Patriots Mailbag: Is Joe Judge the Patriots’ De Facto Offensive Coordinator?

The Patriots’ plan to replace former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels leads off the mailbag for the second straight week, putting into perspective how major a decision it is for Bill Belichick. 

On Wednesday, the Pats made a rare move by announcing the return of former special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach Joe Judge to the coaching staff as an offensive assistant. 

Typically, additions to Bill Belichick’s coaching staff are ignored by the team until we receive the seasons’ media guide at the start of training camp. Then, an addition or return, such as Matt Patricia a year ago, is found by sifting through the long-winded pages, and a role becomes clearer for the newest member of the staff (in Patricia’s case, it’s Senior Football Advisor).

Despite two failed seasons as the Giants’ head coach, Judge had options at the NFL and college ranks. In particular, McDaniels tried to lure him to Las Vegas as the Raiders’ special teams coordinator. But according to a source familiar with Judges’ thinking, he wanted offense.

The Mississippi State alumni arrived on campus as a High School quarterback. Although Belichick gave Judge more responsibility in 2019 as the wide receivers coach to broaden his resume for a head coaching gig, it also reflected Judge’s desire to coach offense.

According to reports later confirmed to CLNS Media, Judge had the inside track to replace McDaniels if the Pats’ former offensive coordinator stuck with the Colts in 2019. 

With Judge back in the mix, those around the team expect the Patriots to go without an offensive coordinator by title, which isn’t anything new for Belichick. According to league sources, there were internal discussions about Bill O’Brien joining the staff, but it’s now unlikely.

The Patriots don’t currently have a defensive coordinator and haven’t given the official title to anyone since Patricia became the Lions head coach in 2018. 

When Charlie Weis left for Notre Dame after the 2004 season, it took McDaniels until 2006 to get the OC title, and it took Bill O’Brien two seasons to become the official offensive coordinator when McDaniels was hired away by Denver, so this isn’t unprecedented. 

Judge is expected to have a hand in the offense’s direction, game-planning, and player development, but it remains to be seen who will be the play-caller for Mac Jones and the Pats. 

The two in-house coaches that could take on more responsibility are tight ends coach Nick Caley and wide receivers coach Mick Lombardi, who are both trending towards more significant roles.

Belichick always has stressed continuity; while assistants come and go, the foundational elements of New England’s playbook stay the same, so they can plug in the next guy in line and keep the engine running.

Uncertainty and inexperience are unsettling with a second-year quarterback. But keep in mind that McDaniels was a defensive assistant until he moved over to quarterbacks for one season in 2004, then became the offensive play-caller the next season with only one year on offense. 

Currently, the Patriots are setting things up in the wake of McDaniels’s departure by keeping it in the circle of trust and leaning on the program already in place, as they always do. 

Although it seems unorthodox not to have an official offensive coordinator, this is the status quo for the Patriots.

Without further ado, let’s get to a Super Bowl week edition of the Patriots mailbag:

I’m not worried about coordinator titles. For starters, this is not new for Belichick. It took McDaniels a year, O’Brien two years, and Patricia nearly three seasons to officially be named coordinators in New England. The far more important things here are A. Delegating responsibilities to make the message clear to the players and B. Are the coaches in charge (Steve, Mayo, Judge, etc.) the right coaches for the job? In this case, titles aren’t necessary. If you want to be concerned, worry about if these coaches have the football chops to lead their sides’ of the ball. 

One side note on Judge: a big reason why he’s only an “offensive assistant” is that the Giants are still paying him. To put it bluntly, it’s cheaper this way, and it’s an uncommon move in the NFL. 

To answer the question directly, the Pats have the flexibility to re-sign J.C. and make another substantial move in the veteran market. It makes more sense for the Patriots to reach a long-term extension with Jackson from a cap perspective rather than having him on the roster on the franchise tag. The tag would cost around $17.4 million fully guaranteed, meaning that would be Jackson’s cap number, making it difficult to make another substantial addition without subtracting a significant amount of cap space. Even with Jackson on the tag, they could afford another double-digit average per year player with a few cap maneuvers. Although there won’t be another major spending spree, I’m not expecting Belichick to take the foot off the gas this offseason. 

