Prior to the 2019 season, there had been a lot of consistency in the positional coaching ranks in New England. In one year, a lot of that changed. Defensive line coach Brendan Daly, who had been in New England since 2014, left for Kansas City. Brian Flores, who was in Foxboro since 2004, became the new head coach in Miami. There, he took assistant quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski (2013-18), wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea (2009-18), and cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer (2006-18).
These moves left a lot of openings in New England. Daly was replaced by former Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema. Former Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo slid in for Flores. Mick Lombardi, son of former Patriots assistant Michael Lombardi, would take over for Schuplinski. Mike Pellegrino, previously an assistant, was promoted to replace Boyer. And, special teams coordinator Joe Judge took on a new role, becoming the wide receivers coach.
For obvious reasons, Judge was one of the coaches in the biggest spotlight. Working with Tom Brady’s weapons is always a job that will attract attention. So, it wasn’t a total surprise when a guy who had been in a successful organization for eight years and was finally getting some media coverage due to the extra duties was getting calls to be a head coach. This off-season, the New York Giants took a swing on Judge, once again leaving the Patriots with a hole in the coaching staff. Who could fill those shoes as the next wide receivers coach?
Chad O’Shea
O’Shea spent 10 seasons as the Patriots wide receivers coach. Last offseason, he left for Miami to make the jump to offensive coordinator for the first time in his career. The move didn’t exactly pan out the way he expected. With less than ideal weapons, the Dolphins would finish 25th in points per game (19.1) and 27th in yards per game (310).
Surprisingly, after only one season, O’Shea was fired. This decision was reportedly made because Flores wanted to separate himself from what he did in New England. If O’Shea wants to continue working and perfecting a Patriots-like system, maybe going back to New England would be best.
The red zone struggles the Patriots had this year could certainly be helped by the man who was “incredibly responsible for any and all of our success in the red zone,” as Josh McDaniels put it in 2018. O’Shea could be used to help guys like N’Keal Harry and Mohamed Sanu find their roles in the scoring offense, and that’s something that would be extremely important to the future success of the team.