It’s official: the Patriots are looking for an offensive coordinator.
The team announced in a stunning press release Thursday night — stunning for them, anyway — that it will make its first outside coordinator hire since they brought in Scott O’Brien from Denver in 2009.
What’s more: the new blood will come in on the offensive side of the football as the team seeks to wash away the taste of last year’s failed operation under Matt Patricia.
Barring a major change of pace, the Patriots’ new OC will probably be someone with prior ties to the organization because that’s how Bill Belichick rolls. One name in particular, Bill O’Brien, has stood out for the last two seasons as a strong candidate.
But beyond O’Brien, there are a few possible choices that, if chosen, could signal some very interesting shifts in the Patriots’ offensive philosophy and perhaps its visions for the future of the team.
Left off the list: Kliff Kingsbury, Zac Robinson
Both Kingsbury and Robinson have been linked to the Patriots’ offensive coordinator job by virtue of having been drafted by the team as quarterbacks at some point. (Kingsbury in 2003, Robinson in 2010).
But serving as a practice-squad quarterback or carrying Tom Brady’s shoulder pads don’t necessarily equate to knowing how Belichick likes things done from a coaching standpoint.
Robinson is a relatively new coach (only four years of experience in total) and just became a positional coach this season. Though the Patriots have promoted coaches with similar experience in the past from within, Robinson doesn’t fit that ball, even if you note the allure of grabbing a Sean McVay disciple.
Meanwhile, the Patriots have apparently done some research on Kingsbury since the coach was fired by the Arizona Cardinals, and perhaps New England wouldn’t mind paying some of the coach’s salary from his Cardinals contract extension if they liked him enough to hire him here.
But the combination of those contract logistics as well as how much Kinsgbury might have to adjust his philosophy in order to fit the Belichick mold might make that hire more wishful thinking than anything, especially with more amenable options already available.
Bill O’Brien
The obvious choice, if ever there was one.
Not only did O’Brien come up through the ranks in New England, he took over after Josh McDaniels left to Denver and helped the Patriots put up one of their best offensive seasons ever, unlocking the two tight-end system with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.
He then had success as head coach at Penn State before getting the head job with the Houston Texans, where he made the playoffs four times before finally overstaying his welcome and linking up with Nick Saban for some career rehabilitation the last two years.
But the track record he has with offensive football, especially quarterback development, is undeniable, from working with Brady to turning Deshaun Watson into a top-10 quarterback with the Texans to molding Bryce Young into a likely top-10 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Patriots’ offensive coordinator job could be just what he needs to work his way back into NFL head-coaching consideration.
One possible impediment, if it can be called that: might Jerod Mayo’s retainment by the organization, especially if there’s an understanding that he could be Belichick’s eventual successor, make O’Brien less keen on coming? Or are O’Brien’s head-coaching ambitions indiscriminate enough that he doesn’t care about waiting for the Patriots gig specifically?
If you’re ranking the best possible choices for the job in a vacuum, though, it’s hard to beat O’Brien.
Chad O’Shea
The former Patriots wide receivers coach (2009-2018) has become a fast-rising name in the offensive coordinator conversation. He left New England to call plays for Brian Flores in Miami only to be let go after a year and has most recently served as Kevin Stefanski’s passing game coordinator in Cleveland.
Things reportedly didn’t end on great terms between O’Shea and the Patriots when he joined Flores four years ago, but there’s reason to extend an olive branch for his expertise.
He offers the same kind of experience with the Shanahan offense (via working with Stefanski, who learned from Mike Shanahan disciple Gary Kubiak in Minnesota) that Zac Robinson brings with the added benefit of having called plays before. If the Patriots want to continue incorporating that scheme with a better teacher than Matt Patricia, O’Shea could facilitate that.
He also has worked with former Mac Jones teammate Tua Tagovailoa and likely knows something of the roots Jones has offensively and how to communicate with him.
O’Shea is far from the spiciest name on the list, but the Patriots could do much worse.
Nick Caley
Just when we thought Mayo might be out and searching for greener pastures elsewhere, the Krafts apparently pulled him back in.
Might the same thing happen with Caley, who is reportedly well-liked by the owners and someone they want to keep around?
Whatever the reasons for doing things the way they did, getting passed up for a chance to call offensive plays couldn’t have sat well with Caley, who has been the tight ends coach in New England since 2017. He’s paid his dues and knew the Patriots’ offensive system better than either Matt Patricia or Joe Judge but was forced to watch as Patricia fumbled the bag all season long in a role that he probably thought would be his when Belichick blocked Josh McDaniels from snapping him up.
His recency with the Patriots might be a compelling case in his favor over O’Brien and O’Shea: he’s been here and knows the personnel intimately, including quarterback Mac Jones. Caley might even have some ideas for how to, I don’t know, get those two tight ends working in this offense – something neither McDaniels nor Patricia could figure out how to do.
He’s also young and probably has some fresher ideas about how to execute the Patriots’ offense based on league-wide trends. Additionally, the 39-year-old is about the same age as Mayo, which could make them potential building blocks upon which to reestablish the standard we’ve come to expect.
