Patriots owner reportedly forced Bill Belichick into major change

There's more information about why New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick replaced reported offensive play-caller and defensive mind Matt Patricia last offseason with current offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien.

For a piece published Thursday, Andrew Callahan and Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald reported that Patriots owner Robert Kraft pushed "for coaching changes" after quarterback Mac Jones and the offense regressed under Patricia last season. 

"Belichick, according to sources, preferred to keep Patricia and grow together," Callahan and Kyed said. "Instead, Belichick relented, and O’Brien returned as offensive coordinator."

O’Brien was unable to fix Jones and an offense that, per ESPN, enters Week 18 ranked 28th in the NFL with an average of 286.1 offensive yards per game. Additionally, it appears O’Brien and Belichick disagreed on some behind-the-scenes moves ahead of the 2023 campaign. 

"According to league sources, some assistants came to believe O’Brien wanted to clean house and build his own offensive staff upon arriving in January, but Belichick denied him," Callahan and Kyed noted. "Belichick allowed one hire, (tight ends coach Will Lawing), who replaced ex-tight ends coach Nick Caley. To onlookers, a clear hierarchy developed with O’Brien and his assistants: there was Lawing and assistant quarterbacks coach Evan Rothstein, then everyone else."

The futures of Belichick, O’Brien and all other New England coaches remain up in the air as they prepare the 4-12 Patriots to host the 6-10 New York Jets in this Sunday's season finale. Some Patriots staffers reportedly "are bracing for change," but knowledgeable individuals outside the building think Kraft could retain Belichick if the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach embraced working with an executive who would assist with personnel decisions. 

"O’Brien also pulled the offense closer to him, running more unit meetings - which involve all offensive players - than Belichick and Patricia had the year before," Callahan and Kyed continued. "Consequently, positional meetings became scarce, sources said, which limited individual time shared between players and their position coaches. Most everything flowed through O’Brien."

ESPN's Mike Reiss said during a Thursday on-air segment that Robert Kraft and Patriots president Jonathan Kraft plan to meet with Belichick this coming Monday. Reiss also reported that "no decision" about Belichick's status past Week 18 "has been made at this point."