Raiders set to hire former Patriots assistants Mick Lombardi and Carmen Bricillo to offensive staff

Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler aren’t done hiring their former co-workers.

As reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN, former New England Patriots assistant coaches Mick Lombardi and Carmen Bricillo have been hired on to the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive staff.

Lombardi, 33, is set to become the Raiders’ offensive coordinator after spending the last three seasons in New England. Lombardi originally entered the NFL as a scouting assistant for the Patriots in 2011-12, before moving on and spending four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers as an assistant coach on both sides of the ball. In 2017 he left San Francisco for an offensive assistant coaching job with the New York Jets before ultimately returning to New England to become assistant quarterbacks coach in 2019 and wide receivers coach in 2020-21.

Bricillo, 45, will join the Raiders as the offensive line coach, the same position he held with the Patriots. After spending 13 years as an assistant in the college ranks, Bricillo joined the Patriots staff in 2019 to assist in coaching the offensive line, before eventually being named the full time offensive line coach in 2021.

Lombardi and Bricillo join Bo Hardegree as former Patriots assistant to be hired by Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler since their reign has begun in Las Vegas. Hardegree was hired earlier this month.

Since the end of their season in mid January, the Patriots have lost a total of four offensive assistants to Las Vegas, and are expecting longtime running backs coach Ivan Fears to retire before the beginning of next season. Their departure’s open up more spots on an ever-dwindling offensive staff. McDaniels’ hiring in Vegas opened up the offensive coordinator position for the first time in 10 years, and the expected retirement of running backs coach Ivan Fears would open up that position for the first time in New England since 2002. Lombardi and Bricillo are expected to leave the wide receivers and offensive line without full time coaches, though former players Troy Brown and Billy Yates work with the groups in assistant capacities. New England is now left with zero full-time coaches who have worked with quarterbacks at the pro level.