The New England Patriots have officially hired Bill O’Brien as their new Offensive Coordinator. Despite the coaching change, Felger and Mazz still have some questions on the Patriots coaching staff and if it’s really any different from 2022.
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FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – JANUARY 01: Joe Judge, head coach Bill Belichick and Mat Patricia of the New England Patriots look on before a game against the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium on January 01, 2023 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
Have there been enough changes?
Felger: So I’m worried about the whole staff. I mean, Bill O’Brien’s a big improvement and they needed to do it, and that’s a positive for sure. But I wanted to see more of a wave, you know, more of an infusion from the outside. More O’Brien guys or just outside guys, if not quite a housecleaning, a real retooling of that staff.
Mazz: Renovation?
Felger: Yeah, I really wanted to see that. And I’m not seeing it. And maybe it’s, you know, we got a ways to go, but they released, you know, all the crime family diagrams and the staff going to that game. Did you see who the running back coach was?
Mazz: No, I did not.
Felger: Evan Rothstein, the nerd.
Mazz: Oh, my God.
Felger: The analyst they brought from Detroit. But anyway, you’re not hearing about any new interviews. You’re not hearing about anyone else coming in here. The only one you heard coming back in here is Adrian Klemm. Who I couldn’t tell if he could coach or not. I have no idea. Greg Bedard called around and heard awful things. Heard some bad things. And he’s not a Patricia guy. Bedard mentioned two Patricia, guys. One is Doug Marrone, who we brought up before. A lot of experience coaching offensive line in the NFL, college, for decades and is close with Bill O’Brien. And that would be like an O’Brien guy and a, you know, another strong personality experienced NFL, and he’s a friend of Bill, too. So we check that box but okay nothing with Doug Marrone. Bedard also mentioned the assistant offensive line coach in Baltimore, who was O’Brien’s main offensive line coach in Houston. Nothing with him. Instead it’s Adrian Klemm, who again, blew himself out of Pittsburgh in one year, which is really hard to do. Pittsburgh is exceedingly loyal. He lasted less than a year and Greg didn’t hear good things about him in Oregon. But either way, he’s a younger guy, Bill brought him into the NFL and it’s like that thing. Okay, So but that’s the only guy?
Felger: Otherwise, Cam Achord is still on special teams. I don’t see any other movement on the staff. I told you before that Troy Brown, I love to death and to pieces, and I can’t believe he would be a bad wide receivers coach. So but that’s only my experience with him personally. I have no idea if he can coach or not. And he’s the head coach in the Shrine Bowl. Which tells me he’s not going anywhere, which I’m glad for on one level. There’s a long way of saying saying, I want to see Bill O’Brien here with his guy as quarterback coach or Bill O’Brien could be the quarterback coach, but he brings along his assistant who’s assistant quarterback coach and sort of grooms to be the next guy. I think that’s what McDaniels was for a time before he ascended. So Bill brings in a guy who’s a quarterback coach, but he’s titled assistant quarterback coach, but that’s O’Brien’s guy, that’s his lieutenant. That’s his guy. Bill O’Brien brings in HIS offensive line coach or HIS receiver coach. And now there’s like a wave of new coaches, they take over the whole department. I wanted a full department takeover. I didn’t want a new manager and all the same underlings with the same mindset and the same thing. And that’s what I’m afraid I’m getting. That’s what it feels like to me so far. And that’s no good. Nope. Not what I wanted.
Mazz: Well, I think that that is what’s happened. And again, it just speaks to the level of power that Bill still has in there. So, you know, the only other change really that again, we’ll see what happens with Clem i guess, but the only other changes that Mayo got elevated. Well, how does that really change anything?
Felger: We’ll see. Yeah, we’ll see if the roles are any different.
Jim Murray: Especially, I mean, has he been empowered? Otherwise it feels like one big shell game with a lot of these same names. That he still has Cam record on the staff is unbelievable.
Mazz: It really is.
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