Last week something extremely strange happen-ed in the NFL.
Well, it seemed strange on the surface, but since it involved the New England Patriots handling their business in an unprofessional manner, can it really be considered unusual?
I have the utmost respect for what Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots have been able to accomplish over the past two decades. Despite all the allegations of cheating and the Patriots being punished for those scandals, it still takes a lot of talent and ingenuity to make eight Super Bowls and win five in an 18-year span.
But what happened between their offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and the Indianapolis Colts last week may be the worst situation of them all.
The story is that McDaniels decided nine hours before his introductory press conference to be announced as the Colts head coach that he was going to stay in New England instead. But that timeframe doesn’t do the dirt justice in this case.
The Colts and McDaniels had a wink-wink agreement that he would accept the position for nearly a full month. But due to NFL rules, McDaniels wasn’t officially allowed to be announced until the Patriots season concluded. Since they made the Super Bowl, the announcement was forced to be put on hold.
The Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia went through the exact same thing, coming to an agreement to become the Detroit Lions head coach in early January but waiting until after the Super Bowl to make it official — except he actually stood by his word and is now the Lions head man.
What makes this situation so terrible is the Colts were essentially held hostage for four weeks waiting to announce McDaniels as their next coach, and he even assembled a new staff to work under him in Indianapolis. Thankfully, the Colts had the decency to retain the assistants who were hired under the impression McDaniels would be their new boss.
But the Colts organization lost an entire month of their offseason because of McDaniels. They could have hired another coach immediately after the season if they knew McDaniels would turn it down and had everything in place to get to work.
What makes this situation stink so bad is the reasoning behind McDaniels changing his mind. When he went to the Patriots facility to clear out his stuff, Belichick and owner Robert Kraft pitched him the idea that he would be groomed to eventually replace the legendary head coach. Belichick would let him sit in on big personnel and game-planning meetings, so he could see the inner workings of what makes Belichick one of the greatest of all-time.
Every coach would love that opportunity, but the thing is a team cannot officially name any assistant a head coach in waiting and guarantee him the job. Sure they can say it, but the Patriots aren’t able to put it into his contract. So when the time comes for Belichick to retire, nothing is actually obligating Kraft to make McDaniels the head coach. While it would be extremely unethical to pull the rug out from under McDaniels when that day comes — like he did to the Colts — the Patriots history suggests it would just be par for the course for the organization.
This situation really stinks on so many levels. McDaniels basically committed career suicide in regards to the other 31 franchises — who would actually give him a job after what he did to the Colts? — and the Patriots basically screwed the Colts out of a full month of their offseason by waiting until the 11th hour to make their grand pitch to McDaniels.
Hopefully, this story will have a happy ending. The Colts scrambled to find a new head coach and seem to have made a solid hire in bringing Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich to guide Indianapolis. And maybe, just maybe, the Patriots will actually make McDaniels Belichick’s successor. But right now, this whole situation is just one big, ugly black eye for the entire league.
