The College and Professional Coaching Journey of Josh McDaniels

St. Joshua Thomas McDaniels, born on April 22, 1976, is a prominent figure in American professional football coaching. He is currently the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). McDaniels has served as the offensive coordinator of the Patriots for 14 non-consecutive seasons, marking a significant contribution to the team's offensive strategies and successes.

Early Years and Collegiate Career

McDaniels's journey in football began in his youth, inspired by attending his father Thom McDaniels' practices, who was voted the 1997 USA Today High School Coach of the Year in the state of Ohio. He was recruited out of Canton McKinley High School by Greg Debeljak to play football at John Carroll University from 1995 to 1998. Although a quarterback in high school, McDaniels lost out at that position at John Carroll to Nick Caserio, who joined the Patriots staff in 2001 (the same year as McDaniels). His other teammates at John Carroll included London Fletcher, formerly a linebacker with the St.

Early NFL Career with the New England Patriots

McDaniels joined the Patriots in 2001 as a personnel assistant. From 2002 to 2003, he served as a defensive coaching assistant for the team, working with the defensive backs in 2003. In 2004, McDaniels became the team's quarterbacks coach. In his first four seasons with the team, the Patriots won three Super Bowls: Super Bowl XXXVI, Super Bowl XXXVIII, and Super Bowl XXXIX. After offensive coordinator Charlie Weis left the team following the 2004 season, the Patriots did not name an offensive coordinator for the 2005 season. In addition to his role with Patriots quarterbacks, McDaniels added the title of offensive coordinator in 2006.

Offensive Coordinator and Record-Breaking Season

During McDaniels' first stint as New England's offensive coordinator from 2006 to 2008, the team achieved remarkable success. In the 2007 season, with McDaniels at the helm of the offense, the Patriots set NFL records, scoring 75 touchdowns (67 on offense, 50 passing and 17 rushing) and 589 points, leading to rumors that McDaniels might leave the Patriots for a head coaching job. Notably, in 2007, NFL MVP Tom Brady broke the NFL record for touchdown passes in a season (50) and led the league in both passing yards (4,806) and passer rating (117.2). Brady also set franchise marks in nearly every major passing category, while WR Wes Welker set the franchise record for receptions in a season (112) and WR Randy Moss broke the NFL record for touchdown receptions with 23. However, McDaniels withdrew his name from consideration during the Patriots' January 2008 playoff run. Starting quarterback Tom Brady suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1 of the 2008 season. After Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 2008 regular season opener, another McDaniels protégé, Matt Cassel, led the club to a 10-5 record as a starter.

Head Coaching Stint with the Denver Broncos

After the 2008 season, McDaniels left the Patriots to become the head coach of the Denver Broncos. McDaniels replaced the fired Mike Shannahan as head coach of the Denver Broncos. When he was hired, McDaniels was the youngest head coach in any of the major North American Sports, and the fifth youngest in NFL history.

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2009 Season

McDaniels's tenure with the Broncos was marred early on by a controversy involving an alleged trade offer from the Patriots involving Broncos quarterback, Jay Cutler, which would have sent Matt Cassel to Denver. On March 9, 2009, according to ESPN, a conference call involving McDaniels, team owner Pat Bowlen and Cutler failed to resolve the issues. When no deal happened to get Cassel, Cutler was traded to the Chicago Bears for quarterback Kyle Orton and draft picks. The Broncos started their first season under McDaniels with six straight wins, including an overtime victory over the Patriots in Week 5, before suffering four straight losses. During his first season in Denver, QB Kyle Orton set career-highs for pass attempts, completions, passing yards, touchdown passes and passer rating while tying his career low for interceptions. Orton's 3,802 yards were the sixth-highest for a season in Broncos history. In the last game of the season, McDaniels and the Broncos still had a potential playoff berth on the line, but lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 44-24, Denver's third straight home loss to a division opponent. That left the Broncos with an 8-8 season record. In the upcoming draft, McDaniels would draft quarterback Tim Tebow of Florida, a move that was highly questioned at the time. Also during the offseason was the second high profile Bronco to be traded during McDaniels tenure. This time, wide receiver Brandon Marshall, was trade to the Miami Dolphins for two second round draft picks.

