By Jon Lyons
NEFJ Correspondent

News broke last night that Patriots offensive coordinator/ quarterbacks coach Bill O’Brien is leaving the team to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State. The move is not that surprising given the head coaching change in New England and the frustrating year that O’Brien went through in 2023. With him gone, Jerod Mayo has his biggest task of his coaching reign thus far in hiring a new offensive coordinator. He should do an expansive search, but here are some names that should be at the top of Mayo’s list.

Josh McDaniels

Despite McDaniels’ failures as a head coach, he has built an excellent career as an offensive coordinator. Including early on when he did not have the offensive coordinator title, McDaniels led the New England offense for 14 seasons. The Patriots were top ten in points per game in 13 of the 14 seasons including 2008 with Matt Cassel and 2021 with Mac Jones. McDaniels can also develop young quarterbacks so he would be immensely helpful with whoever the Patriots have under center next season. His six Super Bowl rings and experience as a championship coach would also be an asset for a young offense and coaching staff coming together.

Keenan McCardell 

McCardell played 17 seasons at wide receiver in the NFL. He finished with 883 receptions, 11, 373 receiving yards, and 63 touchdowns. He won two Super Bowls as a player (playing only in one) and was regarded as a top tier, though not elite, receiver for most of his career. Since he finished playing McCardell has steadily risen up the coaching ranks. The 54-year-old has been coaching since 2010 and has coached the wide receivers with Washington, the University of Maryland, the Jaguars and, currently, the Vikings. With the Vikings, he has presided over Justin Jefferson, arguable the best wide receiver in the NFL, and has become experienced running a McVay/ Shanahan offensive system that could be attractive to the Patriots.

Nick Caley

Caley was the Patriots tight ends coach from 2017-22 after serving as an offensive assistant with the team for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. After 2022, he left to take the tight ends coach job with the Rams. Caley would bring experience in the McVay system as well as previous New England experience to the table. He could potentially blend both of those into a system that gives the Patriots ab ability to play simpler but also being complex when they need to be. New England’s need to develop young pass catchers would also be a selling point.

Kliff Kingsbury

Kingsbury was drafted by the Patriots in 2003, but spent most of his brief playing career with other teams. He began coaching in 2008 and rose to be the head coach at Texas Tech from 2013-2018. His overall tenure was disappointing, with a 35-40 overall record, but he identified and helped develop both Baker Mayfield (before he transferred) and Patrick Mahomes. Kingsbury had another disappointing run as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals for four seasons, finishing with a 28-37-1 record. The offense under Kingsbury improved each of the first three seasons before regressing in 2022. In 2023, he was the quarterbacks coach for Lincoln Riley at USC. Riley is often the brains behind some of the most cutting-edge schemes in football. Kingsbury’s overall record is mixed, but he has shown he can develop quarterbacks and improve offenses.

Liam Coen

Coen is a Rhode Island native who is currently the offensive coordinator at Kentucky. He has had a variety of stops in his coaching career but most notable for the Patriots is four seasons with the Los Angeles Rams in two separate stints, the most recent of which being their offensive coordinator in 2022. Now, the Rams are Sean McVay’s offense so Coen did not have as much responsibility play calling-wise as other teams would have given him, but he has experience calling plays at his other stops. Coen has a strong sense of what schemes work with college athletes who will soon be coming to the NFL and the goal would be to blend that with what he learned with the Rams.

Other possible names: Shawn Jefferson, Shane Waldron, Shane Day, Alex Van Pelt, Chad O’Shea