When people thrive in their roles, it can be a wonderful thing.
Sometimes people will branch out for something bigger and better, but crash, burn and head right back to square one. Josh McDaniels is the embodiment of that.
Throughout his three offensive coordinator stints with the New England Patriots, McDaniels has found success at the highest level time and time again.
But being a head coach has not served the offensive guru well. McDaniels has had three head coaching opportunities in his career, two of which were disastrous and resulted in his firing. The other one he backed out of at the last minute.
People brush it off, saying some guys just aren’t meant to be head coaches. But it has to be more than that, right?
A Rapid Rise To The Top
McDaniels first joined the Patriots at the start of the first dynasty in 2001 as a personnel assistant. He quickly rose through the ranks, first as an assistant on defense, then as the quarterbacks coach and finally as offensive coordinator in 2006.
The young gun was 29-years-old when he accepted the job, which made him one of the youngest coordinators of all time.
“I don’t really look at my age as being a factor one way or the other,” McDaniels said via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
If anything, his youth provided a spark to a team in the middle of a transition period. Defensive coordinator Eric Mangini had just accepted the New York Jets head coaching job, and by this point, New England had moved on from many of the veterans that defined the first dynasty.
McDaniels’ second year as the offensive play caller was the infamous 2007 season, when the Patriots finished the regular season a perfect 16-0 due to a record-setting offense. The team’s 589 total points, 67 offensive touchdowns and dynamic pass game led by league MVP Tom Brady and boy wonder McDaniels had the league’s attention.
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But unlike previous years, the Patriots fell short on the biggest stage, losing 17-14 in Super Bowl XLIII against the New York Giants.
So like every other year, the coaches took their two-week break after the season. But when McDaniels returned back to work, something was different.
Bill Belichick’s Scripture
Bill Belichick knew that one day McDaniels would leave New England for an opportunity to be a head coach, so the man of few words gave the young gun his wisdom through writing — a five-page report on what it took to become a successful head coach and how to properly run an organization. It was a gift that McDaniels took straight to heart.
“We’ve just come off a season where we were 16-0 and lost in the Super Bowl,” McDaniels said via Sports Illustrated. “And the very first day back he gives me this? That was kind of like my bible.”
McDaniels would get the opportunity to spread his own gospel following the 2008 season. As Brady tore his ACL during Week 1, it left the Patriots to start Matt Cassel for the remainder of the year. Cassel did not start once during college, and his last start before 2008 took place during his senior year of high school in 1999.
New England ended the season with an 11-5 record without Brady under center, which impressed many NFL owners. There was nothing left for the Patriots to do but to let McDaniels go.
During the 2009 offseason the young coach had plenty of intrigue from around the league, but there was one team in particular that peaked his interest.
Mile High was calling, and McDaniels picked up the phone.
The Grass Isn’t Always Greener
When Denver hired McDaniels in 2009, the team was going through a period of change.
They had just fired Mike Shanahan, who won two Super Bowls during his time with Denver. But after years of stalling, the Broncos made the switch and brought McDaniels in to lead the way.
Denver gave McDaniels full control over football operations. So just like his mentor in New England, he not only had coaching duties to fulfill, but served as the de facto general manager.
“I think you’ll certainly see me bring a little bit of a different vibe,” McDaniels said during his introductory press conference. “I’m going to have a lot of energy. I can smile.”
But the start of McDaniels’ time in Denver was nothing to smile about. A botched trade for Cassel during the 2009 offseason left Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler distrustful of his new head coach, and the relationship was over before it could even start.
“[McDaniels] admitted he wanted Matt Cassel because he said he (had) raised him up from the ground as a quarterback,” Cutler said via ESPN. “He said he wasn’t sorry about it.”
The Broncos had to scramble to trade away who they once viewed as their franchise quarterback, sending the disgruntled Cutler to the Chicago Bears in exchange for Kyle Orton and draft capital.
Former Broncos offensive lineman Tyler Polumbus took to X years later to discuss his grievances with his former head coach. Polumbus mentions how McDaniels addressed the team about the Cutler trade.
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“After trading away the young nucleus of our offense including Jay Cutler,” Polumbus wrote. “Josh said to the entire team ‘Fellas don’t worry about the QB situation, I can turn a HS QB into an All Pro.”’
Josh McDaniels Knows Ball, Not People
Cassel, McDaniels’ prized project he claimed to have raised from the ground up would be dealt to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Broncos would now have to face off against him twice a year.
Despite a chaotic offseason, McDaniels’ tenure with the Broncos started off with astounding success. Denver won its first six games in a row, including an overtime thriller in Week 5 against McDaniels’ former Patriots.
But that magical start to the 2009 season would end up being the highlight of the McDaniels era in Mile High; Denver lost eight of ten to finish the year and ended up missing out on the postseason.
The Broncos had a chance in Week 18 — if Denver beat Cassel’s Chiefs in Arrowhead they were in the playoffs. However McDaniels benched arguably the team’s best offensive player in Pro Bowl wide receiver Brandon Marshall for being late to a team meeting.
Denver lost that game 44-24, Orton threw three interceptions and the team traded Marshall to the Miami Dolphins that offseason.
