Patriots rehire former Giants coach Joe Judge as assistant

Updated Feb. 8, 2022 6:33 p.m. ET

Associated Press

FOXBOROUGH, Mas. (AP) — The Patriots are bringing back Joe Judge as an offensive assistant less than a month after he was fired as head coach of the Giants.

Judge, who served as an assistant in New England for eight seasons, rejoins coach Bill Belichick's coaching staff after going 10-23 over two seasons in New York.

He is the latest former assistant turned head coach that Belichick has brought back in recent years. Matt Patricia rejoined the Patriots as a senior football advisor this past season following a three-year stint as coach of the Lions.

Judge was originally hired by the Patriots as an assistant special teams coach in 2012 and promoted to special teams coordinator in 2015. He spent his final season in New England in 2019 as the special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach.

The hiring also ends a string of departures by Belichick's assistants since the Patriots' season ended with a wild-card playoff loss at Buffalo on Jan. 15.

Since then, former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has left to become head coach of the Raiders. Former Patriots director of player personnel Dave Ziegler became the Raiders' new general manager and former quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree also is joining McDaniels staff in a similar role.

Judge originally came to New England after a three-year stint at the University of Alabama where he was a football analyst and special teams assistant under Nick Saban. While on the Alabama staff, Judge was a member of two national championship teams in 2009 and 2011.

___

More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://apnews.com/hub/pro-32 and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL