Josh McDaniels feels he's 'gained a lot of experience' through 'failings' as a head coach

INDIANAPOLIS — Josh McDaniels is in his second go-around of being a second-year NFL head coach.

There's been 13 years between those two opportunities. Going into his second year with the Las Vegas Raiders, McDaniels believes there's been a definite evolution in him since he was going into his second — and final — season as the Denver Broncos head coach in 2010.

"I've, look, nobody's perfect at this thing, and I certainly gained a lot of experience through my failings and the things I learned and the lessons that I learned," McDaniels said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. "I mean, there's too many to talk about right now, but I've seen a lot of different things. So nothing really surprises me much anymore."

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McDaniels, a Canton McKinley High School graduate, was all smiles as he stepped to one of the podiums inside of the Indiana Convention Center on Tuesday morning, among the first of many NFL head coaches or general managers to speak over the first two days of the Combine. He made a point to make a little small talk with a couple of Raiders beat writers, including complimenting the new hair cut on one of them.

The light-hearted banter quickly turned to business, though. In the NFL, that business is ultimately about wins and losses.

The first year for McDaniels in Las Vegas did not go quite as planned. The Raiders finished 6-11, good enough for third place in the AFC West and a little bit more heat on the seat of the head coach.

The offseason started off with the Raiders and quarterback Derek Carr going through a very public and messy divorce. It led to Carr ultimately being released instead of traded, which has led him to be in Indianapolis this week trying to meet with his next suitor.

McDaniels, meanwhile, acknowledges he thinks about who the next Raiders quarterback will be every day. He's already planning on sitting down with at least the four big-name quarterback draft prospects — Alabama's Bryce Young, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud, Kentucky's Will Levis and Florida's Anthony Richardson — while in Indianapolis.

“It’s obviously one of the biggest factors that will certainly impact our season, let alone our offseason,” said McDaniels, who was 11-17 during his stint in Denver. “There’s nothing we can do other than go through our process and really do a good job of evaluating our opportunities and our options, and make smart decisions about what’s best for the Raiders every step of the way. But there’s definitely going to be some bodies added at that position. That’s for sure.”

Here is where the second go-around as a second-year head coach may be helping McDaniels. After an 8-8 debut season in Denver, in 2009 he drafted Tim Tebow out of Florida in the first round, a draft pick that ultimately played a role in his undoing after the Broncos started the 2010 season 3-9.

Part of the quarterback carousel that led to Tebow was the decision made in spring 2009 to trade Jay Cutler to Chicago. Part of why decisions like that sabotaged McDaniels was that he was making many of those with most of the power in personnel decisions.

Now, as the Raiders look to fill their own void, it's not just McDaniels. In fact, while he was the lone representative from the organization to speak Tuesday, the personnel decisions have ultimately fallen to general manager Dave Ziegler, the Tallmadge native who followed McDaniels west from New England.

"Dave's a great partner for me, and super well-prepared," McDaniels said. "Really ahead in terms of what's coming next in our calendar year and just has really been refreshing for me to, when I'm not at a certain point, I ask a question, Dave's got the answer. The healthiest part of our relationship is we can agree and then sometimes we can disagree and we can work through those things and figure out what's best for the team. And I don't think either one of us really has an ego whose decision it was. It's our decision and we're going to try to do what's best for the team."

McDaniels thinks individuals such as Ziegler and others in the Raiders organization make a difference in the 2023 version of him and the 2010 version. And that makes a whole lot of difference, he believes, in what kind of head coach he has become, and can still be down the road.

"I have a great group of people around me that I delegate many responsibilities to and just try to be a resource to them," McDaniels said. "Look, there's never really going to be a great head coach without having a good group of people around him and a really good group of players in the locker room. … So it's really not about me. I'm just going to try to do the best job that I can of helping us during this offseason process."

Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Josh McDaniels believes 'failings' have helped him grow with Raiders