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Report: Asst. Coach Mick Lombardi is Teaching a Different Position in 2020

Lombardi will coach a position previously coached by now Giants head coach Joe Judge.

With former special teams coordinator and receiver coach Joe Judge now leading the New York Giants, the New England Patriots were expected to shift around the coaching staff to fill the coaching voids left by Judge. 

New England hired former Rams coach Jedd Fisch to coach quarterbacks, and Cameron Achord - who was previously the assistant special teams coach - will seemingly become the special teams coordinator based on recent comments made by Patriots captain Matthew Slater

The lone spot left to fill on the coaching staff is wide receivers coach. So who will fill that role? The MMQB's Albert Breer wrote on Monday that New England's Mick Lombardi will be coaching that position moving forward. 

The Patriots’ coaching staff moves of this offseason will have an impact, to be sure, on the most important question of 2020 for the team, and that’s what will happen with the quarterback position. I’m told new assistant Jedd Fisch was hired to coach quarterbacks, and that’s where his focus has been. Mick Lombardi was assistant quarterbacks coach last year, and did a lot of work with then-rookie Jarrett Stidham. Lombardi’s focus has shifted since to receivers, the position Joe Judge handled on offense last year, which would qualify as a bit of a promotion, given that Josh McDaniels also works intimately with the quarterbacks. So Fisch, in Year 1 in Foxboro, could be a pivotal figure on the staff, especially if New England drafts another—and I think they might—and carries three into the season (with veteran Brian Hoyer also in the mix).

ESPN's Mike Reiss hinted at this possibility last Sunday after URI receiver Aaron Parker told WPRI that he had FaceTimed with Lombardi during the pre-draft process, which would be an odd thing to do if Lombardi was anything other than the receivers coach. So, Breer's report confirms the speculation. 

Many NFL teams pluck from Bill Belichick's coaching tree because of his staff's versatility in coaching different positions on a football team. That quality proves to be beneficial when trying to develop each position and trying to find assistant coaches when they become head coaches. Lombardi is another example of this, as he been a scouting assistant, assistant head coach, defensive assistant coach, offensive quality control coach, assistant quarterbacks coach, and now a receivers coach during his time in the NFL, with the latter two positions happening during his time with the Patriots.