Josh McDaniels, New England Patriots. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Getty Images)
Oftentimes, many former NFL head coaches never get another shot at being in the big chair. Here are five retreads who are ready for their next opportunity.
You never know when your next opportunity is going to come, but you best be ready for it. Sometimes, you get your shot well before you’re ready for it. Other times, your chance at success is undermined by people, places and things out of your control. What does tend to happen far too often is people blowing their first opportunity. All they want is a second chance at redemption.
In the NFL, we’re talking about coaches. A hot coordinator may have the pizzaz to nail the interview, but he totally oversold himself to a gullible owner and got the gig. An inability to delegate and effectively lead may have been his undoing in his first job. Whatever the reason, he is no longer employed by the organization who once thought he was the answer to everything.
So what we’re going to do today is look at a handful of top coordinators in the league who might be ready for a second shot at leading their own team. Some will be interviewed, while others may not. But if the right situation arises and the interview goes well, maybe this retread will be better than he was last time he had a big chair to call his own?
Here are the five likeliest retread candidates to get their second chance to lead a team in 2021.
5
Josh McDaniels
Offensive Coordinator New England Patriots
It almost happened a few years ago when he agreed in principle to be the next head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. But in the 11th hour, New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels told Colts general manager Chris Ballard, “no, thanks” and the rivalry was back on. Ballard doesn’t regret hiring Frank Reich instead, but doesn’t McDaniels regret not leaving?
McDaniels has been in Foxborough since 2012 after failing catastrophically as the Denver Broncos head coach from 2009 to 2010. This is the guy who drafted Tim Tebow in the first round and drove a proud AFC franchise into the ground. He spent a year in anonymity coaching a bad St. Louis Rams team in 2011 before crawling back to the Evil Empire to serve Bill Belichick once again.
In the years since his return to Foxborough, McDaniels has been a candidate for several head-coaching gigs, but nothing ever got as close at it did with the Colts in January 2018. He interviewed last year most notably with the Cleveland Browns, a job that went to former Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski. What is to say McDaniels will stay and wait out Belichick?
With Tom Brady on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a rough year of Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for McDaniels in New England. Two of his former college teammates at John Carroll are NFL general managers in Dave Caldwell of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tom Telesco of the Los Angeles Chargers. Both teams could have openings in 2021.