Report: Eagles will interview Josh McDaniels on Sunday evening

The Philadelphia Eagles will interview New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels for their head coaching vacancy on Sunday evening, according to a joint-report from The Athletic’s Bo Wulf and Zac Jackson.

This development certainly comes as a surprise. Despite being a popular candidate in the past, McDaniels wasn’t getting any buzz in this year’s cycle.

The Patriots assistant can hardly be considered a fan favorite to replace Doug Pederson. McDaniels screwed the Eagles over when he backed out of the Indianapolis Colts’ head coaching job in 2018, which caused Indy to poach Frank Reich away from Philly.

McDaniels, 44, is coming off a year in which the Patriots’ offense ranked 23rd in DVOA and 29th (worse than the Eagles!) in offensive points per game. New England clearly missed Tom Brady, who has been doing just fine without McDaniels now on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Another concern with McDaniels is how he previously flopped in his first stint as a head coach with the Denver Broncos. He immediately got off on the wrong foot with Jay Cutler, who demanded a trade out of Denver. McDaniels then went 11-17 before getting fired less than two full seasons into the job.

Perhaps McDaniels has grown since then. It’s been 11 years, after all. And perhaps McDaniels doesn’t get enough credit for overseeing these offenses since returning to the Patriots nine years ago:

2012 — 1st in scoring
2013 — 3rd in scoring
2014 — 4th in scoring
2015 — 3rd in scoring
2016 — 3rd in scoring
2017 — 2nd in scoring
2018 — 7th in scoring
2019 — 3rd in scoring

But there’s more than enough reason to be cautious about hiring from the Bill Belichick coaching tree. This hire would draw appropriate skepticism.

Here’s a recap of where things stand with the Eagles’ coaching search:

REQUESTED INTERVIEWS

49ers DC Robert Saleh
Titans OC Arthur Smith
Buccaneers DC Todd Bowles
Patriots ILB coach Jerod Mayo
Eagles assistant head coach/RB coach Duce Staley
Panthers OC Joe Brady
Cowboys OC Kellen Moore
Rams DC Brandon Staley
Patriots OC Josh McDaniels

RUMORED INTEREST

Oklahoma HC Lincoln Riley
Chiefs QB coach/passing game coordinator Mike Kafka
Ohio State HC Ryan Day
Bills OC Brian Daboll

KEEPING TABS ON OTHER NFL COACHING SEARCHES

Houston Texans — Vacant
Detroit Lions — Vacant (but Dan Campbell favored)
Los Angeles Chargers — Vacant (but Brian Daboll favored)
Atlanta Falcons — Arthur Smith
New York Jets — Robert Saleh
Jacksonville Jaguars — Urban Meyer