Patriots Considering Former Receiver For Coaching Role?
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The Patriots coaching staff continues coming together, and it sounds like they could potentially add a former player to the staff at some point to round it out further.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, former wide receiver Wes Welker looks like he could be in the mix, with Reiss reporting that the former New England Patriots wideout is someone the club has considered for the role of wide receiver coach.
Welker coached with new head coach Mike Vrabel during their time together in Houston, when Welker was an offensive and special teams assistant under Bill O’Brien, while Vrabel was the club’s defensive coordinator. He also coached one season under Vrabel after Vrabel took over as head coach.
From there, Welker’s had the chance to gain some additional experience elsewhere, having spent three seasons in San Francisco coaching receivers under Kyle Shanahan, as well as spending the most recent three in Miami under the same role.
He was fired by the Dolphins this offseason, seemingly as collateral damage after Miami went 8-9 and failed to make the postseason. Based on the reports, the feeling seems to be that head coach Mike McDaniel is now under pressure heading into 2025, given that Miami has been a non-factor beyond the regular season.
Welker obviously had a lot of success here in New England, and finished his career with several receiving records, and it’s clear he loves coaching the position.
During a press conference in 2022, Welker talked about some of the fundamentals he’s had players focus on, with Tyreek Hill saying at the time that the former wideout helped him with his hand placement to help him maximize his yards after the catch.
“It’s not so much just the hand placement or anything, it’s more about … it was something that Mike [McDaniel] had emphasized for a long time, and I was kind of like, ‘What?’ And then you start to watch the tape and all those different things,” explained Welker. “But whenever you’re catching the ball, a lot of receivers want to jump to catch it, and really, a lot of times, that’s when their drops happen. So the guys that have aggressive hands, aggressive feet, and running through the ball without having to jump, not only are you not slowing down so the defender can catch up to you, but now you’re able to run through the ball seamlessly without breaking stride. And now you just run away from defenders as opposed to jumping and letting them catch up once you get that separation.”
“Catching the ball and drop-stepping in zones, so having your feet ready in those situations to be able to get up the field against zone coverage, you see so many guys sit there square to the ball and then try to run the hoop around the zoning defender. And they’re just too fast. They’re too well-coached to where if you have your feet ready and aggressive hands, aggressive feet, ready to drop step and get up the field.”
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