Josh McDaniels Bowing Out Of Running 49ers’ HC Search, Will Remain With Patriots

Update:

Patriot OC Josh McDaniels confirmed Monday that he will not be taking the 49ers’ head-coaching job.

“At this time, best for family and myself to remain here in New England,” McDaniels said, per Mike Reiss.

McDaniels explained that he was “really impressed” with 49ers CEO Jed York and executive Paraag Marathe during the process.

“I was really impressed with Jed York and Paraag [Marathe], and Brian, and people that came for the 49ers organization,” McDaniels said, per Mike Reiss. “They did a great job with their presentation. Again, humbled to be included in that process. At this time, it’s just best for my family and myself to remain here in New England, and focus on this year’s playoffs and finish out the year however it turns out.”

————

Jason La Canora of CBS Sports reports that Patriots OC Josh McDaniels is “very unlikely” to take the 49ers’ head-coaching job and is now set to bow out of consideration for the position.

• According to La Canfora, McDaniels has given the job a lot of consideration and his decision to no longer pursue the job is more of a personal decision than a reflection of the team.
• La Canfora adds that the 49ers are “very much” interested in McDaniels, but moving his family across the country and taking this opportunity right now just isn’t the best decision for him.
• La Canfora says that the 49ers are still “very high” on Falcons OC Kyle Shanahan and Seahawks assistant HC Tom Cable is also a candidate for the job.

This fits with a report from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk from last night that mentioned McDaniels was conflicted about accepting the position. Florio also cited the concerns from McDaniels about uprooting his family for a what could be a short-term stint on the West Coast. Florio points out that McDaniels last less than two years with the Broncos and there’s some concern that even if the 49ers make him promises to commit to a patient rebuild, it could still be a brief stint.

In regards to other candidates, Florio mentions that Shanahan is still believed to be a top candidate while Cable could emerge as a dark horse for San Francisco, particularly if the elect to hire one of the two Seahawks executives Trent Kirchner and Scott Fitterer, who interviewed for their GM vacancy.

The one aspect that helps Cable is the fact that he’s available to be hired right now while the 49ers would have to wait until the Falcons are eliminated from contention to hire Shanahan.

As for McDaniels, it appeared as though this could be the year for him to take another head-coaching opportunity. However, he’s clearly in a great position as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator, and if his heart really isn’t into taking a job, it’s likely for the best that he continues to wait for the right opportunity.

McDaniels, 40, began his NFL coaching career with the Patriots as a personnel assistant back in 2001. He worked his way up to offensive coordinator in New England before he departed for the Broncos head-coaching job in 2009.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go very well for McDaniels with the Broncos and he was fired during his second year with the team.

After a brief stint with the Rams as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, McDaniels returned to the Patriots and has been running their offense ever since.

We’ll have more regarding the 49ers’ job as the news is available.