We’re running a mailbag on Fridays during the season. If you have questions on the Patriots, NFL, or want gripe about past answers, email cmason@masslive.com or tweet @bychrismason. Now let’s get to this week’s questions!
Will Josh McDaniels be back? – David C.
This year? I highly doubt it and I’ll give you three reasons why.
1. The Patriots are going nowhere
This isn’t a situation where McDaniels can hitch his wagon to a contender and immediately bolster his resume. The Patriots are dead last in the AFC and will likely be looking for a new quarterback this winter, so it’s not like there’s a whole lot to work towards.
2. McDaniels is making a ton of money
McDaniels was only in the second year of his six-year contract with the Raiders which was reportedly for $60 million. (And yes, that’s guaranteed). This means McDaniels can kick back and collect $45 million over the next four and a half years; there’s no urgency to jump back in from a financial perspective.
3. He needs success elsewhere
McDaniels is still only 47 years old. Based on his first two head coaching stints, it’s going to be very challenging for him to get a third shot regardless, but that chance is essentially zero if he just comes back to New England. Fair or not, national perception is that McDaniels’ success has come from being surrounded by Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, so to forge a new path, he needs to succeed as an offensive coordinator somewhere else.
If McDaniels decides he no longer has aspirations of head coaching and just wants to be back where he’s comfortable, perhaps he’ll return as a consultant in 2024, but that’s certainly a decision that’s going to take some time to hash out.
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When will the Patriots ever be good again? Will it take landing Drake Maye or Bo Nix? I feel like it will as the QB always most important position – Troy M.
Though it feels like the Patriots are free falling, at some point, yes, I can assure you they will be good again.
As the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote, “How could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?” It will take much better drafting to rise from these ashes though, and that includes the quarterback. I’m not totally sold on Nix, but landing Maye would be a terrific first step in the right direction. Regardless, I do think they’ll need to restart with a new signal caller in 2024.
(Definitely going to revisit this German philosophy after next weekend’s Frankfurt game, too).
When will Robert Kraft have the guts to take Bill Belichick’s GM power away? – Dave O.
The only way Kraft would do that is if he’s ready to detonate the entire operation.
I can’t see a scenario where Belichick is willing to relinquish roster control, so if Kraft took that away, I’d imagine things would get pretty nasty. If Kraft wants to part ways with Belichick but doesn’t want to be saddled with “Kraft fires Belichick” headlines, this would be a way to do that, but if he’s actually interested in keeping Belichick, this isn’t the avenue.
Why isn’t Hunter Henry used more in the red zone? – Tucker R.
I think the Patriots — and Mac Jones specifically — would love to target Henry in the red zone.
Problem is, other teams are wise to this too, now. Henry snagged a career-high nine touchdowns in his first season with the Patriots. To everyone watching on a week-in, week-out basis, it was obvious that Henry was Jones’ go-to guy near the goal line. But now the rest of the league has caught up and he the tight end is getting more attention.
Does Mac Jones have a realistic shot of catching Jameis Winston’s pick-six record (7) this season? – Matt K.
So, Jones already has three, and would have picked up a fourth if Pop Douglas hadn’t planked perfectly in front of Jalen Ramsey last week. The numbers say there’s a shot, but I can’t imagine Bill Belichick letting Jones reach it, even though there’s absolutely no backup breathing down his neck. While Bruce Arians was preaching “no risk it, no biscuit,” Belichick abhors turnovers. Jones is more likely to be hawking biscuits at a concession stand than throwing a seventh pick-six in one season under Belichick.
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