According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, newly hired Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel has started making moves with the coaches that remained in New England after the firing of Jerod Mayo.
On Friday, Reiss posted a list on X.com of coaches who would be “moving on in 2025,” four of which coming on the offensive side of the ball:
- Tight ends coach Bob Bicknell
- Running backs coach Taylor Embree
- Wide receivers coach Tyler Hughes
- Assistant wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood
- Defensive coaching assistant Keith Jones
Notable coaches missing from this list from Reiss are offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington, quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney, and offensive line coach Scott Peters.
Alex Van Pelt
With only The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin saying Van Pelt was out of a job on the eve of Mayo also losing his job, the ambiguity surrounding his role within the organization remains. But with NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport referring to the OC job as “vacant” in a post on X.com on Friday, it appears Volin will be vindicated (kind of) at some point in the coming weeks.
It’s also notable that multiple reports came down on Friday about interviews for the offensive coordinator position in New England, with Rapoport saying the Patriots spent Tuesday interviewing Bears interim head coach Thomas Brown, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler saying the Patriots have put in a request to speak with Charger passing game coordinator Marcus Brady.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye spoke openly throughout the season about his appreciation for Van Pelt, giving him credit for developing him into a QB that New England fans are excited about heading into his second season.
“I think some of what AVP does every day is he brings it every day,” Maye told the media on New Year’s Day. “I think that's part of something that the quarterback, you've got to bring it every day. It doesn't matter. As the quarterback of the team, these guys look to you, and it's within the title of bringing it every day and bringing juice.
“Even when you're 3-13, you're bringing it every day and still approaching it the same way. I think AVP has done a great job of telling me throughout the games as well, ‘Hey, you just threw an interception; hey, you're still the same guy. Still go out there and rip it.’ He's done a great job of kind of putting confidence in me, kind of instilling that and realizing that you've got to play with confidence in this league to play quarterback.”
Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft told the media in his end-of-season press conference that it would be up to his new head coach to decide the fate of the coaches that remained under contract after Mayo’s firing. With Maye speaking so openly about his positive working relationship with Van Pelt, it begs the question of whether or not Vrabel will offer him a role on his staff for 2025 - whether that’s as his offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, or something else where he’d be working directly with Maye.
DeMarcus Covington
After a dominant performance from his defense in Week 1’s upset win over the Bengals, Covington’s unit progressively got worse as the season went on.
Under Covington, New England’s defense finished the season ranked 22nd in overall defense, 22nd in scoring defense, 23rd in rushing defense, 25th in red zone defense, and 26th in third down defense.
It appears that Covington sees the writing on the wall, having already interviewed for the vacant defensive coordinator position in Cincinnati in the days following the Patriots’ season finale. And with Vrabel coming in as a coach with extensive background coaching defense, it’s safe to assume the 49-year-old will be looking to install one of his own as the head of his defensive unit.
T.C. McCartney
11 different times during the 2024 season, Maye went out of his way during press conferences to praise the first-year quarterbacks coach, crediting him for his progress with footwork and decision making as the season went along.
In late November, he talked about McCartney’s helpfulness when it came to the “little things” throughout a game.
“I think T.C. does a great job of those little things - those little reminders that can go a long way of knowing when to do things situationally,” said Maye. “I talked about the one in Tennessee, where it's the third down and we're at midfield. We got a chance to pin him deep on a punt and throw an interception. It causes a short field for the defense. Little things like that you grow and learn and try not to replicate those mistakes.”
This relationship, like the one Maye has with Van Pelt, feels like one that Vrabel needs to think long and hard about before handing McCartney his walking papers. If there’s some sort of staff put together that keeps Maye with these offensive coaches that helped him become inarguably the second best quarterback from his rookie class, I think that will do wonders for Maye’s continued development as a pro.
Scott Peters
Simply put, Peters was in charge of the Patriots’ most inconsistent unit during the 2024 season.
This unit dealt with an extraordinary amount of injuries, and even saw their opening day starting left tackle quit the team after only 12 snaps in Week 1.
So if you look through that lens, maybe Peters gets a pass for how his first season in New England played out.
But when you look at how each of his offensive linemen graded out against their peers at their respective positions in 2024, it begs the question of whether or not a different coach could have gotten more out of the group:
- OT Demontrey Jacobs, 81st out of 81
- OT Vederian Lowe, 69th out of 81
- G Layden Robinson, 74th out of 77
- G Mike Onwenu, 33rd out of 77
- C Ben Brown, 39th out of 40
One thing Peters has going for him is a shared LinkedIn connection with Vrabel, in that both have spent time on the staff of Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski.
From 2020 to 2023, Peters was in Cleveland under Stefanski as the assistant offensive line coach, whereas Vrabel spent the 2024 season with Stefanski as a coaching and personnel consultant.
Maybe a nice letter of rec from Stefanski gives Peters a shot at redemption in 2025.
Stay locked in to WEEI and WEEI.com for all the latest on the Patriots’ coaching staff in the coming weeks.