The New England Patriots could go without naming an offensive coordinator this year.
With the departure of Josh McDaniels, the Patriots returned Joe Judge and named him an offensive assistant. Judge coached special teams for eight seasons for the Patriots and he then spent two years as the New York Giants’ head coach — finishing with a 10-23 record.
Because of his lack of offensive experience, the thought remained that Bill O’Brien would return to Foxborough and take the offensive coordinator position. NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport said on Thursday that the Patriots plan to use Judge and a group of other coaches to handle the offensive duties.
Which, for many, came as an unexpected shock.
“I do believe Bill O’Brien was considered. I think it’s something he would have considered as well. But in the end, it ends up being Joe Judge on the offensive side of the ball, not special teams,” Rapoport said Thursday on WEEI’s Gresh & Keefe. “The way the Patriots are configured, it’s always a little different. They’ve gone [years] without a defensive coordinator. They’ve gone years without an offensive coordinator. They have had one in action, but not actually promoted them in a way of shielding them from the press making sure they don’t have to answer questions. They’ve structured things differently.
“I think it’s possible that this may be it on the offensive side of the ball. I feel like it would be Judge with some added responsibility, Nick Caley with some added responsibility, Mick Lombardi with some added responsibility and kind of do it all as a group and make a decision on an OC potentially next year.”
Bill Belichick has used the same concept on defense for years as he’s had Steve Belichick, Jerod Mayo and Brian Flores as de facto coordinators in recent history. The difference is — Judge has much less experience on the offensive side of the ball and he has a second-year quarterback in Mac Jones to develop.
Rapoport also mentioned that Belichick could have more influence on the offense. Regardless, it looks like the Patriots’ offense will be coached by committee this year.
