FOXBORO, Mass. — The Patriots experienced unprecedented turnover within their coaching staff this winter, leaving New England with eight coaches either new to the organization or in new roles for the 2019 season.
The complete list: assistant quarterbacks coach Mick Lombardi, assistant running backs coach Cole Popovich, coaching assistant Carmen Bricillo, defensive line coach Bret Bielema, outside linebackers coach Demarcus Covington, inside linebackers coach Jerod Mayo, cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino and coaching assistant Bob Fraser.
What does that mean for the Patriots? Perhaps more responsibility for head coach Bill Belichick. He admitted as much in an interview with SiriusXM.
“We have a good defensive staff,” Belichick told Pat Kirwin and Jim Miller. “We interact with a lot of different players because of the versatility of our defense. I’d say everybody kind of gets coached by everyone else at some point along the way.
“But yeah, my involvement is probably a little bit more than what it’s been in the past, but I’ve always tried to try involved in all of the facets of the game — offense, defense, special teams, our conditioning program and so forth. I try to be supportive of all of the things we do. I think it’s important for the coach to be in those just to add emphasis to whatever area we’re working on.”
Belichick described the ascension of coaches like Popovich, Covington and Pellegrino to current and former Patriots assistants.
“We have a good staff and some people on our staff who are on their way up, younger coaches that are gaining experience and will gain opportunities to have more responsibility,” Belichick said. “That’s been really a theme there. Matt Patricia’s been in that category, Brian Flores is in that category, Josh (McDaniels) over the course of the years before they became head coaches and so forth.
“General managers worked their way up in our organization before they moved somewhere else. That’s kind of the progress. We have young guys, they’re stepping up and getting more opportunity to coach and have other responsibilities on the coaching staff and game-planning and so forth. We’ll just put it together.”
It seems Belichick could serve as the Patriots’ de facto defensive coordinator this season, though Mayo has had a role in calling defensive plays in training camp.
