BC offensive lineman raves about new Patriots coach Doug Marrone
Doug Marrone spent the 2024 season away from the National Football League, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t making an impact on NFL-caliber offensive linemen.
Marrone worked under Bill O’Brien for the Boston College Eagles in 2024. He was listed as a senior analyst for football strategy/research, but he worked closely with the offensive line. The local ties ostensibly made the Patriots an easy avenue for his transition back to the NFL. He becomes the Pats’ most experienced and accomplished offensive line coach since Dante Scarnecchia, a big get for Mike Vrabel and a Pats coaching staff that desperately needed some experienced adults in the room.
And Marrone was apparently a hit at BC, too. Thanks to some reporting by CLNS Media’s Taylor Kyles at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, we’ve got a first-hand account of Marrone’s time on Chestnut Hill from one of his own former offensive linemen, tackle Ozzy Trapilo.
“It was awesome,” Trapilo said of working with Marrone. “He was a really incredible asset for all the guys. To have someone with that resume, that you’re able to just pick his brain whenever you want. Incredible guy, incredible coach. We really enjoyed him being there. Super-happy for him.”
To be fair, this isn’t exactly the time and place where you get the whole truth about a guy. It’s not like Trapilo was going to step off the field at the Senior Bowl and rip his former boss. But Marrone’s reputation precedes him, especially as an O-line coach. Marrone should be, in Trapilo’s words, an asset for a Patriots team that has been starved for experienced coaches in recent years.
How about Trapilo himself? The “consensus big board” at NFLMockDraftDatabase.com currently has him ranked 147th, which would make him a fifth-round pick. A recent Ravens mock draft at Pro Football Focus, however, has him going to Baltimore in the second round. The Draft Network describes the 6-foot-7 Trapilo as a “large and long offensive lineman with the versatility to provide depth along an offensive line.”
Sounds like he’d be excited to become a Patriot, and get to work with Marrone again.
Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.