National Football League

NFL Rumors: Patriots' Josh McDaniels Conflicted about 49ers Head Coaching Spot, per Report

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 2:20 a.m. ET

Fansided, Peter Panacy/FanSided via Niner Noise

New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is apparently conflicted about taking the San Francisco 49ers head coaching gig, per a report from Pro Football Talk.

The San Francisco 49ers have been patient with their confirmation on a head coach for the 2017 season, although the search has narrowed down to three candidates.

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New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is one of those candidates, and many are seeing him as the front-runner for the Niners job.

But, according to a Sunday report from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, McDaniels is having second thoughts about taking over in Santa Clara.

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

Indeed, one league source tells PFT that McDaniels has been reaching out to potential assistant coaches and urged them to remain available.

That said, others believe McDaniels is conflicted about the job. He has four young children, and there’s a strong desire to not uproot the family for a short-term stint on the other side of the country. As the Broncos coach in 2009 and most of 2010, McDaniels didn’t even two full seasons to turn around the Broncos. Given San Francisco’s recent trend of parting ways with coaches (three left in roughly 24 months), there’s legitimate concern that McDaniels possibly won’t be coaching for an extended period of time.

McDaniels would be the fourth head coach in as many years, if the Niners ended up selecting him to replace one-and-done head coach Chip Kelly for the 2017 season.

So it makes sense the Pats offensive coordinator would be a bit reluctant.

San Francisco has also interviewed Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who made easy work of the Seattle Seahawks 36-20 in the NFC Divisional game.

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Since Shanahan and McDaniels are still both in the playoffs, the Niners can’t announce any official hirings. San Francisco did interview with Seahawks offensive line coach Tom Cable on Sunday, and he’d be eligible for hiring.

Although it wouldn’t be the best of moves to go that route.

All this could just be leverage on the part of McDaniels. Or it could be a legitimate concern, one paired with the fact McDaniels’ failures as head coach with the Denver Broncos means this next shot would likely be his last at such a position.

Regardless, it sure makes for some intriguing speculation in coming weeks.