New England Patriots: Bill Belichick discusses keeping Josh McDaniels

One of the biggest surprises for the New England Patriots this offseason was the return of Josh McDaniels. Recently, Bill Belichick explained how it happened.

Prior to the New England Patriots losing in the Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles, it was assumed that they were going to be losing both of their coordinators.

As two of the best in the game, Matt Patricia and Josh McDaniels were sought after going back to 2016 as potential head coaches. Due to the sustained success of New England, their coordinators are always considered to be head coaching candidates.

After the regular season, Patricia agreed to become the coach of the Detroit Lions and McDaniels agreed to be the coach of the Indianapolis Colts. Since they were both still coaching with the Patriots, nothing could become official until after the Super Bowl.

While Patricia did end up going to the Lions shortly after the Super Bowl, McDaniels ended up backing out on the Colts. This certainly came as a shock to the football world and left many questions about why this happened. Recently, Bill Belichick discussed what happened after the Super Bowl via ESPN.com.

"“Once that game ended, I think that really gave Josh and I a chance to sit down [Tuesday] and talk more directly about the situation, as opposed to, ‘We really want to talk about the game and what we need to do to try to compete in that game.’ That’s basically what happened,” Belichick said, via ESPN. “Before the game, I’d say we had minimal discussions. I’d say we had much deeper and longer and more in-depth and more constructive discussions immediately after the game.“We were able to work some things out,” Belichick added. “I’m thrilled he’s still with us and is going to continue in his role. I think he’s a top offensive coordinator in the league. He’s done a great job for me for a long time in a lot of different roles. I’m very glad, based on the meeting we had — there were a number of things that happened — that we were able to work that out and keep him with us.”"

Keeping McDaniels is obviously great for the Patriots, as losing both coordinators would have been tough for the team. Since coming back to New England after his quick stint as the head coach in Denver, McDaniels has helped the Patriots have one of the best offenses in the NFL during that span.

While obviously having Tom Brady helps with that, the Patriots’ offense frequently has players outperform their expectations. Even when Brady was suspended in 2016, the Patriots were able to get wins from both Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett.

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With McDaniels returning, it seems likely that he could be looking to be the heir to Belichick’s throne in New England one day. McDaniels will be helping more with scouting and the front office side of things now, as it appears like Belichick will be helping teach him the ropes of the front office as well.