When it comes to Josh McDaniels being very selective with head-coaching opportunities over the years, many believed part of that was wanting a lot of control, especially when it came to building the roster.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, McDaniels detailed how that was not true.
“Nope, it’s actually the opposite,” he said. “You know it’s ironic but it’s actually always been about the opposite for me. Would I like to have an opportunity to build the team the way that I feel like is right to do it? Sure. But I also know I don’t want to do every other role. I want to be good in the role that I’m good at, and that I’m supposed to be good at. And to have somebody that you trust and that you can lean on and count on in all those other areas, that’s really important.”
With that being said, McDaniels is very familiar with his general manager Dave Ziegler, as their relationship dates back to John Carroll University.
“He’s kind of grown up a similar way that I did,” McDaniels said. “Came into the league, lowest guy on the totem pole, great work ethic. Basically, any task you give him, he figures out how to do it the right way and then asks for more. He’s a great multitasker, he’s very organized, disciplined. And he’s extremely thorough and independent. And he can give you his opinion regardless of what yours is, and that’s always impressed me. Some guys get into the league and they spend more time trying to figure out what you’re going to say and what you want to hear, as opposed to giving you their own opinion, and it’s so important to have that in this type of an environment. And for me and Dave to be in these two spots, we can’t always see things the same way. And we won’t.”
McDaniels and Ziegler are in the process of putting together the coaching staff.