Former Lions HC Matt Patricia to rejoin the Patriots

Former Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia will not be out of a job for long. According to Jim McBride of the Boston Globe, Patricia will be rejoining the New England Patriots and will “assist the Patriots coaching staff in a variety of roles.”

Patricia was fired as Lions head coach back in November after posting a 13-29-1 record in just under three years at his post. The Lions defense got unquestionably worse under his reign, and the team also drew a bad reputation for poor leadership that led to several star players wanting out, including Darius Slay and Quandre Diggs.

This week, the Lions hired Patricia’s replacement, former Saints assistant head coach/tight ends coach Dan Campbell. Campbell drew national attention with an intense introductory press conference on Thursday. As the week has gone on, it appears Campbell will be overhauling most, if not all, of the Lions’ coaching staff from the Patricia era.

As for Matty P., he’ll be bringing at least one person from the Lions’ staff with him. According to McBride, Evan Rothstein is also headed for New England. You may remember Rothstein as Detroit’s emergency defensive coordinator when COVID struck the Lions’ coaching staff late in the 2020 season. He had also been with the Lions since 2012 in a variety of roles including quality control for special teams, offensive assistant, and a research and analysis assistant for both the offense and head coach.

Obviously, it’s not at all surprising to see Patricia land back with the Patriots. It will be interesting to see if he’ll be able to work his way back up the chain after the disaster in Detroit.