From the Hot Seat to the Hidden Gem: How Ben McAdoo Quietly Became a Key Piece in the Patriots’ Super Bowl Puzzle
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Ask around the Patriots’ locker room about a certain assistant coach with a not-so-flashy title, and you’ll get more than just polite praise - you’ll get big smiles, genuine admiration, and maybe even a few laughs.
“Honestly, it’s one of the highlights of the week just to be able to spend time with him,” said linebacker Christian Elliss.
Inside linebackers coach and defensive play-caller Zak Kuhr didn’t hold back either: “He’s brilliant. And the energy he brings every day?
He’s one of the funniest dudes I’ve ever been around. Just a great dude.”
Head coach Mike Vrabel added: “He came to me and said, ‘Just tell me I’m an assistant coach. I want to be here, and I’ll do whatever you ask me to do.’
I appreciated that. I think our players and coaches have really appreciated the perspective he’s brought.”
That coach? Ben McAdoo.
Yeah, that Ben McAdoo.
To Giants fans, his name might still trigger flashbacks - the oversized suit, the infamous boat trip before the playoff loss in Green Bay, the Eli Manning benching that led to his exit. But in New England, he’s not a punchline. He’s a respected voice, a behind-the-scenes difference-maker, and a key cog in a team that’s now one win away from a Lombardi Trophy.
Call him “McAdocious,” “Big Mac,” or “Slick Back Mac” - he answers to all of them in the Patriots’ building. And while his Giants tenure ended in disappointment, his resurgence in Foxborough is a reminder that NFL careers - for players and coaches - are rarely linear.
Sometimes you fall. Sometimes you grow.
And sometimes, you find your way back.
McAdoo’s journey since leaving New York has taken him through a few stops, including a stint as offensive coordinator in Carolina. There, he helped revive the career of a quarterback who, in a twist of fate, he’ll now be game-planning against in Super Bowl LX - Sam Darnold.
When asked about Darnold’s late-career emergence, McAdoo offered a thoughtful take that could just as easily apply to himself.
“It’s easy to give up on them early,” he said. “They’re all in different places when they get into the league, and the teams they go to are in different places too.
Sometimes that can be challenging. And I think you have to go through tough times.
You learn a lot about yourself during those times, and if you can come through them and see them as learning experiences, then you’ve got a chance to come out of it the right way.”
Does that go for coaches too?
“It goes for everybody,” McAdoo said.
Back when the Giants hired him at 37 - first as offensive coordinator, then as Tom Coughlin’s successor - McAdoo was billed as the next big thing. Before Sean McVay became the prototype, McAdoo was the young offensive mind teams were chasing.
It didn’t pan out. But the reasons why it didn’t - much like Darnold’s early struggles - are more nuanced than a win-loss record.
Now 48, McAdoo isn’t chasing headlines. He’s not front and center at Super Bowl media events. In fact, during Opening Night on Monday, while the lights and cameras focused on players and marquee coaches, McAdoo stood quietly in a dark corner of the convention center floor, far from the spotlight.
His title - senior defensive assistant - doesn’t scream “essential contributor.” But make no mistake: his fingerprints are all over this Patriots defense.
Every Wednesday, McAdoo gets his moment. That’s when he steps in front of the defense and delivers a breakdown of the opposing offense - something he’s always excelled at.
Drawing from his offensive background, he gives players insight into how the other side thinks: what they’re trying to do, where they believe their strengths lie, and how to disrupt it. Then he translates that into the Patriots’ defensive terminology.
He also runs the scout team offense that the starters face throughout the week.
“He’s kind of filled the role I did last year in Cleveland,” Vrabel said, referencing his own time between head coaching jobs.
For Kuhr, a first-year defensive play-caller, McAdoo’s been an invaluable resource.
“It’s the most coveted position in this profession - being a head coach,” Kuhr said. “For him to be that humble, to not care what his role is and just commit to it?
That speaks volumes. There’s a lot I couldn’t have done without him this season.
B-Mac is the best.”
McAdoo still has the itch to lead. That fire hasn’t gone out.
“There’s nothing like being in the fire, nothing like being out front,” he admitted. “I still love being in front of the players - that’s never going to go away.
We all have an ego in this thing, right? You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.
But you have to manage that, do your role, and do it at a high level.”
So here he is, breaking down film on a quarterback he once helped rebuild, helping Kuhr and the Patriots’ defense understand what Seattle’s offense - led by another rising play-caller in Klint Kubiak - wants to do. He’s chasing a second Super Bowl ring, his first since winning one as the Packers’ tight ends coach back in 2010.
Beyond that? He’s not making any promises.
“When I was younger, I had a lot of success early. I climbed the ladder fast, and I probably thought, ‘Well, that’s the way it goes in this thing,’” McAdoo said.
“Sometimes you take that for granted. Now, anything I can do to help the team I’m on, I’m willing to do.
We’ll kind of see where it goes. No timelines, no timetables, no agendas.
Just try to be a blessing to everybody I can be on the team.”
In a league that often moves on quickly from those who stumble, McAdoo has found a second act - not by demanding a spotlight, but by embracing his role, earning trust, and proving that football minds like his don’t just disappear. They adapt.
They evolve. And sometimes, they help build champions.