Josh McDaniels admits to being patient in coaching search, says he found a ‘special’ place with Raiders

Josh McDaniels is officially the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. On Monday, owner Mark Davis introduced McDaniels — along with general manager Dave Ziegler — to the media, sparking a new era in the franchise’s history. 

For McDaniels, getting another crack as a head coach in the NFL has been a topic of conversation for years following his failed tenure as the coach of the Denver Broncos. Throughout the last decade-plus, McDaniels has sprouted up in various head coaching rumors and even verbally agreed to become the next head coach of the Indianapolis Colts a few years back before ultimately deciding to keep his job as the offensive coordinator with the Patriots at the eleventh hour. 

McDaniels even acknowledged during his presser that he was going to be particular in his next destination if given the opportunity to be a head coach again. 

“I’ve been patient, I’ve been selective, maybe to a fault sometimes,” said McDaniels. “It was going to take a special place for me to really leave where I was. And I found that here in Las Vegas.”

The 45-year-old admitted that he “failed” during his first stint as head coach with the Broncos, pointing to not knowing a lot about people and maintaining a culture within the organization.

“The last 10 to 12 years I’ve really had an opportunity to grow as a person, as a coach, as a man and try to figure out — after my experiences in Denver and St. Louis — who I am, how I wanted to be defined in my career, what I wanted to represent and how I would lead the next time if I got another opportunity to be a head coach,” said McDaniels. “It’s crystallized for me. I’m clear in the vision that I have for this role for this job, for this team and I’m going to be myself. I think that’s really important for me and our organization going forward.” 

McDaniels also is already trying to endear himself to his new boss and fanbase. 

“When I met Josh on Saturday, we met in the hallway as we were passing. It was before the interview process was going to start and I introduced myself and everything and he looked me in the eye and said ‘There’s one thing — It was a fumble,”’ Davis said in reference to, of course, the infamous Tuck Rule game during the 2001 playoffs. “Raider Nation, if you’re worried, he’s already come over to the dark side.” 

Meanwhile, Ziegler, who served as the Patriots director of player personnel last season, noted that he and McDaniels will have a collaborative relationship in terms of roster construction, but the final decisions will ultimately be made by him. 

“Josh and I are tied in many ways in our vision of how to build a team and our vision of what we want in terms of the players that we bring into the building is very connected,” said Ziegler. “But at the end of the day when it’s time to make decisions on personnel, while we’ll work together, those final decisions will be made by me.” 

The Raiders are coming off a 2021 season where they went 10-7 in the regulation season, which was good enough for a playoff berth. Under this new regime of McDaniels and Ziegler, Las Vegas will be hoping that postseason appearances and wins will become even more prevalent.