The Eagles are reportedly set to interview the reason they lost Frank Reich in 2018.
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will get an interview with the Eagles for their head coaching position in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, according to The Athletic.
According to the report, McDaniels has already started recruiting a staff that he would bring with him to Philly. That will likely be a major point in his interview. The Eagles want vision.
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McDaniels, 44, was named the Colts’ head coach in 2018 but then McDaniels backed out, which re-opened the Colts’ search and they landed on Reich, who was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator during the Super Bowl run. Small world in the NFL.
Anyway, McDaniels was a hot candidate just a few years ago and for good reason. He has had a lot of success with the Patriots in the last two decades under Bill Belichick. He jumped to the NFL in 2001 with the Patriots and after a couple years as a defensive assistant became their quarterbacks coach. He became the offensive coordinator and QBs coach in 2005.
In 2009, McDaniels became the Broncos’ head coach for two seasons before spending a year with the Rams as their OC in 2011. McDaniels then returned to the Patriots in 2012 and has been there ever since.
McDaniels has been with the Patriots for all six of their Super Bowl wins. McDaniels worked closely with Tom Brady for many years, but without Brady in 2020, the Patriots had the 27th-ranked offense in the NFL.
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During his two years as a head coach in Denver, from 2009-10, McDaniels had an overall record of 11-17. The Broncos went 8-8 his first season and 3-9 in Year 2 before he was fired before the end of the season.
The Eagles’ reported interview with McDaniels is interesting for a couple reasons. One, he’s a retread. Jeff Lurie has never previously hired a former NFL head coach. And, two, McDaniels comes from New England and is literally the reason the Eagles lost a well-liked coach just a few years ago. That really lowered his stock.
But during Monday’s press conference, Jeff Lurie mentioned that after the Super Bowl win, he talked to Jim Schwartz about how it wasn’t a very good defensive performance. McDaniels led that offense that put up over 600 yards of offense on the Eagles that day.
McDaniels is the 10th known candidate the Eagles have requested to interview, joining Joe Brady, Robert Saleh, Arthur Smith, Jerod Mayo, Duce Staley, Todd Bowles, Kellen Moore, Brandon Staley and Eric Bieniemy. The Eagles have been linked to even more.
They are clearly casting a wide net in this coaching search. As of Saturday afternoon, there are officially still four head coaching vacancies open but it sounds like Dan Campbell is the favorite in Detroit and Brian Daboll is the favorite for the Chargers. That means just the Eagles’ and Texans’ jobs are truly open.
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