Asked about Drake Maye, Josh McDaniels says 'there's no shortcut' for a QB's progression
Former NFL coach Josh McDaniels gave insight on developing quarterbacks on former wide receiver Julian Edelman’s ‘Games with Names’ podcast.
Patriots
McDaniels said there's only so many things you can teach a young player like Maye in a given time period.
Could Josh McDaniels (center) or Wes Welker (left) be set for a return to New England? Chin, Barry, Globe Staff Photo
By Elli Einset
January 14, 2025 | 11:52 AM
1 minute to read
Former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels discussed the process of developing young quarterbacks on Monday’s episode of former New England wide receiver Julian Edelman’s ‘Games with Names’ podcast.
The progression of Partriots quarterback Drake Maye will now be under the supervision of new head coach Mike Vrabel and whichever coordinators and coaches Vrabel decides to hire.
As a former quarterback coach and offensive coordinator for the Patriots between 2001-2008 and 2012-2021, McDaniels talked through his thought process in helping his quarterbacks quickly and efficiently.
“His development and whatever the plan ends up being for Drake [Maye] – when he’s going to play, how they are going to handle him and continue to develop him as he goes forward is going to be important,” said McDaniels.
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He also emphasized the attention that the quarterback position receives.
“If they’re not talking about your arm angle, they’re talking about your footwork,” said McDaniels. “If they’re not talking about that, they’re talking about your eyes or your read, how you navigated the pocket. There’s a lot of things that go into playing it well.”
Each quarterback comes from a different background, receives different coaching, and has different information. McDaniels talked about how he overcame these adversities and was able to get his quarterbacks on the same page.
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“You can’t just keep throwing stuff at him,” said McDaniels.
He made an analogy of each player having a bucket that the coaches would fill with water. The more experienced the player would become, the larger the bucket would be and the more water he can handle, the more knowledge the player could digest.
“There’s no shortcut for it,” said McDaniels.
There has been speculation that McDaniels could return to New England to join Vrabel’s coaching staff.
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