McDaniels will face the biggest test he’s seen
This will be his third time prepping a replacement for Brady
Josh McDaniels just might have the toughest job in the NFL this coming season.
The Patriots’ offensive coordinator has to prepare someone to replace Tom Brady. He has to get him to a level where moving on from the GOAT doesn’t seem like a disaster. And, he has to do so in the midst of a global health crisis that is likely to curtail most, if not all, early camps and organized team activities.
Piece of cake, right?
Let’s just say after Bill Belichick, there might not be a more important coach on the Patriots staff than McDaniels, especially in this post-Brady era. The pressure on McDaniels to deliver is perhaps more than ever.
“It’s going to be a challenge, there’s no question about that,” said former Super Bowl-winning coach Brian Billick, “especially when you consider: ‘Do you have the quarterback that you need?’ and ‘How good is he?’
“When you move on from the GOAT, that’s a lot. You don’t just plug in the next guy whether it be in terms of expectation, or productivity, or the style which you’ve been playing.”
Right now, it looks like Jarrett Stidham, a 2019 fourth-round draft pick, is the man. How good is he? That’s still to be determined. Two years ago, the Patriots made McDaniels the highest-paid coordinator in football, giving him a 5-year deal worth roughly $4 million per season.
He will be worth every penny — and then some — if he can coach up Brady’s successor and turn him into a star. But whether it’s Stidham or another quarterback behind Curtain No. 2, McDaniels is going to have his hands full. And that doesn’t even take into account how the coronavirus pandemic will affect the rest of his offense.
McDaniels may have to trim the Patriots’ voluminous playbook to fit into the team’s shortened prep time. Aside from Belichick, all eyes will be on him going forward.
Billick, an analyst for the NFL Network, pointed out that given the Patriots offense “morphs from week to week, and Tom orchestrat