Was The Josh McDaniels Hire Convient?

By Steve Atkinson 

The Patriots’ hiring of Josh McDaniels as the offensive coordinator is a typical Kraft move. At least Mike Vrabel was able to choose his defensive coordinator, Terrell Williams, whom he had worked with in Tennessee. The decision to bring in McDaniels is notable because he is still being paid by the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Kraft family tends to hire familiar faces who are already on another team’s payroll. Additionally, McDaniels lives nearby, which likely influenced their choice. They seem unconcerned about whether he modernizes his offensive approach for Drake Maye, even though he should, as Drake is quite different from the quarterbacks McDaniels has worked with in previous years.

Josh McDaniels is A Lazy Hire

Instead of allowing Vrabel to pick his own offensive coordinator who runs the West Coast offense—something Maye has recently learned—the Krafts overruled him and settled for a seemingly lazy hire. It’s likely that Vrabel wouldn’t have chosen McDaniels if he had been coaching elsewhere. If McDaniels wasn’t already being paid by the Raiders and wasn’t one of the highest-paid offensive coordinators available, the Krafts probably wouldn’t have brought him back. His familiarity with the organization and cost-effectiveness were key factors in this decision.

At what point in the season did they decide to hire Josh McDaniels? It appears that decision was made after Jonathan Kraft criticized the play calling during the Arizona game. There were reports of the Krafts reaching out earlier in the season to explore the best options for assisting Drake Maye. It seems evident that one of those options was Josh McDaniels. They likely had already made up their minds to hire him even before officially bringing on Vrabel, with Vrabel’s hiring occurring around December.

Josh McDaniels will be good

There’s no doubt that McDaniels will be beneficial for Drake, but the hire feels like a missed opportunity. While McDaniels will help him grow and develop, it’s critical that he doesn’t hold back and instead incorporates what he has learned about the West Coast offense into their strategy.

Here’s what McDaniels said last year about developing a quarterback:

“You have to have a plan, and that obviously starts from the head coach and his perspective. You have to agree on how you’re going to unveil that plan to the player and ultimately bring him along,” McDaniels explained. “At the end of the day, you have to take the player where he’s at when he comes in. Whether that was [Matt] Cassel, or [Jimmy] Garoppolo, or [Jarrett] Stidham, or [Jacoby] Brissett, or Mac [Jones], Aidan O’Connell — you have to consider where each player is at.

“They’re all at different stages. They have all been taught different things, and they’ve digested varying amounts of information. Some have played in systems different from yours, while others may have experience in systems more similar to yours. You just have to figure out, ‘Alright, what do they know, and what am I going to try to push forward to help them progress as quickly as possible?’”