The New England Patriots have found their next offensive coordinator, and it’s their old one. Josh McDaniels, who has held the position twice before, will return to fill the vacancy 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 for the first time. While he briefly left for unsuccessful stints as head coach of the Denver Broncos and St. Louis Rams OC, he returned to New England in 2012 and, along with quarterback Tom Brady, led the offensive to its last three Super Bowl victories.
McDaniels left again in 2022 to join the Las Vegas Raiders as head coach, but just three years later he was back in Foxboro. Let’s assess what this decision means for the team.
Mike Vrabel gets his wish
In his first round of media interviews after his introduction as head coach, Mike Vrabel outlined what his offense would ideally look like. The key word he mentioned was versatility, something offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will be able to provide.
“Versatility. The versatility of the program,” he said. “We need to make sure the players on our team are able to execute what we ask them to do. And if they can’t, then we can adjust the system.
“We want to be versatile. We want to be flexible. But back to being a great teacher, a great developer, and then inspiring players to do their jobs better by making a connection. That’s the point.
In his 13 total years leading the Patriots offense, McDaniels has shown the ability to reinvent his unit often on the fly. He spearheaded the NFL revolution in the mid-2000s, incorporated two tight end sets in the early 2010s, switched to a ground-and-pound approach in the 2018 Super Bowl and designed a complex quarterback running game. with Cam Newton in 2020.
It remains to be seen what the Patriots offense will look like in 2025, but McDaniels has a deep playbook to offer and extensive experience as a signal-caller.
A new mentor for Drake Maye
In 12 of his previous 13 seasons as offensive coordinator, McDaniels also served as the Patriots’ quarterbacks coach. It is not yet known whether or not he will hold that same title in 2025, but he will work closely with the team’s quarterbacks, regardless of nomenclature.
Chief among these QBs, of course, is Drake Maye. The Patriots’ first-round pick last year already showed great promise as a rookie and will now work with one of the most successful offensive coordinators in NFL history.
McDaniels himself, meanwhile, has shown he can get the most out of his quarterbacks. Obviously, Tom Brady stands out, but he also helped make Matt Cassel, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jacoby Brissett – a free agent who currently still resides on New England’s roster – and Mac Jones into usable starting QBs in the NFL. Additionally, as noted above, he reshaped his offense to fit Cam Newton in 2020.
McDaniels incorporating elements of that 2020 offense into his 2025 offense wouldn’t be a surprise; Maye has proven to be a dangerous player with the ball in his hands. Additionally, he will also go back to the basics of what was his previous Patriots offense.
This also means more pressure on the QB. While other offensive systems limit a quarterback’s level of responsibility during the pre-snap process, McDaniels has always placed a premium on his passers running the show for themselves in terms of play-calling. and protection.
“I love the idea of having a quarterback who can understand everything,” he explained on Julian Edelman’s show. Games with names podcast last year.
Stability as key
Although he has been one of the most successful offensive coordinators in the NFL since his first stint with the Patriots between 2006 and 2008, McDaniels’ departure to become head coach does not appear to be on the cards anytime soon. After all, his stints in Denver and Las Vegas ended in disappointment, and organizations might be reluctant to bring him in regardless of his success in New England.
This also means that the long-term outlook for her association 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 left for the Raiders in 2022, Maye will likely work with his OC for more than a year.
Attention now shifts to assistant coaches
With the Patriots having the most important position on their offensive coaching staff, the question now becomes who will become McDaniels’ position coach. There are a lot of names to consider given his and Mike Vrabel’s NFL history.
Here are a few we’ll keep an eye on:
Strategist: TC McCartney, Alex Van Pelt, Bo Hardegree, Jerry Schuplinski, Scott Turner
Returning: 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 who deserve a closer look are TC McCartney and Alex Van Pelt, who served as the Patriots’ quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, respectively, in 2024. Both have done a good job helping in the development of Drake Maye and thus could be kept in a different configuration.
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 senior offensive assistant. Both appear to still be on staff as of today and could end up finding positions under McDaniels. This is especially true for Rothstein, who was part of the 2021 Patriots staff alongside the new OC.
No pay worries
In 2018, when the Indianapolis Colts took the plunge and announced him as their next head coach, the Patriots managed to retain McDaniels by making him the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the NFL. He’ll also be well paid this time around, in part because he’s still being paid by the Raiders.
In 2022, when he joined Las Vegas as head coach, he signed a six-year contract. As part of this deal, he will remain on the organization’s books for three more seasons – three seasons in which the Patriots might be able to get him relatively cheaply.
Are the coordinator positions now filled?
With McDaniels set to take over the offense and Jeremy Springer reportedly remaining on board as special teams coach, the Patriots now have two of their coordinator positions filled. It also appears that #3 won’t stay open for long.
The Patriots are reportedly “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 assistant head coach in 2023. If he is indeed the choice to become DC, New England will have quickly filled its most important coaching positions.