Being Bill Belichick's right-hand man and Tom Brady's playcaller provides excellent leverage and stability. Upon New England's arrival Monday, McDaniels told reporters as much.
"I was humbled I had an opportunity to interview for a few of them this year," McDaniels said, via ESPN.com. "It wasn't the right -- I've said it, if I have a chance again I'd be thankful for it because there's only 32 of them and I'd be honored to do it -- it would have to be the right time, the right place, the right people. They'd have to want me, I'd have to want that.
"And that just wasn't the case this year, and those people hired great coaches. I wish them nothing but the best. And if that ever comes up for me, I'll be thankful that it does."
It's only a matter of time before McDaniels becomes a head coach in the NFL again. The league's cyclical attitude on hiring Patriots assistant coaches will come around and an owner will be desperate enough to make another run at creating a new version of the Patriot Way elsewhere that he or she will throw the farm at McDaniels. This simply wasn't the right time.
With the AFC landscape as it is, McDaniels has a finite window to keep racking up Super Bowl appearances, records and rings. The appeal is obvious when looking at the coaching profession from a bird's eye view. Ego removed, what would you rather be doing in late January and early February besides this? And who has a better chance to be there than the Patriots?
