FOXBORO — Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels took a year off from coaching. But he didn’t take a year off from football.

McDaniels spent 2024 away from coaching to recharge emotionally and physically, but he also went on a tour of successful football programs and brought back 68 pages of handwritten notes in his return to the Super Bowl-bound Patriots as offensive coordinator in what he called “one of the most rewarding years for me professionally” this season.

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“I’d say, personally and professionally, it was really an awesome year of growth, healing and preparing for whatever was next,” McDaniels said of 2024. “And boy, God’s plan was awesome, and ended up having us here.”

Fired as Raiders head coach midway through the 2023 season after a 3-5 start, McDaniels first prioritized his family. He drove his daughters, Maddie, Livia and Nina, to school every day. He got to watch his son, Jack, play college football at his own alma mater, John Carroll University. He took his oldest daughter on college visits, went out to dinner with his wife, Laura, and shed some unnecessary weight.

That’s quality time you can’t always spend when you’re working 18-hour days for 11 months out of the year as a football coach.

But he also took time to progress in his profession.

Last spring, McDaniels visited the Chiefs, Bills and Texans during organized team activities, and USC, Ohio State and Boston College during spring ball.

The longtime offensive football mind was looking to learn and be a “fly on the wall,” watching how other teams ran their football programs.

“(Chiefs head coach) Andy Reid was super accommodating, (ex-Bills head coach) Sean McDermott was super accommodating, (Texans head coach) DeMeco Ryans, awesome, Lincoln Riley, USC, Ryan Day at Ohio State, Billy O’Brien at Boston College. There were just a lot of people that gave me an opportunity to go and see somebody else do the job,” McDaniels told the Herald. “And so I took a ton of notes from all my trips. It wasn’t a rebirth, but I would say it was just kind of an evolution.”

The Patriots’ offense ranked second in points and third in total offense in McDaniels’ return as offensive coordinator.

Now, they’re headed for McDaniels’ ninth Super Bowl appearance overall and sixth as an offensive coordinator.

“The perspective after that year, I’d say my rejuvenation, I was recharged,” McDaniels said. “I was excited to try a few new things and incorporate those things into what I have already learned and knew, and so I was kind of ready to go.”

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, left, and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels on the field during pre-game warmups at Gillette Stadium last Sunday. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)

Of McDaniels’ 23 seasons coaching in the NFL, 22 have come with him or Bill Belichick as a head coach.

This is his first year working under Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, and watching the Chiefs, Bills, Texans, USC, Ohio State and Boston College helped McDaniels experience a different approach to coaching.

“You see other people do things, and you’ve done things a very specific way for most of your football life, because that’s what you were around, and that’s what you were taught how to do,” McDaniels said. “And pro football, we don’t get to go watch other teams play, coach in the spring. We rarely get that opportunity. So, I was just incredibly grateful to those people that had the ability to choose whether to let me come in or not. And they did. And so I learned a lot from those guys. I also saw a lot of new things that I thought, ‘You know what, that’s pretty cool. I’m going to try that or incorporate some of that if or when I get back in.’”

So, what did he take away from those visits?

“The college game is so different than the pro game, and so being able to see some of the things they were doing, just spatially and using a quarterback in different ways, that was interesting to me,” McDaniels said. “Being around some of the more mobile guys, with Josh (Allen) and Pat (Mahomes) and just seeing them do some of their things. There were a few things, for sure, that you’re like, ‘You would like to try some of this,’ depending on who I was with, because at that point, I had no idea where I was going to be. There’s definitely some things that I picked up that I felt would be really cool to implement and try.

“I think, more than anything else, I took away just some of the process stuff that I saw, and the way they practiced, and the way they structured things, and how they ran a meeting, how they organize their work day, and the way they did things on the field, and how they maximize their efficiency. I think we do things pretty well, and we had done things pretty well, but it was just cool to have another opportunity to see, not just good people, but great coaches, and to have a chance to be around them and just pick anything up was really beneficial to me.”

McDaniels kept his mind on football during the 2024 regular season by helping teams with advance scouting on opponents.

He also helped out one of his long-time buddies.

“Honestly, one of my best friends in the whole world was starting a new job at FOX,” McDaniels said, referencing his old signal-caller, Tom Brady. “If he wanted to bounce some things off me as he was preparing for the two teams he was going to cover that week, I was like, ‘That’s pretty cool, man. Like, I’ll look at whoever you’re doing too, and if you need anything from me, let me know.’ So, I kept myself very busy in that regard, in between being a dad and playing pickleball and doing all those other things, I was able to really stay connected to the game.”

It was pickleball — “five days a week, two hours a day” — and an improved diet and sleep schedule that helped a slimmed-down McDaniels drop the weight.

He found himself back in football a year ago now when he was hired as Vrabel’s offensive coordinator.

McDaniels called it a special season for several reasons, from the culture that Vrabel built, the players, including QB Drake Maye, he gets to coach and the fact that his family is happy.

“This is home for us,” McDaniels said. “And so to be able to do this and have a chance to go to another Super Bowl here — my kids are a little older, and it’s so rewarding for me as a dad and a husband to watch them enjoy what’s happening here. And they’re Patriots fans, period. But now that we’re back in the organization, it just it makes it that much more satisfying.”

McDaniels and the Patriots head out to the Bay Area on Sunday to finish preparing for another Super Bowl matchup with the Seahawks.