Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who tutored, mentored, screamed at, cajoled and pushed Mac Jones toward one of the the best rookie seasons in NFL history, is officially headed out the door, according to reports.
McDaniels, the chief architect behind Jones’ development, is about to be named head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders, once his contract is finalized.
Time to panic? Not necessarily.
Jones is clearly the most important player in the organization. At the moment, he’s the face of the franchise.
He’s already good, and from what he showed on the field during his rookie season under center, has the promise to be better.
Getting Jones to the next level has to be the Patriots’ top priority, or it’s going to be a much longer time before Bill Belichick’s team competes for another championship.
In that way, it behooves the Patriots to do whatever they can to make that happen, starting with replacing McDaniels, who serves as both the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. His replacement is critical.
Most of the talk about a successor points toward Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien — and rightfully so.
McDaniels replaced O’Brien in February 2012, three years after O’Brien succeeded him once McDaniels left to become the Broncos’ head coach in 2009. Obviously, there’s been some mileage since O’Brien was last in Foxboro, including a failed head-coaching stint in Houston.
But bottom line: he’s still the best choice. For many reasons.
O’Brien and Jones have actually worked together previously. After O’Brien was hired as Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama last year, Jones helped get him up to speed with the Crimson Tide’s offense. So the two aren’t complete strangers.
Second, while it might be nice to bring in a new face, someone without ties to the organization who has some fresh ideas, would it really be the best thing for Jones to have to learn an entirely new offense his second year?
Or how about Hunter Henry, Kendrick Bourne, and Jonnu Smith having to learn yet another new system in two years?
It took long enough for Jones, Henry and Bourne to get on the same page. Smith, meanwhile, is still trying to get there.
Now a new playbook?
Continuity is always preferred to keep a quarterback progressing. Tom Brady essentially had the same basic playbook from Charlie Weis to McDaniels to O’Brien, and back to McDaniels. Brady has often said how much of an advantage that was to him, especially seeing other quarterbacks have to learn a new offense almost every other year with the change in coordinators or head coaches.
And while the thought of having a fresh perspective is attractive, it’s not the best for a quarterback going into his second season.
Plus, O’Brien will come flush with new concepts from his time in Houston and more recently Alabama. He’ll be sure to add some new wrinkles.
There are other strong candidates for the job.
In house, tight ends coach Nick Caley could be on the short list to replace McDaniels, who will also be joined by Patriots personnel head Dave Ziegler in Las Vegas. Wide receivers coach Mick Lombardi might also get a shot as an in-house candidate.
Perhaps Chad O’Shea, who served as the wide receivers coach with the Patriots from 2009-2018, would get consideration, too. After just one year as the Dolphins’ offensive coordinator, he’s spent the past two years working as the passing game coordinator in Cleveland.
Former Jets and Dolphins head coach Adam Gase is also lurking out there. For whatever reason, Belichick has always had a fondness for Gase, who previously served as the offensive coordinator for the Broncos and Bears. He also worked under Saban in the past, so that tie exists, as well.
But no matter what name you put up there, O’Brien is still at the head of the class when considering what’s best for Jones. He makes the most sense on so many levels.
O’Brien was the offensive coordinator in New England who first drew up plays for Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, putting two tight end sets into vogue. O’Brien should have plenty of ideas on how to best utilize Henry and Smith going forward.
Beyond that, McDaniels is also conceivably out of the running to succeed Belichick whenever the Hoodie, who turns 70 in April, decides to move on and retire. With O’Brien on board, that gives Patriots owner Robert Kraft someone else to consider, along with Matt Patricia, Jerod Mayo or whoever else might be in consideration to eventually take over for the future Hall of Fame head coach.
So no matter which way you slice it, looking at the present or the future, all avenues lead back to O’Brien. And rightfully so.
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January 31, 2022 at 02:04AM
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Guregian: The obvious choice to replace Josh McDaniels is the right one - Boston Herald
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