New England and its starting quarterback have struggled in the two years since McDaniels’ departure.
Ever since Josh McDaniels left the New England Patriots to become the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coach, the arrow has been pointing in the wrong direction for Mac Jones. After he had one of the better rookie quarterback seasons in recent memory under McDaniels, he has struggled to even maintain his level of play let alone show significant improvement.
21 months after McDaniels’ departure, there is a chance at a reunion. The Raiders announced on Tuesday night that they had relieved him and general manager Dave Ziegler of their duties.
McDaniels leaves his turbulent tenure in Las Vegas with a 9-16 record, and is now a 20-33 in his career as a head coach. His first such opportunity with the Denver Broncos ended in similar fashion.
As a head coach McDaniels has not had plenty of success. As an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in New England, meanwhile, he has built quite the résumé: not only did he call the shots on three Super Bowl-winning teams, he also led the eighth-ranked scoring offense with Matt Cassel at the helm, and guided the Patriots to the playoffs with rookie Mac Jones under center.
Which brings us right back to the former first-round draft pick: Jones has had a rough couple of seasons after McDaniels left.
In 2022 under dual leadership of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, he never looked comfortable. The Patriots addressed the issue by hiring Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator and QB coach, but Jones’ regression reached new levels this season — levels that raised serious questions about his future as New England’s quarterback.
As a consequence of that in combination with other factors beyond Jones’ control, the Patriots have stumbled to a 2-6 record. Their offense is one of the least inspiring in football, and their young passer looks broken beyond repair.
Enter Josh McDaniels.
It goes without saying the Patriots will not replace Bill O’Brien; he has a good relationship with Jones and his coaching performance is not the primary reason behind New England’s lack of offensive production. However, what they have tried so far has not worked: the young passer continues to make mistakes he even avoided as a rookie, crumbling under pressure and making questionable decisions with the football.
It is on Jones himself to fix those issues, but the Patriots need to surround him with the best supporting cast possible. From a player perspective, not much will change; they made no trades at the deadline and seem willing to ride out the year with their current personnel. Coaching-wise, however, there is a chance to make an in-season splash.
It would not be the first time either. At the tail-end of the 2011 season, that McDaniels spent as offensive coordinator in St. Louis, he was allowed to rejoin the Patriots for their playoff run. The coordinator at the time? None other than Bill O’Brien.
The motivation behind hiring McDaniels was different then: O’Brien was on his way to become head coach at Penn State after the postseason, and filling the vacancy with a proven commodity made plenty of sense.
Fast forward almost 12 years, and bringing McDaniels back in a role similar to the one he had during the 2012 playoffs — offensive assistant — would make sense for both parties.
On the one hand you have a Patriots team that is reeling and in dire need of some kind of spark, especially at the quarterback position. McDaniels will not singlehandedly turn Mac Jones into a Pro Bowl player, but he has experience working with both him and O’Brien, and is well-respected within the building.
Add the fact that the Raiders will still pay him for the next four-and-a-half seasons — he signed a six-year deal upon joining them — and you get why the Patriots would make this move. They did the same, basically, when they brought back other fired head coaches such as the aforementioned Joe Judge and Matt Patricia.
For McDaniels, returning to his old stomping ground also would be an opportunity he probably could ill-afford to let pass by. Given his disastrous stints in both Denver and Las Vegas, how many coaching jobs outside of New England is he realistically going to get in the near future? Maybe another former Patriot such as Mike Vrabel could pick him up, but that would mean moving to another entirely unfamiliar area for McDaniels and his family.
In general, family considerations will factor into any decision the father of four will make. Him wanting to wait out the school year before packing up things and moving cross-country would be an understandable approach.
At the end of the day, though, rejoining the Patriots either during the 2023 season or after appears to be in the best interest for both McDaniels and the organization. At this point in time, frankly, what do they both have to lose?