Josh McDaniels Was 'Very Impressive' During Browns' Interview, Had 'Thorough, Detailed Plan' in Place

Josh McDaniels was reportedly very impressive during his head-coaching interview with the Browns, but his want to overhaul football operations may have been the reason why he did not get the Cleveland gig.

On Sunday, the Cleveland Browns announced they had hired Minnesota Vikings coordinator Kevin Stefanksi to be their next head coach. It was a bit of a surprise the team had selected Stefanski, who interviewed for the vacant job last year and failed to get it, especially with candidates like Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels in the mix for the job. 

The reason to choose Stefanski as their next HC seemed to point towards certain demands the Browns had for their next head coach, which reportedly included having a meeting with ownership and the analytics team twice a week, giving an analytics staff member a headset on game day, and keeping key members of football operations in place for at least one year before any new hirings were made. While Stefanski was willing to adhere to all the demands owner Jimmy Haslam had for the franchise's 18th full-time head coach, others, like McDaniels, allegedly wanted to completely restructure the organization in a way they felt would benefit the football team. 

The MMQB's Albert Breer mentioned these aspects of McDaniels' plan with the Browns in a column earlier this week, while also mentioning how the long-tenured OC's interview with Cleveland was "very impressive."

"(Josh) McDaniels, I’m told, was very impressive, and had a thorough, detailed plan for what he wanted to do with the organization. My sense is that it would’ve meant change on a lot of different levels, change in the reporting structure—a lot of turnover throughout the building. I don’t think this was about personnel control. I think it was more about how the entire football operation was aligned, with guys like Pats exec Dave Ziegler coming aboard."

In the end, McDaniels would have been a good fit for the Browns had the organization embraced massive change this offseason. But that wasn't the case, which is why McDaniels, an Ohio native, didn't get his "dream job" that he also interviewed for back in 2014 before pulling himself from consideration for the job. Because of that, the Patriots retain there offensive coordinator, which strengthens their chances of re-signing Tom Brady this offseason.