Shanahan objective on McDaniels so far

Former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan spoke to the CBS television affiliate in Denver on Friday, and offered his insight on Denver’s tumultuous offseason.

He avoided any criticism of new coach Josh McDaniels, and said he also made some unpopular moves early in his Broncos career, such as going with Rod Smith and Ed McCaffrey over Anthony Miller and Mike Pritchard at receiver.

“Give the head coach a chance to prove himself,” Shanahan told the station. “He’s going to do some things that might be a little different, but you’re always judged on winning and losing. I’ve heard a lot of good things about him and hopefully he can do Denver proud.”

Shanahan, who was fired at the end of last season, sounded supportive of McDaniels but stopped short of saying he was rooting for the new coach.

“I don’t know if rooting … if you’d go that far,” Shanahan said.

Shanahan said during the interview that McDaniels had to go with his gut feeling during the Jay Cutler situation. He said he is a big fan of Cutler, but McDaniels has added some good pieces and will be judged during the season.

Shanahan said he was happy he didn’t jump right back into coaching and is taking the season off. However, he said he would like to coach again soon, and he should be in heavy demand next offseason.

“Will work for food,” Shanahan said. “I want to coach again. I don’t know what opportunities will be open next year or the year after that.”