Shaky foundation for rumors that Josh McDaniels will spurn Colts

Super Bowl Sunday was much busier and full of big Colts news than anyone would have wanted. After news that Edwin Jackson passed away after a fatal car accident that may have involved a drunk driver, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk tossed out the idea that Josh McDaniels may back out of the offer to take over as the new head coach in Indianapolis.

He was later support by Tom Curran in the post-game discussion about the uncertain future of the New England Patriots. Most of these rumors surround what Bill Belichick will choose to do in the coming days and if he is giving any legitimate thought to walking away from football.

Still, none of this is substantiated or otherwise based on anything other than the hamsters spinning around in the heads of sports media members. There has been no indication given that Belichick will retire, no indication given that if he did retire Robert Kraft would hand the job over immediately to Josh McDaniels, and no indication at this point from McDaniels that there are any legs to the rumor either. Reporters often ask inappropriate and direct questions to get answers from people at ridiculous times. Using the fact the McDaniels wouldn’t comment on a rumor that he might stay in New England as evidence to support all of the noise is ridiculous. It would be entirely inappropriate for McDaniels to entertain any talk about his personal future in the light of the outcome of his current team’s loss in the Super Bowl.

The Twitter-sphere and social media then did its part to give the rumor legs. The story itself is entirely speculative. It’s all headline and no substance. It references “chatter” and “beliefs.” It references a comment during the Super Bowl broadcast that McDaniels has not officially told the Patriots that he is going to leave following the season. It references that he obviously wasn’t going to answer direct questions about his future while his current team was still suffering from a tough Super Bowl loss.

Look, Mike Florio has done a whole lot of damage to his own reputation as it relates to rumors about the Colts. His track record on these things has given him an unreliable label. He fell short of making any predictions or claiming to have any real information or sources to corroborate any of this so he can fall back later that he was “just reporting rumors.”

Either way, the voices who are far more familiar with what has been going on between Indianapolis and McDaniels behind the scenes are all falling on the opposite side of the rumor. Apparenly, as far as everyone else who may have reliable information knows, McDaniels will be officially announcing his decision to join the Colts within the next couple of days with a press conference before the end of the week.

We will continue to follow the story but expect for things to move quickly in the coming days.