Breaking News from NFL Insider Kirk Minihane: Josh McDaniels is Back at Patriots OC

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I suppose a case can be made the real story here is that Kirk Minihane has become the go-to source for breaking Patriots news. From Robyn Glaser leaving the team to now this bombshell, he's supplanted Schefter, Rapoport, and every beat reporter in New England. They all have no choice but to bend the knee to a man who hasn't technically been in Boston media for what? Eight years? That has got to be a bitter pill for the journos who spend a substantial portion of their professional lives in Foxboro and building relationships around the organization. 

But I'll let Kirk handle his own PR and get right to the heart of this matter. Simply put, the Patriots got exactly the head coach they needed, and now they've got exactly the right person to run this offense. 

Mike Vrabel was the first hire of the offseason. And with virtually all the prime candidates for head coaching jobs still in the playoffs, the Patriots had the luxury no other teams enjoyed. Which was to take their time in their search for coordinators. They didn't need to make this choice fast; they needed to get it right. And they did. 

Josh McDaniels works on so many levels, I can't even reduce them all to blog length. So won't even try. But let's begin at the obvious one.

Jaiden Tripi. Getty Images.

After the last three anni horribiles, when they've finished 17th, 31st and 30th in points scored, it's easy to forget where they were offensively in McDaniels' last season in 2021. They finished 6th in the league in points. SIXTH. With a receiving corps of Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Agholor and N'Keal Harry. And most important of all, a rookie quarterback you may remember, named Mac Jones. This is what he did in his one and only year under McDaniel's Miyagi-like mentorship (via Pro Football Focus):

And here's what he's done without McDaniels:

If that's too much data to process, then look no further than a TD/INT ratio of 22/13 as a rookie, and 32/31 since. And that's under the coaching of three different OCs, including Bill O'Brien, who crossed paths with Jones at Alabama and knew him well. And he couldn't come within a million astronomical units of doing what McDaniels accomplished with him. 

As a reminder, in case you've forgotten, Drake Maye is not Mac Jones. He's got 10 times the athletic talent, arm strength and running ability. And so far has shown he's better at processing information, reading defenses and making good decisions. For McDaniels, this has to be like a great artist being given the finest canvas, paint and brushes to work with, after a year of producing masterpieces using an Etch-a-Sketch.

For an added bonus, McDaniels knows the area, is universally respected in the organization, beloved by ownership, and already has the faith of the fanbase who've seen what he can do, and saw what happened after he left. Even if there's been complaints in the past about some of his playcalling and whatnot (when is there not?), those comparisons to the Matt Patricia, O'Brien and Alex Van Pelt years gives him all the credibility a coordinator could ever ask for. Even on his third tour of duty in New England. 

And there's the little matter of being able to count on him to be here throughout the Drake Maye Era. Whatever else happened with him first in Denver and then again in Las Vegas, you know that his days of being a head coach are over. Rarely does anyone get a second chance. Few (Pete Carroll) ever get a third. And those third chances don't go to guys who got fired in the middle of their second season in two different markets. He's a born offensive coordinator. And he's the Patriots for as long as they want him. 

I'll just address one caveat I have. When the Kraft fired Bill Belichick, one of the few positives I took from the decision was that the Patriots organization would finally be moving away from the Ehardt-Perkins system they've been using since Charlie Weis was hired in 2000. I wanted to try something different. Something simpler. Something that would be able to assimilate more wide receivers, instead of being so overly complicated that all their top draft prospects and too many of their free agent signings keep flaming out. I got sick of watching guys not be able to get open in an NFL secondary because they can't solve Fermat's Last Theorem. And wanted a fresh new approach. 

Then I got a taste of Van Pelt's. And saw the two wideouts they drafted in the top 110 picks combine for 13 catches and 99 yards. And now I'm more than ready to welcome back their old system and two-time former coordinator with arms wide open. There's not a better candidate in the league for bringing Maye (and Joe Milton III) to the next level. And to win his fourth ring as OC of the NEPs. 

Well done, Vrabel. So far, everything in 2025 is coming up Thornton.