Some Assistant Coaches Have Already Indicated Interest In Joining Josh McDaniels-Led Packers Staff

Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reports that a handful of NFL assistant coaches have indicated interest in joining a Josh McDaniels-led coaching staff in Green Bay.

So much so that Robinson says that at least one has pulled his name from consideration for a college coordinator position.

Robinson admits that this doesn’t guarantee mutual interest between the Packers and McDaniels, but it’s at least an indication that McDaniels is maintaining a list of staff candidates if he chooses to move on this offseason.

As for the Packers, Robinson writes that it remains to be seen whether they would seriously entertain McDaniels after he backed out of a deal to be the Colts’ head coach last year. League sources have told Robinson that McDaniels didn’t consider himself to be “burned” by the decision in terms of future head-coaching opportunities.

“He’s still a young offensive coach who is extremely smart and creative, and that’s something everyone wants now,” a league executive tells Robinson of McDaniels. “When the next [hiring cycle] comes, nobody will really care what he did to the Colts if they think they need him. Especially if there aren’t a lot of good guys to choose from.”

Beyond that, there aren’t a lot big-name coaching candidates out there right now, which only helps McDaniels chances of being a top coaching candidate.

From McDaniels perspective, Robinson points out that he’s likely to have questions about the Packers’ new organizational structure, which has both the head coach and GM Brian Gutekunst reporting directly to president Mark Murphy.

There are other concerns about the Packers’ job too including the state of the roster and the fact that QB Aaron Rodgers carries the largest contract in the NFL. However, Green Bay’s job is still widely considered to be one of the best job available this offseason.

McDaniels, 42, 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 McDaniels and the Packers as the news is available.