Here’s a scenario I’m sure the Patriots will play out in their simulations of the draft (yes, the Pats do mock drafts). Without the benefit of knowing their free-agent moves, it makes it tough to say which direction they’d go. However, ranking these four strictly on my tape evaluations, we’d have it: Davis, Booth, Olave, and then Lloyd. Davis is probably the best first-round fit for the Patriots on paper. He’s everything a base odd front team needs in a nose tackle, meaning his role is easy to project, and we know Belichick would maximize his value. I also love the idea of starting over at CB with Booth or even pairing the Clemson stud with J.C. Jackson. And Olave is arguably the draft’s best route-runner and could play either the X or Z spot in New England. As for Lloyd, I’d prefer taking a linebacker such as Quay Walker or Chad Muma on day two rather than Lloyd in the first round. 

These are the types of questions we should be asking with the draft because it’s how the Patriots look at the board. New England puts draft prospects in tiers. If they view Northern Iowa’s Trevor Penning and Washington State’s Abraham Lucas in the same talent tier, for example, they’re not taking Penning 40 picks ahead of where they could get Lucas. Penning is the only worthy first-rounder after the top three (Neal, Cross, Ekwonu), and I wouldn’t take him at 21, while the top three will be off the board. Penning has to adjust to the level of competition and has some technique issues to work out in pass protection. Plus, he will be a penalty machine if he doesn’t get his temper under control. Penning is a bit of a project for the 21st pick. If the Pats are targeting a left tackle of the future, I would trade out of 21 and try to grab Penning or Central Michigan’s Bernhard Riemann further back in the draft. 

Above, I said Georgia’s Jordan Davis was the best fit for the Patriots in the first round. Sticking with the defensive line, the more I evaluate the issues with the Pats defense, the more I come back to the D-Line. Offenses nowadays put so much stress on the backend with run-pass conflicts (RPO/play-action) and high-powered passing attacks. You need to stop the run and get after the quarterback with four rushers to slow down Buffalo, Kansas City, and Cincinnati. The Pats’ defense couldn’t do that down the stretch. With the linebacker level in coverage, the Pats’ front was pushed back and weren’t creating negative plays. They need more playmakers on the D-Line. 

Regardless of the coordinator, I expect Jonnu to have a more featured role in the passing game. The Patriots’ coaching staff always does a thorough self-scout after the season, and I’m sure that Belichick and company will realize that they need to get more out of their tight end tandem given how much cap is allocated to Smith and Henry. Unless they find a team willing to take Jonnu off their hands, which is very unlikely, the best path is through at tight end.

I wouldn’t expect the Pats to cut any veteran players to create cap space before free agency because it’s not necessary. But two candidates that could give them flexibility down the road are Kyle Van Noy and Henry Anderson. I would be surprised if Anderson makes the Week 1 roster, with a cap savings of roughly $2.6 million if he’s released. They could also save over $4 million by releasing Van Noy. If Josh Uche, Ronnie Perkins, or a draft pick are ready to contribute, Van Noy becomes expendable. Again, I don’t think the Patriots will go immediately to roster cuts for cap flexibility. The more likely path is salary restructures or extensions for Judon, Henry, Mason, and possibly trading Isaiah Wynn. 

I lean towards Brown returning to the Patriots on a two-year deal around the $20-22 million range. Brown wants to be here. With the way things are trending, he will be their best option at either left or right tackle for the 2022 season. My gut says they still view Onwenu long-term as a guard, with the plan to make Onwenu the starting left guard again. Wynn probably stays on the left side, with Brown playing right. I could also see them trading Wynn and starting Brown at left tackle for a year while breaking in a rookie at the position, similar to how they’ve done it in the past. In that case, maybe Onwenu finds a home at right tackle. 

Whether it’s Perkins, Uche, Winovich, McGrone, or Jennings, the Patriots need to give some of their younger draft picks at linebacker a chance next season. They’ve invested four top 100 picks on linebackers in the past three drafts and probably will take another linebacker this year; it’s time to see what the young guys can do. Perkins spent his rookie season transitioning from a 4-3 DE to a 3-4 OLB, so it’s not a surprise that he redshirted. I expect him to have every opportunity to show out during camp, and it’ll be up to him to earn the playing time. 

Robert Kraft isn’t filing a suit against the league to recoup any losses from the deflategate hoax. Although it would be nice for fans, the organization has moved on, and that’s probably for the best. The past is the past. If I were a Pats fan, I would be pushing the league to issue a public apology to Tom Brady, who had his reputation dragged through the mud for no good reason. That probably won’t happen either. But Kraft’s wallet will survive, and there’s zero precedent whatsoever of the league returning stripped draft picks to a team. It’s not happening, making any kind of lawsuit or grievance a waste of time.