Patriots bring in new defensive coach from college ranks

Mike Vrabel and the New England Patriots are building a coaching staff with a mix of experience and younger, up-and-coming talents. One of their newest defensive assistants is coming straight from college.

As confirmed by Mark Daniels of MassLive last Friday, the Patriots are adding former Illinois assistant defensive backs coach Kevin Richardson II to Vrabel's staff (Joseph Pasteris had the scoop earlier that day). Richardson himself played defensive back at Arkansas for four seasons, before getting his start in coaching as a graduate assistant at Nazarene College in 2019.

Richardson also served as defensive backs coach at Northeastern State (2020) and Long Island University (2022), with a one-year stint as a graduate assistant at Illinois in-between. He then rejoined the Fighting Illini in 2023 as a defensive analyst, before becoming their assistant DBs coach in 2024.

The Richardson hire opens up questions about the status of the Patriots' two defensive back coaches in the 2024 season. As of Tuesday morning, cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino and safeties coach Brian Belichick have not been officially let go. It's possible that Richardson will only be an assistant defensive backs coach of some kind, and not necessarily in a lead role. That's unclear at this point.

Vrabel has already retained special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer on the Patriots staff, so there's a precedent for him to keep assistant coaches that he feels have done a good job. In the wake of Richardson joining the Pats, Pellegrino and Belichick's status will be worth watching in the coming days and weeks.

Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.