With the impending departure of Matt Patricia, the current Patriots Defensive Coordinator, it’s time to look into who will fill the gap. This will be a quick post, as compared with our deep-dive into who will fill the vacant Patriots Offensive Coordinator position. The reason is pretty simple. I’m confident that there’s only one candidate who checks all the boxes: Brian Flores. Before we take a look at the next Patriots Defensive Coordinator, let’s take a look at Matt Patricia and what he’s done for the Patriots
From Rocket Scientist to Defensive Genius
Matt Patricia is a rocket scientist. No, seriously, he is. Or was. The current Patriots Defensive Coordinator graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a degree in aeronautical engineering. After graduation, he stayed at RPI to begin his coaching career as a graduate assistant. Patricia moved to Syracuse, where he worked for a company called Hoffman Air & Filtration Systems as an application engineer. He caught the eye of Westinghouse Electric Company, where he was offered a six-figure job to maintain nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. After little deliberation, he decided to turn it down. Patricia instead accepted a job to become the defensive line coach at for Amherst College. That would turn out to be his first step on his way to becoming the Patriots Defensive Coordinator.
From Amherst to the Patriots with a brief stop in New York
After just a season in Amherst, Matt Patricia took an offensive graduate assistant role at Syracuse University. He worked for Syracuse for 2 years before hearing that the New England Patriots were looking for an assistant coach. Patricia was immediately intrigued and decided to apply for the entry-level role.
One might think a rocket scientist would find interviewing for a football coaching role to be a piece of cake. Wrong. In an awesome (must read) piece by Sports Illustrated, Patricia says that the interview with Belichick was by far the hardest of his career. When all was said and done, he obviously convinced Bill of his skill set. In 2004, the Patriots made him an offer to become an assistant.
Climbing the Ladder
Matt Patricia has been with the team since 2004. After winning the Super Bowl, Romeo Crennel, the Patriots’ Defensive Coordinator, left to pursue a new role as the Head Coach of the Cleveland Browns. Charlie Weis, the Patriots Offensive Coordinator, also left to become the Head Coach at Notre Dame. Those two moves opened up a few positions within the organization and Belichick promoted Patricia to Assistant Offensive Line Coach in 2005. He then moved into a full-time coach role, where he ran the linebackers from 2006 to 2010. In 2011, he took charge of the Patriots Safeties. Finally, in 2012, Matt Patricia was promoted to become the Patriots Defensive Coordinator. Since then, the Patriots have won 2 Super Bowls, and have a chance to win a 3rd against the Eagles this coming Sunday.
Who will fill the void?
This one’s pretty simple. Meet Brian Flores. Flores, like Patricia, has been with the team since the 2004 season. He currently serves as the Patriots’ Linebackers Coach. His road to success with the Patriots is an interesting story, too.
Scouting to Coaching
After an injury derailed his aspirations of a pro career, he decided to reach out to all 32 teams to gauge interest in hiring him as a scout. New England was one of the only teams to answer and Brian Flores started his career in New England as a scouting assistant in 2004. In 2006, he became a Pro Scout, responsible for researching current NFL players, should the Patriots want to acquire someone.
After losing the bid for a perfect 19-0 season in a loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII, Flores had an epiphany.
“It hurt. It was a tough loss. It was tough for everyone,” Flores said, less than a week before New England will go for its second-straight title and third in four years against the Eagles. “I don’t want to live in the past but it was a point in my career, for me personally, I wanted to do more. I wanted to be more involved and have as much as I could do to help the team win or lose.” via Patriots.com
Flores spoke with then-Patriots V.P. of Player Personnel Scott Pioli about a possible career change. He wanted to move into coaching. Flores was offered a role as a Special Teams Assistant for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. In 2010, he’d transition to become the Assistant Offense & Special Teams coach before finally landing a role as the defensive assistant for the 2011 Patriots.
From there, Flores would continue his ascent. In 2012, he would be promoted to the team’s Safeties coach, filling the void left by Matt Patricia when he became the Patriots Defensive Coordinator. In 2016, Flores became the Linebackers Coach.
Why Flores Fits Perfectly
Flores has taken quite the path to get where he is. Oddly enough, he’s had much of the same experience as Patricia, but in reverse order. He’s coached both sides of the ball and he’s run the two most important parts of the team’s defense. Linebackers are in charge of calling audibles (mainly the Middle Linebacker). Linebackers are sometimes known as “the QB of the defense” and are an essential part of the team’s success (or failure). Safeties are responsible for gluing the team’s secondary together. Flores has excelled when faced with the loss of key players, like Dont’a Hightower. He truly embodies the “next man up” philosophy.
Brian Flores also has high ambitions. When he originally spoke with Scott Pioli about making a switch to coaching, he was envisioning a career path that might lead to becoming a General Manager someday. Flores has the rare combination of scouting and coaching. If he is able to find success as the next Patriots Defensive Coordinator, he’ll undoubtedly receive plenty of Head Coaching offers. In fact, he has already caught the eye of the Arizona Cardinals. While he didn’t get the Head Coach position this year, he’s definitely someone to watch.
Brian Flores was asked about the potentially open position during Media Day at Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis. Predictably, he deflected and humbly praised each member of the current Patriots staff.
“I’d say we have a lot of great coaches on our staff … the first guy that comes to mind is Brendan Daly, Josh Boyer, Steve Belichick. DeMarcus Covington has come on this year. We have a lot of great coaches on the staff. All very well capable of taking that position if Matt chooses to leave. Obviously we love Matt. He’s done a great job, He’s done a tremendous job, I should say. But, again, right now my focus is on Philly. Whatever the future holds, I’ll deal with it then.”
Belichick seems to have a penchant for putting his future defensive coordinators in multiple featured roles, like owning both linebackers and safeties. He believes that ultimately gives the coordinator a greater scope and a unique perspective into the intricacies of each defensive position and how it relates the the team’s overall scheme.
If you wish to look even further into the future, take a look at the current Patriots Safeties Coach. Spoiler Alert: his name is Steve Belichick. Will you be surprised to see Robert hand the baton to Jonathan and Bill hand the baton to Steve in 10 years? Me neither.
