In this age of embellishment and exaggeration (there’s never been a time in the history of the universe where people have embellished and exaggerated as much as they currently do), it should be no surprise that embellishment and exaggeration has spread to the NFL. (And by “spread” I mean “been a part of it since the day it was founded.”)
Based on discussions with multiple NFL sources, ESPN analyst Louis Riddick may be embellishing and exaggerating his assessment of how close he came to getting the G.M. job in San Francisco.
Riddick told ESPN Radio on Thursday that he was “very, very, very, very, very, very, very close” to becoming the General Manager of the team, and that he didn’t get the job only because he and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels were a “package deal.”
“It was either going to be him and I, or it wasn’t,” Riddick said of McDaniels. “Josh, for his personal reasons, decided that now wasn’t a good time. When he decided that — which I was on board with that, obviously — therefore I wasn’t in the running anymore.”
One source with knowledge of the McDaniels-49ers flirtation tells PFT that Riddick wasn’t nearly as close to getting the job as he now contends.
Another source explains that Riddick would have remained in the running if McDaniels had been the choice for the job, but that there wasn’t a clear front-runner before McDaniels chose to step aside. As the source explains it, multiple candidates were eliminated from consideration once McDaniels withdrew, which obviously means that multiple candidates were linked to McDaniels.
Of course, it’s possible that Riddick genuinely believes (and not in the Costanza sense) that he was getting the job if McDaniels had become the coach, by virtue of being on the receiving end of the same exaggeration and embellishment that has been part of the NFL’s fabric since its inception. If that’s what Riddick genuinely believes, there’s a good chance that he’s incorrect.
Regardless, why would he even be bragging about how close he came to getting the job? As one of our media friends (yes, we have friends, but that could be part of the exaggeration and embellishment thing, too) has pointed out, why would he publicly link himself to a coach -- especially when it’s a coach who may never leave the place where he currently is?
All in all, it makes for an odd circumstance that ultimately won’t make Riddick more likely to get a G.M. job in the future. It may not make him less likely to get a G.M. job, but it won’t make him more likely.