The Patriots coaching staff has experienced some adversity the last couple of years, and it sounds like 2026 will continue that theme.
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel revealed on Tuesday that offensive line coach Doug Marrone is apparently dealing with a knee injury. Vrabel said the injury will require surgery, with the hope of Marrone being available by the time the club opens training camp next month.
“Doug Marrone is going to get his knee cleaned up, Okay?” said Vrabel. “We work our coaches pretty hard here, just like our players. And so I think it’s best to have that done now so that Doug will be ready to go for training camp and there won’t be any setbacks.”
“So if you don’t see Doug out there, that’s what’s going on there.”
It’s been a difficult couple of years for Vrabel’s staff as it pertains to health. This marks the second-straight year they’ve been without one of their coaches, with his staff having been a bit snake-bitten from that standpoint.
The scariest one was Terrell Williams, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer last summer. Williams, who was officially named defensive coordinator following Vrabel’s hiring last year, was forced to take time away from the club as he underwent treatment. Reports following the season said that Williams was still around the building at various points last year, which was something the players definitely appreciated.
In his absence, it was linebackers coach Zak Kuhr who stepped up and called the plays for New England’s defense, which became among the best in the league. He also played a pivotal role in the Patriots’ postseason run.
Kuhr was then promoted to defensive coordinator this offseason, while Williams was bumped to assistant head coach.
Meanwhile, Marrone also made his impact known, with the Patriots seeing improvement from each of their linemen up front throughout 2025.
The 61-year-old has been a terrific fit to this point, with the hope being that several of their young players continue developing as the club continues trying to build a young nucleus in front of Drake Maye.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
I read an article last year denoting the Pats have several coaches dedicated to offensive line. More than the historic NFL norm. Marrone being one of em. I read they almost have enough guys to have a 1:1 ratio of starter/coach. And Marrone was a head coach a ways back. The o-line improved immensly last year with new players and those coaches. 28.1 points per game shows it. Can’t do that with a crap o-line. But the fact that Vrable brought in so much coaching to assist, which is a big cost to Kraft, is a great thing. Indeed, it… Read more »