With the way the Cleveland Browns are going about interviewing potential general managers, it may mean Josh McDaniels isn’t the man to be their head coach.
The Cleveland Browns are the only team in the NFL without a head coach. They have interviewed a ton of candidates to replace Freddie Kitchens in 2020. However, it seems increasingly likely that New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will not be the next head coach in Cleveland.
McDaniels interviewed for the job late in the week but flew home from Cleveland after the interview was completed. Since the Patriots have already been eliminated from the postseason, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam could have hired him on the spot instead of letting him fly back to Foxborough.
Of course, there is also this. Yahoo’s Charles Robinson reports that of the three serious general manager candidates the Browns are also interviewing to replace John Dorsey, Dave Ziegler is the least likely of the trio to get it, who works in New England with McDaniels. The other two candidates are Andrew Berry of the Philadelphia and Ed Dodds of the Indianapolis Colts.
This means a partnership with either Dodds or Berry for McDaniels is very unlikely. A partnership with Dodds is not happening because McDaniels previously spurned Dodds’ employer in the Colts regarding their head-coaching vacancy two offseasons ago. Of course, McDaniels could partner with Berry, but that’s not as likely as it would be with Ziegler coming over from New England.
The Browns interviewed a ton of candidates for their head-coaching position, including Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski, who was a finalist for the opening last year that went to Kitchens. Other candidates include San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, among others.
This is not to say that Cleveland won’t end up hiring McDaniels, but it has more to do with who they are looking at hiring for general manager more than we think. If it’s Ziegler, then it may very well be McDaniels. If it’s Berry, it’s probably not going to be McDaniels, though it still could. But if it’s Dodds, then there is almost no chance it will be McDaniels. He’ll be back in New England.