Josh McDaniels ditches Colts, Vikings OC search could be affected

In the last hour or so, we’ve had a bit of a shockwave go through the coaching ranks in the National Football League, and it could affect the Minnesota Vikings’ search for their new Offensive Coordinator.

In a stunning development, Josh McDaniels, the Offensive Coordinator of the New England Patriots, decided that he was not, in fact, going to take the head coaching job with the Indianapolis Colts. This comes after the Colts had announced that they had come to terms with McDaniels on a contract and were getting set to introduce him as their new coach on Wednesday.

So, that means the Colts are once again searching for a head coach, and this could potentially affect the Vikings’ search for their new OC.

As we’ve talked about over the past couple of days, the Vikings appear to be waiting on Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback coach John DeFilippo to become available to interview for the OC vacancy on Mike Zimmer’s coaching staff. Because of the way DeFilippo’s contract is structured, the Vikings can’t interview him until 14 February. That’s because the move from Quarterback Coach to Offensive Coordinator is considered a lateral move by the league, and any interview for such a move can be blocked until his contract actually expires.

However, the league also says that teams can’t block an interview for a position coach or coordinator for a head coaching position. DeFilippo had two interviews for head coaching positions during Philadelphia’s initial bye week during the postseason, as he sat down with both the Arizona Cardinals and the Chicago Bears. With McDaniels jilting the Colts like this, you would have to think there’s at least a chance that the Colts might be interested in interviewing DeFilippo, and if they want to there’s nothing the Eagles can do to prevent it.

The Vikings have already interviewed four other candidates for the Offensive Coordinator spot, but the fact that they have not made any sort of hire to this point pretty clearly, at least in my opinion, points to the fact that DeFilippo is their guy and they were just waiting for him to shake loose. However, there’s at least a chance that this could change things.

How will all of this shake out? We’re going to have to wait and see, it appears.