{"id":25029,"date":"2025-06-06T15:44:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T15:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=25029"},"modified":"2025-06-06T15:44:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T15:44:23","slug":"breaking-news-former-patriots-coach-is-one-of-the-most-important-people-in-the-nfl-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=25029","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS: Former Patriots coach is \u2018one of the most important people in the NFL\u2019 in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Over the course of three years, Nick Caley has gone from New England Patriots tight ends coach to one of the most pivotal coaching roles in the league.<\/p>\n

\"Texans<\/p>\n

Houston Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley makes a call as he runs the quarterbacks through drills during the team’s NFL football OTA’s at Houston Methodist Training Center in Houston, Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle via AP)AP<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Kevin Clark went a step further, naming Caley as \u201cone of the most important people in the NFL this year.\u201d That\u2019s because, as first-year offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans, Caley will have the fate of quarterback C.J. Stroud in his hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the most important people in the NFL this year, because it\u2019s his job to get an elite quarterback back on track,\u201d Clark said on ESPN\u2019s \u201cNFL Live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stroud, the NFL\u2019s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2023, took a step back in 2024. The blame for Stroud\u2019s struggles were pinned on former Houston offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.<\/p>\n

Slowik had been one of the NFL\u2019s hottest assistant coaches. But after a disastrous 2024, he was suddenly fired.<\/p>\n

Now, the Texans are turning to Caley, who spent eight seasons in New England. In 2023, Caley jumped to the Los Angeles Rams, where he was the tight ends coach and later added passing game coordinator to his responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Clark seems to think Caley is a major upgrade over his predecessor.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

\u201cHe worked for Sean McVay and Bill Belichick. Those are two pretty good coaches to work under, if you haven\u2019t noticed. But when you\u2019re a passing game coordinator for Sean McVay, you\u2019re not calling the shots. So, this is a huge leap up for him. For me, with the Texans, do not attribute to the quarterback what you can attribute to the offensive line and to the playcaller. Last year, it was bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing Clark noted as a positive was the way Stroud talked about Caley\u2019s offense. Clark noted that Stroud praised the new offense for giving him control at the line of scrimmage.<\/p>\n

Handing responsibility to Stroud at the line of scrimmage allows the quarterback to change plays and protections to better adapt to what the defense is doing.<\/p>\n

In Clark\u2019s eyes, that\u2019s not something Slowik did.<\/p>\n

\u201cBobby Slowik did not give him that. I felt that Bobby Slowik\u2019s protection schemes were, frankly, at some points amateurish last year,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

This year marks Caley\u2019s first as an NFL offensive coordinator. He\u2019d been viewed as a rising star in the coaching world since his days in New England. He was, at one point, perceived as a candidate to take over as offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

Instead, the 2022 season saw Matt Patricia and Joe Judge handle offensive coordinator duties \u2013 with disastrous results.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Caley interviewed for the offensive coordinator job in New England, only for the job to go to Bill O\u2019Brien. In 2024, the Patriots reportedly tried to lure Caley away from the Rams to no avail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In three years, a former Patriots assistant has gone from tight ends coach to one of the most pivotal roles in the NFL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-england-patriots"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING NEWS: Former Patriots coach is \u2018one of the most important people in the NFL\u2019 in 2026 - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=25029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS: Former Patriots coach is \u2018one of the most important people in the NFL\u2019 in 2026 - 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