When we say the New England Patriots are remaking their offensive coaching staff, we mean it.
Boston College is "working to hire" Patriots tight ends coach Will Lawing as its offensive coordinator under new head coach Bill O'Brien, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported Monday night.
Lawing following O'Brien to BC would come as no surprise; the 38-year-old has worked with O'Brien at four different coaching stops, including Penn State as a graduate assistant in 2013, the Houston Texans as an offensive assistant and tight ends coach from 2017 to 2020, Alabama as an analyst in 2021 and the Patriots this past season.
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What Lawing's departure would mean, however, is that it's possible New England has a completely new offensive coaching staff in 2024.
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New offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt already has brought in five new assistants in quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney, offensive line coach Scott Peters, offensive line assistant Robert Kugler, senior offensive assistant Ben McAdoo and assistant wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood. All of those coaches worked with Van Pelt in some capacity with the exception of Underwood, who was new head coach Jerod Mayo's teammate on the 2011 Patriots.
Mayo and Van Pelt now have openings at three critical offensive roles in tight ends coach, wide receivers coach and running backs coach. The team's 2023 wide receivers coach, Troy Brown, attended the Senior Bowl earlier this month but wasn't wearing Patriots gear, leading some to speculate that he may not return in 2024.
New England's previous running backs coach, Vinnie Sunseri, already left to join the University of Washington's coaching staff along with Steve Belichick. So, if Brown doesn't return, that means zero members of the Patriots' 2023 offensive coaching staff will be back this season.
That's a massive amount of change, but it might be necessary: Our Phil Perry and others reported dysfunction and mistrust on the Patriots' coaching staff during the team's 4-13 season, and the offense shouldered much of the blame after averaging just 13.9 points per game, tied for last in the NFL.
The change likely won't be limited to the coaching staff, either: It's possible New England has a new franchise quarterback in 2024 with Mac Jones not expected to be back with the team.
So, get ready to see a completely different Patriots offense on all fronts this fall, with some likely growing pains as the new staff gets settled in New England.