The New England Patriots learned on Sunday who their divisional round playoff opponent will be, and the team is now back at practice preparing for the Houston Texans. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia were both asked about the weekend interviews. McDaniels interviewed with the San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Los Angeles Rams, while Patricia interviewed with the Rams and San Diego Chargers.
Both talked about needing to prepare for the week ahead, but also offered some compliments and cliches regarding their interviews. McDaniels had this to say about the interviews:
"It’s humbling," McDaniels said. "It’s a privilege to have an opportunity to do any of those things. I feel very fortunate to have an opportunity to sit in front of those people, that they would listen to me and spend time with me. Just got to do the best you can to represent yourself, your team, your organization that you come from, your family as best you can, and all the rest of it will play out how it’s supposed to play out."
I’m slightly disappointed McDaniels did not talk about giving 110 percent, although “got to do the best you can” could potentially qualify under that.
The 49ers interviewed Washington OC Sean McVay on Monday, and have head coach interviews still lined up with Carolina Panthers DC Sean McDermott (Tuesday) and Seattle Seahawks OL coach Tom Cable (Sunday), and still have a potential interview with Dolphins DC Vance Joseph.
At some point the team would probably conduct a second round of interviews with potential finalists. I suppose they could just hire based on this first interview, and with McDaniels in particular, whom the 49ers have interviewed before, maybe a second interview is not needed. If the 49ers do decide they want a second interview with him, they have to wait until after the conference championship games are finished.
If the 49ers decide McDaniels is the guy, and he wants the job, a contract cannot be formally announced until after the Patriots are finished with the playoffs. I imagine plenty of handshake deals and other things happen before the formal announcement, but the formal conclusion is not until the Patriots finish their playoffs.