Josh McDaniels thought he was showing up to Gillette Stadium two days after the Super Bowl to say goodbye and collect his belongings. Instead, meetings with Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick prompted McDaniels to change his mind.
The Patriots offensive coordinator spoke publicly for the first time since spurning the Colts.
“I wasn’t 100 percent sure what the future was. I just hadn’t had any clarity on that,’’ McDaniels said Monday, via Jim McBride of the Boston Globe. “So, where did I fit in? Where there any plans? I just didn’t have much clarity on what my role was here moving forward.’’
McDaniels’ contract, which had one year remaining, was adjusted, but he was given no guarantees, per McBride.
“Once I heard from Robert and Bill on that Tuesday, it just gave me reason to pause and consider this whole situation,’’ McDaniels said. “The opportunity to stay here and work for who I think is the greatest owner in sports and the best head football coach in the history of our game, to work with the best quarterback that has ever played. . . . Look, I’m privileged to have the opportunity to do that and when they kind of crystallized that — ‘Hey, here’s what we see going forward and here’s how we would like you to fit into it’ — it gave me a reason to stop and say, ‘All right, what’s the best decision for me?’ And certainly it was difficult. But I made the decision on my own, nobody pushed me into it.’’
McDaniels, who said his family was willing and ready to move to Indianapolis, acknowledged his conversation with Colts General Manager Chris Ballard was not easy. But McDaniels said he made the “right decision” for him and his family.