The San Francisco 49ers are the only NFL team remaining with a head coaching vacancy, and there is a sense that Josh McDaniels is the top choice to fill that role.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, league insiders believe the 49ers’ job belongs to McDaniels if he wants it. One source told Florio that McDaniels has reached out to potential assistant coaches and encouraged them to keep themselves available, which would imply that he is leaning toward taking the San Francisco job.
However, Florio was told by others that McDaniels is torn on whether he wants to leave New England to coach the 49ers. McDaniels has four children, and he is said to be concerned about how quickly the Niners have fired their previous three head coaches. Should the team not find success in McDaniels’ first or second year, there’s plenty of reason to believe he’ll be on a short leash.
A previous report claimed McDaniels preferred the 49ers job even before other vacancies like those with the Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars were filled. There have also been rumblings that he could head to San Francisco as a package deal with this former NFL player.
McDaniels has to be careful with accepting another head coaching job. He’s only 40, which is young by NFL head coaching standards. His two-year stint as a head coach with the Denver Broncos from 2009-2010 was ultimately a failure, so McDaniels’ next shot may be his last.
