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McDaniels discusses 2007 decision-making
Since it's the bye week, I figured we could take a quick look back about an interesting dynamic during the 2007 season.
Back then, I was covering the Cowboys for the Dallas Morning News, and that January, that team's offensive coordinator spent his club's playoff bye interviewing for head coaching jobs in Baltimore and Atlanta, before pulling out of the running for each position. Meanwhile, then-Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels didn't even let things get that far, turning down opportunities to interview in the places where Garrett did.
The Ravens and Broncos play this week. So, naturally, the 2007 (actually, it was January '08, if you want to be technical) situation came up on McDaniels' conference call with the Baltimore media.
"First off, I really appreciated the opportunity, but there were two reasons why it wasn't the right time for me," McDaniels said. "One, the season we were involved in required a lot of our time. We were all putting a lot into it, trying to finish it the way we wanted to. And secondly, I just didn't feel like I was as ready as I wanted to be to handle that type of challenge.
"I didn't know at the time how much more time I was going to need to feel like I was capable of doing it, but certainly I didn't feel like that was the perfect time for me."
I talked to McDaniels for a story I did for the Sporting News a few weeks ago, and Josh was pretty open about how part of the 2008 season was spent in Professor Belichick's class on head coaching in the NFL.
"My entire experience with Bill was incredibly important to my development as a coach and a personnel guy," McDaniels told me. "He gave me the opportunity under Scott (Pioli) and learn the personnel side, then go to defense and work with Eric Mangini and Rob Ryan, and then I got to learn from Charlie (Weis), and coach Tommy (Brady) and then run the offense. There was a tremendous amount of responsibility he gave me every single year that helped me grow.
"Last year, he gave me some insight into some things into things that most assistants don’t know about. The salary cap, the draft, contract situations, other things on the personnel side, stuff that comes up during the year – All these things you’re usually not privy to as an assistant. My hope is that Bill knows I was working my butt off for him. I hope he respected my work, and I know he was trying to help me, even though it might not help him, because eventually it would lead to me leaving."
I say, good for Josh. It's easy to see why he's had the success he has.
But be clear here, too. There's risk involved with waiting the way McDaniels did, and he was aware of it.
Garrett's star fell considerably after the 2007 season, and last year, when he wanted a new opportunity somewhere else, he couldn't get it. He interviewed for the Broncos job McDaniels got, and wasn't even in final consideration there. He was in the running for the Rams job until the end, before being edged out by Steve Spagnuolo. And all this after he could've had the Ravens job, arguably one of the best in the NFL.
Gary Kubiak's another name that comes to mind. He was a hot name in the late-1990s under Mike Shanahan, but his star dimmed when the Broncos flattened out a little, and had to wait until 2006 to get his shot.
I think this makes it interesting that McDaniels took the risk he did. And it probably says quite a bit about him, and why he's hitting it out of the park now in Denver.
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