Josh McDaniels wants to coach the Patriots, not some crummy rebuilding NFL team

Josh McDaniels is going to have plenty of career options when the Patriots’ season is over, probably some time in January or maybe even February. He’s on his second stint as New England’s offensive coordinator, where he’s been since 2012, and he’ll most certainly be at the top of any list to fill whatever head coaching vacancies open up after the season. But he reportedly is not interested in any potential job other than one.

McDaniels wants to stay in New England and take over the head coaching job there once Bill Belichick calls it quits.

Every year the NFL’s Career Development Advisory Panel puts out a list of recommended head coaches. As Pro Football Talk points out, McDaniels’ name was left off that list, and that’s reportedly because he wants to be the successor to Belichick.

Think about what you would do in this situation. McDaniels could eagerly take on a new challenge as the head coach of the Bears or the Jets or some other team barely scraping by right now because of a poor roster and internal chaos. Sure, he’d have his second shot at as a head coach, but in a lot of those places success won’t be easy to come by.

No wonder he wants to stay in New England, if that’s the case. It’s a stable franchise with a track record of success, supportive ownership, etc.

The wild card here is Belichick. He’s only 64, so he could feasibly coach for another 6-10 years. Then there’s Tom Brady, who’s 39. Brady may want to play until he’s 45, but history suggests that’s virtually impossible.

The Patriots job, whenever it is finally available for McDaniels, would come with challenges of its own.