After officially hiring Mike Vrabel to be the 16th head coach in franchise history, the New England Patriots have a lot of work to do in preparation for the 2025 season.
One of the first items on New England’s to-do list will be filling out the rest of Vrabel’s staff, including coordinators for all three phases of the game, and while there haven’t been any interviews reported just yet, the head coach did reveal one candidate for the job – Josh McDaniels.
“Yeah, it’s a long list,” Vrabel told The Greg Hill Show (transcribed by the Boston Herald). “There’s a long list and, you know — I’ve had a relationship with Josh, and I’ve had relationships with other offensive coaches and defensive coaches that we’re going to interview and want to bring in here.”
McDaniels, 48, originally joined the Patriots as a personnel assistant in 2001 and worked his way up to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach where he served from 2006-08.
After a brief stint as the Denver Broncos head coach (2009-10) and St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator (2011), he returned to New England to run the offense from 2012-21.
McDaniels got his second shot at being a head coach in 2022 with the Las Vegas Raiders, but he flamed out quickly and was fired in 2023. Since then, he’s been out of coaching.
While McDaniels’ offenses weren’t the best outside of New England, he got the best out of Tom Brady and Mac Jones during his rookie season. So, he may be the best option to coach Drake Maye in 2025 and beyond. There’s also the added bonus for New England that McDaniels probably won’t be a top candidate to be a head coach anytime soon, so there’s not a large threat of his departure for that role in the near future.
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