Report: Patriots Hiring New Kicker As Special Teams Assistant

In 2012, the New England Patriots hired a young coach off Alabama’s staff as special team’s assistant. History repeats itself, and the Patriots made a similar move.

Joe Judge spent eight seasons with the Patriots. He left the team in January to coach the New York Giants. Joe Houston is taking his position, and the Patriots have great expectations from him.

Houston is a former collegiate kicker at USC. He will join Bill Belichick’s coaching staff as an assistant special teams coordinator. The information was confirmed in a report from Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.

In 2019, Houston worked as an assistant of Nick Saban at Alabama. He was a special teams analyst for the Crimson Tide. Before his time in Alabama, he spent four seasons at Iowa State. Houston also spent one season at Toledo and three at El Camino College.

According to Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell, Houston is “maybe the best kicking coach in the country.” Belichick may use him to develop a young kicker this season. Stephen Gostkowski is 36 and he has just returned from season-ending hip surgery.

A talented assistant joins the Patriots

In 2012, Houston played in the Arena Football League. He played in the Indoor Football League in 2013 and 2014. (He and trick-shot kicker/ex-Patriots practice squadder Josh Gable both kicked for the IFL’s Nebraska Danger, though they didn’t meet.)

New England will probably promote Cameron Achord to special teams coordinator. However, there’s no sign of this promotion. Achord worked as special teams assistant for the past two years. Judge was special teams coordinator from 2015 to 2019 and Belichick used him as a wide receivers coach in 2019.

Houston is the second Alabama assistant to join the Patriots in the offseason. Vinnie Sunseri was a graduate assistant with the Tide for a year before joining Belichick’s staff in January.

New England is all about making changes to their roster and coaching staff. Belichick needs to adjust his team to perfection. They missed the chance to win a Super Bowl in 2019, and Belichick won’t let the same happen again.

This will be a long season for the best team in the NFL, and hopefully, they will add a few more talented names in the next few months. Will Tom Brady stay with the team? Or will he leave New England in free agency?