Like most New England Patriots assistants who spoke with reporters Monday, Joe Judge wouldn't reveal the specifics of his role for the upcoming 2022 season.
But Judge did confirm one key aspect of his position: He has been and will be working closely with the Patriots' most important player, second-year quarterback Mac Jones.
"I'll give you a direct answer right there, not to be evasive on anything," Judge said in his first media session since returning to New England in February. "I am working with Mac, as well as some other people on the offense. I'm working with all the skill group on the offense. I would say all of us are working collectively as a coaching unit to work with the entire offense. So that's the most direct and specific answer I can give you on that, guys. In terms of who's coaching each position, you'll see me on the field with the quarterbacks."
Judge spent the last two seasons as head coach of the New York Giants. Before that, he was New England's special teams coordinator for five seasons -- including one in which he also coached wide receivers -- and a Patriots special teams assistant for three more. This will be the 40-year-old's first time coaching quarterbacks at any level.
Judge, whose official, team-announced title is "offensive assistant," replaces Josh McDaniels, who coached Patriots QBs for the last 10 seasons and 15 of the last 18 before leaving for a head-coaching job in Las Vegas.
Will he also take over play-calling duties from McDaniels, New England's longtime offensive coordinator? According to Judge, head coach Bill Belichick has yet to make or communicate that decision.
"Look, I'll tell you directly and honestly right now: Nothing's been declared or decided or voiced to me," Judge said. "I know Matt (Patricia)'s going to be the other one who gets asked, or Nick Caley. Look, right now we're all just working (on) drills and skills. We're working offensively. I do think it's critical for every coach on the offense to understand the offense and be prepared as a play-caller. If you're not really looking and approaching the game as a play-caller, I think it's tough to really teach the game plan, if that makes sense to you. ...
"In terms of who calls plays, to be honest with you, that's not the main focus of us right now as an offensive staff. When Coach (Belichick) wants us to go ahead and declare a role like that, he'll tell us."
Belichick did say earlier this offseason that Judge and Patricia -- both former NFL head coaches and Super Bowl-winning Patriots coordinators -- will have prominent offensive roles this season despite their areas of expertise being special teams and defense, respectively. Patricia said Monday he's been working with offensive linemen but also sidestepped a question about play-calling.
Multiple times in his 10-minute Zoom conference, Judge stressed the importance of cross-training and collaboration among the Patriots' new-look offensive staff, which also lost offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo, wide receivers coach Mick Lombardi and assistant QBs coach Bo Hardegree to McDaniels' Raiders and running backs coach Ivan Fears to (as-of-yet unannounced) retirement.
Judge was the only external offseason addition to the Patriots' staff, with Patricia, Troy Brown, Vinnie Sunseri and Ross Douglass all receiving apparent promotions.
"For us, it's important right now for all of our coaches to be able to coach all the skill players, or for that matter the line players, as well, as we go through this," Judge said. "As we divide up and we go two- and three-spot drills, it's important that, if it's a ball-handling drill and Vinnie Sunseri's running it, that he can coach the quarterbacks, as well, and we're all on the same page.
"It's been a main emphasis for us as a coaching staff that we want to make sure we can all coach all the players and that nobody is out there with a lack of knowledge in the offense."
The Patriots began voluntary offseason workouts last month. Their first organized team activities practice is set for May 23.
