McAdoo hired as an offensive assistant
Ex-Giants head coach joins Mayo’s staff
It’s a done deal.
The Patriots hired ex-Giants head coach and former offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo to their coaching staff Tuesday, a source confirmed. McAdoo’s title has not been finalized yet, according to the source, but he is expected to be named a senior offensive assistant, according to Sports Illustrated.
He is the fourth outside coaching hire new Patriots headman Jerod Mayo has made this offseason, and the third with ties to director of scouting Eliot Wolf.
McAdoo coached with new Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt in Green Bay from 2012-13, when Wolf worked in the Packers’ personnel department. Wolf also overlapped with McAdoo from 2006-11.
McAdoo, 46, was out of football last year after serving as the Panthers’ offensive coordinator in 2022. That season, Carolina finished 20th in points scored and 25th by the opponentand-situation-adjusted metric DVOA. The Panthers parted with McAdoo last offseason during a regime change.
His prior stops include one year as a consultant for the Cowboys in 2021 and coaching the Jaguars’ quarterbacks in 2020. McAdoo left Jacksonville the following offseason amid a headcoaching change. He spent the 2018 and 2019 seasons out of the league, and hasn’t coached an NFL offense that finished in the top 10 for scoring since 2016.
His most memorable NFL stint came in New York, where he failed to last two seasons as head coach. After leading the 2016 Giants to the playoffs, he was fired the next season following a 2-10 start and the benching of franchise legend Eli Manning. At that time, McAdoo’s 28 regularseason games coached were the fewest by an NFL head coach since 1930.
As head coach, McAdoo succeeded Tom Coughlin after working for two years as Coughlin’s offensive coordinator. Like Van Pelt, McAdoo’s longest stint as an assistant came under Mike McCarthy in Green Bay. McAdoo coached Packers tight ends from 200611 and their quarterbacks, including Aaron Rodgers, from 2012-13.
Before that, he followed McCarthy from the Saints’ coaching staff in 2004 to San Francisco in 2005. McAdoo got his coaching start at a Pennsylvania high school, followed by college jobs at Michigan State, Fairfield and Pittsburgh.
The NFL Network first reported McAdoo’s hiring.
Meyers opens up about exit
Ex-Patriots receiver Jakobi Meyers said Monday the team offered him a contract $1 million shy of the three-year, $33 million deal he signed with the Raiders in free agency last March.
Meyers, who finished as the Pats’ leading receiver every season from 2020-22, didn’t specify whether the extra million took form in total value, total guarantees or average annual value. He also did not commit to re-signing when asked if the Patriots had matched Las Vegas’ offer what he would’ve done.
“I wouldn’t have minded staying. It would’ve been a different conversation,” Meyers said on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Felger & Mazz. “I probably would’ve thought about it a little differently. I did enjoy Boston. … It was definitely a sting when I left, but I understand the business side.”
Meyers repeatedly said the Patriots “wouldn’t budge” during negotiations. In the days leading up to his departure, sources said, the 27-year-old told teammates he wasn’t wanted in New England.
“At the end of the day, (Bill Belichick) didn’t want to move. And I respected it,” he said. “Like it is his job to do what’s best for his team or what he thinks is best for the team. It just didn’t align on what I felt like I was worth.”
A day after Meyers signed his deal with the Raiders, the Patriots signed JuJu Smith-Schuster to a threeyear contract with a similar structure. Smith-Schuster’s guaranteed money, however, effectively locked him in for two seasons, while Las Vegas allowed itself an out after one year that would’ve rendered the deal a 1-year, $11 million pact. But impressed with Meyers last summer, the Raiders restructured his deal to ensure he would stay beyond the 2023 season, when he finished with 71 catches for 807 yards and a career-high eight touchdowns.
Meanwhile, hampered by a chronic knee injury, Smith-Schuster totaled 29 grabs for 260 yards and one touchdown in New England. Meyers said the Raiders allowed him to feel more freedom and joy than he had with the Patriots.
“Who I was at that point in my career, I probably didn’t get as much respect as I would out here,” Meyers said from Las Vegas. “I do (enjoy it more). I’m not going to lie. It’s different. … There, I had to prove who I was every day. Every single day, I had to be better. Here, I want to be better every single day.”
Extra points
The Patriots signed ex-Saints wide receiver Kawaan Baker to a futures contract Tuesday, the team announced. Baker, 25, entered the NFL as a Saints seventh-round pick in 2021 out of South Alabama. He appeared in two games as a rookie, but did not record any catches. The 6-foot-1, 210-pounder remained with New Orleans for the 2022 season until the team released him in October following a sixgame suspension for violating the league’s performance enhancing drugs policy. Baker then had a brief stint on Green Bay’s practice squad, before returning to the Saints later that season. He participated in New Orleans’ training camp last summer before again getting cut. … The University of Washington officially announced Steve Belichick’s hiring Tuesday. Belichick is the Huskies’ new defensive coordinator, after calling the Patriots’ defensive plays the past five years. … In Las Vegas, Chiefs coach Andy Reid confirmed left guard Joe Thuney (pectoral) is a long shot to play in Super Bowl LVIII. Thuney, who played for the Patriots from 2016-20, missed the AFC Championship Game due to his injury.