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A pair of former Patriots players reportedly set to interview for team’s OL coach position

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Ryan Wendell and Adrian Klemm will reportedly interview for the role in the upcoming week.

Ryan Wendell played with the Patriots for eight seasons before joining the Bills’ coaching staff in 2019. AP Photo/Elise Amendola

More changes appear to be coming to the Patriots’ offensive coaching staff.

After officially hiring Bill O’Brien to be their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the Patriots are set to interview a pair of their former players to be their offensive line coach. Bills assistant offensive line coach Ryan Wendell and Oregon assistant head coach and offensive line coach Adrian Klemm will interview for the role next week, The Monday Morning Quarterback‘s Albert Breer reported Friday.

Wendell played eight seasons in New England, joining the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2008. After spending his first few seasons on the practice squad and as a backup, Wendell became the team’s starting center in 2012. He moved to right guard in the middle of the 2014 season and remained there as the Patriots went on to win Super Bowl XLIX. He was named a captain for the 2015 season, but played just two games as an illness and an injury forced him to miss much of the season.

Three years after playing a lone season with the Panthers, Wendell joined Sean McDermott’s coaching staff with the Bills in 2019. Buffalo’s offensive line has been graded in the middle of the pack over Wendell’s four seasons there. It graded out as the 23rd-best offensive line in 2022 by Pro Football Focus but was graded as the 10th-best offensive line in 2020.

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Wendell was passed over for a promotion following the 2021 season, when former Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll took former Bills offensive line coach Bobby Johnson with him to the Giants for the same role. Buffalo hired former Los Angeles Rams run game coordinator & offensive line coach Aaron Kromer to replace Johnson.

Klemm was one of the four other people the Patriots interviewed for their offensive coordinator role prior to hiring O’Brien. He was Bill Belichick’s first draft pick with the Patriots, who selected him in the second round of the 2000 NFL Draft.

After six seasons in the NFL, Klemm became a coach in 2008 but has spent all but three of his 13 seasons as a coach in the college game. His three seasons as an NFL coach came with the Steelers, working as their assistant offensive line coach in 2019 and 2020 before getting promoted to being their offensive line coach in 2021. Pittsburgh’s offensive line graded out as the ninth-best offensive line in 2019, but took a step back in 2020 (17th) before falling to 26th in 2021 (via Pro Football Focus). Klemm left the Steelers with two games left in the 2021 season to go to Oregon.

The Patriots are expected to interview Wendell and Klemm while their coaching staff is at the East-West Shrine Bowl in the upcoming week, according to Breer.

Much of New England’s coaching staff from last season is expected to be at the East-West Shrine Bowl, including former quarterbacks coach Joe Judge, who is expected to remain with the Patriots in a different capacity, The Athletic’s Jeff Howe reported. However it’s unknown if Matt Patricia, who was the Patriots’ offensive play caller and offensive line coach last season, will remain with the team as he’s weighing future options both inside and outside the organization, Howe added.



Source: Boston Globe

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