Since his hire, Mike Vrabel has bolstered the Patriots’ coaching staff with some impressive names.
Last week, Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal reported that Vrabel was hiring Todd Downing, his former offensive coordinator from Tennessee, as the wide receivers coach. Downing becomes the fourth former offensive coordinator to join Vrabel’s staff, with Thomas Brown, Doug Marrone, and Josh McDaniels also finding roles in New England.
Vrabel’s mission is clear: bring experienced leadership to a team in desperate need of stability.
Brown, Marrone, and McDaniels are all former head coaches and bring a wealth of experience to a team looking to start fresh in many facets.
Let’s get to know these new hires, some fresh and some familiar.
Josh McDaniels: Offensive Coordinator
Before Jerod Mayo was even fired, and Mike Vrabel to the Patriots merely a rumor, Josh McDaniels‘s name was in the mix to accompany Vrabel as his offensive coordinator. Rumors of this pair coming together in New England started swirling back in December when Mayo’s job seemed reasonably safe.
Sure enough, one of Vrabel’s first moves as head coach was hiring the longtime Patriots coordinator to lead the unit again.
The hire has been met with mixed reviews, but McDaniels’ familiarity and excellent track record as a coordinator has some very optimistic about the future.
Why McDaniels?
First, he’s Vrabel’s guy.
Some argue this is a bad thing. Given that Vrabel has been linked to McDaniels for months, the hire could suggest that the Patriots failed to conduct a comprehensive search for the open position. Maybe so, but in hiring McDaniels, the Patriots are showing their intentions to pivot back to a more “Belichick-ian” regime following Mayo’s short stint marred with questions about culture.
This means complete control for Vrabel. The Pats are making it clear that Vrabel is their guy, so he gets his guy.
Beyond this, McDaniels has an impressive resume. We all know what he did with Tom Brady, but his work in seasons without him shows his adaptability as a play-caller.
In 2008, when Brady went down for the season, Matt Cassel stepped in at quarterback for the Patriots and won 11 games, just barely missing the playoffs.
In 2020, McDaniels worked with Cam Newton under center and completely transformed the offense to support his unique skill set. With the dynamic talent of Drake Maye, expect McDaniels to do the same next season and beyond.
McDaniels failed in both of his attempts to become a head coach, which is good for the Patriots.
Continuity is important in the NFL, especially for young quarterbacks. If the Patriots hired a young, up-and-coming offensive coordinator, they would risk losing him to a head coaching job after a few successful seasons. Maye will already be working with his second offensive coordinator in two years in the NFL. Another change could be detrimental to the young quarterback’s long-term development.
Terrell Williams: Defensive Coordinator
Terrell Williams is Vrabel’s guy from Tennessee.
He served as the Titans’ defensive line coach from 2018 to 2022 before being promoted to assistant head coach in 2023. Most recently, Williams coached the defensive line for the Detroit Lions, a team that had coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn take head coaching jobs.
Williams began his coaching career in college, bouncing around as a defensive line coach from 1998 to 2011. In 2012, he got his first opportunity in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders, then the Miami Dolphins, before joining Vrabel’s staff in Tennessee.
Why Williams?
Much like McDaniels, Vrabel probably knew Williams would be his pick for defensive coordinator before being hired. Vrabel trusts him to run the defense the way he wants, and the two have already established their “defensive plan” ahead of the 2025 season.
Vrabel also values Williams’ experience and leadership, as evidenced in his decision to name Williams assistant head coach in Tennessee.
Williams, who most recently served as the run game coordinator for the Detroit Lions, will look to sure up a Patriots unit that ranked 23rd against the run in 2024.
Doug Marrone: Offensive Line Coach
Doug Marrone, the Patriots’ new offensive line coach, has been a head coach thrice. Once in college and twice in the NFL.
After 13 years as an offensive line coach in eight locations throughout college and the NFL, Marrone became the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints from 2006 to 2008. Marrone was hired as the head coach of his alma mater, Syracuse University, in 2009.
In 2013, he got his first NFL head coaching job with the Buffalo Bills. He only kept this job for two years before moving to Jacksonville to serve as the Jaguars’ assistant head coach and offensive line coach.
When Gus Bradley was fired in 2016, Marrone was named interim head coach. After Marrone was named the official head coach in 2017, the Jaguars won the AFC South with a 10-6 record and made the playoffs for the first time since 2007. Marrone’s Jags lost in the AFC Championship game to the Patriots.
He was fired by Jacksonville in 2020 and spent time as the offensive line coach for the University of Alabama and the New Orleans Saints since.
Why Marrone?
The addition of Doug Marrone follows the trend of experienced NFL coaches on the Patriots’ staff.
Coach Marrone has been around the block as a head coach and, more importantly, as an offensive line coach. He has nearly 20 years of experience as an offensive line coach and will surely have his work cut out for him in New England.
Marrone should provide a boost in both his experience and leadership. He will be pivotal in developing New England’s new class of offensive linemen, of which there should be many. His expertise should allow the Patriots to run the football more effectively and take some pressure off Drake Maye.
Marrone will also be working closely with a Patriots legend. On his podcast “The Bill O’Brien Podcast,” Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien confirmed that former Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia will serve as an “advisor” for Marrone and the Patriots.
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Thomas Brown: Tight Ends Coach, Passing Game Coordinator
Thomas Brown had an eventful 2024 season with the Chicago Bears, serving as the passing game coordinator, then the interim offensive coordinator, and then the interim head coach. In one tumultuous resume-building season, Brown gained experience in three different positions.
Brown played running back at the University of Georgia and spent three years in the NFL. After retiring from the league, he immediately started coaching college from 2011 to 2019.
In his first NFL coaching job, Brown worked under Sean McVay in Los Angeles. After his first year as running backs coach, he was appointed assistant head coach. In this role, he won a Super Bowl before switching to become the Rams’ tight ends coach.
In 2o23, Brown was scooped up by the Carolina Panthers to be their offensive coordinator. After an 0-6 start, head coach Frank Reich relinquished his play-calling role to Brown. In an NFLPA poll following the 2023 season, Brown was ranked second among all offensive coordinators, as voted on by the players.
Why Brown?
With the Bears, Brown was thrust into an unfamiliar role. It was his first time as a head coach and only his second time as an offensive coordinator. With the Patriots, he will have less responsibility and will be able to learn and grow by relying on the experienced coaching staff.
That being said, Brown’s record with the Bears does not tell the full story. He was impressive in these roles.
When Bears’ offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired on Nov. 12, and Brown assumed play-calling duties, the offense got a boost. In their next three games, Chicago had a gauntlet of NFC North foes, facing the Packers, Vikings, and Lions.
They went on to lose by one to the Packers, by a field goal in overtime to the Vikings after a 14-point fourth-quarter comeback, and by three to the Lions on Thanksgiving after a clock management fiasco that led to Matt Eberflus‘s firing and Brown’s elevation to interim head coach.
When Brown was taken out of the upstairs booth and brought down onto the field, the offense took a step back, and the team finished the season 1-4.
As passing game coordinator, Brown, who is only 38 years old, will continue building his strong resume with a promising young quarterback.
We will have to wait and see if this cast of characters will be successful on Sundays, but it is easy to be excited about the group. If nothing else, it is a good sign that the introduction of Mike Vrabel has helped make New England an attractive destination for assistant coaches.
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