What Mike Vrabel said of Patriots’ coordinator hires Josh McDaniels and Terrell Williams
"I'm excited for the people here in Boston and New England and our fans to get to know Terrell the way that I did my first year in Tennessee."
Mike Vrabel made his first few big decisions since becoming the Patriots’ head coach this week, deciding who will coordinate each unit of his team.
Arguably the biggest hiring of the group was the decision to bring back Josh McDaniels to work as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator for a third time. While there were some criticisms to bring back McDaniels, there are a couple of elements that stood out to Vrabel that made him a quality candidate to return as offensive coordinator.
“When you talk about Josh, I think schematically and the way he teaches the quarterback,” Vrabel told WBZ’s Steve Burton of McDaniels. “The versatility of the offense and the base foundation of the offense. His growth in that offense, trying to put conflict on the defense and the way he structures a game plan, having gone against him and seen the system here as a player. It has evolved and there is a lot more to it than that.
“I know from our conversations that he’s worked hard and studied, visited and met with people, and we’re going to continue to add things that we feel helps our players and give us an advantage to score touchdowns and take care of the football.”
McDaniels has had plenty of success in his career running an offense. The Patriots were consistently among the league’s top offenses over his first two coordinator stints, helping New England win three Super Bowls.
Of course, much of that success came with Tom Brady at quarterback. When McDaniels hasn’t had Brady at quarterback, he hasn’t produced many great offenses, failing to record a top-10 season in total offense outside of his time in New England.
However, it could be argued that McDaniels has done a solid job of developing quarterbacks. Matt Cassel, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Jacoby Brissett were able to have long careers after learning from McDaniels, while Mac Jones had his best season by far working under the Patriots’ offensive coordinator.
As McDaniels will work to fix a Patriots’ offense that ranked 30th in total yards last season, arguably his biggest duty will be to develop Drake Maye. Vrabel acknowledged that while Maye will have to go through the process of learning a new offense again, he has confidence in the second-year quarterback.
“He’s exciting, talented, ready to learn and ready to continue to develop. He’s athletic and mobile, has the ability to make throws to all part of the field with arm talent,” Vrabel said. “But every year is a new process. There will be some new terminology, and some carryover from what he’s had. I know that he’s ready to learn and is excited. We welcome that and want him to lead our football team.”
Statistically, Maye might not have had the strongest rookie season. He completed 66.6 percent of his passes for 2,276 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions to go with 421 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns over 13 games. But Maye showed plenty of promise over his 12 starts, making several plays highlight-worthy plays with his arm and legs to suggest that the Patriots have found their quarterback of the future.
As the Patriots have their foundation set offensively, they’re looking to re-establish their defensive identity under Vrabel. He hired Lions defensive line coach and run game coordinator Terrell Williams to be the Patriots’ defensive coordinator, hoping to rejuvenate a unit that went from top-10 in total defense to 23rd this past season.
“I’m excited for the people here in Boston and New England and our fans to get to know Terrell the way that I did my first year in Tennessee,” Vrabel told Burton. “He was on our coaching staff for six years and was a vital contributor to that success [in Tennessee].”
As Vrabel noted, Williams was the Titans’ defensive line coach for the six seasons that he was Tennessee’s head coach. Williams helped develop defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons and edge rusher Harold Landry during his time with the Titans. In Detroit, Aidan Hutchinson was on track for a career year under Williams before his season-ending injury, while members of the Lions’ organization sang his praises.
But Williams has also impressed Vrabel with his all-around knowledge of the game, which led him to make Williams his assistant head coach in his final seasons with the Titans in 2023.
“I’ve seen him meet and visit and have a connection with offensive linemen. So much so I was excited to make him the interim head coach for a preseason game,” Vrabel said of Williams. “He had earned that opportunity and I thought it was something that was important for me to do, to reward those coaches that have earned the right. That is something he had earned at the time, just like he earned this opportunity to be the defensive coordinator.”
At special teams, Vrabel opted to run it back with a pair of Jerod Mayo’s assistants. Jeremy Springer and Tom Quinn were retained as special teams coordinator and special teams assistant, respectively. That unit was clearly the strongest of the three in 2024, ranking 13th in special teams DVOA and second in Pro Football Focus’ grading system as gunner Brenden Schooler developed into an All-Pro.
“I like the dynamic in there,” Vrabel told Burton of his decision to retain the Patriots’ special teams coaches. “I know Tom, he was with us in Tennessee. Veteran coach who had done it. Jeremy is young, exciting, and a great teacher. He’s creative. I think through the interview process and the product they had on the field, it led me to that decision.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com