Report: Josh McDaniels, Raiders Finalizing Contract to Replace Jon Gruden as HC

The Las Vegas Raiders are expected to hire the New England Pats offensive coach as their next head coach, according to Adam Schefter.

Ian Rapoport @RapSheet

The #Raiders are expected to hire #Patriots de facto GM Dave Ziegler as their new GM, per, @MikeGarafolo and @TomPelissero. He was key in New England’s fast turnaround, now turns his attention to Las Vegas. The next step is slated to be the hire of Josh McDaniels as head coach.

The 45-year-old has a fascinating career path. He took a head coaching position with the Denver Broncos in 2009, after spending three seasons as the offensive coordinator with the New England.

His tenure lasted less than two seasons, as the Broncos went just 11-17 and famously drafted Tim Tebow in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft.

After a season as the Rams' offensive line coach, he returned to New England in 2012 as the offensive line coach.

He was going to be the head coach of the Colts in Indianapolis before the start of the next season. The NFL world was shocked when he backed out of the deal at the 11th hour.

Bob LaMonte dropped him as a client after he snubbed the Colts.

It was thought at the time that New England might have granted him non- official assurances that he would succeed Bill Belichick if he decided to retire.

If that was the case, the Raiders offered him the job and he couldn't refuse it, so he decided to take it.

Working with Tom Brady and the rest of the team helped, but he is still on the cutting edge of offensive football.

The Green Bay Packers had an interview with him before the season, but it appeared he was only interested in leaving New England for the perfect job. That did not happen.

Ian Rapoport @RapSheet

This was the only known interview for #Patriots OC Josh McDaniels, so the LaFleur hire for the #Packers likely means Josh is back in New England for another year.

He was a candidate for the Philadelphia Eagles head-coaching position before the team hired Nick Sirianni.

His snub of the Colts may have left a bad taste in the mouths of many people, but his impending hire is a solid move for Las Vegas.

The Raiders take big swings.

The task of replacing Rich Bisaccia, who became a popular figure in the Las Vegas locker room after Jon Gruden was fired because of misogynistic, racist and anti-gay emails from his past, will be difficult.

The Raiders still made it to the playoffs. There are some nice weapons on the offensive side of the ball that will be inherited by the new team. He will have a better foundation in place for his second tenure as an NFL head coach than he had in the first one.