NFL Coaching Rumors: Josh McDaniels Staying with Patriots

While it was widely regarded that Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels would be on the short list of many teams looking for a new head coach, McDaniels reportedly won't be going anywhere. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, McDaniels has notified teams around the league that he will remain in New England and won't be interviewing for head coaching jobs at this time. Schefter also added that one day, McDaniels would still like to be a head coach.

This is obviously great news from a Patriots' perspective. Having McDaniels back ensures continuity in what was the NFL's 3rd all-time scoring offense in 2012, and also broke the all-time record for first downs in a season. In addition, having McDaniels for another year also keeps the possibility open that he could someday, down the line, replace Bill Belichick as head coach. Although hopefully, that's a long way away.

Earlier today, McDaniels expressed his thoughts on being considered a head coaching candidate elsewhere:

"I'm thrilled to be back to back here, and I came back here for all the right reasons: to learn, and to get better as a coach, and to work in an organization that I really have a great deal of respect and appreciation for. I'm happy here, my family is happy here, and we're excited about what's ahead of us here in the playoffs, and to talk about any other opportunities is, to me, irrelevant. Because I'm totally focused on this season and what this season holds, and couldn't be more excited to be here and be a New England Patriot and do the best job I can with the title that I have now."