Two weeks after the coaching carousel began to spin, none of the eight teams looking for head coaches have requested permission to interview Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. That could soon be changing.
Per multiple sources, the Raiders are believed to be preparing to make a run at McDaniels, as the replacement for Jon Gruden and interim coach Rich Bisaccia.
The interest in Patriots executive Dave Ziegler for the G.M. position is strong circumstantial evidence to support the chatter that’s currently making the rounds, and that we’ve picked up from multiple sources who have their ears attached to the broader grapevine.
It’s believed that McDaniels would want full control over the football operation. That could complicate the effort to hire Ziegler, unless there’s a disconnect between Ziegler’s authority on paper and his practical power when the time comes to make decisions.
If the Raiders hire McDaniels, he’d return to the AFC West, where he coached the Broncos from 2009 and into 2010.
The Patriots are surprised McDaniels hasn’t drawn any interest in the current cycle, especially after his work in 2021 with rookie quarterback Mac Jones. Some wonder whether teams remain skittish after McDaniels verbally accepted the head-coaching job with the Colts four years ago, before backing out. (If so, those teams owe it to themselves to pursue the whole story as to what actually transpired.)
When McDaniels took the Denver job 13 years ago, his first order of business was to unload quarterback Jay Cutler. It will be very interesting to see what McDaniels does with incumbent quarterbacks Derek Carr, if McDaniels ends up becoming the next coach of the Raiders.