Report: Bill Belichick Meeting Led to Josh McDaniels Staying with Patriots

Bill Belichick's "willingness to take his mentorship to a higher level" with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels played a major factor in McDaniels' decision to spurn the head coaching job with the Indianapolis Colts and remain with the New England Patriots, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.com.

Per that report:

"Belichick told McDaniels that he would spend more time with him on the inner workings of the Patriots, including roster construction and salary-cap management, which was viewed as 'extremely valuable' to McDaniels. It is an arrangement that owners Robert and Jonathan Kraft endorsed because it could ultimately be part of a succession plan for Belichick in the future, although no assurances were made to McDaniels."

Reiss also reported that the long-term contract offer gave McDaniels the stability he craved so that his four children could remain in the same school district, and had the Patriots and Belichick initially reached out to him with the offer he ultimately received before the interviewing process, "the way McDaniels approached interviews for head-coaching vacancies in January likely would have changed."

And Peter King of The MMQB reported that "McDaniels felt better about the Patriots’ structure and long-term prospects than about Indy’s, even with Brady playing next season at 41."

McDaniels was so advanced in talks to become the next head coach of the Colts that the team had agreed to contract terms with him and had already hired Matt Eberflus to be the team's defensive coordinator and Mike Phair as the defensive line coach for McDaniels' staff, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

The Colts reportedly plan to "request permission for head coach interviews with Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich and Saints assistant head coach Dan Campbell," per Schefter.

For the Patriots, meanwhile, the move serves as a short-term win and long-term investment. In the short term, the team keeps an offensive coordinator whom Tom Brady knows and appears to trust, and one who has led the team's offense to six straight seasons in the top 10 in points scored and five seasons in the top 10 of yards accumulated.

In the long run, the Patriots can groom McDaniels to replace Belichick. While there are no guarantees that McDaniels will be Belichick's successor, it's hard to imagine him spurning one guaranteed head-coaching job for a potential one down the line if he didn't believe he was the front-runner to replace Belichick once he retired.