Solving Ben McAdoo’s mystery role in molding Drake Maye, Patriots offense

FOXBOROUGH – One of the Patriots most experienced assistant coaches is one of the biggest mysteries in New England.

When Ben McAdoo was hired this offseason, the former New York Giants head coach was given the vague title of senior offensive assistant. A 47-year-old coach with a wealth of experience, reports outside Foxborough said McAdoo would “have a huge role” in developing rookie quarterback Drake Maye. In training camp, the assistant was routinely with Patriots quarterbacks along with offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney.

Since he isn’t a position coach, McAdoo isn’t required to speak to the media and hasn’t since joining the Patriots. That adds to his mystery. No one outside of Gillette Stadium knows what he does.

Until now.

Around the Patriots locker room and a different picture emerges. McAdoo is a well-liked assistant with a wealth of knowledge. His reach inside the facility goes beyond quarterbacks. He helps every position on offense and plays a vital role in third-down game planning. On game days, he has an eye-in-the-sky view of the offense.

“That’s a good question – what does he do?” running back Rhamondre Stevenson said. “He does a little bit of everything in my eyes. He helps the O-line out, helps the running backs out. He’s an assistant offensive coach. He helps everybody out. He knows the scheme. He teaches the scheme and things like that – spacing on routes and those kinds of things.”

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McAdoo came to New England with 17 years of NFL experience coaching on offense. He worked with de facto general manager Eliot Wolf and Van Pelt in Green Bay. He’s coached tight ends, offensive linemen, and quarterbacks. A former offensive coordinator and New York Giants head coach, McAdoo was brought to New England to help coach Jerod Mayo and the offense.

Here’s an inside look at his role with the Patriots:

How Ben McAdoo helps Drake Maye

In the quarterback meeting room, McAdoo made it a point to show Drake Maye the amount of pressure the Rams defense puts on quarterbacks, repeating one of his favorite phrases: “Stare the barrel down.”

This season, McAdoo has multiple roles. With the offense, he goes over the third-down game plan and how it will attack the next opponent. When with the quarterback position group, he’s an observer while T.C. McCartney runs the meeting.

McAdoo picks his spots. With Maye last week, he hammered home to he importance of staying in the pocket, even when the blitz is coming, and then throwing the ball.

“Last week, just saying, ‘Hey, there’s going to be pressure up front. You’ve got big dudes up front, so hang in there and sometimes you might have to,’ he calls it ‘stare the barrel down,’” Maye said. “‘Hang in there and let it rip.’ I was keeping that in mind throughout the game.”

That lesson was in his mind in the first quarter when the Rams sent a safety blitz on third down. Maye stood in the pocket while two defenders came barreling down. The rookie threw the ball before taking a hit for a 28-yard gain to DeMario Douglas.

Maye said it hasn’t been awkward with hearing multiple voices this season. He regularly communicates with four coaches – Mayo, Van Pelt, McCartney, and McAdoo. Van Pelt runs the show on Sunday. McCartney runs the quarterback meetings. McAdoo speaks up when it’s appropriate and runs the offensive meeting on Thursday morning.

“Ben’s been a head coach, an offensive coordinator, he knows a lot about football and knows a lot about play calling. He’s been another voice in the quarterback room who knows his place,” Maye said. “He doesn’t speak all the time. He gives little tidbits like, ‘Stand in here’ or ‘Hang in the pocket.’ Sometimes, ‘Drake, if you see this, check it down.’ little things like that. He gives little tidbits throughout practices, throughout the week that go a long way.”

It helps that Van Pelt, McAdoo, and McCartney are all on the same page. Van Pelt and McAdoo worked in Green Bay for two seasons (2012-2013). McCartney worked with Van Pelt the previous four seasons. Together, they use the same teaching points – especially on quarterback mechanics such as footwork.

“It’s been good. Him and AVP have a long history together,” Jacoby Brissett said. “He provides that analytic (advice). He presents third down to us. He also helps in our room with the whole game plan as far as providing more looks and another set of eyes from his time and other places away from AVP.”

McAdoo runs Patriots meetings on Thursdays

When McAdoo takes the stage, laughs soon follow.

This is when ‘Danger Zone,’ by Kenny Loggins plays throughout the Patriots meeting room. Before players know it, a customized Top Gun graphic appears on the screen. Every week, McAdoo photoshops a player’s face on Maverick and Goose.

”Hilarious. Hilarious,” Joe Milton III said. “Probably one of the funniest coaches.”

Every Thursday morning, before Sunday games, McAdoo runs the Patriots offensive meeting. This is where the team goes over their strategy on third downs before practice. McAdoo starts things off with his ‘theme song’ and graphic, which lightens the mood.

Before long, he does a deep dive on what the Patriots’ next opponent does in third-down situations. An important part of this presentation is pointing out the “danger zone,” a package of blitz and pressures the opponent runs.

“He’s really great at describing the pressure fronts from other teams,” left tackle Vederian Lowe said. “And what their tendencies are, what they’re going to do, what they normally do out of this type of pressure package. That’s the most information I get out of him. He does a great job with that. We watch pressure tapes often and I think he really does a great job of breaking it down and letting us know what the possibilities are, what they’ve already done leading up to that point. He breaks down the numbers and everything.”

