Eagles Rumors: Former Patriots OC Matt Patricia Has Shot to Be PHI's LB Coach

The Philadelphia Eagles are reportedly considering Matt Patricia to become the team's new linebackers coach, according to Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald.

Patricia, who spent the past season with the New England Patriots, likely will seek a change of scenery this offseason, with ESPN's Dan Graziano reporting Sunday that he has "spoken with other teams about roles on their defensive coaching staffs. Patricia's contract in New England is up, and it feels likely he'll move on somewhere else after a rough year coaching the offense for the Pats."

Patricia, 48, had spent the majority of his NFL career coaching the defensive side of the ball, serving as an offensive assistant, assistant offensive line coach, linebackers coach, safeties coach and defensive coordinator at various points during his initial tenure with the Patriots (2004-17).

He then spent three ill-fated seasons as the head coach of the Detroit Lions, going just 13-29-1 before returning to the Patriots the past two seasons as an assistant head coach in 2021 and the offensive line coach and senior advisor in 2022.

While that latter title was somewhat nebulous, Patricia essentially served as the offensive coordinator last season, calling the plays. It was a role that brought him near-constant critique as the Pats finished 17th in points and 26th in yards.

Patricia tried to filter out that noise, however.

"I think we do a pretty good job here of training ourselves to just—we stay in our own little bubble for the most part and try to ignore as much of that as we can," he told reporters in December. "We understand what we're trying to do. We're trying to just do everything we can to get better each week. That's our focus. The focus has gotta be inside the building just trying to do everything we can to do a little bit better. So, I don't really pay attention to it, if I can."

Nonetheless, a return to the defensive side of the ball would make sense, though it would be fascinating to see him in Philadelphia and back in the same building as cornerback Darius Slay, who did not enjoy his time with Patricia in Detroit.

Before the Super Bowl, Slay recounted a time that Patricia had some words about him working out with veteran cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Aqib Talib.

"He basically just said, 'You are not in that category yet,'" Slay told reporters. "At that time, I only had one Pro Bowl but now I'm at five, so I want to know how he feels about that now. I don't wish bad on him, but as a man, me and him just don't get along. He's a smart coach, he knows his X's and O's, but the disrespect is not what I'm with."

And in 2020, after Slay was traded to the Eagles from Detroit, he told reporters that he "didn't have that much respect for Matty P as a person, because it was hard for me to play for him. That's all it was."

If Patricia was brought aboard to coach the linebackers in Philadelphia under the staff of new defensive coordinator Sean Desai, he likely wouldn't come in close contact with Slay. That probably would be for the best.