According to reports, the Browns were the first team to officially request to speak with Patriots' offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels about their open head coaching job.
Cleveland could be one of many NFL teams to make such a request, with the Giants and Panthers also apparently joining the pursuit of one of the league's most experienced, proven offensive minds.
Monday morning in a conference call with the local media, McDaniels was asked about the balancing act he could face once again this postseason between furthering his own career path and performing in his current role running a sputtering New England offense.
"I'm 100-percent fully invested in getting ready for Tennessee and trying to put our best performance of the season out there on Saturday night," McDaniels said. "We have a lot of work to do. That's really, that's where my focus will be. That's where it's at now and it will stay there. That's the best thing for our team. It's the best thing for me. And we're one of 12 teams that have an opportunity to compete in the postseason and that's the only way I'll ever do it."
McDaniels has dealt with the interview process many times over the years, though this year is a bit different in that New England will play on Wild Card Weekend and doesn't have the bye week that would normally provide time for potential interviews.
When asked if his past experiences through the interview process helped make things easier this time around, McDaniels reiterated his current focus while noting he's not yet been presented with career advancement opportunities.
"With all due respect to the question, I'm not even aware of any of that stuff at this point. When that stuff is presented to me or discussed with me or whatever then we'll deal with it appropriately," McDaniels said. "But honestly it's pretty easy for me in terms of my formula. I'm the offensive coordinator of the Patriots. We have a lot of work to do. We can improve in a lot of areas to try to get ready for this week, our biggest game of the year against certainly the best team we've played. This is a postseason game. So our players deserve that, our coaches deserve that and that's what they're gonna get from me."
Whether it's Cleveland, Carolina, New York or other teams showing interest, by NFL rule McDaniels won't be able to interview until after Saturday night's Wild Card battle with the Titans.
