Josh McDaniels is proving he’s the loser we all thought he was
This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Robert Zeglinski.
I must come clean about something because I’m a little embarrassed for not thinking it was possible.
Like most of you, I already understood who Josh McDaniels was as an NFL head coach.
He’s the latest Bill Belichick disciple in over his head, trying to instill “The Patriot Way” wherever he goes, forgetting that Belichick is the essential ingredient. He’s also the man who once ditched the Indianapolis Colts at the altar roughly 24 hours after agreeing to be their head coach and who tried to cheat with the Denver Broncos.
He’s pathetic, I know. However, it’s kind of funny I mention an altar!
For the life of me, I never thought McDaniels could stoop as low as spoiling one of his player’s wedding news (even accidentally). That’s what we learned Tuesday after the Las Vegas Raiders traded former Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller to the New York Giants.
More than anything, we learned McDaniels is just as annoying off the field as he is on the field.
You see, just 10 days prior, Waller married Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum. By the account — it was a lovely wedding! Heck, most are, aren’t they? But apparently, McDaniels spilled the beans in public before the couple could happily reveal the nuptials themselves.
While Waller’s trade is unlikely unrelated to the tight end’s unhappiness with his former head coach, Plum wasn’t diplomatic. She gave McDaniels such a clean shot across the bow (he wasn’t invited to the wedding, oof) that I’m not sure he should show his face in the Las Vegas public for a while.
Let’s get it out in the open.
For as terrible of a coach as McDaniels is, this wedding snafu crossed such a personal line, it boggles the mind!
It’s one thing to overwork your players and not listen to them, as an NFLPA report bluntly suggested. It’s a massive leap to butt into their personal dealings and ruin the privacy of perhaps their life’s most significant, joyful moment. Maybe that’s why it’s pretty apparent McDaniels’ players don’t like him.
He doesn’t know how to be a good leader OR a good friend.
Though, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by how one of the NFL’s biggest losers operates.
Tuesday should’ve been a great day for McDaniels! He had the quarterback he wanted. He got the receiver he wanted. He even got excellent value back for an underperforming veteran in an underrated trade.
The Silver and Black were back, baby!
Instead, he was rightfully blasted for giving said veteran one of the worst “gifts” from a wedding registry I can remember. What’s so clear now is that anything awful is possible when it crosses the desk of a loser like McDaniels.
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Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
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- Blake Schuster talked to the legendary Reggie Miller, who fittingly predicted which team would choke this March Madness.