The Patriots coaching staff is preparing for the offseason workout program, which begins for head coach Mike Vrabel's team on April 7.
On Thursday, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and the offensive assistants spoke to the media for the first time since joining Mike Vrabel's coaching staff. After a year off from coaching, McDaniels is returning for his third stint as Patriots offensive coordinator, where he'll be the primary voice in second-year QB Drake Maye's ear. The longtime NFL coach spoke about using his year off as a learning experience, his approach to building the offense around Maye, and other hot-button topics around the Patriots offense.
"Couldn't be more excited to be here and be back in this organization and working for Mike [Vrabel]," McDaniels said. "Super excited to be working in football again. The process of getting acclimated with Mike [Vrabel] and the staff is obviously an exciting one for me."
Specifically to the Patriots talented second-year quarterback, McDaniels described his initial impressions of Maye in one word: smitten. That's a feeling that many Pats fans have when it comes to the future of the franchise, who had a promising rookie season after the Patriots selected Maye with the third-overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
"I'm smitten by the young man in terms of just his personality. We've had an opportunity to spend some time that has nothing to do with football with one another, which has been great," McDaniels said of Maye. "Next week and beyond will be really fun to get to know him from a football perspective. I couldn't be more excited about the young man that we have."
The number one question on everyone's minds is how the Pats OC will adapt his system to fit Maye's skillset. Maye's dual-threat abilities to make plays in and out of structure are slightly different from most of the quarterbacks McDaniels has worked with in the past. McDaniels made it clear that the Patriots will run an offense that fits the current personnel on the roster.
"There's the language, and then there's the strategy part. The language is how you talk. The strategy is all based on your players and what do we have? What are our strengths? How do we maximize the personnel on our team and our offense? That part is going to be different," McDaniels said. "We have a language, and every offensive and defensive system has a language. You have to decide the way you want to speak in terms of calling things and naming things. Our language has been refined a little bit."
Along with tweaking the scheme to fit the Patriots current personnel, McDaniels also discussed what he learned in his year off from coaching football. The Pats offensive coordinator said he had an opportunity to go to various college and NFL programs to see how they do things, whether coaching style or different schematic innovations.
"It was a really healthy opportunity for me to go back and look at what I've done, what I've been a part of, and then what else is going on in the league right now that I need to get better at, that I need to start thinking about incorporating," McDaniels said. "There are different things that people are using schematically that are having a lot of success. There's some trends like there always are that are en vogue right now.
I got an opportunity to go to a few different places last year. There were some great coaches that were very welcoming, college and pro. I had an opportunity to see for the first time in my life somebody else run a meeting, somebody else run a practice, somebody else coach a quarterback. Those were invaluable opportunities for me."
Over the last several weeks, the Patriots coaching staff has been working diligently on building a playbook so that when the players get in the building for voluntary workouts next week, the staff is on the same page to teach the system to the players. McDaniels will be the lead architect and the offensive play-caller, but the Pats offensive staff has several coaches with coordinator or head coaching experience. For example, pass-game coordinator/TEs coach Thomas Brown, O-Line coach Doug Marrone, and wide receivers coach Todd Downing are former play-callers. Downing coordinated Vrabel's offense in Tennessee for two seasons.
As the staff has built the offense, McDaniels has taken input from all the Patriots assistants, while the coaches have worked on "streamlining" the language to help players grasp the system. With the teaching period of the offseason set to begin next week, McDaniels and the offensive assistants are ready to get the offense up and running.
Here are four more takeaways from Thursday's media availability with the Patriots offensive assistant coaches.
1. McDaniels Discusses the Coaching Staff's Role in Personnel Decisions
Although there's about to be some semblance of football at One Patriot Place soon, the player acquisition period of the offseason is still ongoing.
The NFL Draft is in roughly three weeks, and the Patriots have a huge asset in the No. 4 overall pick at their disposal to add an impact player. Furthermore, as we saw with the trade of second-year QB Joe Milton, trades and free-agent signings can still happen at any time. When it comes to adding players to the roster, it makes sense that the coaching staff would have a say in which players the team targets so that those players fit their scheme. McDaniels spoke about the input he and the other coaches have had on personnel in his press conference.
"Our job is to give them our honest opinion and input on the evaluations that we see, then they have the hard job figuring out how to get them on the team. So yeah, it's been great. We've had plenty of opportunities to look at players and compare and contrast across positions, what have you, then give them our input and then let them go to work," McDaniels explained.
Obviously, great coaches figure out ways to adapt their system to great players. Still, it's important to put some emphasis on scheme fit when acquiring talent, especially when it comes to a high draft pick or a lucrative free-agent signing. Based on the responses from McDaniels and others, the process for the Patriots has been collaborative this offseason.
2. OL Coach Doug Marrone on Will Campbell, Arm Length, and Left Tackles
Speaking of talent acquisition and the draft, improving the offensive line is at the top of Vrabel's and personnel chief Eliot Wolf's to-do list.
