Ian Rapoport Indicates Patriots May Not Have Offensive Coordinator In 2022
BOSTON (CBS) -- Bill Belichick is just a couple of months shy of his 70th birthday. He just lost his top assistant coach in Josh McDaniels, who had been given total control of the offense for several years, thus allowing Belichick to focus the bulk of his in-game attention on the defense.
One might imagine that Belichick would want to keep the structure of his coaching staff much the same, allowing a hands-on offensive coordinator to work with Mac Jones and run that side of the ball. Yet as is usually the case with Belichick, it appears as though he's choosing to zag instead of zig.
At least, that's what NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport believes. Rapoport was a guest on WEEI on Thursday and said that the hiring of Joe Judge as an offensive assistant may complete the additions made on the offensive coaching staff.
"I think it's possible that this may be it on the offensive side of the ball," Rapoport told Gresh & Keefe. "I feel like it might be Judge with some added responsibility, [tight ends/fullbacks coach] Nick Caley with some added responsibility, [wide receivers coach] 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."
With no named defensive coordinator on the other side of the ball -- outside linebackers coach Steve Belichick calls the plays, with inside linebackers coach Jerod Mayo heavily involved in the process -- the Patriots are set to potentially have neither an offensive or defensive coordinator next season.
The Patriots have done that at times in the past. Bill O'Brien was de facto offensive coordinator for two years before getting the title in 2011. Likewise, Matt Patricia served as unofficial defensive coordinator through 2011, before officially getting the title in 2012. Brian Flores was unofficial DC in 2018 after Patricia left, and Steve Belichick has seemingly slid into that role in the past two years.
Of course, the Patriots always had Tom Brady at quarterback through those times, which helped ease any uncertainty that might arise without an official offensive coordinator. Expecting Mac Jones to assume that kind of responsibility in year two -- or ever -- might be a bit much.
Rapoport, though, said it's possible that the lack of OC leads to Belichick taking a more hands-on approach with Jones and the offense.
"Yeah. I think there is a chance," he said. "However it is, you know that Bill Belichick has a huge hand in it. This is his baby, and when he's grooming young coaches as he is doing with Steve Belichick and Jerod Mayo, he takes a heavy hand in it. I would just for my own guess, I would guess that he does the same with the offense and kind of lets the defense kind of grow on its own. There's a lot of things that make Belichick great as a coach, but to me this is one of them, where he will take an active hand in grooming the kind of people who grow in his program."