Josh McDaniels interview moved up to Monday

Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

Browns interview was originally scheduled for January 10

The Browns had an interview scheduled with New England Patriots OC Josh McDaniels for January 10. Now that the Patriots have lost in the playoffs, his interview for the head coaching vacancy has been moved up to Monday January 6 with Cleveland according to a tweet from Michael Lombardi of The Athletic.

Michael Lombardi

@mlombardiNFL

Hearing the interview time line for Josh McDaniels has been moved up now starting on Monday with Cleveland, NY and Panthers.8:24 AM · Jan 5, 2020·Twitter Web App

McDaniels is one of the Browns top candidates to fill the position. Others include former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, who interviewed Thursday, and Minnesota Vikings OC Kevin Stefanski who defeated the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Stefanski’s interview is rumored to be upcoming this week.

Both McDaniels and Stefanski have been on Cleveland’s wish list for at least a year. Stefanski was interviewed twice last year. McDaniels is an Ohio native whose father is a coaching legend within the state. Both are devout Browns’ fans.

Under McDaniels, the Patriots have captured six Super Bowls. He is credited with the success of the offense that features veteran quarterback Tom Brady. Most years, the receiving corp has been mainly non-mainstream players who are blue-collar type players. Many are undrafted, taken in the later rounds of the college draft or signed as free-agents. Despite these traits, McDaniels has prevailed with the talent the club has signed for the skill positions.

McDaniels, age 43, has head coaching experience, although that ended in disaster. He was named the head guy with the Denver Broncos in 2009 which began the year 6-0 only to finish 8-8-0. The following year the bottom fell out as the club went 4-12-0. During those two seasons, the offense was ranked 15th and 13th, respectively. In that final season with Denver, he was fired after a 3-9-0 start.

Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

He was the OC for the St. Louis Rams in 2011 before settling in again with New England for the 2012 season and has held the position ever since. In his first year back with the Patriots, their offense was ranked number one in the league. Their offensive rankings with New England are as follows under his leadership: 2012 Patriots – 1; 2013 - 7; 2014 - 11; 2015 - 6; 2016 - 4; 2017 - 1; 2018 – 5; 2019 – 15.

McDaniels is considered one of the top offensive minds in the NFL and an excellent play-caller. He is also going to interview with the Carolina Panthers and New York Football Giants during this upcoming week.

In addition to being an Ohio native, the prospect of an offense that features Pro Bowlers Nick Chubb and Jarvis Landry, plus three-time Pro Bowler Odell Beckham, Jr., a young Baker Mayfield, and a talented defensive core with Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward should be appealing to McDaniels.

One thing to consider with McDaniels. Since Browns’ owner Jimmy Haslam has stated he is going to hire the head coach first and then the General Manager, it is possible that Patriots Director of Pro Personnel Dave Ziegler might be brought over as the new GM. Ziegler, age 41, is described as an attention-to-detail grinder and has hit on many a player’s evaluation. He was born in Tallmadge, Ohio.

Both McDaniels and Ziegler are John Carroll University graduates.

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