Jerod Mayo wasn’t the only high-profile casualty of the New England Patriots going 4-13, with offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt also getting the chop, and two former Super Bowl winners are naming popular play-caller Josh McDaniels as a possible replacement.
The first hints about McDaniels came shortly after Mayo and Van Pelt were shown the door on Monday, January 6. Three-time Super Bowl-winning tight end Rob Gronkowski told Fox Sports: NFL, “there’s some rumbling out there that Josh McDaniels may come back as well, as offensive coordinator.”
Gronkowski’s proclamation about McDaniels returning to Gillette Stadium soon found favor with another ex-Patriots Super Bowl winner. Specifically, Tom Brady’s former backup Brian Hoyer, who lifted the Lombardi Trophy to cap the 2018 season.
Hoyer responded to a post from Savage Sports about Gronkowski’s old position coach Brian Daboll keeping his job with the New York Giants. Daboll’s status captioned a photo of McDaniels, a clear visual message Hoyer approved.
McDaniels having a third stint with the Pats isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. Not when yet another former Patriots player, Mike Vrabel, appears the top candidate to replace Mayo.
Josh McDaniels’ Return Would be Complicated
He was allowed the call the offense from 2006-08 and again from 2012-21, so there’s no doubting McDaniels’ credentials. He’s also deeply familiar with the franchise, having begun his career as a personnel assistant for the Pats back in 2001.
The problem is McDaniels’ deep ties to six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick. Those ties were severed when McDaniels became head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022, with Belichick fired a year later.
Both McDaniels and Belichick benefited immensely from the presence of Brady. The 199th pick in the 2000 NFL draft went from unheralded sixth-round pick to arguably the greatest player of all time at football’s most important position.
Results without Brady exposed the limitations of Belichick and his staff. Results like three losing seasons, four counting Mayo’s one-and-done campaign, and just one playoff appearance after Brady joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020.
In McDaniels’ defense, that lone playoff appearance came in 2021 when he helped rookie Mac Jones make the Pro Bowl and briefly look like a credible replacement for Brady. The Patriots need that same kind of magic to develop 2024 third-overall pick Drake Maye into a star.
Helping Maye explains why the Pats have gone heavy on offensive-minded play-callers in their search for new coaches.
Patriots Focusing on Coaches to Improve Offense
There’s been a pattern to the Patriots coaching search. A pattern based upon finding a true “offensive mastermind.”
The trend continued when the Pats also sat down for interviews with former Houston Texans OC Pep Hamilton and ex-NFL quarterback turned play-caller Byron Leftwich.
Those interviews were about the head-coaching vacancy, but an obvious desire to build a more prolific offense around Maye has led the Patriots to another intriguing replacement for Van Pelt. One who also played QB in the pros before becoming a position coach and occasional outspoken critic of the Patriots.
Getting better for Maye is the quickest way the Patriots can return to being competitive, so the next OC needs to be the right hire. Van Pelt had a decent pedigree, but he walked into a tough situation working for a rookie head coach and trying to fashion points out of roster undone by years of poor recruitment on the scoring side of the ball.
McDaniels would give the Patriots a known quantity who understands how to work with a marquee quarterback. Yet, McDaniels took the headset when Brady was already elite.
He also did his best work under Belichick, but floundered away from him, going 20-33 as head coach of the Raiders and Denver Broncos. His offenses never ranked higher than 13th in yards, nor 12th in points away from New England, according to Pro Football Reference.
McDaniels was coaching while Vrabel was still in a Patriots uniform, but a completely fresh start seems best for an offense that’s fallen behind the times.
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