jags, with the most recent No. 1 overall pick in Trevor Lawrence, have an opening after firing Urban Meyer 13 games into his disastrous Jacksonville tenure. And the Bears, led by another first-round QB in Justin Fields, have both a building block and the organizational pedigree to make them an attractive destination if they move on from Matt Nagy.
"Remember, (McDaniels) decided to leave here for Indianapolis, and the primary reason he was going to go to Indianapolis, of all the options he'd had before that, was Andrew Luck," Breer said. "So I think the young quarterback, going both ways, is going to be an important factor on whether or not Josh McDaniels winds up leaving."
