The New England Patriots made some changes amongst the coaching staff official on Thursday by announcing that Matt Patricia is now the defensive coordinator.
Patricia, who was the safeties coach, has called all the defensive plays from the sideline since Dean Pees left the team after the 2009 season.
The RPI grad has coached at his alma mater as a grad assistant, then he went on to Amherst College as defensive line coach, then Syracuse as the offensive grad assistant, before he came to New England as the offensive coaching assistant in 2004.
In his time with the Patriots he has been an assistant offensive line coach, linebackers coach, safeties coach and now defensive coordinator.
In addition to the Patricia promotion the team also announced that Steve Belichick was named as a coaching assistant.
Belichick, the son of the head coach, is following in the footsteps of his father and his grandfather, for who he is named.
The younger Belichick, a Rutgers grad, walked onto the football team as the long snapper in 2011 after having played lacrosse for four seasons at the university.
As a coaching assistant his duties and responsibilities will vary with the needs of the team. The younger Belichick is no stranger to breaking down film and being on the sidelines as he has been seen numerous times near his father during games.
Other differences in this seasons coaching staff from last season are: Pepper Johnson is now the linebackers coach, Patrick Graham will coach the defensive line, Brian Flores is the safeties coach and Josh Boyer has the cornerbacks. George Godsey moves from offensive assistant to tight ends coach and Joe Judge will be the special teams assistant.
Holdovers from last season include offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who came back to the Patriots during the playoffs, running backs coach Ivan Fears, wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea, special teams coach Scott O’Brien and offensive line coach/assistant head coach Dante Scarnecchia.
The Patriots also signed two undrafted free agents they are RB Brandon Bolden out of Mississippi and DL Justin Francis from Rutgers.
Bolden is second in Mississippi history in touchdowns with 33 including 27 rushing and 4th in rushing yards with 2,604. In 2011 he played in 10 games and had 4 TD’s and ran for 462 yards.
Francis appeared in 12 games for Rutgers and made 60 tackles, he had 5.5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception and 5 passes defensed in 2011.
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