Twice over the span of the last four months, the New England Patriots lost a defensive signal caller. First, it was linebackers coach and de facto coordinator Brian Flores, who held the role in 2018 and left the Patriots after the Super Bowl to take over as head coach for the Miami Dolphins. Then, it was his designated heir, Greg Schiano, who stepped down in late March to “spend more time on [his] faith and family.”
Without a veteran coach on the defensive staff to take over for Flores/Schiano, head coach Bill Belichick was seen as the logical choice to just call the defense himself in 2019.