Mike McDaniel appears to no longer be in the running for the Buffalo Bills’ head coaching job.
Per The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, McDaniel pulled out of his scheduled interview with the Bills in Florida on Friday.
Russini added that McDaniel does remain a head coaching candidate for the Las Vegas Raiders. He is expected to become the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers if he is unable to get a job as a head coach in this hiring cycle.
McDaniel was one of two people scheduled to meet with the Bills on Friday. The other was former NFL quarterback Philip Rivers, who did complete his interview.
Per the Bills’ official tracker, they have completed interviews with four candidates since firing Sean McDermott on Monday.
In addition to Rivers, the Bills have talked with Joe Brady, Brian Daboll and Lou Anarumo.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bills have interviews scheduled with Anthony Lynn, Anthony Weaver and Grant Udinski this weekend.
Brady worked on McDermott’s staff for each of the last four seasons. He spent the past two seasons as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator after replacing Ken Dorsey in November 2023.
Daboll was the Bills offensive coordinator from 2018 to ’21 before he was hired as head coach of the New York Giants. Anarumo spent this season as defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts after a five years in the same role with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Buffalo is the second team that McDaniel has canceled a scheduled interview. He withdrew from consideration for the Cleveland Browns’ opening on Tuesday.
With the Bills and Browns apparently out of the running for McDaniel, the odds of him ending up on Jim Harbaugh’s staff continue to go up. Other than the Raiders, the only remaining vacancies are the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers.
There has been no public indication that McDaniel is connected to either Arizona or Pittsburgh at this point.
McDaniel has only completed one interview with the Raiders thus far, on Jan. 19. He is coming off a four-year stint as head coach of the Miami Dolphins, compiling a record of 35-33 with two playoff appearances.