It was clear that McDaniels knew football, but he didn’t know people.
“Josh knew the X’s and O’s as well as any coach I’ve been around,” Polumbus wrote. “You won’t hear any former players saying he doesn’t know football. He just didn’t know how to handle people.”
Coming Home
The year 2010 served as a continuation of how the previous season ended. By early December the Broncos were 3-9 and McDaniels was fired before he could even finish out the season.
The following year McDaniels joined the St. Louis Rams as the team’s offensive coordinator. The Rams finished with an abysmal 2-14 record and Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo was fired; the team informed McDaniels they would not finish out his contract.
But just as things seemed to be at their worst for McDaniels, the franchise who started it all came calling. The Patriots brought the disgraced coach back on to their offensive staff for the 2011 playoffs.
That offseason, McDaniels was officially back as the Patriots offensive coordinator. The duo of Belichick and McDaniels found even more success together, heading to three straight Super Bowls from 2014-2017 and winning two of them.
And just as Denver came knocking back in 2009, once again a team expressed interest in McDaniels for their head coaching vacancy.
Keepin’ The Colts Away
On February 6, 2018, McDaniels verbally agreed to become the next head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, with an introductory press conference scheduled for the next day.
But when that day came, only general manager Chris Ballard appeared. No one could find McDaniels anywhere.
“I got a call Tuesday evening that he changed his mind and was going in a different direction,” Ballard said. “We’ll keep moving forward.”
At the final hour, McDaniels backed out. He was staying in New England
In the following days, reports flooded explaining the true reasons as to why McDaniels became cautious about taking the head role with the Colts.
Unlike in Denver, McDaniels would not be in control of football operations, that role would still fall on Ballard. It was a situation that at the end of the day, he wasn’t comfortable with.
“At the end of the day it just didn’t feel like the decision,” McDaniels said on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast. “I know the timing was awkward, awful, I didn’t want to do that to anybody and that was something that I regret.”
So McDaniels stayed put. He won another Super Bowl with the Patriots, and after going through a retooling phase, found great success in 2021 with rookie quarterback Mac Jones.
So once again, teams became interested in McDaniels. This time he didn’t back out of an opportunity.
A Trip To Vegas
In early 2022, the Las Vegas Raiders hired Josh McDaniels as their head coach. This time he made it to the introductory press conference where the coach spent some of that time reflecting on his stint in Denver.
“When I went to Denver, I knew a little bit of football,” McDaniels said via ESPN. “I didn’t really know people and how important that aspect of this process and maintaining the culture and building the team was. I failed, and I didn’t succeed at it.
Words are great and all, but actions speak louder. This time not only did his relationships with players fail to materialize, the product on the field was not up to par.
The Raiders were constantly blowing leads and were unable to close out games. But the biggest embarrassment of the season was during Week 10 when Las Vegas lost to the Colts, who were led by debuting interim head coach Jeff Saturday.
The Colts hired Saturday earlier in the week after showing Frank Reich the door.. He had no prior head coaching or NFL coaching experience yet was able to best McDaniels’ Raiders.
Just a week before Saturday stepped in as the interim, the former center made a post on X expressing his thoughts on the team he was about to coach against.
“Raiders look horrible,” Saturday wrote.
Just like his stint in Denver, Las Vegas fired McDaniels halfway through his second season, finishing with a 9-16 record.
Players’ Disdain for McDaniels Continues
It also seemed like old habits didn’t go to die for McDaniels, as although former players did not speak out publicly against him, they did anonymously
Every year, the NFLPA releases a team report card after speaking with players. Following a disastrous 2023 season, the Raiders report card was actually pretty decent, aside from coaching.
“The players gave former head coach Josh McDaniels the lowest head coaching score in the league,” the NFLPA announced. “Only 39 percent of players feel that Josh McDaniels was efficient with their time (32nd overall). He was also ranked least likely to listen to his locker room of any NFL head coach.”
For most coaches, failing for the second straight time would be career ending. But after taking a year away from football, McDaniels got a call from an old friend about his old team.
Back To Where It All Began, Again
Following a disastrous 2024 campaign the Patriots fired their head coach, Jerod Mayo, and brought in Mike Vrabel.
Vrabel almost immediately dialed up McDaniels and asked if he would come back for a third stint as offensive coordinator.
He accepted, and New England has been on a roll this season. Under McDaniels’ playcalling, the Patriots offense finished the regular season with the second best scoring offense in the league.
Drake Maye took a massive sophomore leap and is currently in the MVP conversation in large part due to McDaniels and the system he brought to Foxborough with him.
“It’s been awesome this year,” Maye said via MassLive. “And I can’t thank [McDaniels] enough for what he’s done for me. We’ve still got a long way to go, but he’s a joy to be around every day.”
With their 10-7 victory over the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship, the Patriots will play in their 10th Super Bowl with McDaniels as the playcaller.
It seems like the disgraced head coach has found his way back home once again, and it’ll likely be a long, long time before he ever considers leaving it.
Some people just fit perfectly into what they’re meant to do — they excel in specific roles. And for McDaniels, his role as offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots suits him perfectly.
Not everyone should become a head coach, and that’s ok.
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