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No matter what you may hear, no matter how much chatter there is about hot coaching candidates, just remember this: The hottest name right now is Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

Three general managers with knowledge of the interest in McDaniels say his name is at the top of the list, or close to it, of all the teams looking for head coaches.

Currently, the Browns, Panthers, Giants and (eventually, we think) Cowboys are all in search of coaches. All of those teams are taking hard looks at McDaniels, the general managers explained.

The fact that McDaniels is a hot candidate again may seem surprising.

For one, this year's Patriots offense hasn't been the Death Star it's been in the past. New England finished the regular season ranked 15th in total offense. Some in the league, however, believe the issue with the Patriots wasn't McDaniels, but instead the lack of receiving talent and poor offensive line play.

In other words, McDaniels isn't being blamed for the offense's woes. He is also apparently getting a pass for his total flakiness two years ago when he accepted the head-coaching position with the Colts before suddenly electing to return to the Patriots.

In sum, some in the league, including people who say they have spoken to McDaniels directly about his future, speculate this is the year he finally leaves Bill Belichick's side.

Any move he makes will have to wait a little while, though. The Patriots play the Titans on Saturday at Gillette Stadium in the team's first wild-card game since 2009. Normally, they're so dominant in the regular season they don't play in the opening round.

Teams also say there are two other names besides McDaniels who have popped up on the radar of most of the clubs looking for new coaches.

One is Cowboys passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Kris Richard. He was impressive in his interview with the Giants, one league source explained, and it's believed he has a legitimate shot at any of the openings, including the potential Cowboys one.

The other is former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. He may have had a rocky relationship with Aaron Rodgers, but I'm told teams are taking a hard look at him. He has a Super Bowl win on his resume and has made it clear that he has revamped his approach to the job in his year away from the game.

McDaniels, however, appears to be the prize everyone is lusting after. But like anything you see in the store window, there are still a few questions teams want answered before signing on the bottom line:

1. If a team decides to hire McDaniels, will he back out on them the way he did with the Colts?

Ultimately, no one knows that answer except McDaniels. However, teams seem convinced his desire to leave New England is real this time.

2. Can McDaniels work magic with quarterbacks who don't have galactic skills like Tom Brady?

Paul Sancya/Associated Press/Associated Press

In New England, he's run an extremely creative offense, and Brady considers him an excellent coach.

Considering the success he's been able to tease out of an aging Brady, it seems logical that McDaniels is capable of improving the play of a quarterback so long as he has some modicum of skill, like Baker Mayfield in Cleveland or Cam Newton in Carolina if he returns there.

3. What happened in Denver?

McDaniels was hired by the Broncos as their head coach in 2009. He was just 32. He was fired in 2010.

His tenure in Denver can be explained fairly easily. He was given extensive personnel power and drafted Tim Tebow with the 25th overall pick. Tebow simply wasn't good enough to be a franchise quarterback, and both the Broncos and McDaniels burned out on each other.

Considering he answered most of these questions successfully enough to get the Colts to offer him their head job two years ago, he should be able to answer them to everyone's satisfaction once again. And that will likely mean only one area of uncertainty is left: which team he'll be coaching next fall.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @mikefreemanNFL.