As mentioned in a catch-all item from Saturday that looked at the various lingering coaching vacancies, the Colts have whittled their list of potential coaches down to two.
One is Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. The other, via Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, is Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel.
If Vrabel was the first choice, logic suggests he’d have the job. Which suggests that the Colts want McDaniels.
Here’s the more important question: Does McDaniels want the Colts?
On the surface, the fact that he’s even entertaining the possibility is a stunner, given that it’s believed he wants a Belichick-style situation, where McDaniels runs the show. In Indianapolis, G.M. Chris Ballard runs the show, and McDaniels would at very most be working with the second-year G.M.
But McDaniels, we’re told, is fascinated with the prospect of coaching Andrew Luck, a player McDaniels believes can mentally match Tom Brady -- and physically exceed him.
The Titans job remains a wildcard in this potential hire, since a decision to make a coaching change could reunite McDaniels with former Patriots executive Jon Robinson. The deeper question for McDaniels is whether he’d choose working with Marcus Mariota over working with Luck.
Mariota has the potential to be great, but Luck has the potential to be greater, assuming his shoulder fully heals.
With McDaniels and Ballard, the Colts have the potential to be make Indianapolis great again (#MIGA?), which definitely will have Patriots fans hoping for anything but McDaniels joining the team that instigated #DeflateGate three years ago as of Thursday.