Of course the New England Patriots are going to be the first team mentioned. There's historical precedent for this to happen.
The last time McDaniels was fired as a head coach during the 2010 season with the Broncos, he was hired as offensive coordinator by St. Louis Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo in 2011.
St. Louis had a horrendous season, going 2-14, and the team went in a different direction by bringing in an entirely new coaching staff. McDaniels joined the Patriots staff as an offensive assistant coach for their playoff run in January 2012.
New England's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the time was Bill O'Brien.
After his return to the coaching staff as an offensive assistant, McDaniels was hired by the Patriots as their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach when O'Brien took the head-coaching job at Penn State.
So far this season, O'Brien hasn't done much to show he's a significant upgrade over what Matt Patricia and Joe Judge did for the offense in 2022.
McDaniels was the offensive coordinator in New England during Mac Jones' rookie season in 2021. It was the best year of his career so far with 3,801 passing yards, 22 touchdowns and a 67.6 completion percentage to help the Patriots make the playoffs.
While the Patriots could look to move in a different direction at quarterback this offseason if Jones continues to struggle, Bill Belichick has a long history with McDaniels that seems to work for both of them.
McDaniels was on the coaching staff for all six of New England's Super Bowl wins during the Tom Brady era.
