NFLBy: Steve Atkinson
It’s been six days since the Krafts released the statement that the Patriots were interviewing candidates for offensive coordinator this week. Reports were coming out this week of other teams around the league making coaching changes or interviewing people for their different coordinator positions. But nothing on the Patriots until Wednesday when the NFL Network reported that the Patriots were interviewing two candidates. They asked permission to speak to Vikings wide receiver coach Keenan McCardell and will be interviewing Nick Caley their tight ends coach for their OC position. Then Mike Reiss reported Wednesday afternoon that Oregon associate head coach will also be interviewing for the Patriots OC position.
There is one catch to all these candidates including Bill O’Brien who’s on the Patriots more specially Kraft’s list. The catch is all of them have either played for Belichick or coached with Belichick. You could say to yourself well here we go again with Bill hiring his fob’s aka (friends of Bill). But if they are offensive-minded and can do a good job it doesn’t matter if they know Belichick or have crossed paths with him over the years. As long as it isn’t Patricia or Judge.
Keenan McCardell
McCardell played in the NFL from 1991-2007 and played under Bill Belichick when he was with the Browns from 1992-1995. McCardell coached receivers in Washington, Jacksonville, and Maryland. While in Jacksonville he was a part of Doug Marone’s staff who is also a friend of Bill. Morone has extensive experience in coaching the offensive line. It could be possible that McCardell is brought in as the offensive coordinator and Doug Marone the offensive line coach. McCardell also has experience in the West Coast offense that Belichick was trying to do this past season. Having someone that knows the offense would be a great start.
Nick Caley
Caley has been with the Patriots for a while and really well-liked around the building by the Krafts. However, last year Bill Belichick didn’t promote Caley for whatever reason and chose to just wing it with Patricia and Judge. Now that Kraft has had enough of the dumbness he wants Caley to get a fair shot so probably had Belichick interview him for the offensive coordinator job. If Caley does get the job Bill will be questioned why he didn’t do it sooner. The answer is that the owner didn’t make him then.
Bill O’Brien
Bill O’Brien was with the Patriots at the height of the Brady era. Most recently with Alabama and still with Alabama recruiting. His contract ends on Feb 28th with Alabama so are the Patriots just supposed to wait around till then for him? It’s Robert Kraft top choice to bring him in and fix the broken offense. He is probably the best to fix Mac Jones and get him back on track. Maybe the Patriots can work something out to bring and sign him sooner before his contract at Alabama is up.
Adrian Klemm
Adrian Klemm is an outside-the-box kind of interview even though he is another former player of Belichick. He was the first draft pick of Belichick with the Patriots in 2000. He is currently the associate head coach of the Oregon Ducks and before that was an offensive line coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Klemm is supposed to be interviewing with the Patriots on Thursday.
I want to know who’s conducting these interviews. Is it Belichick, Kraft with Patricia? If Jerod Mayo is the assistant head coach and planned successor to Bill, is he in on these interviews? I’d rather have Mayo on these interviews with Bill than Patricia. At least Mayo would want a legit offensive coaching staff if he was the head coach. Overall, it’s a good sign they are getting the ball rolling on these interviews. Hopefully, it works out and will have a legit offensive staff in 2023.
