Mike McDaniel just added a new layer of chaos to the Browns' head coach search

Although he checked a lot of boxes as a brilliant offensive mind and one-time assistant coach for the team, Mike McDaniel never felt like a serious candidate in the Cleveland Browns’ head coach search. Entering a week earmarked for second interviews, there’s been a lot more buzz around candidates like Jacksonville Jaguars OC Grant Udinski, Baltimore Ravens OC Todd Monken, and Cleveland’s own defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz.

McDaniel might’ve caught wind of those rumors. On Tuesday, he withdrew his name from consideration for the Browns’ job, according to NFL insider Tom Pelissaro, and in turn canceled his second interview with the team, which was scheduled for Wednesday.

While it’s possible that the Browns’ preferred candidates are still in play, McDaniel’s decision hurts the Browns head coach search in multiple ways.

Mike McDaniel’s exit suddenly puts the Browns in a Rooney Rule bind

First off, McDaniel turning down Cleveland is a bad look for owner Jimmy Haslam, general manager Andrew Berry, and their whole sales pitch. He either smelled a rat, or isn't buying what the Browns are selling, with Schwartz as the de facto head coach of the defense, and an awkward QB depth chart led by the outgoing Deshuan Watson, and still unproven Shedeur Sanders.

But here’s where the Browns will feel it the most — the NFL’s Rooney Rule.

Prior to this week, Cleveland had only conducted interviews virtually, per league rules. Only two of those candidates, however, satisfy the Rooney Rule: McDaniel, whose father is Black, and Los Angeles Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase.

To satisfy the Rooney Rule, teams must first conduct two separate in-person interviews with at least two minority or female candidates. The Browns were scheduled to satisfy those requirements after their second interviews with McDaniel (Wednesday) and Scheelhaase (Monday, after the NFC Championship Game).

With McDaniel now out, the Browns suddenly find themselves in an impossible position. They’ll now need to bring in a second minority candidate to pair with Scheelhaase to satisfy league rules — but will need to do so honestly, without making it appear like a sham. That will be a difficult task, because it’s extremely unlikely that the team brings in a brand new candidate in Week 3 of its process, and then picks that same candidate over others they've long been linked to and have interviewed multiple times.

Another potential obstacle here? Scheelhaase has other options, and is probably more likely to land an offensive coordinator position than a head coach job during this cycle, as the 35-year-old is yet to hold rank as an OC or play-caller at the NFL level.

We know Haslam hates the word "dysfunction" and would like it removed from the dictionary entirely. But while casting a wide net for this year’s candidate pool, the Browns didn’t cast one wide enough to satisfy the most obvious rule the NFL enforces each offseason.

That just screams of a front office that doesn’t have its act together, and now the Browns have met a snag that they'll need to unravel over the coming days.