Sad News: The New England Patriots head coach reacts to the sudden death of his key player fearing the worse as…
The New England Patriots have not yet completed their hiring of coaches. The team announced on Wednesday night that Mike McCarthy, a former offensive line coach at Brown, has been brought on as an offensive assistant. McCarthy is the 12th outside recruit made by new head coach Jerod Mayo thus far.
But what does this actually mean for the Patriots? This is a brief analysis that concentrates on the broad strokes of New England’s coaching hunt.
The Patriots bring on an additional O-line-experienced coach.
Since concluding his playing career and transitioning into an off-field profession in 2007, McCarthy has maintained a variety of roles. His initial experience was mostly on scouting and video research; later, he expanded his background to include quality control and position coaching.
He gained the most of his experience while working on the offensive line. He spent the first five years of his career at Brown, working with the position group at the College of New Jersey in 2009, Tulane in 2012 and 2013, the Detroit Lions in 2016 and 2017.
McCarthy joins New England as the most recent coach with a wealth of O-line expertise, following Scott Peters and Robert Kugler.
There are currently two offensive assistants on staff.
The Patriots’ offensive staff now consists of seven coaches, including coordinator Alex Van Pelt. Two of those will be named as Ben McAdoo and McCarthy, the coaching assistants.
As offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers, McAdoo, a former head coach of the New York Giants, will serve as a senior assistant. It remains to be seen if McCarthy will receive a comparable distinction, although it wouldn’t be shocking if, title aside, his duties differed from McAdoo’s.
After all, McCarthy’s coaching career has primarily involved working with the O-line, as mentioned above. Conversely, McAdoo has extensive experience working with quarterbacks in his capacities as head coach and coordinator as well as a position coach.
As New England’s coaching staff grows, significant doubts still surround it.
The Patriots have added a new offensive coordinator, but there are still two significant positions that need to be filled: a wide receivers coach and a tight ends coach. At this point, it’s anyone’s guess as to how those roles will be filled precisely, however it appears coaches with ties to Alex Van Pelt may be given preference.
If so, it would be wise to keep an eye on Chad O’Shea, a former wide receivers coach in New England. Given that the two collaborated in Miami in 2019, the appointment of Tiquan Underwood as assistant wide receivers coach may actually be a sign in that regard.
Nevertheless, Troy Brown, the team’s current wide receivers coach, has apparently received an offer to remain with the organization. It’s unclear right now whether that implies he will carry on working with the wideouts even after accepting the offer.
There seem to be other contenders vying for the tight end position as well.
The status of Evan Rothstein comes to light
Evan Rothstein would be the first person you would draw if you had to trace a straight line from the Patriots to Mike McCarthy, as both players were affiliated with the Lions in 2016 and 2017.
McCarthy served as an offensive quality control coach and offensive line assistant during those two seasons, while Rothstein was an offensive assistant mostly responsible for research and analysis. There is a probability that he will cross paths with his former colleague at this time, six years after the latter left Detroit.
After all, Rothstein is one of the two departing employees whose situation is still unclear (the other being Troy Brown). In 2021, he came to New England for the first time to work in research and analysis. The next year, he switched to offensive assistant. He was elevated to the position of assistant quarterbacks coach under Bill O’Brien in 2023.
Even though they collaborated extensively, O’Brien did not bring Rothstein to his new position at Boston College. And now that McCarthy has entered the picture, the odds may begin to favor him remaining in his current position.
