Josh McDaniels passes on opportunity to interview with Bengals
If you’re the Cincinnati Bengals and bummed about Josh McDaniels turning down your interview request, it’s OK. He might have accepted the job and then changed his mind anyway.
McDaniels, the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator, agreed to coach the Indianapolis Colts last year and then embarrassed the team by changing his mind at the last minute. Still, teams are interested in him as a head-coaching candidate. The Bengals were one of those teams, but it won’t happen.
NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo said the Bengals requested an interview with McDaniels for their vacant head-coaching position, and McDaniels declined.
Bengals coaching search off to a bad start
Every offseason there’s typically one coaching search that gets a little messy, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if it was the Bengals this year.
Cincinnati doesn’t have a lot to sell candidates. Their quarterback situation with Andy Dalton isn’t great. The overall talent level on the roster isn’t fantastic. Marvin Lewis did a pretty good job overall in Cincinnati, and because of that we forget that for a long time the Bengals were considered among the worst franchises in the NFL. The Bengals have lost as many high-profile free agents as any other team in recent seasons.
The coaching search wasn’t off to a great start, even before McDaniels said no. One interview the Bengals had was with Vance Joseph, who went 11-21 in two seasons with the Broncos before he got fired. That was odd. The Bengals interviewing Hue Jackson, one of the worst coaches in NFL history, was troubling. Jackson was 3-36-1 with the Browns. Cleveland got much, much better the moment Jackson was fired. Still, the Bengals are considering him.
Josh McDaniels will talk to Packers
Whether it’s right or not after what happened with the Colts last year, McDaniels will likely have better opportunities than Cincinnati. This offseason, he reportedly has an interview with the Green Bay Packers. If McDaniels doesn’t leave the Patriots, it seems logical to believe they would make him Bill Belichick’s successor, whenever Belichick is ready to retire.
There aren’t enough quality candidates to go around during this year’s coaching carousel. All eight vacancies will get filled, but unlike previous years there aren’t a lot of exciting options. The Bengals had to move on from Marvin Lewis after missing the playoffs again, but it might not be easy to fill the vacancy.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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