Patriots Make Decision on Joe Judge: New Role for 2023?

New England Patriots coach Joe Judge will be returning to a familiar phase of the game for the Pats during the upcoming NFL season.

FOXBORO — New England Patriots assistant coach Joe Judge will have a new role in 2023. 

Despite an overall downtrodden season in 2022, Judge will reportedly be working “closely” with special teams coaches Cam Achord and Joe Houston, while being tasked with unspecified personnel-related duties, per a Thursday morning report from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. 

The 41-year-old previously served as a Patriots’ special teams assistant from 2012-2014, before his promotion to special teams coordinator; a role which he held from 2015 to 2019. During that time, New England fielded some of the most-efficient and well-disciplined special teams units in the NFL. 

The Pats uncharacteristically struggled in the game’s third phase last season, ranking last in the NFL in Football Outsiders’ DVOA.

Following a two-season stint as head coach of the New York Giants, Judge returned to New England to take on a notable role in crafting the Patriots offense in 2022, primarily as its quarterbacks coach under head coach Bill Belichick. The Pats scoring unit, including quarterback Mac Jones, displayed notable regression from their 2021 output under the pair's guidance. The Pats finished 7th-worst in total yards while scoring only 18.6 points per game on average. At times, the disconnect between the players and the coaching staff was so overt that Jones was observed hurling expletive-laden frustrations, believed to be in the direction of his coaches — including Judge, with whom Jones was reported to have a “icy” relationship. 

The Patriots offensive futility ultimately led to both Judge and primary play-caller Matt Patricia being relieved of their roles in favor of hiring new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien. 

It should be noted that the Giants are continuing to pay Judge through the end of the 2024 season, as a result of his dismissal during the 2021 offseason. 

Breer’s report also indicated that Judge’s role may have “some parallels” to the one Matt Patricia held in 2021 as a “senior football advisor.” While a source close to Patriots Country has confirmed that Judge’s 2023 duties will not include offensive play-calling, his role will be similar to Patricia’s in terms of being a liaison between coaching and scouting.

Judge has already begun to settle into his re-imaged duties, as he was a part of the coaching contingent sent to Indianapolis earlier this month to observe and meet with potential prospects at the NFL scouting combine.

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