Two critical positions need an influx of leadership in New England.
It took just 10 days as New England Patriots head coach for Mike Vrabel to find his offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator.
But Vrabel’s work is far from done.
The Patriots still need to hire position coaches on both sides of the ball to work with OC Josh McDaniels and DC Terrell Williams. As of Thursday, the only position coach opening that’s been filled is at running back, where former Tennessee Titans RBs coach Tony Dews is expected to reunite with Vrabel in Foxboro.
New England does have the benefit of an experienced offensive coordinator in McDaniels, who has nearly 20 years of experience with the Patriots and essentially served as head coach of the offense during his previous two stints as OC.
“I think that’s a massive advantage to having Josh McDaniels as your offensive coordinator,” Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran said on a new episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast. “He can be the department head you need.”
But as co-host Phil Perry pointed out, there’s a danger in having McDaniels wear too many hats while also trying to focus on calling plays and developing second-year quarterback Drake Maye. Which is why New England needs quality coaches to improve its two weakest positions: offensive line and wide receiver.
“It is still going to be really important who (McDaniels) and Vrabel are able to get to be the critical position coaches at receiver and offensive line, because (McDaniels) can’t be everywhere at once,” Perry said. “You can’t have all ten fingers plugging up the holes in the sinking ship.
“He’s got a young quarterback to develop. That should keep him pretty freaking busy. He’s got game plans that he’s got to draw up. It’s nice that he can on occasion go from one room to the next, but I don’t want a situation where he’s got to be quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator and receivers coach all year.
“You’ve got to get somebody who knows what he’s doing there. You’ve got to get an offensive line coach who knows exactly not only what he’s doing, but what you want out of your run game and how that thing is supposed to look to fit in with the rest of your offense.”
Perry’s point? The more time and energy McDaniels can devote to Maye, the better.
“I have no doubt that he can coach a number of different positions. I just don’t want doing it all that often,” Perry added. “I think in a perfect world, he’s spending all of his time with the quarterback, in the quarterback’s ear, making sure that he knows what the hell he’s doing in his second season.”
The Patriots had myriad issues on and off the field at offensive line and wide receiver last season, from starting left tackle Chukwuma Okorafor leaving the team after Week 2 to rookie Ja’Lynn Polk boldly claiming he has “the best hands in the league” despite struggling with drop issues (to name just two examples).
Offensive line coach Scott Peters already has moved on and wide receivers coach Tyler Hughes isn’t expected to return, so Vrabel and McDaniels will need to choose wisely by filling those vacancies with coaches who can get two critical positions back on track.
