Las Vegas Raiders head coach and former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels likes a key offensive move his old squad made this offseason.

McDaniels gave his former protege and new Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien a vote of confidence Tuesday and implied the offseason hiring would be a positive one for New England’s second-year quarterback Mac Jones.

"I think he's a great coach," McDaniels said at the NFL Scouting Combine. "Billy's worked with a lot of quarterbacks before, and they've all had success, and he's impacted all of those guys in a positive way. He knows the position really well, understands the league, understands how to get the most out of players at this level. He'll do a great job."

O’Brien kickstarted his NFL coaching career in 2007 as an offensive assistant under then-Patriots offensive coordinator McDaniels. When McDaniels left in 2009 to become the Denver Broncos head coach, O’Brien served as a de-facto offensive coordinator for two years before officially earning the title in 2011.

After stints as head coach of Penn State and the Houston Texans and as Alabama’s offensive coordinator, O’Brien is back in New England.

"Billy was one of those guys who came from college and really wanted to make it in the NFL," McDaniels said. "So, it was apparent right away how hard he worked, how smart he was, and you could give him a lot of responsibility and he could handle it. All the things that Billy has accomplished and achieved since then haven't surprised me at all. Being successful as a coordinator in New England, winning at Penn State, winning in Houston, going down to Alabama and being part of their success there — none of that has surprised me.

"He's a great football coach, extremely hard worker. I have a lot of confidence that Billy's going to do well wherever he's at, and obviously now that's in New England."

Jones performed as the best rookie quarterback in the 2021 NFL Draft class before taking a step back last season as New England replaced McDaniels with a combination of Matt Patricia, Joe Judge and head coach Bill Belichick running the offense. The hope is that O’Brien can restore Jones to his previous career trajectory as his new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The two have never been on the same team at the same time, but Jones helped O’Brien learn Alabama’s offense before the latter took over as the Crimson Tide offensive coordinator in 2021.

Featured image via Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports