Fans divided as Patriots hire Josh McDaniels as OC - "RIP Drake Maye career," "Third times the charm"

Josh McDaniels has returned to the New England Patriots in a position that he knows best. But fans are unsure whether it will mean anything significant.

On Tuesday, new head coach Mike Vrabel was announced to have hired his fellow Super Bowl champion as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, succeeding Alex Van Pelt. The hope is that he can help facilitate Drake Maye's development, just as he did with Tom Brady and Mac Jones.

But fans were divided on the announcement:

"Third time's the charm."

More of the divisiveness can be seen below:

"Get ready for some offensive fireworks!" one salivated

"Makes sense. He’ll be solid," another agreed.

"Absolute mistake," another shuddered.

This will be McDaniels' third stint with the Patriots. He first joined the organization in 2001 as a personnel assistant, immediately winning a Super Bowl title. He would last seven more seasons after that, winning two more titles in 2003 and 2004.

After a three-year stint in the West divisions as head coach of the Denver Broncos, then offensive coordinator of the then-St. Louls Rams, he returned in 2012 and remained there for a full decade, winning three more Lombardi Trophies before becoming the Las Vegas Raiders' head coach. He lasted just one and a half seasons before being fired in the middle of the 2023 season.

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Is Patriots rehiring Josh McDaniels the right move?

One person who thinks Josh McDaniels’s return to the New England Patriots is a right move is veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer. Speaking to MassLive, he called the notion that Drake Maye would regress under the organizational veteran “manufactured”:

“If (Drake) is what we and they and everybody thinks he is, it won’t be a problem, especially the way Josh will teach it, install it, all of those things.”

And he has some proof in McDaniels’ only season with Mac Jones, his second without Tom Brady. It resulted in a 10-7 record and their first post-Brady playoff appearance, as the then-rookie completed 352 of 521 attempts for 3,801 yards and 22 touchdowns against 13 interceptions and led the offense to a Top 10 finish in multiple categories:

The potential strength of such a partnership became even more poignant in 2022. After McDaniels left for the Raiders, Jones catastrophically regressed under former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and former special teams coordinator Joe Judge - an arrangement that was widely condemned by both fans and analysts - completing only 288 attempts for 2,997 yards and 14 passing touchdowns against 11 interceptions. He was even benched at certain points for another then-rookie in Bailey Zappe.

Still, the Patriots managed to remain in playoff contention right up until the final week thanks to an underrated defense led by Matthew Judon and Devin McCourty.

2023 represented the collapse. Jones and Zappe played poorly, resulting in a 4-13 record - a career-worst for Bill Belichick, who was ditched at season’s end. Both quarterbacks were gone before the regular season, replaced by Drake Maye.

2024, the Patriots’ only season under Jerod Mayo, failed to show significant improvement, partially leading to his firing after the team went 4-13 again.