Josh McDaniels was named New England Patriots offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach for the 2012 season after he re-joined the Patriots coaching staff in January 2012 as an offensive assistant. The 2019 season will be McDaniels’ 16th season with the Patriots overall and his 11th as the team’s offensive coordinator.
In 10 seasons as offensive coordinator, McDaniels has guided the offense to eight top-10 rankings, including the NFL’s No. 1 ranked offense in 2007, 2012 and 2017. Additionally, Tom Brady has been elected to the Pro Bowl eight times and eclipsed 4,000 yards passing for the 10th time in 2018 en route to the team’s sixth Super Bowl Championship.
In 2016 under McDaniels’ guidance, Patriots quarterbacks set NFL records by starting the season with 258 pass attempts without an interception. They threw just two interceptions overall and notched the best touchdown to interception ratio (16.00) in a single season. McDaniels also earned his fifth Super Bowl ring as a coach in 2016, his second as the Patriots offensive coordinator.
McDaniels left the Patriots to become the head coach of Denver in 2009 and in 2011, McDaniels moved on to St. Louis to become the offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams. Under McDaniels’ guidance that season, Rams RB Steven Jackson eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the seventh consecutive season despite running behind an offensive line that started eight different combinations over the course of the season.
McDaniels spent the 2009-10 seasons as the head coach of the Denver Broncos after serving as an assistant with the Patriots from 2001-08. In his first stint with New England, McDaniels played a key role on a staff that won three Super Bowl titles and four AFC championships.
He first joined the Patriots organization as a personnel assistant on the 2001 team that defeated the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, served as a defensive assistant on the 2003 club that won Super Bowl XXXVIII and was promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2004, a season that culminated with a victory over the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX.
In addition to his role with Patriots quarterbacks, McDaniels added the title of offensive coordinator in 2006. In his second season as New England’s offensive play caller in 2007, McDaniels oversaw a unit that broke several NFL records, including points scored, touchdowns scored and most players scoring a touchdown.
Under McDaniels’ tutelage, 2007 NFL MVP Tom Brady broke the NFL record for touchdown passes in a season (50) and led the league in both passing yards (4,806) and passer rating (117.2). Brady also set franchise marks in nearly every major passing category, while WR Wes Welker set the franchise record for receptions in a season (112) and WR Randy Moss broke the NFL record for touchdown receptions with 23. The Patriots offense also posted the franchise’s highest average yards per rush in 22 seasons with 4.1 yards per carry, and the team’s 17 rushing touchdowns were the second highest total in the previous 20 years.
During McDaniels’ first season in Denver, QB Kyle Orton set career-highs for pass attempts, completions, passing yards, touchdown passes and passer rating while tying his career low for interceptions. Orton’s 3,802 yards were the sixth-highest for a season in Broncos history. In 2010, the Broncos ranked seventh in the NFL in passing yards per game and finished 13th in total yards per game. WR Brandon Lloyd led the NFL in receiving yards with 1,448 and finished second in the AFC with 11 touchdown catches en route to his first Pro Bowl invitation.
Entering 2019, Brady has been elected to 10 Pro Bowls during his 11 seasons with McDaniels serving as his position coach. After Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 2008 regular-season opener, another McDaniels protégé, Matt Cassel, led the club to a 10-5 record as a starter. In his first season as an NFL starter, Cassel posted the fourth-best completion percentage in Patriots history (63.4) while passing for 3,693 yards with 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Prior to joining Bill Belichick’s staff, McDaniels spent one season as a graduate assistant under Nick Saban at Michigan State.
McDaniels attended John Carroll University, where he played quarterback and wide receiver for the Blue Streaks from 1995-98. McDaniels was a college teammate of former NFL linebacker London Fletcher, Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio, assistant quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski and director of pro personnel Dave Ziegler.
A native of Canton, Ohio, McDaniels is the son of one of the most well-respected high school coaches in the country. Thom McDaniels was a finalist for the NFL High School Coach of the Year award in 2012, and Josh benefitted from growing up in a football family.
Josh and his wife, Laura, have four children.
