{"id":929645,"date":"2026-06-26T21:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/929645\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T21:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:24:20","slug":"nfl-play-caller-rankings-josh-mcdaniels-climbing-after-stellar-2025-nbc-sports-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/929645\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL play caller rankings: Josh McDaniels climbing after stellar 2025 \u2013 NBC Sports Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pressure’s on now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That is the simple fact of the matter for the Patriots in 2026. They’ve shown that they’re capable of winning at a high level. Now they have to back it up with another title contender-caliber season. Fair or not, Cinderella from a year ago is now expected to play Big Bad Wolf.<\/p>\n

That means eyes are on Drake Maye to submit another MVP-caliber campaign. Eyes are on Mike Vrabel, after a tumultuous offseason, to return to his Coach of the Year form.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not far behind those two on the list of individuals within the organization likely feeling the weight of expectation: Josh McDaniels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last season, he painted a masterpiece with a young, unproven quarterback and a relatively lackluster group around him. McDaniels made it work with an over-30 No. 1 receiver coming off an ACL tear, an offensive line where none of the five starters had worked together previously, and a plan of attack that had to shapeshift on multiple occasions. By the end, the Patriots ranked second in points, second in EPA per play and first in EPA per pass, helping earn McDaniels the AP’s NFL Assistant of the Year award.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t as though a very good season out of McDaniels was unexpected. But the results were astounding given the level of uncertainty surrounding the offense prior to the season.<\/p>\n

Here’s what we wrote about McDaniels while laying out our play-caller\u00a0rankings last year around this time…<\/p>\n

Questions abound.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How much has he changed? What will define his scheme? Why will he be able to make it work with a staff full of coaches — several of whom have been coordinators or head coaches themselves — with whom he has little working experience? Perhaps most importantly, how much will he do to get the most out of a quarterback whose\u00a0physical traits he really hasn’t had before?<\/p>\n

…McDaniels will rank [highly]. Why? He’s shown a clear willingness to adjust, which should serve him well as he takes on this role once again. He ran a spread offense in 2007 that rewrote\u00a0record books. In early 2012, he continued what Bill O’Brien started in operating a dynamic two-tight end scheme that forced the football-watching world to rethink the position. In 2018, McDaniels changed on the fly to become more of a grind-it-out rushing attack with fullback James Develin. In 2020, he shifted from Tom Brady to Cam Newton and used his new quarterback’s legs to his advantage.<\/p>\n

In the spring alone, media members were allowed the opportunity to watch McDaniels do what McDaniels does, which is… a little bit of everything. He changed personnel groupings at the drop of a hat, using two backs, two tight ends and a fullback. He changed formations, going from heavier groupings with extra offensive linemen to empty shotgun looks. He used screens, deep shots and slot receivers were\u00a0peppered with targets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What makes this year a fascinating one for McDaniels is that we’re expecting to see another version of his offense that should once again be defined by its malleability. Multiple personnel groupings. Myriad formations. Perhaps there will be an adjustable tempo element introduced now that Maye has more experience running the controls.<\/p>\n

The biggest difference is now, in deploying those varied looks, he has even more talent with which to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has a No. 1 receiver in A.J. Brown with high-end physical talent who should give the overall attack a shot in the arm. There have been upgrades made on the line. And his quarterback has another year of seasoning which should only allow McDaniels to pile more onto Maye’s plate, giving Maye the leeway to make some last-minute changes that provide the Patriots a greater margin for error on a snap-to-snap basis.<\/p>\n

Suffice to say, the Patriots have one of the best in the league running the controls of their offense. And now — thanks in large part to his own award-winning performance a year ago — the expectations for McDaniels have only grown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Without further ado, here’s how we\u00a0ranked\u00a0the NFL’s play-callers for 2026 (last year’s rankings in parentheses).\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s the first installment of a series we’re reviving from last year, when we ranked\u00a0play-callers<\/a>,\u00a0playmakers\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0protection\u00a0<\/a>— dubbed “the Three Ps” by our friends at the Move The Sticks podcast — to determine how well the Patriots had surrounded Maye with talent:<\/p>\n

Best of the best<\/p>\n

1. Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams (1)<\/p>\n

2. Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers (3)<\/p>\n

The wizards<\/p>\n

3. Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears (7)<\/p>\n

4. Josh McDaniels, New England Patriots (11)<\/p>\n

5. Liam Coen, Jacksonville Jaguars (18)<\/p>\n

6. Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers (5)<\/p>\n

7. Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs (2)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Josh<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBob DeChiara-Imagn ImagesBob DeChiara-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Josh McDaniels rose seven spots in our annual NFL play caller rankings.<\/p>\n

Something to prove<\/p>\n

8. Mike\u00a0McDaniel, Los Angeles Chargers (8)<\/p>\n

9. Kevin O’Connell, Minnesota Vikings (4)<\/p>\n

In good hands<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0Joe Brady, Buffalo Bills (14)<\/p>\n

11. Brian Daboll, Tennessee Titans (12)<\/p>\n

12. Brian Schottenheimer, Dallas Cowboys (27)\u00a0<\/p>\n

13.\u00a0Shane Steichen, Indianapolis Colts (20)<\/p>\n

14.\u00a0Todd Monken, Cleveland Browns (10)<\/p>\n

I’m interested<\/p>\n

15. Drew Petzing, Detroit Lions (17)<\/p>\n

16. Kellen Moore, New Orleans Saints (22)<\/p>\n

17. Klint Kubiak, Las Vegas Raiders (23)<\/p>\n

18. Davis Webb, Denver Broncos (NR)<\/p>\n

Known commodities<\/p>\n

19. Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals (19)<\/p>\n

20. Matt Nagy, New York Giants (NR)<\/p>\n

21. Mike McCarthy, Pittsburgh Steelers (NR)<\/p>\n

22. Nick Caley, Houston Texans (28)<\/p>\n

23. Dave Canales, Carolina Panthers (24)<\/p>\n

24. Frank Reich, New York Jets (NR)<\/p>\n

Need more information<\/p>\n

25. Mike LaFleur, Arizona Cardinals (NR)<\/p>\n

26. Brian Fleury, Seattle Seahawks (NR)<\/p>\n

27. Tommy Rees, Atlanta Falcons (NR)<\/p>\n

28. Bobby Slowik, Miami Dolphins (NR)<\/p>\n

29. Sean Mannion, Philadelphia Eagles (NR)<\/p>\n

30. Zac Robinson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (25)<\/p>\n

Anyone’s guess<\/p>\n

31. Declan Doyle, Baltimore Ravens (NR)<\/p>\n

32. David Blough, Washington Commanders (NR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pressure’s on now.\u00a0 That is the simple fact of the matter for the Patriots in 2026. They’ve shown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,6441,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,5175],"class_list":["post-929645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-england-patriots","tag-football","tag-josh-mcdaniels","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-newengland","tag-newenglandpatriots","tag-nfl","tag-patriots","tag-phil-perry"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116818520912837344","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}