The Patriots gave Danny Amendola $31 million reasons to sign with them this week, but it turns out the main attraction was already in New England.
No, it wasn’t his parents, who own a home in Scituate. Instead, he admitted his experience with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels during his time with the Rams was the biggest pull.
“Well, that was the main thing,” Amendola said during his introductory conference call on Friday. “Playing for Josh for one year gave me the opportunity to learn his offense and kind of figure out what I could do within the offense, what really excited me.”
Amendola didn’t have all that much experience playing in live games under McDaniels, considering he suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1 of the 2011 season — McDaniels only season in St. Louis. But learning and experiencing his fast-paced offense, even just for the weeks in training camp and the preseason, were enough to sell Amendola on it.
“I loved playing for him even though I went down the first game that year and I didn’t get much after that first game,” Amendola added. “Just the familiarity I had already with the offense and what I feel like I can bring to the table, that’s what excites me the most.”
Coming off yet another injury-riddled season last year, Amendola is hoping that he’ll have more time to develop in McDaniels’ scheme this time around.
The opportunity to catch passes from Tom Brady, who he acknowledged talking to briefly on Thursday, instead of Sam Bradford is an added caveat to Amendola’s new home. But, as it turns out, catching those passes in McDaniels’ system was even more attractive than the future Hall of Famer.
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