A Stunning Amount Of Experience Continues To Depart Bill Belichick's Coaching Staff And Front Office In Foxboro
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Every team in the NFL loses players, coaches, and front office members on a yearly basis. Sometimes, though, the loss is more significant than others.
Enter the 2022 New England Patriots.
While the Patriots still, obviously, have Bill Belichick running the show in Foxboro, the reality is that the organization has lost a rather startling amount of experience in recent years.
That trend continued on Monday, when Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler were introduced for their new jobs in Las Vegas. McDaniels just completed his 21st season coaching in the NFL and his 18th with the Patriots, having worked under Belichick from 2001-08 and again from 2012-21. He has left in the past, but his absence only lasted three years, a minor hiccup in a long and lasting relationship in New England that allowed Belichick to take a hands-off approach to the offense in many areas.
Ziegler -- now Las Vegas' GM -- only spent one season as the Patriots' director of player personnel, but he had been with the Patriots for nine years.
Ziegler had replaced Nick Caserio atop the Patriots' front office staff, after Caserio departed last year to become the Texans' GM. Caserio spent 20 seasons working for the Patriots, both in the front office (18 seasons) and as a wide receivers coach (2007) and offensive coaching assistant (2002). The year before that, Monti Ossenfort left the Patriots for Tennessee after spending 15 years with the Patriots in the scouting department.
Of course, the most experienced member of the behind-the-scenes Patriots staff was Ernie Adams, who retired last spring. Adams worked under Belichick for the entirety of the head coach's tenure in New England up until the 2021 season. His official title was "Football Research Director," but Adams was a man of many jobs for the Patriots. Adams -- a friend of Belichick's since high school -- had worked with the head coach with the Giants and with the Browns before reuniting with Belichick in New England. His experience, knowledge, and fit with Belichick certainly can't be replicated.
While Adams spent his Sundays in the coaches' booth, the sideline has lost and is expected to continue to lose some major experience as well.
Dante Scarnecchia served as the offensive line coach for a long time before retiring for the second and final time after the 2019 season. Scarnecchia was a coach for 48 years, 36 of which were spent in the NFL and 34 of which took place in New England. Scarnecchia was the Patriots' tight ends and special teams coach from 1982-88. After two years with the Colts, he returned to the Patriots in 1991, where he stayed until his first retirement following the 2013 season. He returned in 2016, helping the team win two Super Bowls before his final retirement.
Another longtime member of the Patriots staff is expected to retire this offseason in Ivan Fears. His tenure with the Patriots precedes Belichick's arrival, with Fears spending two seasons with the Patriots in the early '90s before returning in 1999. He served as the wide receivers coach from 1999-2001 before taking over the running backs coach job, which he manned from 2002-21. ESPN's Mike Reiss reported over the weekend that it's "a matter of time" before Fears formally announces his retirement this offseason. Fears spent 46 years in coaching, 31 of which were in the NFL and 25 of which were with the Patriots.
In McDaniels, Fears and Scarnecchia, Belichick is losing 81 seasons of Patriots coaching on his sideline in two years' time. Joe Judge had also been with the team for eight years, including six as the special teams coordinator before leaving following the 2019 season. A year before that, Brian Flores -- who had spent 11 seasons on Belichick's staff -- left to take the Dolphins' head coaching job. Chad O'Shea, who had been the Patriots' receivers coach for 10 years, left with Flores, too.
In the front office, Belichick has now lost 42 years of Patriots experience from Caserio, Ziegler and Ossenfort. Ernie Adams, who fit somewhere between those two places, took another 21 years of experience with him into retirement.
On the field, the Patriots obviously lost Tom Brady and his 20 years of Patriots experience after the 2019 season. But clearly, the losses in brainpower and hands-on experience from both the coaching staff and the front office have stacked up in a big way in a short time.