New England Patriots hire Will Lawing, follows Bill O'Brien from Alabama

The New England Patriots reportedly hired Will Lawing from Alabama to add him on the offensive staff, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss. Lawing followed by Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien from the Crimson Tide.

In fact, Lawing followed O’Brien across numerous stops. Lawing, just 37 years old, now heads back to the pros while Alabama reportedly added new analyst Ryan Finck, according to Mike Rodak of AL.com.

However, Lawing’s role with the Patriots was not made immediately clear.

“Coaching chatter: The Patriots are adding Will Lawing to their offensive staff,” Reiss wrote on Twitter. “Lawing, 37, has a longtime connection with new Patriots OC Bill O’Brien — at Penn State (2013), the Texans (2014-2020) and Alabama (2021-2022). Worked with TEs his final 2 years at Houston.”

Finck’s hire at Alabama was not directly related to Lawing’s departure, according to the report.

“Finck spent last season as a graduate assistant working with the Tide’s offensive line after a stint as a GA for Kentucky under current Tide offensive line coach Eric Wolford,” Rodak wrote. “Before that, he was a GA at Wyoming and Ohio University.”

Bill O’Brien leaves Alabama for Patriots

O’Brien has spent the last two years with the Crimson Tide, where he worked closely with Bryce Young and helped him become the first Alabama quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy in 2021. He’ll now return to New England, where he worked from 2007-11, and work with another former Crimson Tide star in Mac Jones.

The Patriots, who went 8-9 this season, took an interesting approach with play-calling this year as assistants Joe Judge and Matt Patricia split the duties.

“I am looking forward to working with Bill again,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. “He is an outstanding coach and an asset to our staff.”

O’Brien served as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2011, following two seasons as quarterbacks coach (2009-10) and one season as wide receivers coach in 2008. He originally joined the Patriots as a coaching assistant in 2007, following 14 seasons coaching at the collegiate level.

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For Nick Saban and Alabama, the search is on for two new coordinators after defensive coordinator Pete Golding left the program for Ole Miss earlier this offseason.