Bill O'Brien Named Penn State Head Coach: Should Patriots Target Josh McDaniels?

With New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien accepting the job as the new head coach of Penn State, Bill Belichick's team could be in the market for a new offensive coordinator starting sometime after the Patriots' final playoff game.

And let's be clear on that much: He will stay to coach the team through the playoffs, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

As for his successor, there are several candidates that come to mind.

A hot name on Twitter has been St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. He was the coordinator for the 2007 Patriots offense that set the NFL record in scoring and had Tom Brady and Randy Moss both break records for passing and receiving touchdowns.

Speaking of which, how great would it be for Brady to reunite with his old coordinator and friend McDaniels, with whom he worked so well? 

When it comes to bringing back old friends, Belichick hasn't gone that route too frequently. He had an opportunity to bring back both Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weis at separate points and didn't do so. 

McDaniels hasn't burnt any bridges, as one Eric Mangini did when he left for the head coaching job with the New York Jets, but McDaniels is still under contract with the Rams. The word is that if Jeff Fisher gets that job, as he's expected to, he would get rid of McDaniels.

The Patriots have had problems developing receiving talent, and bringing back McDaniels and some of his philosophies might help the development of another receiver. As for what would come of the two tight-end system the Patriots have run recently, Greg Bedard of the Boston Globe clarified this by pointing out that any coordinator would run the Patriots system.

If he became available, the buzz would certainly rise to a dull roar around New England.

That being said, it seems most likely that they'll promote from within. They have done that in the past, as both O'Brien and McDaniels came up through the system before earning the label of offensive coordinator.

The popular candidate in that regard would be tight ends coach Brian Ferentz. He spent the 2010 season as an offensive assistant coach before getting the promotion to tight ends coach before this season. The performance of Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski speaks for itself, but also for the coaching job Ferentz has done with the two, both of whom have improved significantly as route-runners. Gronkowski proved himself to be a dual-threat tight end as well.

That being said, he is still very young at just 28 years old and might need more time to experience life as a coach in the NFL before being handed such a large responsibility. He has football in his blood, though, as the son of Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. 

And we all know how much Bill Belichick loves football guys.

While promoting from within seems like the most likely outcome, and the Patriots have a track record of doing so successfully, bringing McDaniels back should be considered if it becomes possible.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda and Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter.