Report: Only 4 coaches represent Patriots at NFL Scouting Combine

The New England Patriots have reportedly decided to send only a fraction of their coaching staff to this year’s NFL Scouting Combine.

According to the Providence Journal’s Mark Daniels and the Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan, only four members of New England’s staff are representing the team in Indianapolis this week: wide receivers coach Troy Brown, cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino, and special teams coaches Cam Achord and Joe Houston.

While several members of the Patriots’ personnel department — including director of player personnel Matt Groh himself — have made the trip, no coaches but these four have. This also means that, unless something changes, Bill Belichick will not visit the Combine.

Despite traditionally flying their entire staff to the event, the Patriots have now done precisely not that in back-to-back years. They only sent defensive coaches in 2022, followed by their rump team this year.

Of course, the Patriots’ course of action this time around should not come as too big a surprise. The team, after all, got a close look at several top draft prospects at both the East-West Shrine Bowl and the Senior Bowl.

Whereas defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington worked as a defensive coordinator at the Senior Bowl, New England’s entire staff (minus Covington) coached one of the teams at the Shrine Bowl. The Patriots decided to move responsibilities around for that all-star game — most senior coaches served merely as supervisors, for example — but were still able to work with a high number of draft hopefuls.

In light of that, New England sending only four coaches to the Combine does make sense. The rest of the group, meanwhile, will be working on the draft process as well as the upcoming free agency from Gillette Stadium.