The Las Vegas Raiders on Tuesday announced their first coaching staff of the Josh McDaniels era. Unsurprisingly, it has a strong New England Patriots flavor.
McDaniels, the Patriots’ longtime defensive coordinator, took a number of New England assistants with him to Sin City, importing wide receivers coach Mick Lombardi (now offensive coordinator), assistant quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree (now QBs coach) and Carmen Bricillo (same role).
Those hires had been reported in recent weeks. Tuesday’s announcement revealed another Patriots connection: Jerry Schuplinski, who was with New England from 2013 through 2018, will join McDaniels as a senior offensive assistant.
Schuplinski spent three seasons as a Patriots offensive assistant and three more as the team’s assistant quarterbacks coach. Since leaving Foxboro, he’s worked under fellow Patriots alums Brian Flores in Miami and Joe Judge with the New York Giants. The John Carroll University product would have been part of McDaniels’ staff in Indianapolis had the latter not spurned the Colts in 2018.
McDaniels’ inaugural Raiders staff also features two former Patriots coaches on the defensive side of the ball. Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham was with New England in multiple roles from 2009 to 2014, and senior defensive assistant Rob Ryan was the Patriots’ linebackers coach for the first four years of the Bill Belichick era (2000-03).
It remains unclear exactly how the Patriots will replace McDaniels, Lombardi, Hardegree and Bricillo, all of whom were on staff this past season. Judge will be part of their new setup after being rehired as an offensive assistant, with Nick Caley and Matt Patricia expected to take on more responsibility, as well, and Belichick potentially shifting more of his focus toward the offense.
