New England Patriots: Josh McDaniels faces greatest test yet

This upcoming season might be Josh McDaniels’ greatest test yet as the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.

Other than Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, the franchise’s leaders, Josh McDaniels is one of the few people within the New England Patriots organization who has been involved with the team in a coaching capacity for all six of their Super Bowl championships.

Over the course of his career, McDaniels has often been referred to as one of the best offensive coordinators in the NFL, and each year he is still frequently considered for available head coaching positions around the league — despite what happened between him and the Indianapolis Colts in 2017.

But McDaniels is about to face his greatest test yet during his 16-year career with the New England Patriots, and it is not going to be an easy one by any means.

That test will be the first season without Brady, something McDaniels has never had to do during his tenure with the Patriots.

Although the transition for life without Brady is something that will have a lasting effect on the entire team forever, it does influence McDaniels a little harder than it does others. The quarterback and offensive coordinator need to be on the same page, and for the better part of 16 years, McDaniels and Brady were.

It’s worth putting into consideration that the Patriots’ offensive playbook was put together by McDaniels and Brady over the course of 16 years playing together — which makes it fair to say that even the minor things in the playbook that worked well for Brady aren’t necessarily going to work for Jarrett Stidham or whoever the future quarterback is going to be for the Patriots.

It’s also fair to say that there may have been some play designs that have intrigued McDaniels over the years that he wasn’t able to ever run with Brady because they weren’t suited for his abilities — such as trickery plays that involve a mobile quarterback.

With that being said, Stidham is young, capable, and athletic enough to adjust and transition into any play design that McDaniels is interested in.

Another aspect that McDaniels has yet to experience in New England is being the sole author of the offensive playbook. We have to assume for years that Brady knew the playbook just as well as McDaniels and even earned the right to have some input on play creation as well as in-game calls/adjustments. But as of right now, McDaniels is the only person on the team who knows that playbook perfectly inside and out.

Despite his stellar performances during practices last year as a rookie, Stidham hasn’t accomplished anything meaningful in the NFL. It’s great that he is familiar with the system and has a year of experience under his belt with the playbook, but he doesn’t know it all or he hasn’t seen it all in action yet.

I think it is intriguing to McDaniels to essentially start fresh with a young, new quarterback this year.