Indianapolis Colts News & Rumors

Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has rejected the Colts head coaching job and will instead remain in New England, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

It’s a stunning reversal by McDaniels, whom the Colts officially announced as their new head coach earlier today. Although there had been increasing chatter that McDaniels could bail on Indianapolis, the team’s official press release seemed to put those rumors to bed. Instead, McDaniels has opted not to take the job, leaving the Colts to restart their search process.

McDaniels had been viewed as one of the preeminent head coaching candidates of the 2018 cycle, and the Colts had reportedly agreed to hire him as their next head coach as far back as January 14. Indianapolis stopped interviewing other contenders for the job, McDaniels stopped taking meetings with other clubs, and the hunt had seemed to be over. Indeed, McDaniels had even begun hiring a staff.

However, Patriots owner Robert Kraft began “sweetening” McDaniels’ New England contract over the past 48 hours as part of an effort to keep the offensive play-caller in tow, tweets Schefter. Family concerns also played into McDaniels’ decision, as did “clarity” over head coach Bill Belichick‘s future, per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com (Twitter link). While Belichick is returning for the 2018 campaign, that report could indicate McDaniels has been told when Belichick will retire.

For the Colts and general manager Chris Ballard, it’s back to the drawing board. Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub has been viewed as a possible contingency plan for the club, especially given that he and Ballard worked together in Kansas City. Toub never actually interviewed for the Indianapolis job the first time around, and nearly every other candidate who did meet with Ballard & Co. is now employed. Baylor head coach Matt Rhule is the only original contender who hasn’t accepted a new position, and withdrew his name from the Colts’ search after one interview.

It’s unclear what McDaniels’ decision means for those coaches who had agreed to join his staff, but they’re now in-limbo and likely staring at unemployment. Coaches such as Matt Eberflus (who was set to become Indy’s defensive coordinator) and Dave DeGuglielmo (offensive line) are now without jobs. Most positions around the NFL have already been filled, leaving these coaches with limited options going forward.

Now that McDaniels has rejected a job for which he’d already been formally announced, he’ll likely be a hard sell for other vacancies in the future. As such, it’s difficult to imagine that McDaniels hasn’t been told that he’ll be Belichick’s successor.

It’s a done deal. The Colts announced that they’ve hired Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their new head coach. The introductory press conference for the former Patriots offensive coordinator will be held on Wednesday. 

In a sense, the Colts’ announcement was a mere formality as the two sides struck agreement on a deal in mid-January. However, there were rumblings leading up to the Super Bowl that McDaniels was getting cold feet and could instead stay with the Patriots as their OC. As of Sunday, McDaniels reportedly not yet told the Patriots that he’s leaving. Some around the league believed that McDaniels would stay in New England if Bill Belichick opted to retire and pass the torch to him. But, Belichick has indicated that he’ll return for another season, so that scenario was not on the table for McDaniels, unless he wanted to wait for an indeterminate period of time to potentially take over.

It’s not clear why McDaniels may have been having second thoughts about the job, but one has to wonder if he is at odds with team brass over the team’s offensive coordinator choice. Last month, it was reported that McDaniels had selected Raiders quarterbacks coach Jake Peetz as their new offensive coordinator and the two sides were hammering out a contract. However, team decision makers appear to have their sights set on former Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. It’s also possible that McDaniels was considering his options before making everything official since his stint as a head coach with the Broncos did not go as planned.

McDaniels will be tasked with turning the Colts around after a disappointing 4-12 season. On the plus side, they own the No. 3 pick in the draft and they may have their choice between North Carolina State edge rusher Bradley Chubb or Penn State running back Saquon Barkley.

The Colts are hoping that McDaniels can help get Andrew Luck back on track. Tom Brady has done his best work under the guidance of the 41-year-old OC, so he certainly seems like the right man for the job. Prior to McDaniels taking over as Patriots OC in 2006, Brady had one 4,000-yard passing season and had never thrown more than 28 TD passes in a campaign. Brady has topped those benchmarks in each of his healthy seasons under McDaniels, save for the first one in 2006.