A pair of NFL teams were waiting until the Super Bowl ended to announce their new head coaches and this was because their candidates were New England Patriots assistant coaches who couldn’t officially join another team until their season ended. The first of those coaches was defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, who the Detroit Lions announced as their new head coach on Wednesday. However, the second was offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who had agreed to become the new head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. In a shocking move, McDaniels backed out of the deal and remained with the Patriots as their coordinator. ESPN reported that McDaniels called his agent, Bob LaMonte, and said he was backing out, something that LaMonte told his client was “ professional suicide .”
LaMonte On McDaniels’ Colts Decision
According to LaMonte, when Josh McDaniels called him on Tuesday, he assumed that the New England Patriots offensive coordinator had questions about the press conference that the Indianapolis Colts had planned for Wednesday to introduce him as their new head coach. What he instead heard shocked him.
LaMonte said that McDaniels called him to say that he had changed his mind and was not leaving the New England Patriots at all. Sports Illustrated reported that Robert Kraft, the owner of the Patriots, offered McDaniels a huge raise to keep him in New England and the Colts were made to suffer.
When asked about it, Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard told ESPN that Josh McDaniels called him on Tuesday to opt out of the deal. When Ballard asked if he wanted to coach for them, McDaniels waffled on the question, so Ballard said they would move on without him.
Sports Illustrated reported that there was a verbal commitment but that would not hold up because no written contract was ever signed. With Ballard’s statement, it sounds like Josh McDaniels is already in the Indianapolis Colts’ rearview mirror and they are moving on.
Josh McDaniels’ Future
The question posed is, what does this mean for the future of Josh McDaniels, especially if he wants to become a head coach in the NFL again in the future? Bob LaMonte said that he chose to quit working for McDaniels as his agent when the coordinator said he was staying with the New England Patriots.
According to LaMonte, his word is his “bond” and once he breaks his word, “there’s nothing left.” Both Bob LaMonte and Josh McDaniels made verbal commitments to the Indianapolis Colts, and McDaniels broke that promise.
LaMonte said that he told Josh McDaniels that the decision to remain with the New England Patriots was “committing professional suicide.” These comments seem to indicate that it will be practically impossible for any team to trust the offensive coordinator in the future, especially since he waited until the day before the announcement to back out of the deal.
