Patriots losing another coach, with Will Lawing following Bill O'Brien to Boston College

BOSTON -- The Patriots are down another coach. This one was expected.

Will Lawing, who worked as the Patriots' tight ends coach last year, will be heading to Boston College to be Bill O'Brien's offensive coordinator. ESPN's Pete Thamel reported Thursday night that "the school is working toward a deal to hire" Lawing.

The news comes as no surprise, considering new Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt has seemingly been given the freedom to build his own offensive coaching staff, and considering Lawing has worked under O'Brien for some time.

Lawing was an O'Brien in New England a year ago, after he had worked with O'Brien for two years in Alabama as a "football analyst." Prior to that, Lawing worked for seven seasons under O'Brien in Houston, starting as a defensive control assistant from 2014-16. Lawing switched to offensive assistant/offensive line coach from 2017-18 with the Texans before working as the tight ends coach in 2019 and 2020. Lawing and O'Brien's working relationship began in 2013 at Penn State, when O'Brien was the head coach and Lawing as a graduate assistant.

With the departure of Lawing, the Patriots have openings or unstated statuses at tight ends, wide receivers, and running backs coach spots. Running backs coach Vinnie Sunseri left to join Steve Belichick at the University of Washington, and the status of Troy Brown -- the franchise legend who's been the wide receivers coach for the past three years -- remains uncertain.

The quarterbacks coach role, previously held by O'Brien, now belongs to T.C. McCartney, while Scott Peters was brought in to replace Adrian Klemm as offensive line coach. Tiquan Underwood was reportedly hired as an assistant wide receivers coach, and former Giants head coach Ben McAdoo was hired as a senior offensive assistant.