Patriots operating backs coach Vinnie Sunseri is leaving to change into a defensive assistant on the University of Washington’s teaching employees, per The Athletic.
Sunseri is following ex-Patriots defensive play-caller and linebackers coach Steve Belichick, who reportedly reached phrases to be Washington’s new defensive coordinator. Sunseri served because the Patriots’ operating backs coach every of the previous two seasons. He initially break up these duties in 2021 with retired Patriots operating backs coach Ivan Fears.
Sunseri first joined the Pats’ employees in 2020 as a low-level defensive assistant, one yr after he began his teaching profession as a graduate assistant at Alabama. The 32-year-old former security performed for the Crimson Tide till 2016, when he entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie free agent. Sunseri bounced across the league for 3 years as a participant, together with a brief stint on the Patriots’ observe squad.
Under Sunseri’s watch final season, Patriots operating again Rhamondre Stevenson endured a down yr attributable to accidents and poor offensive line play. Stevenson rushed for simply 619 yards and 4 touchdowns over a dozen video games, following a breakout, 1,000-yard marketing campaign in 2022. Sunseri additionally coached the Patriots’ final two main pass-catchers: Stevenson, who had 69 receptions in 2022, and Ezekiel Elliott final yr with 51.
In Washington, Sunseri and Belichick will reunite with former Pats quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch. Washington employed Fisch as its subsequent head coach final month. Fisch coached in New England for many of the 2020 season earlier than accepting the top job on the University of Arizona.
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Sunseri’s departure may very well be a part of a house-cleaning on the Patriots’ offensive employees. Last week, the workforce introduced it had employed new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. The Patriots are additionally reportedly in talks so as to add ex-Giants head coach and two-time offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo to their employees, and are concentrating on former Seahawks offensive line coach Andy Dickerson.
Former Browns operating backs coach Stump Mitchell may very well be a candidate to interchange Sunseri. A former NFL operating again from 1981-1990, Mitchell has since coached within the league for greater than twenty years. He overlapped with Van Pelt for 4 years in Cleveland, the place he tutored four-time Pro Bowl operating again Nick Chubb and was not retained this offseason.
Source: www.bostonherald.com