According to Ian Rappaport, the Patriots are open to bringing back Bill O’Brien as the Offensive Coordinator in 2023.
The Patriots do not officially name an Offensive Coordinator on their website, but they do have Matt Patricia calling offensive plays under the title “Senior Football Advisor.”
O’Brien, the current Offensive Coordinator at the University of Alabama, was on the New England coaching staff from 2007-2011. He began as the Offensive Assistant for New England before being moved to a role as a position coach until he settled as the Offensive Coordinator in 2011.
While O’Brien was on the coaching staff in the early 2000s, the Patriot’s offense led the league in Points Per Game and was second in Yards Per Game. O’Brien would be entering a significantly less talented offense than he did in his first stint, but he would still bring valuable insight to the troubled offensive coaching staff.
O’Brien Brings Many Potential Pros To The Patriots Offense –And Cons
After leaving the Patriots in 2011 and briefly heading to Penn State, Bill O’Brien took a Head Coach job with the Houston Texans in 2014. Although O’Brien beat the Bills in the Wild Card round in 2019, his time in Houston was mediocre, most notably wearing the coaching headset during the infamous choke job to the Chiefs in the 2020 playoffs.
Once fired as the Texans’ Head Coach in late 2020, O’Brien signed a two-year contract under Nick Saban as the Offensive Coordinator at Alabama in January 2021.
O’Brien led the Alabama offense to the National Championship in his first season. However, things collapsed after a loss to Georgia in that game, as Alabama would miss the CFB Playoffs entirely in the subsequent season following a 10-2 record.
Because of O’Brien’s inconsistency, Nick Saban is reportedly not interested in extending Bill O’Brien, thus opening the door for NFL teams to pursue him.
Could Saban’s hesitancy to keep O’Brien on the coaching staff be a red flag? Maybe, but the Patriots have no other options. At this point, anything is better than Matt Patricia.
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