Patriots finally land on a new wide receivers coach
The New England Patriots have filled another key position on Mike Vrabel’s coaching staff.
As first reported by Greg Bedard at the Boston Sports Journal, the Patriots are hiring Todd Downing to be their wide receivers coach. Downing was most recently with the New York Jets as their quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.
Downing is the latest Pats assistant coach to come to New England with ties to Vrabel from the Tennessee Titans. He served as Vrabel’s offensive coordinator from 2021-2022, and before that, tight ends coach from 2019-20.
A longtime assistant in both coaching and front office work, Downing has been in the NFL since 2001 as a member of the research & development team for the Minnesota Vikings. He has eight seasons of experience coaching quarterbacks and three as an offensive coordinator.

However, this will be Downing’s first season as specifically a wide receivers coach. He’ll be taking on the critical task of getting the most out of the Patriots’ young receiver room, which mostly faltered in 2024 under ex-receivers coach Tyler Hughes.
Downing’s coordinator experience could serve him well coaching up the Patriots’ wideouts. He’s certainly an assistant that Vrabel was comfortable bringing in to work with returning offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. The offensive staff under McDaniels, as a whole, does feel stitched together, as opposed to a cohesive whole. So the way the staff comes together on that side of the ball will be something to watch in 2025.
Bedard added in his report that Vrabel actually did value McDaniels’ experience in hiring him as offensive coordinator, after blowing through four less experienced OCs for the Titans, which has eased concerns of an “arranged marriage” between the two.
It remains to be seen how big of a difference the new coaching staff in New England makes on its own. But if the Patriots don’t perform to expectations on offense going forward, it certainly won’t be because their coaches lack experience.
Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.