All things considered, Mac Jones' rookie NFL season was a success. The first-round quarterback adjusted quickly to the New England Patriots offense and led his team back into the postseason.
But if Jones is going to make a leap in Year 2, he'll have to do so without Josh McDaniels. The longtime Patriots offensive coordinator left the organization after the season for the Las Vegas Raiders' head coaching gig.
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An official replacement for McDaniels has yet to be named, and there's a chance the Patriots decide to forgo the "offensive coordinator" title altogether. Instead, they could opt to run the offense by committee with Joe Judge, Matt Patricia, and perhaps Nick Caley joining forces.
From the outside looking in, there's plenty of confusion when it comes to the Patriots' coaching staff in 2022. But if there's anyone who knows the ins and outs of how Belichick's staff functions, it's his former assistant Dante Scarnecchia.
Scarnecchia, who served as a Patriots assistant for 34 years, shared his thoughts on how the coaching staff changes will affect Jones next season."Well, I think we need to give Mac Jones some credit here," Scarnecchia said Wednesday on Early Edition. "We all appreciate the things that he's done. He's got a year -- over a year -- in the program. He's been highly invested in this program. I think he understands the offense and I think it's just like anything, whether you bring someone else in from the outside or go with the potential guys that we've already discussed, I think their mission over the next six months is to put together and probably stay within the same framework of the existing offensive system that they have in place and have had in place with tweaks for the last 21, 22 years.
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"Mutually, they arrive at, 'Hey, this is what we're gonna do.' They're not gonna go in there and change the whole terminology. I don't see that happening. I think they've got a great system that's been put in place for a long time that's plenty expansive. It can always be whittled down if they think there's a need for it, but I saw Mac doing things last year that you don't see many rookie quarterbacks in their first year come in and do in this system. I think they'll just build on it."
Judging by Scar's comments, the lack of an official OC might not bother the young QB as much as we may think. Jones also downplayed the changes to the coaching staff in a recent Next Pats Podcast interview with our Phil Perry.
"I mean, it's not my first rodeo in terms of dealing with a new coordinator," Jones told Perry. "At Alabama, I think back to all the different guys I've worked with and I have a lot of experience with learning a new -- we're gonna keep the same system but, you know, new terminology here and there. I know Coach (Bill) Belichick will have a plan, and I'm looking forward to working just getting better as a player regardless of who's out there with us."
Jones was an Offensive Rookie of the Year finalist in 2021 after completing 67.6% of his passes for 3,801 yards and 22 touchdowns. He led the Patriots to a 10-7 regular-season record before falling to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC wild-card round.