2010 Season and Dismissal

McDaniels' second season in Denver ended with a 3-9 record. The 2010 season was worse than the previous season, as the team would struggle early and never find its step. The same day, the NFL fined the Broncos and McDaniels $50,000 each, and Scarnecchia was fired as a result of the incident. Scarnecchia told NFL investigators he acted alone and "knew it was wrong" to tape the walkthrough practice, after the rest of the Broncos' staff had left the stadium. Scarnecchia later presented McDaniels with the six-minute video, but McDaniels declined to view it, and it was not shown to any other Broncos staff member, and therefore the NFL determined the Broncos had not gained a competitive advantage from it. An anonymous source alerted the Broncos on November 8, who conducted an internal investigation before alerting the NFL. However, the NFL fined McDaniels due to the fact that he did not immediately report the incident to the league office, as required by policy. "I apologize for not promptly reporting the improper conduct of our video director before our game against the 49ers in London. The actions of this individual are in no way representative of the values and integrity held by myself, our players and coaches, and the entire Denver Broncos organization. I understand the punishment from the National Football League and support its commitment to the integrity of the game. McDaniels was fired as Broncos coach after controversy, losses pile up.

St. Louis Rams Offensive Coordinator

On January 18, 2011, McDaniels agreed to become the offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams under head coach Steve Spagnuolo. St. In 2011, McDaniels would take the offensive coordinator position for the St. Louis Rams vacated by new Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur. In Super Bowl XLII, Spagnuolo was the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, while McDaniels was the offensive coordinator of the Patriots. Spagnuolo stated, "I've always recognized that he is one of the top offensive minds in the NFL. We think he is a great addition to our organization." Also, during the same news conference, it was announced McDaniels would have no hand in any personnel decisions. The Rams were coming off a respectable 2010 season when quarterback Sam Bradford was named Offensive Rookie of the Year. In McDaniels' lone season in St. Louis, the team struggled to a 2-14 season as a result of injuries. At the end of 2011, the Rams would fire many coaches and front office personnel.

Return to New England Patriots

Following the 2011 season, the Rams fired Spagnuolo as head coach. While McDaniels was under contract for the 2012 season, the Rams informed him that they would not hold him to his contract, and would allow McDaniels to leave. The Patriots then hired him to act as an offensive assistant coach during their 2011 playoffs, and to replace Bill O'Brien as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach for the 2012 season. After leaving the Rams, he returned as an offensive assistant for the playoff bound Patriots. The season ended in disappointment for the Patriots, fell short of a Super Bowl victory. With offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien leaving the team to take the head coaching position with Penn State, McDaniels was promoted to his old position of Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks coach.

Second Stint as Offensive Coordinator

In his second stint from 2012 to 2021, the Patriots won three Super Bowl titles. Over the next six seasons, the Patriots averaged more than 12 wins a season with an AFC East championship each season. The Patriots also won the Super Bowl following the 2014 and 2016 seasons. During the 2014 season, McDaniels was a part of another championship for the Patriots, winning Super Bowl XLIX against the Seattle Seahawks despite a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter. During the 2016 season, McDaniels coached the offense in another Patriots championship season, this time winning Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons. In the game, the Patriots defeated the Falcons by a score of 34-28 in overtime, this time coming from a 25-point deficit. In 2016 under McDaniels' guidance, Patriots quarterbacks set NFL records by starting the season with 258 pass attempts without an interception. The 2016 season featured McDaniels most difficult coaching situation of his career. Starting quarterback Tom Brady was suspended for the first four games of the season, forcing untested backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to start the season. However, Garoppolo suffered a shoulder injury in the second game and rookie quarterback Jacoby Brissett started the next two games until Brady returned. Brady was elected to 10 Pro Bowls during his 11 seasons with McDaniels serving as his position coach.

