The New England Patriots have made the addition of new offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels official yesterday, but locally, the results from fans certainly appear to be mixed.
There are some who would prefer breaking any ties to the past by going with a younger, more dynamic coordinator, with names like Grant Udinski being among the candidates the club sat down with prior to hiring McDaniels.
Then there’s the other side where many of those same people wonder who was really behind the hiring. Some believe McDaniels was forced on Vrabel by Patriots owner Robert Kraft, with the thought that McDaniels is still being paid by the Raiders and it lowers their bottom line.
However, Adam Schefter appeared on WEEI on Wednesday and shot that down.
“Mike Vrabel hired Josh McDaniels,” said Schefter as he spoke to Nick “Fitzy” Stevens, Ted Johnson, and Andy Hart on The Afternoon Show on WEEI. “That’s what I believe to be the case, absolutely.”
Others look at McDaniels’ success with past young quarterbacks, along with all the success Tom Brady had here while the two worked together. They recall what he did with, most recently, Mac Jones, which with hindsight being what it is, makes that situation look even that much more brilliant.
Many will point to his failures outside of New England, and whether or not the club made the right call to bring him back. Schefter believes that being a coach and being a coordinator are completely different, and there’s no denying how good McDaniels really is as a playcaller.
“It’s two different jobs. There have been a lot of coordinators that didn’t succeed as a head coach that are great coordinators,” said Schefter. “Josh McDaniels is a great coordinator. He’s one of the best playcallers in the league. Period. No matter how much he struggled as a head coach. A head coach is a different animal, and that didn’t work out for him in Denver or Vegas. That’s obvious.”
“As an offensive coordinator, I know Tom was his quarterback, but his results are second to none. He spent the last year – he’s gone around to various places – he’s studied a lot of tape, he’s been in the Foxboro area the entire time, his family’s there, so to me, it’s just a natural match.
For McDaniels, it sets up an interesting challenge. The 48-year old has to change up what he’s done and adopt a lot of the things he’s seen across the league, and come up with a way to get the most out of second-year quarterback, Drake Maye.
At the same time, this is a phenomenal pairing. Maye is the type of player who makes coaches excited to get to work. Mike Vrabel didn’t come right out and say it, but it’s pretty obvious that Maye’s presence added a little bit of motivation when it came to accepting the job here.
Without a good quarterback, it’s tough to have any success in this league. Yet McDaniels now finds himself with what might be the most physically gifted player he’s ever coached.
The next question this offseason will then be who the team will ultimately put around their young quarterback this time around heading into 2025. But for now, Schefter pointed out that McDaniels will likely be in the fold for the foreseeable future to lead whoever that group might be as he starts over again here in New England.
“The great part it is if you’re Mike Vrabel or the Patriots, you’re not worried about somebody Josh McDaniels as a head coach,” said Schefter. “It’s the best of all worlds for everybody.”
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
I heard from a friend this quote below was from Felger/Mazz talk show …sounds like more horse plop drama fiction maybe? “many of those same people wonder who was really behind the hiring. Some believe McDaniels was forced on Vrabel by Patriots owner Robert Kraft, with the thought that McDaniels is still being paid by the Raiders and it lowers their bottom line.” Is there a source to that story? Answer: no. Would Vrabel or Kraft go public with that type info, or leak it? No. Is it likely the owner is forcing coach hires on a hard-a## like Vrable. Answer:… Read more »