The Patriots offense next season might be led by two of the preeminent NFL head coaching failures of the last few years.
New England last week hired Joe Judge as an offensive assistant. Judge, who previously worked as wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator for the Patriots, recently was fired by the New York Giants after two underwhelming seasons as their head coach.
Multiple reports indicate that, rather than hiring someone like Bill O'Brien, New England could replace former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels with a combination of Judge and other assistants. Matt Patricia could be one of Judge's fellow collaborators, according to ESPN's Mike Reiss.
Patricia worked this season as New England's "senior football advisor." He was fired by the Detroit Lions midway through the 2020 season.
From Reiss' Sunday notes column:
Few, if any, truly know what Belichick is thinking. But the possibility of Patricia joining the offensive staff in some capacity has come up in conversations with smart NFL personnel projecting Belichick's next move, and the thinking goes like this:
With the Patriots set to retain the core of their existing defensive staff, but losing elite institutional brainpower/knowledge on offense without McDaniels and others, Belichick might view some combination of Patricia and Judge as his best option to spearhead the offensive transition.
Patricia last worked on the offensive side of the ball during the 2004-05 season, when he was an offensive assistant/assistant offensive line coach for the Patriots. He was New England's defensive coordinator from 2012 through 2017.
It's important to note that hiring an official offensive coordinator has not been ruled out by the Patriots. Furthermore, some reports indicate that Bill Belichick could play a role in the offensive game-planning next season.
Regardless, with McDaniels poaching Belichick's assistants on his way to Las Vegas, the Patriots' offensive coaching staff will look much different in 2022 than it has in a long time.
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