Josh McDaniels “thinks the world” of Patriots Mac Jones

The joint practices between the Patriots and Raiders continued on Wednesday and Josh McDaniels was finally available to speak to the media pre-camp.

A lot has been made since he departed from New England and how the Patriots will fare in his absence. That only continued this week as the former offensive coordinator’s new team took on his former one.

With so much focus on the re-hiring of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge and the offense struggling since their returns, McDaniels was asked his opinion on those replacing him and how he thinks they’ll perform in their new roles.

"“I really don’t know exactly what everybody’s doing over there. I just know that they have a lot of really good coaches”"

In regards to the concerns surrounding their lack of experience working with an offense and calling plays, McDaniels reiterated how often up-and-coming coaches move around a team and work on different sides of the ball.

"“I was in a position once where I was on the defensive side of the ball for a couple of years, then I moved over and coached quarterbacks for one year. And then all of a sudden the next thing I’m doing is being ready to call the offense after being on the offensive side for one year. I remember nobody believed that that was really the case.”"

While the discussion regarding Patricia and Judge is valid, this isn’t the first time under Bill Belichick that the Patriots have used coaches in new positions with little experience.

McDaniels was first hired in 2001 as a personnel assistant and over the next 20 years would bounce between the offense and defense.

• 2002-2003: defensive assistant
• 2004-2005: quarterbacks coach
• 2006-2008: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
  (would leave NE to be Denver’s head coach 2009-2010, then OC and QB coach for the St. Louis Rams in 2011)
• 2012-2021: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach

It also isn’t the first time Belichick has gone into a season with no clear-cut titles given to his staff. There would be no named OC for the 2005 or 2009 seasons, no OC or DC for the 2010 season and the Patriots have been without an official defensive coordinator since 2018.

Despite their inexperience in the position, it’s clear Belichick believes in Patricia and Judge to get the job done. With the success of coaches working under him over the years, he’s been far more right with his instincts than wrong, forcing all watching the team to have faith in the coach’s decisions, including McDaniels.

"“I think at the end of the day, Bill has a plan for whatever he wants to do. That plan, sometimes, he has a foresight that some of the rest of us don’t have. I didn’t have it when he pushed me ahead and helped me do that. I have a lot of friends over there. I have a lot of people over there that I have a tremendous amount of respect for. Coaching is coaching, you learn something new every day. I don’t have every answer on offense, I don’t have every answer on defense or in the special teams area. That’s why you have a staff, so you work together and try to produce the best result you can.”"

Later during his press conference, McDaniels would be asked about Mac Jones and how it felt to leave the young quarterback after only one season together.

"“Love the kid. I really do. I spent a lot of time with him obviously last year. Great human being. Got a bright future. Really competitive guy that wants to do everything right. Those are always things that are difficult when you leave… I think the world of the kid, I really do.”"

He’d go on to discuss what he’s seen from Jones during the last two days and how the Patriots performed better at the end of the practice.

"“Saw him yesterday battling and that’s basically what happens at this time of the year. Thought he made some really good plays. There are some other situations where we’re trying to make it as hard as we can on him. They obviously got the better of us there at the end. Finishing practice was a huge point of emphasis for us. We obviously didn’t finish it as well as they did, on either side of the ball.”"