Report: Matt Patricia could join the Broncos as a linebackers coach

On Wednesday, we had reports that current New England Patriots assistant coach Matt Patricia was speaking with Sean Payton about the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator job. Well, now it sounds like the two were talking about a role on Vance Joseph’s coaching staff — and not for defensive coordinator.

According to Denver 7’s Troy Renck, industry sources believe Patricia will join Joseph’s staff as a linebackers coach.

KOA’s Brandon Krisztal speculated that Patricia could be linebackers coach and could help coordinate their run game defense as well. At the very least, if hired, he would add some more experience to the coaching staff.

Patricia is a veteran coach who spent the majority of his career under Bill Belichick in New England as a defensive coach. He was a successful defensive coordinator for them from 2012 to 2017 and that earned him the Detroit Lions head coaching job. However, since then Patricia’s career has gone downhill.

His stint as the Lions’ head coach was unsuccessful and he was ultimately fired from the job during the 2020 season. He then re-joined the Patriots staff as a senior advisor in 2021, a senior advisor and offensive line coach in 2022, and is currently listed as a senior football advisor on the Patriots coaching staff.

If hired by the Broncos, Patricia could get out from under the shadow of Bill Belichick and look to revitalize his career in Denver as a linebackers coach. Also, the Broncos would be getting a bright defensive mind who has coached successful defenses in the past and had linebackers have success under him as well.

This is all speculation for now, but the tea leaves are there for a potential partnership between Patricia and the Broncos. He did meet with Payton yesterday in person and we have reports indicating that people in the know expect him to land on Payton’s staff, so we shall how it works out.