Acceptance and Rejection of Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Position

After the 2017 season, McDaniels accepted an offer from the Indianapolis Colts to be their new head coach. However, McDaniels changed his mind, jilting Colts to stay with Pats.

Head Coaching Role with the Las Vegas Raiders

McDaniels spent the 2022-23 seasons as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. In his first season at the helm in Las Vegas, McDaniels led an offense that scored on 42.4 percent of the team's offensive possessions (73-for-172), which ranked fifth in the NFL. Under McDaniels' guidance, running back Josh Jacobs became the first Raider to lead the league in rushing since 1985, totaling 1,653 yards.

Criticism and Owner Support

Throughout the 2022 season, McDaniels was criticized for his team's inability to hold leads and close out games. He received criticism for Las Vegas's Week 10 loss to an Indianapolis Colts team led by the debuting interim head coach Jeff Saturday, who was hired earlier that week to replace the recently dismissed Frank Reich despite having no previous NFL coaching experience heading into the game. Despite the team's performance in that game, Raiders owner Mark Davis expressed his support for McDaniels the next day.

Quarterback Decisions and In-Game Scrutiny

Before the 2023 season, Jimmy Garoppolo was signed as the Raiders starting quarterback on a three-year, $72.5 million contract, based on his past work with McDaniels when they were both with the New England Patriots. However Garoppolo was still recovering from an injured foot, so the deal was contingent upon passing a physical prior to Week 1 (which he did) as otherwise the Raiders could have released him without owing compensation. On September 24, 2023, during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, McDaniels came under intense criticism for kicking a field goal down by eight points with just over two minutes remaining in the game. Though the field goal was successful, the Raiders did not get another reasonable chance to score and they lost by a final score of 23-18.

Dismissal from the Raiders

McDaniels was fired from the Raiders.

Return to the Patriots as Offensive Coordinator

McDaniels re-joined the Patriots coaching staff in 2025 as offensive coordinator under a new head coach, Mike Vrabel. He brought back insights from the outside. Tidbits on how to collaborate better. Methods for teaching young quarterbacks. In 13 seasons as offensive coordinator, McDaniels has guided the offense to eight top-10 rankings, including the NFL's No. 1 ranked offense in 2007, 2012 and 2017. Additionally, Tom Brady was elected to the Pro Bowl eight times and eclipsed 4,000 yards passing eight times. This season, McDaniels landed back with the Patriots, a third stint with the franchise with which he’s won six Super Bowls.

Assistant Coach of the Year Award

McDaniels being named the NFL’s Assistant Coach of the Year on Thursday night and yet another trip to the Super Bowl, this time with a shot at history. If the Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, McDaniels will have more Super Bowl wins (seven) than any assistant coach in NFL history. It has been a shocking and magical run with McDaniels leading an offense that ranked first in the NFL in expected points added per play and with a quarterback who could have been named the league’s MVP.

Impact on Quarterback Development

Long before the Super Bowl was even a consideration, the Patriots’ measure of success this season was always going to be centered around the development of second-year quarterback Drake Maye. And with McDaniels running the offense, Maye’s improvement has been obvious. The 23-year-old threw for 4,394 yards and 31 touchdowns against just eight interceptions and led the league in completion percentage (72.0), yards per attempt (8.9), passer rating (113.5) and QBR (77.1).

Coaching Philosophy and Impact

McDaniels’ offense has a reputation for being a difficult one to learn. The scheme is complex. The verbiage is wordy. There are a lot of option routes for receivers to choose based on what the defense is doing. Perhaps that contributed to the Patriots’ slow start. The Patriots ranked 18th in the league in offensive success rate over their first four games. They ranked second in that stat in the ensuing 13 games.

The John Carroll University Connection

Josh McDaniels '99 and David Ziegler '00, '07G have been hired as the new head coach and general manager of the Raiders. Josh McDaniels attended John Carroll University, where he played quarterback and wide receiver for the Blue Streaks from 1995-98. Given how well McDaniels and Ziegler know each other, there is now a unique link between head coach and general manager that has rarely been seen before in the NFL.

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