Josh McDaniels has had some significant ups and downs during his time in the NFL. Lunch Break takes a look at his resume as the Eagles look to hire a new head coach.
Josh McDaniels has quickly become the hot name in the Eagles' wide-ranging head coaching search this week. His nine-hour interview over the weekend led to reports that he's a "prime" candidate for the job.
If McDaniels is such a prime candidate... why hasn't he been hired yet?
It might have something to do with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
On Tuesday morning's episode of Pro Football Talk, NBC Sports' Mike Florio dropped an intriguing nugget that he picked up amid the growing McDaniels buzz that provides some new insight into the front office's view of the Patriots offensive coordinator:
"I also heard yesterday - look, McDaniels ran the show in Denver. Howie Roseman has a major seat at the table in Philly. How do these two co-exist? My understanding is, Roseman is fine with it. It's just a matter of talking the owner, Jeffrey Lurie, into it."
Hmm.
It's interesting that Roseman, the guy some view as a possible roadblock to a happy coach-general manager marriage with McDaniels, is already on board, while Lurie, the guy always interested in hiring creative offensive minds, still needs to be sold.
NFL
Perhaps this is Lurie acknowledging what could go wrong in a Roseman-McDaniels marriage, and being worried to take that leap?
McDaniels had control over personnel in Denver, and got used to a standard of winning and a style of no-nonsense leadership in New England. I doubt he would be okay with Roseman trying to exert full authority over personnel decisions the way it seems he did with Doug Pederson.
For what it's worth, former Broncos quarterback Chris Simms - who played for McDaniels in Denver in 2009 - said on PFT that he thinks McDaniels is a perfect fit for the Eagles job right now, precisely because of the fit with Roseman:
"I think, in a lot of ways, for Josh McDaniels and the Eagles, I think it would be the perfect fit. Josh is the guy you want to build with, and build around. He is - I don't say he's a GM, but he's got a lot of experience in that he did that stuff in Denver, and I think at the very least he understands the team-building aspect of what to do, to where he can conversate with Howie Roseman and go, 'Listen, we're going to build this type of offense, and I need these types of players.'"
One thing's for sure: if McDaniels is the hire, this front office-head coach dynamic will be a constant source of intrigue.
Subscribe to the Eagle Eye podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | Watch on YouTube