Patriots wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea to become Dolphins’ new offensive coordinator

On Monday — the day after winning the Super Bowl — the New England Patriots officially lost their de facto defensive coordinator Brian Flores to the Miami Dolphins. Now, it looks like another coach will join him: according to ESPN’s Field Yates, the team will make Patriots wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea its new offensive coordinator.

The move does not come as a surprise: O’Shea was already considered the front runner to become Miami’s offensive signal caller under Flores’ new regime. The 49-year old would not be the only person with a Patriots history to become a part of Flores’ coaching staff with the Dolphins: former New England linebackers coach Patrick Graham is expected to move to Miami and become the new defensive coordinator, while ex-Patriots wideout Tiquan Underwoood will take over as offensive quality control coach.

As for O’Shea, he was in his tenth season with the Patriots — all of them coaching the team’s wide receivers, first under Bill O’Brien and later under current offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. And with McDaniels staying with the team at least for one more year, O’Shea cannot be blamed to take a step up the career ladder even if it comes in an initially less stable environment than what he currently has.

With him leaving the Patriots, that opens up another spot on the Patriots’ offensive staff. There are, however, multiple candidates to possibly fill the vacancy — even if assistant quarterbacks coach Jerry Schupliski also leaves the team, as is expected: offensive coaching assistants DeMarcus Covington and Atif Austin are potential replacements to take over O’Shea’s role. No matter who gets the job will have to oversee a potential transformation.

Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett and Cordarrelle Patterson will all become free agents next month, while there is no clearly established timeline in place for Josh Gordon. This, in turn, leaves Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman as the only fixture of a group that will also include future signings and reserve-list returnees Damoun Patterson, Braxton Berrios, Darren Andrews and Riley McCarron.