The Patriots interviewed University of Oregon associate head coach/offensive line coach Adrian Klemm for their offensive coordinator vacancy last week.
Klemm didn’t get the job, but he might join the Patriots’ coaching staff anyway.
According to the NFL Network’s Mike Giardi, Klemm is expected to interview again with the Patriots. A second interview would indicate the team intends to move offensive line coach Matt Patricia from his current position. Patricia has already been replaced as the team’s lead offensive assistant, with Bill O’Brien reaching terms to become the Pats’ next offensive coordinator Tuesday.
Klemm recently concluded his first season at Oregon, where the Ducks allowed five sacks all season and ranked among the best rushing teams in college football. Previously, Klemm served as the Steelers’ lead offensive line coach in 2021. That season, Pittsburgh fielded a bottom-10 run-blocking offense by Pro Football Focus grades, but one of the better pass-blocking lines, per PFF and adjusted sack rate. The Steelers hired him as their assistant offensive line coach in 2019.
Klemm played six seasons in the NFL, including five with the Patriots, before kicking off his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Southern Methodist University in 2008. He was promoted to SMU’s offensive line coach after one season, and three years later, took the same job at UCLA. Over five seasons at UCLA, Klemm added the titles of associate head coach and run game coordinator, then left the coaching ranks in 2017.
After resurfacing in Pittsburgh, Klemm joined a new staff at Oregon under first-year head coach Dan Lanning in Dec. 2021.
Upon hiring Klemm, Lanning said in a release: “I am really excited that Adrian Klemm is joining us here at Oregon. He is one of the very best offensive line coaches in the country and a great addition to this staff. Our student-athletes will benefit greatly from his extensive experience in the NFL, where he has spent the last three seasons as a coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers and was a second-round draft pick and three-time Super Bowl champion as a player.”
Klemm, 45, became the Patriots’ first-ever draft pick under Bill Belichick in 2000. He was a second-round pick out of Hawaii.
