Tight ends coach Bob Bicknell’s depth chart caught 113 passes last season.
Changes are underway on the New England Patriots’ offensive side of the ball.
Running backs coach Taylor Embree, tight ends coach Bob Bicknell, wide receivers coach Tyler Hughes and assistant wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood are among the names set to move on in 2025, according to a report Friday from ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
Each arrived on the staff last hiring cycle under former head coach Jerod Mayo.
Embree, 36, spent the previous three years in the New York Jets’ running back room before coaching a depth chart led by Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson. The ex-UCLA wide receiver signed with the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2012. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at UNLV before returning to the Bruins in the same role. Embree entered the NFL ranks as a defensive assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2016. Three years as an offensive quality control coach with the San Francisco 49ers followed before he was named the tight ends coach at the University of Colorado in 2020.
Bicknell, 55, oversaw a Patriots tight end group that combined for 113 catches, 1,170 yards and five touchdowns in 2024. The 4-13 campaign gave way to captain Hunter Henry setting career highs while veteran addition Austin Hooper made three visits to the end zone. An alum of Boston College, where he played tight end, Bicknell began his coaching career in 1993 and went on to spend five years in NFL Europe. Since 2007, while also working as an offensive line coach, wide receivers coach and senior offensive assistant, the three-time World Bowl champion has made stops on the staffs of the Chiefs, 49ers, Baylor Bears, Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati Bengals and New Orleans Saints.
Hughes, 45, returned to Foxborough last winter after spending 2023 at the University of Washington as an offensive quality control coach, where he overlapped with No. 37 overall pick Ja’Lynn Polk. From there, New England’s wide receiver room would be led by NFL sophomores DeMario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte. Hughes had held the role of offensive assistant for the Patriots from 2020 through 2022. Prior to then, the itinerary included stints at Bountiful High School, Minot State, Ohio State and his alma mater, Snow College, where he spent nine years between the positions of wide receivers coach, tight ends coach, offensive coordinator and head coach.
Underwood, 37, rejoined the Patriots as the assistant wide receivers coach in 2024. He served as the wideouts and passing game coordinator at the University of Pittsburgh for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. And prior to then, the Rutgers product worked as the receivers coach at his alma mater and also at Lafayette College, with a year as an offensive quality control coach for the Miami Dolphins coming in between. Selected in the seventh round of the 2009 draft, Underwood caught 63 passes for 1,006 yards and six touchdowns through tours with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers and Patriots. After 45 NFL games, he finished his playing career with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes.
“We want to put the best, talented coaches in front of our players,” Mike Vrabel said Monday during his introductory press conference as Patriots head coach. “When they stand in front of these players, I want the players to embrace what every coach is teaching. I will tell you this, as long as I’m the head coach here, our coaches will have three simple jobs — and they sound simple, and they’re probably not as simple as we want to make them be. They want to teach, they want to develop, and they want to inspire our players by making a connection.”
Defensive assistant Keith Jones Jr. accepted a position at Appalachian State last week, while earlier Friday, it was reported that director of skill development Joe Kim will be moving on after seven seasons on New England’s coaching staff.