New England Patriots - NESN.com
Caught up in the brutal, win-now-or-else culture of pro sports, many people forget that coaches don’t usually hit their prime until their forties or fifties. At 49, New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels might actually be entering his prime as an OC and unleashing the best form of his mind the NFL has ever seen. This is an under-discussed element of the Patriots’ current success.
McDaniels has been on an NFL sideline in either a coordinator or head coaching capacity for almost 20 years now. That experience adds up, and eventually, the accrual of all of that knowledge makes a coach a dominant force, especially if they are starting with a foundation of being a very talented football coach, as McDaniels has shown that he is.
McDaniels’ three stints as Patriots OC have been interwoven with other NFL coaching experiences — often fraught with adversity — that have simply made him a much better asset in 2025. He’s been a head coach twice (Denver Broncos, 2009-10; Las Vegas Raiders, 2022-23), and he’s also been the OC for another franchise, the St. Louis Rams (2011).
It’s those experiences, combined with his six Super Bowl rings in New England, that have made McDaniels so well-prepared to put Drake Maye and the 2025 Patriots’ offense in a position to succeed. Maye deserves credit for executing on the field and miraculously turning into an MVP front-runner at 23 years old, no doubt. He’s looking like a generational talent lately.
But McDaniels deserves his flowers, too, and not enough people are realizing that he might be at the height of his powers as an offensive mind.
Pats owner Robert Kraft knows what’s up in this regard. Kraft recently shouted out McDaniels, describing how McDaniels’ experience has enabled him to guide Maye in the perfect direction.
“I have to give a lot of credit to Josh McDaniels,” Kraft said before Thursday’s win over the New York Jets, per ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “Josh has learning-curve experience in this area, having worked with Tommy [Brady] and watching how he evolved. Josh also has unique knowledge of many different offenses. I think he understands Drake and how he operates and adapting him into the [plan] of whomever we’re playing the next week, looking at their weaknesses and where we can hopefully exploit it. They’ve developed a great chemistry.”
With McDaniels once again getting head coach buzz, Patriots fans are praying that he resists the temptation and remains in New England, forming an unstoppable duo with Maye for years to come.
