Since Josh McDaniels departed from the Patriots in 2022, the offense has struggled, regardless of who was the head coach or the quarterback. It was a clear indicator of the tremendous impact the offensive coordinator had on the team throughout his tenure, making his return to the team this offseason much more exciting than it might have been otherwise.

Although the initial announcement of his return was met with collective approval, concerns have arisen that he will revert to the same old playbook he has used throughout his career.

Because Drake Maye is a far different quarterback than those McDaniels has worked with in the past, there is a strong belief that he will need to adapt and update his playbook, which he reportedly has from taking a year away from the NFL and working with college programs.

But if the talk wasn’t enough to convince the skeptics that we’ll see a new McDaniels, then one of the latest practices from this week should do the trick.

Josh McDaniels is already showing a new side of himself as the Patriots’ new offensive coordinator

After one of the final spring practices of the offseason earlier this week, McDaniels ran a play with the offense that he was said to not be familiar with, as it was a play wide receiver’s coach Todd Downing had come up with.

ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported that a “melding of ideas has been a prevalent theme this spring,” with this being a prime example, which Downing felt honored to be a part of.

“Pretty humbling and awesome that Josh would be interested in what concepts [assistants] would want to bring to the table. He’s had a successful system and he has no reason, other than trusting us and believing in us, to want to hear what we have to say. So that’s been quite an honor to do that collectively.”

This is an intriguing sign for what’s ahead for the Patriots’ offense and demonstrates the growth of McDaniels that we may not have seen had he remained active in the NFL since the Raiders let him go in 2023.

The hope, of course, is that they’l run a dynamic and solid offense once again that will not only elevate Maye to new heights in his second season, but allow them to move down the field swiftly and methodically and be the cohesive unit they had been for the two decades before Tom Brady leaving the team in 2020.

It was one of the biggest struggles of the 2024 season under Jerod Mayo and playcaller Alex Van Pelt, but it should be a thing of the past for Maye moving forward with a much more experienced McDaniels on the sidelines.