Patriots Bring Joe Judge Back To Coaching Staff As Offensive Assistant
BOSTON (CBS) -- Joe Judge will be relocating back to New England.
The Patriots and Bill Belichick are bringing Judge back on staff, this time as an offensive assistant. The Patriots officially announced the news on Tuesday afternoon, after Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer reported the expected deal earlier in the day.
Judge left the Patriots in 2020 to become the head coach of the New York Giants, but he led the team to a 10-23 record and was fired following the 2021 season.
Prior to becoming Giants head coach, Judge had spent eight seasons as an assistant under Belichick, rising to special teams coordinator from 2015-19 and adding the wide receivers coach title in 2019. He also worked as a special teams assistant under Nick Saban at Alabama from 2009-11.
Last year, prior to a preseason meeting between the Patriots and Giants, Belichick praised his former assistant.
"Joe's a good football coach. Period," Belichick said. "All the things that a good coach needs to do, Joe does. And he did a great job here for me in a number of different capacities. Most importantly, special teams, but he had a lot of other responsibilities as well. When I gave him something to do, he did a good job of it, and so that led to other things. I know he's like a very, just accomplished football coach. He has a good understanding of the game and how to coach it."
The Patriots' offensive coaching staff is in a bit of a state of flux, with longtime offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels leaving to become the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. The rehiring of Judge will insert some Patriots experience back into the offensive coaching staff.
UPDATE: NFL Network's Ian Rapoport said that the hiring of Judge may lead the Patriots to not hire an offensive coordinator.
The #Patriots are working through some things, but they may not hire an OC. The addition of Joe Judge gives them added leadership on offense and allows them to move some responsibilities around. So Judge heads back home. https://t.co/85SWqbq5lw
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 8, 2022
The team has gone without coaches having official coordinator titles, with Jerod Mayo and Steve Belichick serving as de facto co-defensive coordinators last season. Previously, Brian Flores worked as the defensive coordinator without the title, and Bill O'Brien worked as the offensive coordinator without the title for two years before actually getting the OC tag.