NFL- McDaniels Signs a Four-Year Deal with Denver

The Denver Broncos hired the 32-year old Josh McDaniels to replace Mike Shanahan who was fired on December 30th after he spent 14 seasons with the team. McDaniels was the New England Patriots offensive coordinator for the past three years and Denver considers he could be a brilliant coach so they brought him to give the team a new start.

Since the beginning of the process to find another coach for the Broncos, McDaniels seemed to be the favorite one for them and for the team's owner Pat Bowlen; they interviewed some other six candidates but he was the only one who had a second interview and the vacant. Bowlen saw a lot of potential in McDaniels since he is very young, but it has to be mentioned that he has been around football his whole life, so that was an extra point for him. He guided New England to 18 consecutive victories last season despite their loss against the Giants in the Super Bowl final.

"What I was trying to do was pick the best guy," Bowlen said. "It didn't matter really that much whether it was an offensive or defensive guy, he's going to be the head coach. I think Josh has the ability to go out and find a very good defensive coordinator."

Mike Shanahan was 14 years with the team, but in the past three years the team has not even reached the playoffs and has a record of 24-24 during this time. He was hired back in 1995 and led the Denver Broncos to the Super Bowl Championships in 1997 and 1998 and he still had $21 millions and three years left in his contract with the team when he was fired.

McDaniels, on the other hand, has made very attractive accomplishments in the last few years. He was hired by the New England Patriots in 2001 as a personal assistant. He served as a defensive coaching assistant from 2002 until 2003. In 2004 he was named quarterbacks coach and for the 2005 season he was also named the offensive coordinator since the current one left the team; he took the job maintaining his responsibilities as quarterbacks coach as well.

For 2007 season McDaniels set some NFL records with 75 touchdowns and 589 points but his most important achievement was in the 2008 season when he led the offense to an 11-5 record placing Matt Cassel as a starting quarterback even though he never started as quarterback in college.

McDaniels' mentor was Bill Bielichick who was the one that gave him the opportunity on the Patriots as the offensive coordinator and also the one who supported him for eight years in the team. For Bielichick, McDaniels is one of the most brightest and talented coaches that he has ever worked with, he admires him very much and he is very proud of what he has achieved.

McDaniels signed a 4 year contract with Denver, which appears to be worth around $8 million. With this, McDaniels hopes to achieve a many great things with the Denver Broncos as he did with the Patriots in the past.