The New England Patriots have decided to bring back Joe Judge for the 2023 NFL season and he has received a rare title.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Judge will be in an assistant head coach role.
Jobs shaking out in NE, and here’s a big one—Joe Judge will be in an ass’t head coach role with the @Patriots in ’23 (with personnel elements/some parallels to Matt Patricia’s ’21 role), per sources.
On-field, he’ll work closely with Cam Achord and Joe Houston on special teams.
Matt Patricia held a similar role (albeit under a different name) in 2021 but Breer stated that there are some differences compared to Patricia’s time in the role.
“One difference b/w Patricia in ’21 and Judge in ’23, just to illustrate it—Patricia’s name was on player contracts back then, and this year, Matt Groh’s name is in that spot,” Breer tweeted. “Judge’s job will be more in coaching special teams, being a liaison between coaching and scouting, etc.”
If Judge was to receive the exact title of assistant head coach, he would be the first coach to receive the title since Dante Scarnecchia who held the position from 2000-2013.
Joe Judge Isn’t Second In Command For the New England Patriots
After reporting the Judge’s role, Breer appeared on NBC Sports Boston and went into more detail about what Judge’s role will look like in 2023.
“I think people are making the mistake of looking at this as like all of a sudden now he’s second in command in the organization. He isn’t,” Breer said. “I think this should be taken very literally that he’s going to be taking things off of Bill’s plate in some ways. It’s gonna be like the role that Matt Patricia served in two years ago in 2021 in that he’s gonna be a liaison between scouting and coaching. He’s gonna have some head coach-like duties to what he does. And part of that I think is gonna be to free Bill up to do a little bit more.”
Breer then went on to say that Judge will be involved in coaching the special teams.
“And then another part of his job is gonna be to oversee the special teams,” Breer added. “I think we can all agree that the special teams were a huge problem last year and maybe a bigger problem than they’ve been at any point in Bill Belichick’s 23 years in New England. And so, I think, the way you want to look at this is, it’s very literally assistant head coach. It’s like taking things off of Bill’s plate, serving in a lot of different ways, and trying to make the operation as a whole run a little smoother.”
Jerod Mayo Should Receive Clarification About His Future With the New England Patriots
While Judge has received the rare title, Breer believes that Jerod Mayo should receive some clarification after returning to New England. Mayo turned down a head coaching interview with the Carolina Panthers as well as a defensive coordinator interview with the Cleveland Browns after the Patriots publicly announced that they wanted to extend his contract.
“I will say this, I think at some point we are going to get from Robert Kraft some sort of statement on Jerod Mayo and the potential succession plan and all of that,” Breer said. “Maybe it’s next week at the owners meetings. But I think at some point that’s coming.
“And so, while Jerod Mayo’s title might not change, my feeling is probably soon we’re going to get a strong endorsement from the guy in charge and the one guy who’s above Bill Belichick, and that’s Robert Kraft, on Mayo’s future with the team,” Breer added.
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Patriots Coach Receives Rare Title According to NFL Insider