Prior to the 2019 season, there had been a lot of consistency in the positional coaching ranks in New England. In one year, a lot of that changed. Defensive line coach Brendan Daly, who had been in New England since 2014, left for Kansas City. Brian Flores, who was in Foxboro since 2004, became the new head coach in Miami. There, he took assistant quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski (2013-18), wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea (2009-18), and cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer (2006-18).
These moves left a lot of openings in New England. Daly was replaced by former Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema. Former Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo slid in for Flores. Mick Lombardi, son of former Patriots assistant Michael Lombardi, would take over for Schuplinski. Mike Pellegrino, previously an assistant, was promoted to replace Boyer. And, special teams coordinator Joe Judge took on a new role, becoming the wide receivers coach.
For obvious reasons, Judge was one of the coaches in the biggest spotlight. Working with Tom Brady’s weapons is always a job that will attract attention. So, it wasn’t a total surprise when a guy who had been in a successful organization for eight years and was finally getting some media coverage due to the extra duties was getting calls to be a head coach. This off-season, the New York Giants took a swing on Judge, once again leaving the Patriots with a hole in the coaching staff. Who could fill those shoes as the next wide receivers coach?
Chad O’Shea
O’Shea spent 10 seasons as the Patriots wide receivers coach. Last offseason, he left for Miami to make the jump to offensive coordinator for the first time in his career. The move didn’t exactly pan out the way he expected. With less than ideal weapons, the Dolphins would finish 25th in points per game (19.1) and 27th in yards per game (310).
Surprisingly, after only one season, O’Shea was fired. This decision was reportedly made because Flores wanted to separate himself from what he did in New England. If O’Shea wants to continue working and perfecting a Patriots-like system, maybe going back to New England would be best.
The red zone struggles the Patriots had this year could certainly be helped by the man who was “incredibly responsible for any and all of our success in the red zone,” as Josh McDaniels put it in 2018. O’Shea could be used to help guys like N’Keal Harry and Mohamed Sanu find their roles in the scoring offense, and that’s something that would be extremely important to the future success of the team.
Troy Brown
I was pretty surprised to see former Patriots wide receiver Troy Brown stick around for the season after helping out in training camp. He seemed to be doing well in the media, working with NBC Sports Boston, but much like his colleague Jerod Mayo, he was called upon and made the jump back to football.
We all know what Troy did on the field. He spent just over 14 seasons in New England, recording 557 receptions for 6,366 yards and 31 touchdowns. At the time of his retirement, he held a pretty high spot on the franchise career leaderboards. Brown was first in receptions, second in receiving yards, and sixth in receiving touchdowns when he decided to step away.
The 48-year-old knows a thing or two about playing wide receiver (along with every other position) for Bill Belichick. This should be helpful in his ability to teach and coach the game. He garners respect from the younger guys who watched him playing when they were growing up. Sometimes it helps to have a guy who played the game as your coach.
Nick Caley
Nick Caley isn’t a household name — yet. He’s spent the last three seasons as the tight ends coach. Prior to that, he was an offensive assistant for two seasons. And, before the NFL, he was an assistant and positional coach at many stops in college including Florida Atlantic, Eastern Illinois, and (Patriots coaching pre-requisite) John Carroll.
In his three seasons as tight ends coach, the production may have gone down, but you can’t even compare the talent from 2017 to what we saw in 2019. In 2017, Rob Gronkowski was an All-Pro. In 2019, he was on a pre-game show. Given some real talent in a position group, he may be able to thrive, and as much criticism as the wide receiver group received this year, they aren’t talentless. Edelman, Harry, and Sanu could be an above-average group. They just may need the right coach to make it happen. Caley could be that guy.
Brian Belichick
The lesser-known Belichick brother has been hiding in the shadows for a few years. He first came to New England as a scouting assistant but has made the transition to the coaching side of the game. According to his brother, via. NESN.com, he’s been a big help and has a more “intellectual point of view.”
With Brian’s background in scouting and his advanced thinking, he may be able to help the receivers break from their struggles this past season. He also may use that innovation to contribute to some concepts and designs. This is the next logical step for Brian Belichick to make if he wants to keep climbing the ranks.
Nick Caserio
The director of player personnel has been the wide receivers coach once before, and I’m not sure many people remember that. To jog those memories, in 2007, yes, the record-setting year, Nick Caserio was coaching. It was another time of transition, similar to the one we’re seeing now. Eric Mangini had just left to become the New York Jets head coach, and he took Brian Daboll, then wide receivers coach, with him. Caserio stepped up and took a coaching role for the first time since 2002.
Obviously, no one is giving the credit to Caserio for the success of the 2007 New England Patriots. With Randy Moss and Wes Welker, the group probably wasn’t very difficult to coach. However, Caserio does deserve some credit for that. Whatever work he did must have helped, even if it was in the smallest way.
Caserio isn’t likely to step away from the player personnel department this time around, but he could pick up the extra responsibility. We have seen time and time again just how often coaches are doing more than their job may require them to. Heck, Bill Belichick was essentially the defensive coordinator last year.
Caserio could, again, bring another innovative mind to the position group. He has some experience coaching some of the best of all-time that he can bring to practice and meetings. And, it’s not like he’s not around. Every training camp we see him helping out on the field, throwing and catching passes to receivers. It’s familiar to him, and we just may see him make a return to the sidelines.
