Patriots Rumors: Why Matt Patricia Was Offensive Play-Caller In 2022

Matt Patricia became persona non grata among Patriots fans last season, but he might have been hung out to dry in New England.

After flaming out of Detroit, Patricia returned to the Patriots as a senior football advisor in 2021 and shockingly shifted gears to offensive play-caller the following season. Led by a coach whose NFL calling card is defense, the Patriots offense was anemic from wire to wire and starting quarterback Mac Jones severely regressed as an NFL sophomore.

But according to The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin, the role Patricia held in what might prove to be his final season in Foxboro wasn’t one he coveted.

“The way one source close to the situation described it, Patricia didn’t really want to be offensive coordinator, but did it as a favor to (Bill) Belichick, who needed someone he could trust,” Volin wrote in a column published Wednesday. “And it also was indirectly a favor to the Krafts, who didn’t have to pay an offensive coordinator in 2022, as Patricia finished out the final year of his five-year deal with the Lions.”

Patricia ultimately was replaced by a fellow Belichick confidant, Bill O’Brien, who was on the Patriots’ offensive coaching staff for five seasons before leaving the organization in 2012. Patricia, whether it’s fair or not, doesn’t appear to have a future in New England, but he might not have to wait very long to find NFL work elsewhere.