The New England Patriots have found their next offensive coordinator, and it’s their old one. Josh McDaniels, who already held the position twice before, will return to fill the vacant spot on new head coach Mike Vrabel’s staff.
McDaniels originally joined the Patriots as a personnel assistant in 2001 and five years later was named offensive coordinator a first time. While he briefly left for unsuccessful stints as Denver Broncos head coach and St. Louis Rams OC, he returned to New England in 2012 and together with quarterback Tom Brady led the offense to its three most recent Super Bowl wins.
McDaniels left again in 2022 to join the Las Vegas Raiders as head coach, but just three years later is back in Foxboro. Let’s assess what the move means for the team.
Mike Vrabel gets his wish
During his first round of media interviews after his introduction as head coach Mike Vrabel described what his offense will ideally look like. The key word he mentioned was versatility, something an offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will be able to provide.
“The versatility. The versatility of scheme,” he said. “We need to make sure the players on our team are able to execute what we’re asking them to do. And if they can’t, then we can adjust the scheme.
“We want to be versatile. We want to be flexible. But coming back down to being a great teacher, being a great developer, and then inspiring players to do their job better by making a connection. That’s the point.”
In his 13 total years running the Patriots offense, McDaniels has shown the ability to reinvent his unit oftentimes on the fly. He was at the forefront of the NFL’s spread revolution of the mid-2000s, incorporated two-tight end sets in the early 2010s, shifted to a ground-and-pound approach during the 2018 Super Bowl run, and designed a complex quarterback run game with Cam Newton in 2020.
What the 2025 Patriots offense will look like remains to be seen, but McDaniels has a deep playbook to offer and vast experience as a play caller.
A new mentor for Drake Maye
In 12 of his 13 previous seasons as offensive coordinator, McDaniels also served as the Patriots’ quarterbacks coach. Whether or not he will hold that same title in 2025 as well is not known at the moment, but he will work closely with the team’s quarterbacks regardless of nomenclature.
The most important among those QBs, of course, is Drake Maye. The Patriots’ first-round draft pick last year already showed considerable promise as a rookie and now will get to work with one of the most successful offensive coordinators in NFL history.
McDaniels himself, meanwhile, has shown he can get the best out of his quarterbacks. Obviously, Tom Brady stands out, but he also helped develop Matt Cassel, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jacoby Brissett — a free agent to be currently still residing on New England’s roster — and Mac Jones into serviceable NFL starting QBs. In addition, as noted above, he remodeled his offense to fit Cam Newton in 2020.
McDaniels incorporating elements from that 2020 offense into his 2025 attack would not be a surprise; Maye has proven himself a dangerous player with the ball in his hands. In addition, he will also go back to the basics of what was his previous Patriots offense.
This also means more pressure on the QB. Whereas other offensive systems restrict a quarterback’s level of responsibility during the pre-snap process, McDaniels has always placed a premium on his passers running the show by themselves in terms of calling plays and setting protection.
“I love the idea of having the quarterback able to understand it all,” he explained on Julian Edelman’s Games With Names podcast last year.
Stability as key
Even though he has been one of the most successful offensive coordinators in the NFL going back to his initial stint with the Patriots between 2006 and 2008, McDaniels leaving to become a head coach does not appear to be in the cards anytime soon. His stints in both Denver and Las Vegas ended in disappointment, after all, and organizations might be reluctant to bring him in regardless of his success in New England.
This also means that the long-term outlook of pairing him with Drake Maye is favorable. Unlike Mac Jones, who looked promising as a rookie in 2021 but failed to take the next step after McDaniels’ departure to the Raiders in 2022, Maye will likely get to work with his OC for more than one year.
Focus shifts to assistant coaches
With the Patriots having filled the most important spot on their offensive coaching staff, the question now becomes who will become McDaniels’ position coaches. There are plenty of names to consider given both his and Mike Vrabel’s history in the NFL.
Here are a few we will keep our eyes on:
Quarterback: T.C. McCartney, Alex Van Pelt, Bo Hardegree, Jerry Schuplinski, Scott Turner
Running back: Tony Dews, Nick Charlton, Justin Outten
Wide receiver: Wes Welker, Chad O’Shea, Mick Lombardi, Edgar Bennett, Shawn Jefferson
Tight end: Luke Steckel, Nick Caley
Offensive line: Robert Kugler, James Ferentz, Cameron Clemmons, Zak Kromer, Jason Houghtaling, Keith Carter, Andy Dickerson, Mike Sullivan
Two coaches worth taking an extra look at are T.C. McCartney and Alex Van Pelt, who served as the Patriots’ quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator in 2024, respectively. Both did a good job helping develop Drake Maye, and could therefore be retained under a different setup.
Two other names worth mentioning are Evan Rothstein and Ben McAdoo. The former served as assistant quarterbacks coach and director of game management, the latter as a senior offensive assistant. Both seemingly remain on staff as of today, and could end up finding roles under McDaniels. That is particularly true for Rothstein, who was part of the Patriots’ 2021 staff alongside the new OC.
No payroll concerns
Back in 2018, when the Indianapolis Colts jumped the gun on announcing him as their next head coach, the Patriots were able to retain McDaniels by making him the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the NFL. He will be well-compensated this time around as well, in part because he is still being paid by the Raiders.
Back in 2022, when he joined Las Vegas as its head coach, he signed a six-year deal. As part of that contract, he will remain on the organization’s books for three more seasons — three seasons the Patriots might be able to get him on the comparatively cheap.
Coordinator spots now filled?
With McDaniels set to take over the offense, and with Jeremy Springer reportedly staying aboard as special teams coach, the Patriots now have two of their coordinator spots filled. It also seems that No. 3 will not remain open for long.
According to reports, the Patriots are “targeting” Detroit Lions assistant Terrell Williams as their next defensive coordinator. Williams spent six years as the Tennessee Titans’ defensive line coach under Mike Vrabel, and was named his assistant head coach in 2023. If he indeed is the choice to become DC, New England will have quickly filled its most important coaching positions.
Article by:Source:
