Don’t pencil in Josh McDaniels as the Patriots offensive coordinator next season just yet.
A report Wednesday said that “something” recently happened to prevent McDaniels, who had been generating buzz as a candidate to fill the Raiders’ head coach vacancy, from becoming a top candidate. But things changed Thursday, with multiple reporters revealing that Las Vegas plans to interview McDaniels sometime Friday.
The Raiders already have interviewed Dave Ziegler, currently New England’s director of player personnel, for their general manager vacancy. Las Vegas reportedly is considering hiring McDaniels and Ziegler as a tandem to lead the franchise moving forward.
Whether this goes anywhere remains to be seen, but the tone of the reports indicates that McDaniels and Ziegler leaving the Patriots now is a very real possibility.
McDaniels, 45, has served as offensive coordinator of the Patriots since 2012. His only prior NFL head coaching experience came in 2009 and 2010, when he led the Denver Broncos. Before joining the Broncos, McDaniels worked under Bill Belichick in various roles from 2001 through 2008.
Should McDaniels decide to leave New England, the Patriots’ search to replace him would become one of the top storylines of the NFL offseason.
