Is bringing back Josh McDaniels a mistake for the Patriots?

The New England Patriots continue their new era by bringing back old faces. After hiring club legend Mike Vrabel as head coach, the fallen giants are hiring Josh McDaniels as offensive coordinator for his third stint in the role.

McDaniels started as an offensive assistant in New England in 2001 before working his way up to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2006-08. The John Carroll University alum directed a record-setting offense in ‘07, as the Patriots scored 75 touchdowns and 589 points.

McDaniels, a three-time Super Bowl champion by that point, stayed with the Patriots for another year before becoming head coach of the Denver Broncos. However, the accomplished coordinator got fired before the end of his second season, compiling an 11-17 record.

McDaniels spent the 2011 season as the St. Louis Rams’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before returning to the Patriots the following year, winning three more Super Bowls under Bill Belichick. History then repeated itself, as the Ohio native was hired as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022 before getting fired the following year. He went 9-16 across both campaigns.

Raiders players rated McDaniels as the worst head coach in the league, via the NFLPA.

"The players gave former head coach Josh McDaniels the lowest head coaching score in the league,” the report card said. “Only 39 percent of players feel that Josh McDaniels was efficient with their time (32nd overall). He was also ranked least likely to listen to his locker room of any NFL head coach."

It’s safe to say that McDaniels is a better coordinator than a head coach. Be that as it may, he’ll now have to succeed without the greatest coach (Belichick) and player (Tom Brady) of all time.

McDaniels will work with Vrabel and second-year quarterback Drake Maye moving forward. Nothing against either of the latter two, but they’d be lucky to even sniff the level of greatness that Brady and Belichick produced.

That doesn’t mean that McDaniels won’t find success with his new colleagues, though. The former Michigan State assistant has experience with non-Brady quarterbacks, namely Mac Jones in 2021 and Matt Cassel in 2008. 

Both signal-callers had good seasons those years, with Jones sporting a 67.6 completion percentage, 3,801 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in ‘21. Meanwhile, Cassel completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 3,693 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 11 picks in ‘08. Each won 10 games in those seasons, and Jones made the Pro Bowl.

McDaniels’ track record as a coordinator is enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, for now. However, New England’s depleted roster will be difficult to win with anytime soon, so he’ll have to develop Maye in unideal circumstances.