The Patriots re-made much of their attack during free agency last offseason, adding four proven professionals at the wide receiver and tight end positions. Integrating those pieces into the offense, along with rookie quarterback Mac Jones, has been the challenge for long-time offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
After an intriguing spring and summer, and through two games, McDaniels has only scratched the surface of the offense's potential and the new players are confident that their offensive coordinator will continue to guide the way by highlighting their individual skillsets.
"You're talking about a very, very special coach," said Nelson Agholor, who caught a touchdown pass in the opener. "I think he's a very intelligent coach. He's super intelligent, he puts guys in a position to be successful and he also understands not only protection, blitz, coverages... he looks at the whole thing. As an OC, he can understand how the defenses are attacking you at all three levels. So being here and watching him, it's something I have a lot of respect for and he teaches us how the defense plans to attack us and offensively how we will attack them."
At the tight end position, Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith were two of the biggest splash signings of the offseason. Thus far it's been a work in progress restoring the effectiveness of the two-tight-end offense as both players have battled injuries, but both continue to trust the process with such an established offensive coach.
"He demands a lot out of his players," said Henry of McDaniels. "Josh has a standard, he's super smart and it's fun to be coached by him and come in every day and see what he's gonna draw up and see the different ways he's going to use guys.
"He knows what we can do, we showed him that over the course of practice, in the course of the first couple weeks, throughout camp, throughout OTAs. They're going to put us in the best position to be successful."
Jonnu Smith, who's been dealing with a hip injury for the last week, echoed his position-mate.
"This guy's had so much success doing what they do and I just let him be the OC," said Smith. "I just trust that he's going to put me in positions to help this team make plays as he is each and every one of us."
