Dustin Bradford/Getty

The Patriots officially hired Ben McAdoo as senior offensive assistant today. McAdoo reunites with offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and Eliot Wolf who he worked with in Green Bay when he was an assistant under Mike McCarthy.

McAdoo has a lengthy resume of NFL experience having coached with the Saints, 49ers, Packers, Giants, Jaguars, Cowboys and Panthers. He spent eight seasons in Green Bay as either tight ends or quarterbacks coach.  He is best known however for his time with the Giants where he was offensive coordinator from 2014-2015 and head coach from 2016-2017.

McAdoo is well versed in the West Coast offense and he is a good evaluator of quarterback talent. That alone makes this a good hire. McAdoo along with Van Pelt can evaluate all of the quarterbacks in this draft class and give an honest assessment of them before the Patriots make a decision at the position.

Some have scoffed at McAdoo’s hire because his offenses in recent years have struggled. That is fair however he wasn’t hired to run the offense. He is an overseer and will lend his expertise to Van Pelt. Ultimately, Van Pelt will decide what they run.

After the last two years, the Patriots offense needed to be overhauled. Jerod Mayo is starting over by running a new system and hiring new coaches. It needed to happen. The change was long overdue. 

Van Pelt and McAdoo must prove that they can identify the right quarterback and develop him. If they do that, the Patriots rebuild will be shorter than we expected and their hirings will be universally applauded. Until then, we should reserve judgement. 

You can never have experience on either side of the ball on an NFL staff. That is why hiring McAdoo is a good move.