Josh McDaniels Passes On Interview With Bengals For HC Position

TheSportster

By Thomas Hall

Published Jan 3, 2019

Teams are clamoring for Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, but it looks like the Bengals couldn't even get a foot in the door.

New England Patriots offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, announced that he has turned down the option to interview with the Cincinnati Bengals for the vacant head coaching position.

The 42-year-old declined the offer to interview for the chance to be the replacement for former Bengals head coach, Marvin Lewis. The long-time head coach parted ways with the team this past Monday.

However, the Patriots OC is still planning to visit the Green Bay Packers for their open head coaching position. His interview is expected to take place this Friday in Green Bay. Which is made possible because of the Patriots currently awaiting the higher seed coming out of the Wild Card round.

It's very possible that McDaniels is choosing to interview with the Packers instead of the Bengals, because of who is playing at the quarterback position. Aaron Rodgers is one of the closest players that resemble the quarterback he is currently coaching, Tom Brady.

McDaniels has spent most of his coaching career with the Patriots. He spent from 2001 to 2008 with the team. He then left for a brief period until returning to the team for the 2012 season and has been with the team ever since.

This also isn't the first time McDaniels has turned down a potential head coaching opportunity. After their Super Bowl loss last season, the five-time Super Bowl winner turned down the chance to become the next head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

So here we are again, a year later talking about McDaniels potentially taking his second stint at being a head coach in the NFL. His first tenure as a head coach with the Denver Broncos ran two seasons from 2009-to-2010. But, he was let go after the team performed to a record of 11-17 over those two seasons.

That experience has likely lead to him being more careful in choosing where he would like to take his career next. Which is also why it appears that he prefers to coach someone like Rodgers over a player like Andy Dalton.

What This Means

McDaniels turning down the Bengals offer for an interview means that he's unsure about the players they have on their offense right now. Especially when it comes to Dalton at quarterback.

It sounds like he doesn't want to go through any kind of rebuild, which is why the Packers are a team that interests him. It would be very interesting to see what McDaniels could do with his experience from coaching Brady, to help Rodgers get back to the playoffs.