The New England Patriots have begun their search for a new offensive coordinator. Since Bill O’Brien’s departure, the team has interviewed or considered three candidates so far: Jack Robinson and Nick Kaley, who spent the 2023 season with the Los Angeles Rams, and Dane of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Besides being relatively young (Cayley is 40, Robinson and Pitcher are 37), the three have something else in common. All have experience in the “Shanahan System,” named after former NFL head coach Mike Shanahan. Robinson and Kailey were introduced to the system under coach Sean McVay in Los Angeles. Robinson, a former seventh-round pick of the Patriots, started as an assistant quarterbacks coach in 2019 and was promoted to his most recent position of running backs coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2022.
Caley, who previously spent eight years in New England, he coached the same position group with the Rams last season. Werper, on the other hand, worked closely with former McVay assistant Zach Taylor in Cincinnati. He first spent the last five years as an assistant quarterbacks coach and later served as the quarterbacks coach under Taylor, LA’s QB coach. The origins of the “Shanahan system” date back to the Denver Broncos of the 1990s.
However, it became popular and productive in the late 2010s when McVay and Mike Shanahan’s son Kyle began pitching for the Rams and San Francisco, respectively 49ers. The offense itself contributes significantly to outside and wide zone concepts, team composition and tight end and play action. Considered a quarterback-friendly offense due to its relative simplicity, its primary goal is to create space for dynamic players like Cooper Kupp or Debo Samuel to exploit. Over the past 24 years, the Patriots offense has looked very different and has become more dependent on players making the right measurements based on formations, calls and defenses.
A modified version of the Ehrhardt-Perkins plan was very successful but very difficult to learn and implement. With the right personnel on the sideline and on the field, this can be one of the more difficult offenses to defend. That’s because it can adapt to any situation. The conceptual details included in the system are flexible enough to be changed step by step as the team plays a particular defense.
But even with Tom Brady still at quarterback, it’s been difficult for the Patriots to find personnel who can run the system. Since the 2019 season, New England has struggled to keep up with the competition. The Patriots were looking to revamp their 2022 offense by adding Shanahan-style elements under Matt Patricia and Joe George. But the results are disappointing. Two years later, New England looks poised for a complete turnaround.