Last year, after Joe Judge was fired as head coach of the Giants, he was hired by the Patriots in an offensive assistant role, and he faced plenty of criticism as quarterback Mac Jones took a step backward in his second season. This year, Judge will be back with the Patriots, but his role appears to be different.
Judge will be an assistant head coach, have some personnel responsibilities, and work with the special teams coaches, according to Albert Breer of SI.com.
Working on special teams would seem to make more sense than the way Belichick employed Judge last year as a quarterbacks coach. Judge was a special teams coach for most of his career as an assistant, including five years as the Patriots’ special teams coordinator before the Giants hired him as head coach.
Judge worked alongside Matt Patricia on the Patriots’ offensive coaching staff last season. Bill O’Brien has been hired as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator this year, and it remains unclear what if anything Patricia’s job will be in 2023.
