The New England Patriots have new responsibilities in mind for senior football advisor Matt Patricia and newly-hired offensive assistant Joe Judge, according to MMQB’s Albert Breer. Judge will work with the quarterbacks and Patricia will spend time with the offensive line.
The new roles seem to be Bill Belichick’s solution for a mass exodus of offensive talent after former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels took the Raiders head coaching job and brought three assistants with him. With those four offensive coaches leaving and running backs coach Ivan Fears expected to retire, the Patriots have a significant reorganization to do.
Breer shared some insight on how things are shaking out so far:
“As it stands now, Judge is expected to work with the quarterbacks, and Patricia with the line, and each will do so without much experience having coached offense before they became head coaches over the last few years (Judge came up working with the special teams, Patricia on defense). Which, obviously, is a dice roll given the critical point that Mac Jones is at. (For what it’s worth, I’ve heard the Patriots haven’t so much as talked to Adam Gase about their OC opening, and things have been quiet on the Bill O’Brien front as well.)”
There have been no indications of who might call plays for the offense in 2022. Judge makes some sense, if he’s working with the quarterbacks. But he has never called offensive plays and has only worked with receivers in this offense during his first stint with the Patriots. Retired offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia provided some insights as to why tight ends coach Nick Caley might emerge as a strong candidate. And of course, Patricia has experience calling plays for the defense. He’s in the mix, too.
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