New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels finally broke his silence, speaking for the first time since spurning the Indianapolis Colts to continue working under Bill Belichick.
McDaniels told Jim McBride of the Boston Globe he was preparing to move on from New England before having a discussion with owner Robert Kraft and Belichick following the Super Bowl loss.
"I wasn't 100 percent sure what the future was. I just hadn't had any clarity on that," McDaniels said Monday. "So, where did I fit in? Were there any plans? I just didn't have much clarity on what my role was here moving forward."
McDaniels said the meeting with Kraft and Belichick swayed him to remain with the Patriots.
"Once I heard from Robert and Bill on that Tuesday, it just gave me reason to pause and consider this whole situation," McDaniels said.
McDaniels told McBride he was given no guarantees about future positions -- i.e. eventually taking over for Belichick -- but had his contract restructured.
"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 ..." McDaniels said. "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 added that his family was ready to move to Indy with him if he went through with taking the job.
Most lambasted the OC for agreeing to take the Colts gig then backing out, and especially leaving a slew of assistant coaches in limbo. McDaniels said he called each potential assistant to apologize after he decided to remain in New England.
"And I apologize to anyone who was affected in any way," he said. "Indianapolis did a tremendous job. They have a tremendous organization and I was lucky to be considered and I just think once I found out [what my future in New England was], I made the right decision for me and my family at this time."
