The New England Patriots have finally succumbed to head coaching carousel this offseason. After looking like they were going to escape unscathed for awhile, the Las Vegas Raiders have finally settled in on Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to take charge of their franchise.
This move will force the Pats to regroup, as the offense, specifically quarterback Mac Jones, will have to learn to adapt to a new offensive scheme this offseason. On another note, this move hurts on more than one level, as New England’s Director of Player Personnel, Dave Ziegler, is also heading to Vegas to take over as their general manager.
While losing these two key pieces of New England’s operation certainly hurts, this may just be the start of it. Jerod Mayo interviewed for the Raiders job as well, and he is considered one of the top candidates for the Houston Texans head coaching vacancy as well. Losing Mayo would take away a key leadership figure on a Patriots defense that was one of the best units in the league this season.
We have already taken a look at what McDaniels departure may mean for not just the offense, but the entire Patriots organization. Now that McDaniels (and Ziegler) have decided to depart, it’s time to figure out how they will replace them. Let’s take a look at two potential candidates to replace McDaniels as the New England Patriots offensive coordinator.
New England Patriots offensive coordinator candidate No. 2: Joe Judge
Joe Judge isn’t going to be a popular head coaching candidate for the foreseeable future, and for good reason. His two seasons leading the New York Giants were both complete disasters, and it wasn’t very surprising to see the Giants move in a different direction after the season ended.
Despite Judge’s lack of success leading his own team, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him emerge as one of the top candidates for the Patriots suddenly vacant offensive coordinator position. Judge worked his way up the coaching tree in New England on the special teams side of things, but in his final season with the team in 2019, he also was the wide receivers coach. Judge has a history with the team, so he would have a head start on other potential candidates from the jump.
Judge’s struggles with the Giants shouldn’t really be anything that prevents the Pats from bringing him onboard. Heck, McDaniels struggled during his first two seasons as a head coach with the Denver Broncos, and over 10 years later he’s just finally getting back into the head coaching ring. Judge has already proven to be successful with New England at an assistant and coordinator role, and his prior experience should help him here.
Even if Judge doesn’t come back as the offensive coordinator, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him return to the Patriots coaching staff in some sort of unique role. He followed a similar path to Matt Patricia, who got run out of Detroit by the Lions pretty quickly into his head coaching tenure as well. Patricia returned to New England’s coaching staff this season, although he wasn’t given a very specific role.
Judge isn’t going to be offered a head coaching job anytime soon considering the mess he made with the Giants. But he can follow a similar path that McDaniels took and start to rebuild his value as a head coaching candidate by working his way back up the ranks in New England. Unfortunately, I don’t see him beating out the top candidate for this position, who also happens to be a former coach with the Pats.
New England Patriots offensive coordinator candidate No. 1: Bill O’Brien
At this point, I would be shocked if Bill O’Brien doesn’t end up replacing McDaniels as the New England Patriots offensive coordinator. It’s been reported that the Patriots had begun looking at O’Brien as a potential replacement for McDaniels well before he is hired, and now that McDaniels is gone, that opens the door for O’Brien to make a return to New England.
Similar to Judge, O’Brien became quite well known due to a disastrous end to his head coaching stint with the Houston Texans. He built up a pretty solid team that always seemed to come up just short against the Patriots, and just when they seemed to be reaching their potential, O’Brien blew it all up. O’Brien was quickly fired after an 0-4 start to the 2020 season by the Texans front office, and it left many NFL fans wondering how the Texans managed to throw away such a good team.
O’Brien already has experience in the Patriots system, as he was the offensive playcaller from 2009-2011 after McDaniels left for Denver. After getting fired by Houston, O’Brien latched on with the Alabama Crimson Tide for the 2021 season as their offensive coordinator, and he helped lead Alabama back to their second straight National Championship Game.
While the Patriots soon-to-be second year quarterback Mac Jones is a fellow Alabama alum, he and O’Brien never officially crossed paths there. However, when O’Brien needed to learn Alabama’s offensive playbook, he ended up getting taught by none other than Jones himself. This previously established relationship with Jones should be what gives him the inside track for the job.
The main goal of whoever is the next offensive coordinator for the Patriots is going to be to help Jones in his development as an NFL quarterback. Given that O’Brien already has experience with the Patriots offense, Alabama’s offense, and working with Jones, I would say that he should be a shoe-in for the position. Whether that ends up happening remains to be seen, but it’s clear the New England Patriots have some solid candidates to fill their offensive coordinator opening.