Los Angeles Rams: Has Josh McDaniels learned from checkered past?

New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is a candidate to be the new head coach of the Los Angeles Rams. Has he learned from his past?

For the Los Angeles Rams, Black Monday came a couple weeks early. Former head coach Jeff Fisher was fired, opening up a very attractive job in L.A.

What will the Rams do moving forward? It should be a pretty coveted position, and they might have their pick of the coaching candidate pool. Speculation about who might land in Los Angeles has already begun…

.@PSchrags presents his picks for Rams head coaching job, including Josh McDaniels, Kyle Shanahan & Jon Gruden #GMFB https://t.co/ckwFDpPA6D
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) December 13, 2016

Could McDaniels return to the Rams organization? After being fired by the Denver Broncos midseason in 2010, McDaniels was hired by the Rams (then in St. Louis) as an offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, which has always been his forte.

The opportunity then arose for McDaniels to return to the Patriots in 2012, and he didn’t pass it up. He’s been there ever since in the same capacity he had before he came to the Denver Broncos, which is as an offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.

The level of success of the Patriots hasn’t been the result of Josh McDaniels as the offensive coordinator, but there’s no question he’s one of the best football minds in the league, especially when it comes to scheming against defenses and exploiting weaknesses.

But not every team in the NFL has Tom Brady.

McDaniels learned that the hard way in 2009 when he became head coach of the Denver Broncos, who had Pro Bowler Jay Cutler entering his fourth NFL season. McDaniels ousted Cutler right away, and traded him before the two even had a chance to get to really know each other.

It was the first of a number of highly questionable moves by McDaniels, which also included trading a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round pick to move into the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft and select former Heisman winner Tim Tebow.

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McDaniels marched to the beat of his own drum as head coach/de facto general manager his first go-round, and he had clearly bitten off more than he could chew. After a 6-0 start to the 2009 season, McDaniels and the Broncos stumbled to an 8-8 record and went 4-12 the next season.

After the Broncos and McDaniels received a black eye for an employee videotaping San Francisco 49ers practice in the form of $100,000 worth of fines, the Broncos cut bait with the former New England assistant and wound up hiring John Fox the next year.

McDaniels’ shortcomings as a general manager don’t negate the work he has done on the field as a coach, but his methods have to be in serious doubt after his initial run with the Broncos. That being said, McDaniels has to treat his next head coaching opportunity — which could come with the Rams — just like he would an NFL game. You learn from your mistakes, you make necessary adjustments, and you come back better the next time.

McDaniels has to know that he doesn’t have the capacity to be both a coach and general manager. As a head coach, his responsibilities will also extend beyond simply planning an offensive gameplan.

If hired by Los Angeles, McDaniels would be tasked with building up an offense that has been abysmal this season, and helping out one of the more talented young defenses in the league. He has to know that whatever situation he goes into, he’s not going to be the ‘god’ of that team. Imprinting your style is one thing, but creating a massive overhaul simply for the sake of doing it is entirely another thing.

When McDaniels becomes a head coach in this league again, hopefully he will take from his failed experiment in Denver the fact that he can only focus on so much. Roster building is not part of his repertoire, although McDaniels should be credited with having at least a decent eye for talent. Some of his top picks are still performing at a high level in this league (Robert Ayers, Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker…).

The Rams need someone who is going to be able to bring along Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, and an underwhelming offense. They don’t need someone that is trying to bring New England culture to Los Angeles.

Bring your own brand to L.A., and build off of what you already have. If McDaniels does that, I think this Rams franchise could turn itself around really quickly.

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