Running NFL Preseason Thread

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

From a NY Daily News story in January 2008, before the Pats-Giants Super Bowl:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/2008/01/31/2008-01-31_pats_assistant_josh_mcdaniels_likely_to_-3.html

McDaniels and Jason Garrett, the Cowboys' offensive coordinator, are two of the hottest young NFL head coaching prospects in the game. McDaniels turned down interview requests from the Falcons and the Ravens, but could draw interest from the Redskins after Super Bowl XLII.

He got the job after the following season.

 

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

Um.

 

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

Yeah, I think the perception was that McDaniels was going to be a big deal. I recall the warnings about his age and Belichick origins, but he was definitely considered a hot coaching prospect. At least from the outside looking in...

 

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

It was the classic example of how some of the owners in the NFL think any coach who worked for Belichick must be on the verge of being a good HC.

McDaniels was all hype. Just because a few NFL owners bought into it doesn't make it not the case.

Bowlen is a very good owner. He should have known better.

It will be interesting how long it takes for McDaniels to get another shot at being a HC. I know a few places wanted him to interview for openings after last season, but I'll bet it's awhile before he gets a second chance.

 

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

Rex Grossman believes the Redskins will win the NFC East.

 

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

I'd love it if he's right. But he's not...

 

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

oh, so this makes it so??? no offense to gary myers or whoever made this claim, but it simply wasn't so.

running that historic pats offense, did NOT turn mcdaniels intothe 'must-get' hc candidate. but i'm sure josh was lkely to have landed an hc job by 2010, given the number of openings and the 'patriots way' hype and all that.

not sure what the point is. hottest, second hottest, warm, whatever... he was a DISASTER as an hc. worse than mangini ever was.

but the 'worst hc hire' belt has too many candidates to ever declare anyone the 'worst.' at least mcdaniels wasn't a 'reach' like several of the others already listed (steckel, holtz, all the ex-jets hc's listed)...

kotite remains my fave. i covered rich when he was the jets receivers coach in the '80s... a more affable, likeable man you'll never know. but never did anyone in jetsland ever consider him hc material.

but he inherited a good iffles team when buddy ryan got the boot so won some games -- yet still was never greatly respected by folks around the league. until pete carroll got the boot after one year as jets hc and leon hess ordered. 'GET ME KOTITE!!' as if he thought he was bringing vince lombardi back home...

poor dick steinberg, dying of stomach cancer and the gm in name only, had not the strength nor energy nor spirit to tell hess he was nuts. so leon got his man.

at least that disaster led hess to parcells, the hire that changed the beleaguered franchise's karma. kotite did for hess what 'the fumble' did for wellington mara -- that disaster is finally what got mara to ask the nfl for guidance hiring the right man 'outside the family' to get the giants back on track after all those years of 'lousy football.' rozelle's people directed the fractured mara family to 'unknown' george young, the gm who brought the franchise back into the game in the nfl...

 

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

shockey --

peter king's top coaching candidates, 1/1/08 (end of '07 season): mcdaniels is #6, ahead of rex ryan (king does guess mcdaniels won't leave b/c he feels he needs more seasoning, but he's on the list nonetheless)

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/01/01/coaches/

don banks' top coaching candidates, 12/2/08: mcdaniels is on A-list

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/don_banks/12/02/coaches/

i agree mcdaniels sucked, and i thoroughly enjoyed it. i laughed my ass off when he hired his little brother. i was responding to mizzougrad's contention that nobody but pat bowlen was looking at mcdaniels, which is simply not true, and that's when you told me with the ever-so-condescending "um, no" that there was nobody in the nfl thinking of mcdaniels as a top coaching candidate. those are three pretty good nfl writers who seem to believe mcdaniels was high on wish lists across the league. mcdaniels chose the broncos, not the other way around.

end of threadjack from my POV, anyway. mcdaniels sucked, weis sucked, crennel sucked, mangini sucks, belichick still hasn't won a playoff game since the spygate season, and the world is all the better for it.

 

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

Part of what sunk McDaniels in Denver is that he had way too much personnel power for a guy of his age and experience.

If he had anything remotely resembling a GM with a voice and a backbone, the whole Cuter/Orton/Cassel chaos never happens.

In retrospect the Cutler trade was a good one, but by alienating his star QB and WR, he was basically doomed from the start. Also, with the exception of that trade his drafting/trade record is awful.

 

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

reporters putting assistants on a 'hot list' doesn't make 'em 'hot.' just means the guys listed run good offenses or defenses and are 'hot' names. we're quibbling over the use of 'hot candidates,' i suppose. i'm just going by what i was told and knew to be true at the time; mcdaniels was never seriously considered anywhere except denver. i'm sure, given the pats continued success, that josh was inevitably going to get a shot at an hc job. i'm just saying that the majority of execs in the league were not going wild at the prospect of giving him his first shot.

but all it takes is one guy to have the hots for you to get the call. bowlen was that guy for mcdaniels. and i know for a fact that there are no reverberations from any 'shock' that mcdaniels imploded.

most decision-makers were highly skeptical that that he was ready. their skepticism, in this case, was well-founded.

 

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

Shockey, he turned down 2 different teams taht were interested in interviewing him. Denver was not the only team interested in him.

 

Re: Running NFL Offseason Thread

Why was the Cutler trade a good one?