Did Josh McDaniels know something we didn't?
That question understandably resurfaced Saturday night when Andrew Luck shockingly announced his NFL retirement.
After all, McDaniels was set to become Luck's Colts head coach in February 2018 when he pulled a sudden U-turn, spurning Indianapolis to stay on as the New England Patriots' offensive coordinator.
Luck had just missed the entire 2017 season while recovering from shoulder surgery. So, did McDaniels see the writing on the wall with the Colts QB and turn down a head coaching job because of it?
A reader recently asked The Athletic's Jay Glazer if there's "anything to (that) theory" -- and Glazer gave a pretty definitive answer.
"Nope, not at all. Zero," Glazer wrote. "He took the Colts job and then got talked out of it or talked himself out of it."
New England Patriots
As our own Tom E. Curran wrote at the time, McDaniels had other reasons to stay in New England, namely the stability of keeping his family in the same place, continuity with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and a sweetened contract.
McDaniels obviously was aware of Luck's injury history, too. But even as Luck's retirement validates his decision to stay with the Patriots, it doesn't sound like Luck's past dictated McDaniels' future.
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