For at least a few minutes on Thursday, Bill O’Brien should have shut down any fears some Patriots may have about Josh McDaniels’ ability to adapt to Drake Maye’s skillset.

While on The Greg Hill Show on WEEI for his weekly hit, O’Brien was asked early in the 15-minute interview about McDaniels and why (or if) it was the right hire for Mike Vrabel and the new face of the franchise.

“Josh is a proven coordinator in that league,” he said. “He’s extremely bright. He’s stayed up with the trends in that league. He knows how to coach young quarterbacks, he’s done it several times. He’s a good developer of quarterbacks and he’s a good fit for the Patriots. He has institutional knowledge of the culture of the Patriots. Those guys are gonna be who they are. Mike is going to be Mike and Josh is gonna be Josh. But, there’s a winning tradition at the Patriots that I think they’ll all work hard to get back to and Josh knows how to coach offense.”

Of course, the biggest question so far is what type of scheme will McDaniels run? Will it be the old Pats offense? Will it look more like today’s college game? A mix of both? Whatever it is, O’Brien believes McDaniels has proven himself and his ability to change when needed.

“I think that’s the key to being a good coordinator. I think over the course of time, when you have a great quarterback, you’ve got to design everything around what his skillset is,” said O’Brien. “Drake can do a lot. He’s got a really good arm. He’s very accurate. He can anticipate and he can run. I think Josh has done that in the past. (Jimmy) Garoppolo could run. Even back in 2008, I was the wide receivers coach when Tom (Brady) injured his knee and Josh was the coordinator and we had Matt Cassell. Matt Cassell, he could run. So, we did some things with Matt to get him outside the pocket and to do some different things to put pressure on the defense.

“So, I don’t think Josh will have any issue with that. That’s kind of how the league is right now. If you look at this Final Four of teams in the league with Jayden Daniels and Josh Allen and obviously, Pat Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, these guys are mobile. So, I think (McDaniels) will be ready to adapt to what the offense needs to be.”

For those using the argument that McDaniels is only considered an offensive genius because of Tom Brady, O’Brien pointed back to the times Brady was out.

“I don’t agree with that,” said O’Brien emphatically. “I think if you look at who he’s developed over time at the Patriots…when Garoppolo had to play. Jacoby Brissett had to play. Matt Cassell had to play. Over the course of his career, he’s been able to develop all types of quarterbacks and I think he’ll do a great job with Drake.”

While McDaniels never had much success as a head coach – and Bill O’Brien managed to win games and divisions with guys like TJ Yatres – he also shot down the idea that McDaniels can’t win with anyone other than the GOAT.

“If you look back and you really look at…let’s just look at when Josh was at the Patriots,” said O’Brien. “When he had Tom, Tom was obviously the best to ever do it. But, there were several other guys that came in underneath Tom that you had to get ready to play that were obviously completely different than Tom. When those guys had to play over the course of the history of the Patriots offense, those guys were very successful. Go back to Matt. We were 11-5 with Matt I think we were one of the few 11-5 teams to not make the playoffs.

“You go back to Jimmy Garoppolo. Before he got hurt, I think they were 3-0, 4-0 with Jimmy when Tom was suspended. Jacoby Brissett…Jacoby was the quarterback when we came up here on a Thursday night when I was with the Texans. They ran Speed-Option and they did some different things with Jacoby. I think…give it time and you’ll be impressed with what Josh can do with Drake Maye.”

Speaking of the GOAT, is O’Brien worried about Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs creeping closer to what the Patriots built? Is Mahomes already in the same conversation as TB12?

“No. Not yet. No,” he added. “Greatness…if you think about what Tom did, I mean, it was incredible how many AFC Championship games he went to, how many Super Bowls he was in. Then, how many Super Bowls he won. Mahomes is great. I spent a lot of time with Mahomes before he was drafted. I have great respect for Pat. He’s awesome.

“But, no. To get to the top of the mountain, he’s got a little ways to go.”

Hopefully, McDaniels and Maye are pushing Mahomes and the Chiefs back down that mountain a few years from now.