Insider proposes surprising potential landing spot for Josh McDaniels

With Bill Belichick still a coaching free agent, his former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels remains one too.

It’s not a lock that McDaniels ends up wherever Belichick does, but given their close relationship and both looking for new teams, it seems like the most plausible scenario.

However, if McDaniels weren’t to go running back to the safety of the Belichick umbrella, SI.com’s Albert Breer suggested a possible wild-card team for McDaniels’ services — the Houston Texans.

“If both (offensive coordinator Bobby) Slowik and (quarterbacks coach Jerrod) Johnson were gone?” Breer questioned. “I wonder whether the Texans would make a call to Josh McDaniels, given his track record with young quarterbacks, and the presence of his college teammate Nick Caserio in Houston. (McDaniels’ brother, Ben, is also on staff there.)”

There’s a real possibility that the Texans could need to overhaul their offensive staff. Slowik is a hot commodity among teams looking for new head coaches, and he could land one of those jobs after recently interviewing with the Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders.

Johnson is also in line for a promotion, as several teams have expressed interest in bringing him on as an offensive coordinator. The Philadelphia Eagles requested to interview him for that position on Wednesday.

The only time McDaniels strayed from Belichick as an assistant was in 2011 when he was the QB coach and offensive coordinator for the Rams. And that decision had more to do with timing than anything given McDaniels had just been fired as head coach of the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots had already promoted Bill O’Brien to the OC role.

McDaniels has 14 years of experience as an offensive coordinator, and he’s known for his work with top-level quarterbacks. He could be an appealing candidate for Houston, which could bring him in to prevent disruption in C.J. Stroud’s development.