Patriots offensive assistant coach to reportedly take on defensive coaching role
Former Giants head coach Ben McAdoo is reportedly remaining on the Patriots' coaching staff.
Mike Vrabel has only kept a few coaches from Jerod Mayo’s staff as he enters his first season as the Patriots head coach. One of those few will take on a completely different role in 2025 as well.
Senior offensive assistant Ben McAdoo will move to the defensive side of the ball, serving as a coach in an unknown capacity, the Boston Sports Journal‘s Mike Giardi reported Saturday. It was previously reported that McAdoo would remain in New England.
As Giardi noted, McAdoo has never officially coached on the defensive side of the ball. The 47-year-old began his coaching career as a high school college before moving into the college ranks, becoming a graduate assistant at Michigan State, an offensive line/tight ends coach at Fairfield, and a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh.
After two years in college, McAdoo became an NFL assistant in 2004. He worked on the offensive staff for three different teams over 10 seasons, most notably working as the Packers’ quarterbacks coach, before becoming the Giants’ offensive coordinator in 2014. The Giants promoted him to head coach in 2016, a role he held for just two seasons before getting fired.
McAdoo was hired by the Patriots last offseason following a year off in 2023, working as the Panthers’ offensive coordinator in 2022. He was the only person with head coach experience on Mayo’s staff, but it remained unclear for much of the year what McAdoo’s role exactly was.
“That’s a good question – what does he do?” running back Rhamondre Stevenson told reporters in November, per MassLive’s Mark Daniels. “He does a little bit of everything in my eyes. He helps the O-line out, helps the running backs out. He’s an assistant offensive coach. He helps everybody out. He knows the scheme. He teaches the scheme and things like that – spacing on routes and those kinds of things.”
One of the more specific things McAdoo did in 2024 was work as the scout team’s defensive coordinator to help the offense prepare for third-down situations, according to Daniels. The Patriots’ offense converted 34.88 percent of its third down opportunities in 2024, which was 29th in the league.
Even though it’s uncommon, coaches switching roles to the other side of the ball isn’t unprecedented. Of course, longtime defensive coach Matt Patricia became the Patriots’ offensive play caller in 2022. Vrabel also switched sides of the ball recently, working with the Browns’ tight ends this past season.
While McAdoo is one of the few remaining connections from Mayo’s coaching staff still in New England, he also has a connection to the Patriots’ front office. He and Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf worked together with the Packers for eight seasons.
When Vrabel was hired, it was rumored that Wolf ‘s influence in the Patriots’ organization might have taken a hit. But Brabel has insisted on a few occasions that he’ll continue to have an important voice in the front office. Perhaps Vrabel keeping McAdoo on his staff is a sign of that, too.
Along with McAdoo, special team coordinator Jeremy Springer and assistant special teams coach Tom Quinn are the only known coaches from the 2024 Patriots who will remain on staff in 2025.
“I like the dynamic in there,” Vrabel recently told WBZ’s Steve Burton of his decision to retain the Patriots’ special teams coaches. “I know Tom, he was with us in Tennessee. Veteran coach who had done it. Jeremy is young, exciting, and a great teacher. He’s creative. I think through the interview process and the product they had on the field, it led me to that decision.”
Vrabel hired Josh McDaniels to replace Alex Van Pelt as offensive coordinator and Terrell Williams to replace DeMarcus Covington as defensive coordinator in January, with their staffs taking shape over the last week.
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