Patriots Hire Coach to Fill DeMarcus Covington's Role After Promotion
By Ryan Bunton
Jerod Mayo continues to fill out his staff. After Patriots defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington was elevated to the team's defensive coordinator role, Mayo subsequently had a vacancy to fill.
The first-year New England coach appears to have found his man for the job, as Green Bay Packers defensive line coach and running game coordinator Jerry Montgomery will be heading to Foxborough.
Jerry Montgomery has been hired by the Patriots, per a source.
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) February 5, 2024
The D-line coach/run game coordinator had been with the Packers since 2015. That was his entry into the NFL after coaching in college.
Montgomery has spent the last the last eight seasons with the Packers, serving as a defensive front assistant from 2015-17 before being promoted to the role of defensive line coach in 2018. In 2022, the role of running game coordinator was added to Montgomery's title.
Prior to Green Bay, the 44-year-old spent 10 years in the collegiate ranks, most notably coaching at Michigan from 2011-12 and Oklahoma from 2013-14. Montgomery was a four-year starter with the Iowa Hawkeyes and spent the 2002 training camp with the New Orleans Saints before spending three seasons in the Arena Football League prior to pursuing his coaching career.
At Iowa, Montgomery played for head coach Kirk Ferentz. The Ferentz family and the Patriots have a history, with Kirk's son Brian having spent four seasons on New England's staff and younger son James has played on the Patriots for the last seven seasons.
Montgomery also overlapped with new Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt in Green Bay, both worked under Mike McCarthy for three seasons from 2015-2017.
Montgomery's role as running game coordinator in Green Bay is intriguing as well. Former Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt was brought on staff as New England's OC last week, and Mayo has shown intentionality in surrounding Van Pelt with a support system, hiring former New York Giants head coach and offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo as an offensive assistant on Tuesday.
Van Pelt has not called plays full-time since 2009. It will interesting to see if Montgomery has any input on the offensive side of the ball as well with the Patriots, especially given some history between him and Van Pelt.
With news breaking on Monday that both outside linebackers coach Steve Belichick and running backs coach Vinnie Sunseri will be joining former New England quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch at the University of Washington, Mayo will expectedly now turn his attention to filling those positions as he continues to construct his first staff as head coach.
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