FOXBORO — There was a familiar face back in the Patriots’ media workroom Thursday.

Josh McDaniels was looking thinner, and he’s got more grey hairs on his head, but the offensive coordinator — returning for his third stint with the Patriots — seemed recharged in his first meeting with reporters since being hired by head coach Mike Vrabel in January.

And maybe that’s because he’s getting set to coach one of the NFL’s more promising young quarterbacks in 22-year-old Drake Maye when the Patriots’ offseason workout program begins April 7 at Gillette Stadium.

McDaniels isn’t permitted to discuss football with Maye, since the offseason hasn’t officially kicked off, but the veteran OC has still come away impressed by his starting QB.

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“We’ll have plenty of time here coming up next week, but I’m smitten by the young man in terms of just his personality,” McDaniels said. “We’ve had an opportunity to spend some time that has nothing to do with football with one another, which I think has been great. Very beneficial and productive to just to get to know him, who he is, what he’s all about, what he cares about, where he’s coming from, his family, [fiancee] Ann Michael [Hudson], wedding plans, all that stuff. We’ve kind of had an opportunity to talk about those kind of things.

“So, I think next week and beyond will be super fun for me to really get to know him from a football perspective, start teaching our terminology and language, seeing how he learns best and how he acclimates, but I couldn’t be more excited about the young man that we have.”

The Patriots’ offense will look different than what McDaniels was running in his last stint in Foxboro in 2021, when Mac Jones was at quarterback, the OC acknowledged. And some of the terminology will be different, as well.

McDaniels hasn’t previously worked with any of his offensive coaches. So, the staff is working together to figure out what will work best for players and coaches.

And though McDaniels hasn’t worked with his assistants before this winter, it is a staff that had tons of experience. Offensive line coach Doug Marrone has been an NFL head coach and offensive coordinator. Tight ends coach/passing game coordinator Thomas Brown has been an interim head coach and offensive coordinator. Wide receivers coach Todd Downing has been an offensive coordinator.

“We have a language, and every offensive system, defensive system has a language. So, you have to decide the way you want to speak in terms of calling things and naming things and whether you use numbers, protections, or you use words or however you do what you do,” McDaniels said. “So, our language has been refined a little bit between last year with the time that I had and then this spring with the coaches. I think that’s really getting streamlined. It’s been great to have their perspective on it. Just being in the same type of language for my entire career has been good, and probably in some ways, it’s been a little different than most coaches. So, these guys have done a tremendous job of helping us streamline it. What’s most important is that the players can digest whatever it is we want to do.

“But there’s the language, and then there’s the strategy part. The language is how you talk; the strategy is all based about your players and what do we have, what are our strengths, how do we maximize the personnel that’s on our team and on our offense? That part is going to be different like it is every year. Whether you – ’07 was different than ’12, ’12 was different than ’17, everything was different than 2020. 2021 is going to be different than this year. So, the strategy and what we end up doing eventually will be all about what’s best for our players and how we can maximize the guys here.”

Tom Brady is obviously the best quarterback McDaniels has ever coached, but Maye does have a more diverse skillset than the future Pro Football Hall of Famer.

Maye impressed with his accuracy last season, completing 66.6% of his passes, but he was also one of the top rushing quarterbacks last season, gaining 421 yards with two touchdowns on 54 carries. So, certain elements of the offense could look similar to what McDaniels was running in 2020 with Cam Newton at quarterback with more designed runs and a heavy dose of play action.

McDaniels has now had two failed stints as an NFL head coach. He lasted 28 games as head coach of the Broncos in 2009 and 2010 before returning to the Patriots in 2011, and then he spent 25 games as the Raiders’ head coach in 2022 and 2023 before taking a year off from football and returning this offseason.

He didn’t completely get away from the sport, however. He said Thursday that he enjoyed watching football with no “deadlines.” in 2024. He also said he spent time last season with college and pro teams who were very welcoming in allowing him to watch how they ran practices and meetings and coached quarterbacks.

“Those were invaluable opportunities for me,” McDaniels said. “I know I’ll be a different person in terms of going forward because of the experiences that I’ve had an opportunity to see.”

There’s almost nowhere for the Patriots’ offense to go but up in 2025 under McDaniels. They ranked 27th last season in expected points added (EPA) per play, 23rd in EPA per dropback and 30th in EPA per rush. McDaniels had his best offensive seasons with Brady as his quarterback, but the Patriots still ranked 14th in EPA per play, 12th in EPA per dropback and second in EPA per rush in 2020 and 2021 with Newton and Jones at QB.

After the last three seasons, in which the Patriots have combined to rank 31st in offensive efficiency, they’ll gladly take the uptick that McDaniels and his experience can bring to the Maye-led offense.