How new Patriots DC DeMarcus Covington prepared himself to call plays this season
"Sat there in my backyard, put on a live game, and called the game."
Jerod Mayo won’t be the only member of the Patriots’ staff who’ll be coaching their first game in an elevated role when the season opens against the Bengals on Sunday.
DeMarcus Covington is set to coach his first game as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator, too. It’ll mark the first time that the 35-year-old will call defensive plays in the NFL after serving as an assistant on the Patriots’ staff over the last seven seasons.
While calling defensive plays is a new responsibility for Covington, he believes he’s prepared for the role.
“I’ve always dreamed of doing this,” Covington told reporters. “So we’re here now. It’s not like, ‘Oh [expletive], what’s going to happen?’ No. I’ve been dreaming on this. I’ve been waiting on this.”
Despite his relatively young age, Covington already has 12 seasons of coaching under his belt. He was actually a wide receiver in college, playing for Samford, before spending time as an assistant with UAB, Ole Miss, and UT Martin.
Covington was also a defensive coordinator for a season in the college game as well, holding that role (along with defensive line coach) for Eastern Illinois. But ever since he joined the Patriots in 2017, Covington has mostly been a position coach. He was their defensive line coach for the last four seasons, where he helped develop Christian Barmore, Joshua Uche, and others to become standouts for the Patriots.
Now, Covington’s duties are more than just developing a handful of players. It was made clear that Covington would call defensive plays this season shortly after he was promoted, with Mayo telling the “Rich Eisen Show” in May that he views himself as a CEO-type of head coach.
“I feel I’m very confident with the coordinators that we have, DeMarcus Covington on the defensive side of the ball, calling plays,” Mayo told Eisen at the time.
So, now tasked with the duty to call defensive plays, Covington took his work home over the offseason.
“That was part of my summer. I called games all throughout the summer,” Covington said. “Sat there in my backyard, put on a live game, and called the game. In my mind, this isn’t my first game calling because I’ve tried to prepare that already in the spring, in training camp, and go out there and not script plays. Go out there and call it like it’s a game.”
While this is the first time that Covington will call defensive plays at the NFL level, his backyard practice is a similar approach to how he’s prepared for new jobs in the past.
“Our players are out there practicing. They’re getting their reps, so I’m getting my reps too,” Covington said. “Whether I did it in practice or I did it in the summer, or I did it in years past before leading to the roles that you want to do — just like any job, you prepare for the role that you want to be in before you get in the role.
“So, I’ve kind of been doing that before. And now, really is the opportunity to do it as a defensive coordinator.”
As part of his backyard work, Covington said he made it “hard on myself” in order to help get ready for sorts of situations that the Patriots will be in throughout the season.
“It’s getting those reps, just like in training camp,” Covington said. “For us as a staff, to get used to one another. I would not script anything. I would just basically go out there, ‘Alright, we’re going to call it like it’s a game.’”
Of course, calling defensive plays in your own backyard is unusual, especially if you have neighbors within an earshot. But that doesn’t seem to be the case for Covington.
“I’m good. My backyard is pretty good,” Covington said with a chuckle when asked if his coaching caused any disturbance with his neighbors.
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