Josh as good as gone
Report: McDaniels to coach Colts
FOXBORO — Bill Belichick appears to be on the verge of overhauling his coaching staff.
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is expected to accept the Indianapolis Colts’ offer to become their next head coach, according to NFL Network. That appears so set that McDaniels already tabbed Cowboys linebackers coach Matt Eberflus as his defensive coordinator, according to the report.
The Colts can’t officially offer the job to McDaniels while the Patriots are still in the playoffs, so this process could take a while longer if the Pats beat the Jaguars on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game and get to the Super Bowl. McDaniels interviewed with the Colts two weeks ago.
On Sunday, reports indicated defensive coordinator Matt Patricia would become the Detroit Lions head coach, though he predictably sidestepped that question yesterday.
“I’m really just in the same place as I was last week,” Patricia said. “I went through the process that the NFL allows us to go through, and during the bye week I was able to have the opportunity to talk to a couple teams, which I did, and then quickly turned my focus to a very good Tennessee team and now I’m on to a very dangerous Jacksonville team. There’s a process involved with that. There’s things that the league sets out guidelines, and I followed those when I could and fortunately, the good part about it for me is those are set up so that I can really focus on my job that I need to do, and that’s get ready for Jacksonville (in the AFC Championship Game).”
Wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea, who called the plays during a training camp scrimmage and in the preseason finale against the Giants, would appear to be the strongest candidate to be promoted to McDaniels’ perch. Assistant quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski could be another consideration.
Somewhat surprisingly, former Patriots tight ends coach Brian Daboll was taken off the board Sunday when he left Alabama to become the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator. Daboll would have replaced McDaniels last year if McDaniels departed to become a head coach.
Defensively, linebackers coach Brian Flores has been groomed as Patricia’s successor, but Flores remained a candidate for the Cardinals’ head coaching vacancy. If the Pats lose both, Belichick would probably become the de facto defensive coordinator, which was the case in 2010 and 2011 while Patricia was learning the job.