As far as personnel blunders are concerned, it’s hard to beat letting Tom Brady walk before his seventh Super Bowl win and most prolific passing season of his storied career. But even though Brady looks invincible, his time is still finite.
At 45 years old, he’s being pulled in various directions, as evidenced by his weird 11-day absence from Buccaneers training camp earlier this month.
It’s a different story with Josh McDaniels. He’s only one year older than Brady, placing him at the very young end of NFL coaches. If McDaniels succeeds with the Raiders, he could be a head coach for decades to come.
Meanwhile, it’s a mystery who will be running the Patriots once Bill Belichick, who's now 70 years old, steps aside.
For years, McDaniels was believed to be the heir apparent. The gravitational pull from the Patriots was so strong, he reneged on his agreement to coach the Colts. At the time, it was reported that Belichick promised McDaniels he would “open his world” to him.
But that seemingly didn’t happen, or maybe it did, and McDaniels just wasn’t interested. Either way, it became apparent last year that Belichick was grooming Matt Patricia to be his successor, even though McDaniels was still the offensive coordinator.
Patricia’s signature was on every contract last offseason. This offseason, he accompanied Belichick to the NFL meetings — an offer that was apparently never extended to McDaniels.
McDaniels insists he’s learned from his disastrous stint with the Broncos, and reports out of Patriots-Raiders joint practice indicate that’s the case. The Raiders are reportedly winning drills, and Davante Adams is shredding overmatched Patriots defensive backs.
Brandon Bolden, one of six former Patriots playing for Las Vegas, said this week he “loves” seeing McDaniels’ success.
Those are much more positive vibes than what was emanating out of Giants camp when Joe Judge first took over. He ripped the surnames off of players’ jerseys and made them run sprints.
Now he’s coaching Mac Jones. Yeah!
McDaniels didn’t take the “Patriot Way” to Vegas, but he brought the Patriots’ offense. Derek Carr and his running mates are learning the scheme that helped propel and sustain the Patriots dynasty.
To help the cause, McDaniels and ex-Patriot personnel guy Dave Zeigler spent heavily in free agency, bringing in Adams and Chandler Jones. They practiced the opposite of penny pinching.
The Patriots are doing it a different way. They’re learning a new offense with very mixed results, and didn’t improve their roster.
It looks like Patricia will be the one calling plays, but maybe Judge will be the unofficial OC? Who knows.
It used to seem like it was going to be so seamless. Belichick and Brady transition to McDaniels and his own franchise QB. The plan was coming together, too, despite a Cam Newton detour. Jones enjoyed a strong rookie season with McDaniels.
But McDaniels is no longer here. He’s starting his own world out in Vegas.
