By no means is it necessary to remind you how spectacularly Josh McDaniels flamed out in his second stint as NFL head coach. His players in Las Vegas said more than any of us ever could. Once he was fired on Halloween of 2023, Raiders from Davante Adams to Hunter Renfrow to Michael Mayer to pretty much the rest of the roster took turns trashing him like a Heavy Metal band’s hotel room.

But that is all in the past. As my history podcast wizard Dan Carlin is fond of quoting, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” What truly matters is not what kind of a head coach McDaniels was during his short stint in America’s Sodom and Gomorrah. All that is relevant to the 2025 Patriots is what he’s done with his time since.

And according to Pats insider Greg Bedard, McDaniels has been on a sort of spiritual football journey. A gridiron walkabout. The sort of adventure Jules Winfield told Vince Vega he was planning just before pistols were drawn in the coffee shop. To wander the Earth like Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu. But while learning all he could about scheming an offense in today’s NFL.

First, Bedard us McDaniels was all very much Mike Vrabel’s choice despite speculation this was a shotgun marriage arranged by the Krafts. And that if Vrabel had taken the Bears job instead, McDaniels would’ve gone with him. But New England was McDaniels’ preference because he still has his family house and his kids are in school here. Next, he assures us that he’s got just the offense in mind to build around Drake Maye:

Cued up to the 19:46 mark:

“What you’ll hear talking to people who know Josh, who have been in contact with him during his sort of year off. They basically say, ‘I don’t think you can comprehend the amount of work that Josh has put in this past year.’ I mean, he’s been a bunch of places. Including the Chiefs. He spent time with the Chiefs, he spent a lot of time in college football, I think he spent time with the Rams, the Browns I would imagine. I’m sure it’s gonna come out at some point all the places he’s been…

Everybody’s like, ‘Wait until you see it.’ There’s gonna be a lot of the bare bones of it. Normally the way Josh operates is they start very basic and then they start moving. But one person was basically like over the moon. They were like, ‘Wait to have your doors blown off about what you’re about to see from McDaniels.’

Here’s a quote from one person, ‘People don’t understand how much work Josh did last season. All the places he went, how much he studied. He’s added— tinkered with mobile quarterbacks, space, movement plays, motions, and all kinds of shit. Add in the new viewpoints from the staff… This has the potential to be really cool.’ People are — they said basically be prepared to be a little bit shocked.”

Oh, rest assured. I am prepared to be a little bit shocked. I am waiting to have my doors blown off. Like I’m driving the speed limit on a highway in front of Rashee Rice. In fact, nothing will give me more joy in 2025 than waiting with breathless anticipation to see what McDaniels has cooked up for Maye.

After all, and I don’t care how repetitive it gets, I’ll keep saying it, he his the OC who got this rookie season out of Mac fecking Jones:

A higher passer rating (92.5) than Josh Allen. A higher touchdown % (4.2%) than Lamar Jackson. A lower interception % (2.5%) than Joe Burrow. More passing yards per game (223.6) than Jalen Hurts. At the time, most of us assumed that was because Mac Jones was a natural talent who developed his skills at Alabama. I most certainly did. The last three seasons have disabused me of that theory. Now I realize how much of it was his offensive coordinator.

With McDaniels:

Post McDaniels:

Now McDaniels has a flawless slab of marble to sculpt from. Like the one the Pope gave Michaelangelo to carve the statue of David out of. With Jones, he was given Play-Doh where the can had been left open all night and most of it had dried up. But the even bigger difference is what he’s been doing the last season and a half, which is roaming the countryside, gaining all the knowledge he could and adding it to his already impressive wisdom.

His previous head coach in Foxboro is no longer here to reap the rewards. But his master plan is coming together at last. Just as I’d predicted: