McDaniels says other opportunities ‘irrelevant'

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Josh McDaniels doesn't turn 37 until April.

The Patriots offensive coordinator has crammed a lot of living into the past five years -- architect of the most explosive offense in NFL history in 2007, a successful season without the NFL's best quarterback in 2008, a 6-0 start as Broncos head coach in 2009, a peeing match with a franchise quarterback (also in 2009), a firing in 2010, a hiring...and on...and on.

Despite the way things went for McDaniels in Denver, his resume and youth will make him a head coaching candidate over the next month.

I asked McDaniels Monday morning about that reality.

"I'm thrilled to be back here and I came back here for all the right reasons," he began. "To learn and get better as a coach, to work in an organization that I really have a great deal of respect and appreciation for. I'm happy here. My family's happy here. We're excited about what's ahead of us here in the playoffs. To talk about any other opportunities at this point is, to me, irrelevant.

"I'm totally focused on this season and what this season holds," he added. "I couldn't be more excited to be here and be a New England Patriot and try to do the best job with the title that I have right now."

All that said, there's a strong likelihood McDaniels will be contacted for the head coaching jobs that are opening up. San Diego, Cleveland and Philadelphia are all franchises that could use a savvy offensive mind and a new voice.

McDaniels gave general reflections on what he's learned since being hired to coach the Broncos.

"I think that every opportunity that you have and that I've gone through since I started a long time ago in 2001 here has been a learning experience for me," he stated. "There's certainly gonna be mistakes along the way in every role that you hold and that you have an opportunity to work in.

"As long as you can get better from every mistake you make or even positive results that you get, there's always something to learn from those things to make you a better coach, a better leader, a better teacher, a better person, a better communicator, a better staff member," McDaniels added. "Hopefully, that's what I've tried to do in all my experiences including the ones I've recently had that weren't here in New England. I hope every day that I'm better than I was the day before and every year, the same thing. Going forward in any role that I have I want to be as good as I can be for that organization that I'm working here. I couldn't be more happy to be here in New England."

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