New England added starters at right tackle (Morgan Moses) and center (Garrett Bradbury) in free agency, but it has yet to make a notable addition to the roster at left tackle. With a few prospects worthy of a top-10 selection in this year's draft, LSU's Will Campbell and Missouri OT Armand Membou are among the prime candidates to be selected by the Patriots in the first round. On Thursday, veteran offensive line coach Doug Marrone gave his thoughts on the draft's top prospects, the ongoing arm length debate, and what he looks for in a left tackle.
"There's a lot of traits that people put up with tackles. I never want to limit someone. I've played with all different types of left tackles. Some guys have been really athletic, some guys have been really tall and long, some guys have been short and quick. I think it's tough if you want to say, 'Okay, this is exactly what you're looking for," Marrone said. "Each team around the league has played with different players, and they performed well."
With the ongoing debate surrounding Campbell's roughly 33-inch arms being on the lower end of the offensive tackle threshold, Marrone was asked specifically about arm length, echoing a similar sentiment to Vrabel in that it's all about how a player maximizes the length they do have.
"I've always looked at it as, do you play that way, or do you play longer? Do you play to the max of what you have or do you play under what you have? I've had guys in the past that have played for me that have 33-34 [inch arms] and haven't played like that. I've had some guys that had shorter arms and played like that had longer arms. It's something that you want to make sure you evaluate and see if it affects the player in a positive or negative way," Marrone said.
During the 2021 season, Marrone was the offensive line coach at the University of Alabama, where he worked under head coach Nick Saban and former Pats OC Bill O'Brien. Marrone noted that he recruited then-top High School prospects like Campbell, Texas OT Kelvin Banks, and Oregon left tackle Josh Conerly while he was on Alabama's staff. Last month, O'Brien told Patriots.com at Boston College's Pro Day that Marrone would be an asset for Vrabel when evaluating offensive line talent. So, it's noteworthy that Marrone already has a connection to some of the top offensive tackle prospects in the upcoming draft.
"I haven't noticed it's an issue for him at the level that he's at right now," Marrone said of Campbell's much-discussed arm length. "That dude, he's obviously been productive."
The entire Patriots organization has spoken highly of Campbell in recent media availabilities while downplaying his below-average arm length. As always, that could mean nothing about their draft plans. But for a team with an obvious hole at left tackle, signs are pointing to Campbell being on a short list of possible Patriots at fourth overall.
3. QBs Coach Ashton Grant Discusses Continuing Drake Maye's Development
Next, the Patriots hired up-and-comer Ashton Grant as their new quarterbacks coach, with Grant coming over from Cleveland to join Vrabel's staff.
The Patriots head coach spent the 2024 season as an advisor for the Browns, where he linked up with Grant, who had been with the Browns since 2020. The Assumption College grad overlapped with former Pats OC Alex Van Pelt in Cleveland as well, which should make for a smooth transition for QB Drake Maye from Van Pelt to McDaniels's system.
Grant spoke about the Patriots plans for Maye when it comes to different quarterback nuances. For example, Maye improved his footwork significantly under Van Pelt, who is a big believer in "left foot forward" mechanics to establish a rhythm in the passing game. By tying a quarterback's drop to the routes, good timing in the passing game can help a QB be a more accurate passer. According to Grant, the new coaching staff will keep Maye's footwork the same.
"I have experience with the same footwork Drake was using last year and that was the same footwork that we were using in Cleveland while AVP was there," Grant said. "We're probably gonna end up keeping it the same and try to build on what [Maye] has done in the past."
It's good news that the Patriots won't alter Maye's footwork. Last offseason, the Pats QB's footwork was a huge talking point during the draft process. Due to some erratic moments, Maye's footwork led to inaccurate throws or sprays. As a rookie, Maye cleaned up his footwork and was throwing the ball more consistently, ranking 11th among 32 qualified quarterbacks in completion percentage over expectation (+2.8).
Although Maye's footwork will remain the same, there could be more on his plate at the line of scrimmage. Historically, McDaniels has made it the quarterback's job to make the line calls and adjustments pre-snap, while other systems, like Van Pelt's, put that on the center.
"We're going to try to keep the system. It's going to be within the same wheelhouse, per se, so the quarterback is going to have a lot to say at the line of scrimmage. We'll get going and see how well he does and how he handles it come the spring," Grant said.
4. McDaniels on the Patriots WR Room and Stefon Diggs Addition
Lastly, many also expect the Patriots to remain diligent in adding talent to Maye's supporting cast at the receiver positions, even after signing four-time Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs.
The coaches have reiterated that the holdovers at the wide receiver position will have a clean slate with the new coaching staff. Second-year wideouts Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker, whose rookie seasons didn't go as planned, will have a chance to break out under this new regime after being selected in the second and fourth rounds, respectively, in 2024.
"Everybody's got a clean slate, and to me, that's going to be an important message that I know Coach [Vrabel] is going to give on Monday, and we're going to echo that," McDaniels said. "We have some young players that certainly have a lot of ability and we have some guys that have some experience."
On Diggs, McDaniels added, "Stef is a unique individual, a unique player. He's got a really good skill set. He's been a very productive player for a long time. I'm excited about his addition."
DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer
