Mike McDaniel prefers coordinator roles on winning teams. Todd Bowles, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defensive-minded head coach, offers a unique advantage over rivals vying for the former Dolphins coach's offensive expertise.
Mike McDaniel is a guy a lot of Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans want their team to hire as the next offensive coordinator, and with good reason.
McDaniel is only going to be 43, is a sharp offensive mind and twice led the Miami Dolphins to the NFL playoffs as a head coach.
A problem the Bucs are facing -- if they do want McDaniel to be the guy -- is that a lot of other teams are interested in him.
Along with Tampa, which interviewed McDaniel on Friday, McDaniel has received interest from teams looking for a head coach (Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders, and the Tennessee Titans) and teams seeking an offensive coordinator (the Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Los Angeles Chargers, in addition to Tampa Bay).
McDaniel reportedly would prefer to be an offensive coordinator for a winning organization than a head coach for a losing one, and all of those OC vacancies fit the part -- yes, even Tampa Bay, which had won five straight NFC South titles before this year's collapse.
The problem is, the Lions and Chargers have also become NFL postseason regulars, and the Eagles are less than a year removed from winning a Super Bowl.
But Tampa has an advantage -- other than McDaniel not having to leave the state of Florida -- that could help the Bucs land him.
Something Detroit, L.A., and Philadelphia all have in common is that their head coaches are all offensive-minded.
In Detroit, Dan Campbell has an offensive background and took over play-calling duties midseason this year.
Jim Harbaugh has the final say in the Chargers' offense, insisting on his teams being known for running the football.
Before coming to Philly, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was the offensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts.
But Tampa Bay's head coach, Todd Bowles, is a defensive guy -- in fact, he's also the team's defensive coordinator.
This means that, unlike with OC's under offensive-minded head coaches, McDaniel would be the guy getting all the credit should the Bucs defense do well.
If McDaniel is known as the sole architect of an offense and that offense has success, it would help him in future NFL head-coaching interviews.
He'll have that opportunity in Tampa should he take the job.
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