Pats Pulpit
The latest edition of our Patriots mailbag answers questions about the coaching staff, free agency, and more.
The key decision makers for the New England Patriots spent the week in Mobile taking a look at plenty of draft eligible prospects in the Senior Bowl. As Mike Vrabel’s coaching staff comes together, upgrading the roster soon becomes the sole focus.
So let’s talk about it all and get right into this week’s #PostPulpit mailbag.
Do you have any second guesses for Vrabel’s choices for the coaching staff? Or even just simply coaches you might have liked to stay from the year prior? - SportzBaller
I have a few concerns with the new look coaching staff. I have, however, come mostly around on Josh McDaniels (not that I ever thought it was a bad hire) as it sounds like he will evolve and adapt his scheme around Drake Maye with new elements. More on that later.
My current concerns fall at two key places: offensive line and secondary, while we’ll see who they hire as their wide receiver coach as well.
Along the offensive line, New England has brought in Doug Marrone and Jason Houghtaling. Their exact rules/titles are TBD. Marrone obviously has tons of coaching experience which primary comes along the offensive line. His last few stops, however, have left more to be desired.
Coaching the Saints offensive line from 2022-23, their unit ranked 16th and 30th, respectively, in ESPN’s pass block win rate. 2022 first-round pick OT Trevor Penning also failed to make much of an impact although he did battle injuries.
Prior to his stint in New Orleans, Marrone went one-and-done at the University of Alabama after a poor season from their offensive line. That season saw Alabama finish 120 out of 130 teams in the nation in sacks allowed (41) while they had their worst rushing output since 2007.
While Marrone could take on more of an advisor/assiatnt head coach role, Houghtaling, who worked with Vrabel in Tennessee, is expected to work along the offensive line in some capacity. After serving as an assistant from 2021-22 he took over the room in 2023 where the Titans finished 28th in ESPN’s pass block win rate.
On the defensive side of things, the loss of Mike Pellegrino and Brian Belichick are major ones. Both coaches have done exceptional work in recent years with Pellegrino coaching multiple All-Pros and developing young players such as Alex Austin into promising rotational pieces.
As all of defensive coordinator Terrell Williams’ coaching experience comes along the defensive line, the preference would have been to retain the proven talent in the secondary on the coaching staff. Instead they’ll go elsewhere.
So far Vrabel has reportedly added Scott Booker, Justin Hamilton, and Kevin Richardson from the collegiate coaching ranks as coaches who have backgrounds in the secondary. Booker was Vrabel’s former safeties coach while neither Hamilton or Richardson have led rooms at the NFL level.
***What offensive system will Josh McDaniels run? Will he ditch Van...
