When assembling his new coaching staff, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had a certain goal in mind. According to Vrabel, New England purposefully struck a “balance” between hiring seasoned coaches and up-and-coming young assistants.
At the Senior Bowl, Vrabel talked more about his vision for the team’s website, particularly in relation to defensive coordinator Terrell Williams and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
“There’s an experience level that’s critical. There’s been some growth from the offense over the years, and (McDaniels) has blended that with some of the new trends, but the foundation will remain the same,” Vrabel told Evan Lazar. “I’m excited about adding some of those new trends.”
“I like to invest in people, and (Williams) is one,” Vrabel also said. “He’s a great person, a great coach. He’s got a large, wide reach on every player that he’s ever been around, and he’s made an impact. He was very instrumental in our success in Tennessee. The opportunity to be able to get (Williams) here, I felt like that was important.”
With the majority of the reported position coach hires being younger, the Patriots added a combined 51 years of coaching experience between McDaniels and Williams.
Riley Larkin and Ashton Grant, who both had NFL coaching experience prior to accepting positions in New England, will report directly to McDaniels. The task of modernizing the offense will fall to Doug Marrone and Thomas Brown, both of whom have extensive coaching backgrounds that include time spent as head coaches.
Kevin Richardson II, Clinton McMillan, Zak Kuhr and Milton Patterson are all younger defensive coaches who are expected to join the defensive staff under Williams. The Patriots could still add veteran voices on that side of the ball, as well.
We’ll have to wait and see if it leads to improvements on the field, but Vrabel did a pretty good job of finding that balance.