It seems like Bill O’Brien returning to the Patriots would be great for both parties. The Patriots need somebody to run their offense, and the move would allow O’Brien to return the NFL.
Yet, O’Brien remains in Alabama, where he’s apparently been tasked with complimenting a potential 14-year-old recruit on his Fortnite skills.
On Gresh and Keefe Tuesday, NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran said O’Brien is still largely viewed as Josh McDaniels’ inevitable replacement.
“There’s just a presumption that it will eventually be Bill O’Brien,” Curran said. “I don’t know how well-founded that is. I think over the course of time there’s plenty of people in the media who have gotten close to Bill O’Brien during his time in Houston and during his time in Alabama, and some of those folks who I think might be piped in to Bill better than I am have indicated, ‘Don’t panic yet.’”
O’Brien was Alabama’s offensive coordinator last season after spending more than six years with the Texans as head coach. He was also general manager for his last season in Houston. The Texans went 52-48 under O’Brien, and qualified for the playoffs four times.
Before that, O’Brien was the head coach at Penn State in the immediate aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. O’Brien spent five years on Bill Belichick’s staff, his last coming as offensive coordinator in 2011.
Seth Wickersham reports in his tell-all Patriots book that O’Brien tried to get fired in Houston when McDaniels accepted the Colts job in 2017. O'Brien's apparent plan was to come back to the Patriots and position himself to succeed Belichick.
With McDaniels gone, there doesn’t appear to be a succession plan in place. That represents an opening for O’Brien, though as Curran mentioned, we curiously haven’t heard many rumblings about his possible return.
“It’s the best case scenario: Bill O’Brien comes back here,” Curran said. “I would say folks could probably let out a sigh of relief. But until it’s done, it’s not. We don’t even have smoke, much less fire.”
The Patriots re-hired Joe Judge as an offensive assistant last week. Matt Patricia, whom the Patriots brought back last year, could also move to the offensive side of the ball.
That wouldn’t be anyone’s best case scenario.
Listen to the full interview here:
