Patriots coaching profile: Josh McDaniels is a proven commodity at offensive coordinator

The rumors had already pointed in that direction, but Tuesday brought some clarity: Josh McDaniels is back with the New England Patriots .

The 48-year-old will take over the vacant offensive coordinator position , returning to that role for a third time overall.

Why did new Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel bring McDaniels back into the fold, three years after his latest departure? Lets take a closer look at him and his history, to try to answer that question.

Name: Josh McDaniels Opening day age: 49 (4/22/1976) Last position: N/A Coaching stops: Michigan State (1999), New England Patriots (2001-08), Denver Broncos (2009-10), St.

Louis Rams (2011), New England Patriots (2011-21), Las Vegas Raiders (2022-23) Interview status: Completed (1/21/2025) Playing experience: Originally a quarterback at McKinley High School in Canton, OH, under his father, Thom, McDaniels changed positions to wide receiver upon his arrival at John Carroll in 1995.

He spent his entire four-year college career with the Blue Streaks, catching 41 passes for 732 yards from a quarterback group including fellow future Patriots staffer Nick Caserio.

Coaching experience: After graduating from John Carroll, McDaniels was hired as a graduate assistant at Michigan State.

He spent one year in East Lansing under then-Spartans head coach Nick Saban, eventually returning to his home state to work a sales job in Cleveland.

By 2001, however, he found his way back to football when Bill Belichicks Patriots hired him as a personnel assistant.

Over the next few years, McDaniels steadily climbed up the organizational ladder.

By his second year with the team he was promoted to defensive assistant; two years later, he was made the teams quarterbacks coach a role he would hold for all but one of his future seasons with the team under offensive coordinator Charlie Weis.

Following Weis departure in 2005, he took over play-calling duties.

The following year, Belichick officially named McDaniels as New Englands offensive coordinator.

As such, he was one of the architects behind one of the best offenses the league has ever seen: the 2007 Patriots went through the regular season undefeated while averaging a then-record 36.8 yards per game.

McDaniels first stint in New England with the Patriots ended in 2009, after he had helped the team average 25.6 points per game eighth in the NFL despite losing Tom Brady just 15 snaps into the 2008 season opener.

He was named Broncos head coach in January 2009 at only 32, but ended up lasting only one-and-a-half seasons with the club.

After going 8-8 in his first year at the job, the Broncos went 3-9 to start his second and he was fired.

His next job took him to St.

Louis, where he spent one season as the Rams offensive coordinator.

The team went 2-14 in 2011, averging a league-worst 12.1 points per game.

McDaniels was released from his contract the following January, allowing him to return to New England as an offensive assistant for that years playoff run.

When offensive coordinator Bill OBrien, who had originally succeeded McDaniels as OC, left after the season, he was promoted back to his old job.

McDaniels second stint with the Patriots saw him return to his status as one of the NFLs best offensive coordinators.

Over the next 10 seasons, he helped the team win three Super Bowls and rank top-seven in scoring nine times all while designing offenses not just for Tom Brady, but also Cam Newton in 2020 and rookie Mac Jones in 2021.

His work with Jones in particular caught the Raiders attention, who hired him as their head coach in 2022.

His stint with the team looked similar to that in Denver: he facilitated the team moving on from its starting quarterback and was unable to build a consistently successful team.

He went 6-11 in Year 1, and was fired after a 3-5 start in Year 2.

McDaniels spent 2024 out of the NFL.

Usually in this part of the profile, we would talk to a reporter covering McDaniels previous team.

However, neither is his stint as Raiders head coach indicative of his performance as Patriots offensive coordinator, nor is he a completely new addition to New Englands staff.

As a result, we will try to answer the question why Mike Vrabel brought him aboard.

Looking at our list of potential candidates for the Patriots offensive coordinator job after Mike Vrabel was hired, one thing stands out: Josh McDaniels was by far the most experienced option on it.

While the likes of Tommy Rees, Nick Caley or Josh McCown, or the recently-interviewed Grant Udinski, would have been interesting additions, they all would have been first-time OCs.

Vrabel also could have gone with more established coaches such as Tim Kelly, Matt LaFleur or Chip Kelly, but he decided to entrust McDaniels with his offense and the development of quarterback Drake Maye.

From a Patriots perspective, he simply was the most attractive option available considering his mix of experience, resume as offensive coordinator, and history with Vrabel from their time in New England (2001-08).

In addition, McDaniels checks one of the boxes Vrabel was mentioning when asked about what his future offensive coordinator would have to bring to the table: versatility.

In his 13 total seasons at the job, the 48-year-old has shown that he can reinvent his offensive, oftentimes on the fly, to fit the personnel available.

That process, of course, did not always work well.

The system McDaniels ran toward the end of Tom Bradys tenure as starting quarterback was one of the most complex in the NFL, and one that several outside additions failed to adapt to.

The difference between 2025 and those years is obvious: Drake Maye is no Tom Brady, despite his intriguing skillset and the promise he had shown as a rookie in 2024.

McDaniels offense therefore will look different than it did back in the 2010s; Maye has different strengths and weaknesses than Brady, and his lack of experience particularly in a McDaniels offense needs to be accounted for.

Mike Vrabel, however, seems confident that the pair will work together and get the most out of the young QB in the process.

Additionally, hiring McDaniels has another effect as well.

Whereas those less experienced coaches, and even the likes of a Tim Kelly or a Matt LaFleur, would have likely worked closely with Vrabel, McDaniels can run the Patriots offense autonomously: he basically did so back when Bill Belichick was still the teams head coach, allowing Belichick to focus more on the defensive side of the ball.

Like Belichick, Vrabel also is a defensive coach; he played linebacker and has worked exclusively on that side of the ball since turning to coaching in 2011.

Having a proven commodity run his offense should therefore allow Vrabel to fill the Patriots head coaching role the way he envisions it: as a CEO more so than somebody deeply involved in all the details throughout the three phases of the game.

Whether that setup will actually like that, and most importantly work out, remains to be seen.

A lot will hinge on McDaniels and his ability to work with Drake Maye.

However, it is not hard to see why the Patriots opted to bring him back into the fold rather than hedge their bets with lesser-known coordinator candidates..

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