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The Patriots officially announced their staff on Wednesday and while there is a good blend of experience and a diverse blend of backgrounds, the offensive side of the staff is far more experienced than the defensive side.
The offensive staff features Josh McDaniels, who we all know his pedigree around here and Doug Marrone who was the former head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and has coordinator and offensive line experience. Add to that Thomas Brown who will serve as tight ends coach and pass game coordinator. Brown has been a coordinator before and was the interim coach of the Bears last season. He is a product of the Sean McVay tree. The other veteran hires on offense are Tony Dews at running back and new receivers coach Todd Downing, who has also coordinated. The Patriots have a ton of experience on the offensive side of the ball but the same cannot be said in defense.
Defensive coordinator Terrell Williams has a lengthy resume and a history with Vrabel but he has never coordinated before. Williams has been an assistant head coach under Vrabel and he was the run game coordinator in Detroit last season. It is not that big of a jump to defensive coordinator but as we have seen in recent seasons, good teams have experienced coordinators on defense.
The position coaches however do leave a little something to be desired from an experience standpoint.
Zak Zuhr (ILB’s) and Clint McMillan (DL) have a history with Vrabel but they do not have a lot of experience leading a position group. Both have been position assistants for most of their careers. Like defensive assistant Milton Patterson, both also have a lot of college coaching experience.
In the secondary, safeties coach Scott Booker coached the safeties for the Bills last season and coached safeties for Vrabel in Tennessee. Cornerbacks coach Justin Hamilton was the assistant defensive backs coach with the Colts last season but the bulk of his experience has been in college as well. Replacing Mike Pelligrino will be some big shoes to fill.
Coaches want guys who are loyal and share their philosophy. I get it. I was the same when I hired my staff as a high school head coach. Vrabel valued that as well.
“The goal in filling out the 2025 Patriots coaching staff was to identify loyal, trustworthy coaches who are diverse in background, ideas, experiences and systems,” said Head Coach Mike Vrabel. “We will be aligned in our vision to teach and develop our players with creativity, consistency and an attention to detail with the major goal of developing relationships that stretch beyond the field and meeting rooms.”
Given the struggles of the defense last season, some additional experience would have been beneficial on that side of the ball.
Retaining Jeremy Springer as special teams coach was a great move. Springer did a great job last season and he is a rising star. He has the respect of the players.
I have no doubt that Vrabel hired good coaches and I like the overall composition of the staff, but I want to see another veteran coach on defense besides Ben McAdoo who has never coached defense in his career.
We will find out in due time if Vrabel will make any other additions to the staff, specifically on defense.