Joe Judge is staying with the Patriots. And it sounds like he will have a nebulous new role that makes Dwight K. Schrute proud.
One difference b/w Patricia in '21 and Judge in '23, just to illustrate it—Patricia's name was on player contracts back then, and this year, Matt Groh's name is in that spot. Judge's job will be more in coaching special teams, being a liaison between coaching and scouting, etc.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 23, 2023
So is that assistant head coach? Or assistant to the head coach? Inquiring minds would like to know.
Judge, the Giants’ former head coach, was the Patriots’ quarterbacks coach last season. It was a bit of a catastrophe. While New England was in the playoff race the entire year, Mac Jones regressed. And Judge managed to piss everyone in Foxborough off, by all accounts.
From The Boston Herald in January:
As (Matt) Patricia came under outside fire as the face of the offense, Judge drew increasing criticism from within. (Bill) Belichick would blast him in practice, and it wasn’t uncommon for Judge and Jones to trade profanity-laced outbursts. Jones’ trust in his position coach was effectively non-existent.
“Mac didn’t like him,” one source said. “At all.”
“(Judge) would speak extra loudly in meetings, trying to project like he was the guy,” another source said. “And I think that kind of rubbed people the wrong way.”
“A lot of people were frustrated with (Judge),” a third added.
It makes sense for Judge to work with special teams again. That is where he has had the most success in his coaching career — success that got him hired by the Giants. And some humble pie won’t hurt Lil’ Lombardi at this point.
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James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.
