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Shortly after the New England Patriots came up short in Super Bowl LII against the Philadelphia Eagles, longtime offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was one of the top candidates for the head coach vacancy with the Indianapolis Colts. It didn't take long in the interview process for McDaniels to land the job that he had accepted and had an introductory press conference lined up.
Upon taking the job, he was convinced otherwise to decline it by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick to stay on board with the team as their offensive coordinator. This is something that Belichick has finally confirmed publicly as he voiced that the two had a thorough conversation that led to that change of direction from McDaniels to occur, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.
“Once that game ended, I think that really gave Josh and I a chance to sit down and talk more directly about the situation, as opposed to, ‘We really want to talk about the game and what we need to do to try to compete in that game.’ That’s basically what happened,” Belichick said. “Before the game, I’d say we had minimal discussions. I’d say we had much deeper and longer and more in-depth and more constructive discussions immediately after the game.”
A clear understanding of the situation moving forward was hashed out between Belichick and McDaniels that made it evident what the plan will be over the next few years. There has no definite date on when he will step away, but the 65-year-old could likely be hedging toward the back end of his career.
It is only reasonable to believe that a discussion concerning McDaniels being Belichick's successor had to be discussed at some point for him to turn down the chance to take that position with another team. Although this can't formally be done due to the Rooney Rule being in place, this has likely become a verbal agreement that when the time comes that Belichick retires that McDaniels will be at the top of the list.
Nonetheless, the Patriots were able to keep in place one of the top offensive coordinators in the league for the long haul to continue their push for another Super Bowl next season and beyond.
