Josh McDaniels first made his name as the coordinator behind the 2007 Patriots offense, a record-setting group that went undefeated in the regular season before losing in the Super Bowl to the Giants. McDaniels, just 31 at the time, parlayed that success into the Broncos' coaching job in 2009.
He got off to a fantastic start; Denver won its first six games before the bottom fell out. The Broncos finished 2-8 and missed the playoffs, and a 3-9 start in 2010 sealed McDaniels' fate. He resurfaced as the Rams offensive coordinator last season before rejoining the Patriots staff in 2012.
Now, two years after getting canned in Denver, McDaniels, 36, is apparently looking to be a head coach. A source told the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot that he "would jump at the chance to coach the Browns."
The team is under new ownership, and president Mike Holmgren resigned earlier this season. Joe Banner, the former Eagles president who was brought in as Cleveland's CEO, said Tuesday that he wouldn't take long to decide the futures of current coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert.
"I think we'll make the decisions quickly after the season," Banner said on a conference call with reporters announcing Alec Scheiner as the Browns' new president. "I don't want to say if it's one day or two days or three days, but I think it will be quickly."
Banner said that neither he nor new owner Jimmy Haslam had made up his mind, but the conversations are, as they say, ongoing:
"Obviously as time has gone on we've thought about it more, we've talked about it more, more factors that will influence the final decision have become clearer and clearer," Banner said. "I don't want to make it sound like we're in the same place we were two or four or six weeks ago. That has advanced quite a bit. But we're not at the point where we've made definitive decisions."
Banner declined to comment when asked about possible candidates to replace Shurmur (in addition to McDaniels, Oregon's Chip Kelly and Alabama's Nick Saban are making the rumor-mill rounds).
I'm going to stick with the same answer," he said. "Starting to go down the path of speculating on these things is not going to be helpful at this point. We're still going to decide at the end of the season on the people that are here and that will lead to whatever the next steps are."
It's unknown whether McDaniels would be on the Browns' short list or, more importantly, if he's learned anything from his stint with the Broncos. More certain, however: Shurmur will likely be looking for work in the coming weeks.
By Ryan Wilson
He got off to a fantastic start; Denver won its first six games before the bottom fell out. The Broncos finished 2-8 and missed the playoffs, and a 3-9 start in 2010 sealed McDaniels' fate. He resurfaced as the Rams offensive coordinator last season before rejoining the Patriots staff in 2012.
Now, two years after getting canned in Denver, McDaniels, 36, is apparently looking to be a head coach. A source told the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot that he "would jump at the chance to coach the Browns."
The team is under new ownership, and president Mike Holmgren resigned earlier this season. Joe Banner, the former Eagles president who was brought in as Cleveland's CEO, said Tuesday that he wouldn't take long to decide the futures of current coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert.
"I think we'll make the decisions quickly after the season," Banner said on a conference call with reporters announcing Alec Scheiner as the Browns' new president. "I don't want to say if it's one day or two days or three days, but I think it will be quickly."
Banner said that neither he nor new owner Jimmy Haslam had made up his mind, but the conversations are, as they say, ongoing:
"Obviously as time has gone on we've thought about it more, we've talked about it more, more factors that will influence the final decision have become clearer and clearer," Banner said. "I don't want to make it sound like we're in the same place we were two or four or six weeks ago. That has advanced quite a bit. But we're not at the point where we've made definitive decisions."
Banner declined to comment when asked about possible candidates to replace Shurmur (in addition to McDaniels, Oregon's Chip Kelly and Alabama's Nick Saban are making the rumor-mill rounds).
I'm going to stick with the same answer," he said. "Starting to go down the path of speculating on these things is not going to be helpful at this point. We're still going to decide at the end of the season on the people that are here and that will lead to whatever the next steps are."
It's unknown whether McDaniels would be on the Browns' short list or, more importantly, if he's learned anything from his stint with the Broncos. More certain, however: Shurmur will likely be looking for work in the coming weeks.
By Ryan Wilson
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