New England Patriots
McDaniels took the Patriots from one of the worst offenses in the league, to one of the best, in one season.
Josh McDaniels AP Photo/Bart Young
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SAN FRANCISCO — Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has won the Associated Press Assistant Coach of the Year award, the NFL announced Thursday night during its NFL Honors ceremony.
All NFL coaches except head coaches are eligible for the award, which has been around since 2014, but so far only offensive and defensive coordinators have won.
Three of the last five winners have since become head coaches. Last year’s winner, Ben Johnson, is now the Bears’ head coach. Texans coach DeMeco Ryans is a past winner, as is Commanders head coach Dan Quinn.
McDaniels is now on his third stint with the Patriots after leaving twice for head coaching jobs. This week, he was asked if he would consider leaving again if another head coaching opportunity came up.
“I appreciate the question, but I’m going to be ‘one day at a time’ for the rest of my career,” he said. “I’m where I’m supposed to be, and I’m happy being here, and can’t wait for this week.”
The Patriots had the third-lowest scoring offense (17 points per game) in the league last year. This season, under McDaniels, they were the second-highest scoring offense (28.8 points per game), trailing only the Rams. New England was also third in total yards per game (379.4).
“Josh has done a fantastic job, and usually any coach’s success or recognition is going to come from the fact that the players executed, they played well and they did what was coached,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said Thursday morning. “And sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn’t, but I would be extremely excited and happy for Josh if he were to win, just like I would be for Stef [Stefon Diggs], TreVeyon [Henderson], Drake [Maye] and everybody else.
Quarterback Drake Maye has emerged as an MVP candidate. He’s a finalist for the award, which will be announced later Thursday night in San Francisco. Maye led the league in completion percentage, yards per completion, quarterback rating, and QBR, all firsts for the second-year quarterback. He was also in the top-five for passing yards (4,394) and passing touchdowns (31).
“Josh has meant the world. I think just how he’s come in and shared his knowledge, willing to share his experiences,” Maye said. “Even a week like this week where he’s played in this game coming up 10 times, it’s pretty cool how much knowledge he has about the competitive stamina it takes with the longer timeouts, the longer pregame, what it takes for just having, like I said, the stamina to play in this game at a high level, the emotion and all it takes.”
“I just try to execute his plays to the best of my ability and try to help the guys get on track. I think we’ve done a solid job of that and looking forward to trying to do that one more time.”
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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