For each position group, there are different talking points. McAdoo analyzes teams as well as the habits of individual players. For example, he tells Patriots running backs what to look for from different linebackers and what they can do to counter the opponent’s moves.

“How the linebackers rush. How the linebackers (play) like if they’re a swim guy or if they’re going to bullrush you,” Stevenson said.

For receivers, he talks about the specific coverage on specific third-down plays. He lets them know the type of coverage they’ll use when the Patriots line up in a specific formation.

“He’s very smart. He’s super helpful,” K.J. Osborn said. “On these third down days, he goes over that presentation about their coverages, some of the things they like to do on third down, pressures. Go over those presentations and I think he does a really thorough job of giving us a look and an idea of what we’ll see.”

McAdoo is a confident and polished public speaker. Several players said he can get them laughing – whether it’s using old highlight tapes, funny videos, or telling jokes.

“He’s a very good presenter,” Michael Onwenu noted. “He’s a funny guy. He keeps it lighthearted. He keeps the room laughing.”

Why McAdoo becomes a defensive coordinator

McAdoo also uses his history to convey his message. He’ll play old clips from when he coached the Giants to show the Patriots how they can beat a certain third-down look or coverage.

Players have been impressed with the coach’s knowledge and the amount of information he fits into these Thursday meetings.

This season, the Patriots have converted 35.3% of their third downs. That ranks 26th in the NFL. Since Maye took over, however, the Patriots are 16th in the NFL in third-down conversions (38%).

“You can tell he puts a lot of work into it – the details of things he does,” Brissett said. “His wealth of knowledge from being from a lot of other places, from being a play caller and those roles, he’s able to see it at a faster rate. Especially when he comes into our (quarterback) room, not just the big room. He’s able to pull up clips like, ‘We ran this with Eli (Manning) this time.’ It helps a lot.”

There has been clear improvement. Over the last five weeks, the Patriots have converted 40.9% of their third downs. That ranks 11th in the NFL in that span.

“It’s huge. He simplifies it,” Maye said. “He does a great job of breaking it down. I think third down is huge. We’re starting to get better and better on third down. It goes a long way to understanding how he’s breaking it down, what he wants us, and being ready for different looks.”

During these presentations, McAdoo goes over how the Patriots are going to attack their next opponent. He then into detail on the plays New England will run to try and counter the defense. For everything the opponent does, the Patriots need to have a plan.

After the meeting, McAdoo’s role changes. During Thursday practices, he works as the defensive coordinator for the Patriots scout team. He’ll tell the scout team defense what play to run against the Patriots starting lineup.

“He might give us looks in practice from stuff we went over. So, he might give us a hint there,” Osborn said. “If there’s a play we want to run and he’s like, ‘Hey, this is the look that they do.’ He’s the one doing the defensive cards, showing us those third-down looks, so we’re able to practice the things we spoke about in the meeting. If this team does p-drop or they play man, if they play zone – then we see those looks later on in the day.”

“He creates the looks. He’s kind of the third down defensive coordinator,” Maye added. “He sets up the looks. ‘Hey, this is what we may get, so be ready for this.’ He tries to give us a handful on Thursday.”

How McAdoo has helped Joe Milton III

Every week in practice, the Patriots are focused on getting Maye ready for the next opponent while Brissett runs the scout team offense. With both quarterbacks busy, Joe Milton III is usually an observer.

The sixth-round pick, however, isn’t alone.

This season, McAdoo works with Milton in practice and the two have grown close. The rookie said the coach has given him great advice on how to approach this season, while he’s not playing. McAdoo wants Milton to make sure he’s mentally sound while not being a focal point at practice.

“Always be me,” Milton said. “He follows me pretty much everywhere I go out there on the field. He makes sure I’m having fun, always being myself. Makes sure that I’m the same Joe every day. That’s pretty much how I try to approach my days. Go out there and have fun. That’s all you can do.”

When Maye is working with center Ben Brown and Brissett is taking snaps from backup Lecitus Smith, McAdoo snaps to Milton. When the rookie is working on his own, McAdoo coaches him on his footwork.

“He gets my footwork right. He makes sure I’m mentally sharp,” Milton said. “Just because I’m not out there taking the reps, so he makes sure I’m mentally good. It’s very helpful for me because I get to learn from a head coach who was also a quarterbacks coach in his time. It means a lot to me.”

For McAdoo, coming to New England was a chance to reset. After getting fired in New York, he took a brief coaching hiatus before returning as the Jaguars quarterbacks coach in 2020, as a consultant in Dallas, and then as the offensive coordinator of the Panthers.

The winding NFL coaching journey brought him to New England this offseason to provide insight for Mayo, where he’s helped the coach with scheduling, while playing a hand in the development of two rookie quarterbacks.

“I feel like he really does give us a lot of insight,” Lowe said. “He’s been a lot of places. He’s been around for a long time and he gives the offense great insight on what the other teams are doing. I would say he’s a great insider for information.”

Mystery solved.

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