The New England Patriots announced they have completed interviews with former Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich and former Texans OC Pep Hamilton for their head coaching vacancy.
We have completed interviews with Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton for our head coach position. pic.twitter.com/WJ4vg1n46Q
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 7, 2025
Both interviews were today. Neither coach is currently employed by an NFL franchise.
Here’s where New England’s search stands so far:
- Lions OC Ben Johnson (Requested)
- Former Titans HC Mike Vrabel (Scheduled)
- Former Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich (Interviewed)
- NFL assistant Pep Hamilton (Interviewed)
Leftwich, 44, is a former first-round pick of the Jaguars back in 2003. He spent four years in Jacksonville before playing for a number of teams including the Falcons, Steelers and Buccaneers.
The Cardinals hired Leftwich as a coaching intern during training camp in 2016 before promoting him to QBs coach. After Arizona fired Mike McCoy, Leftwich was promoted to offensive coordinator.
He was fired after the 2018 season, however, and caught on with the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay then opted to fire Leftwich as their offensive coordinator following the 2022 season.
In 2022, the Buccaneers ranked No. 15 in total offense, No. 2 in passing yards and No. 32 in rushing, and No. 25 in points per game.
Hamilton, 50, began his coaching career as the QBs coach at Howard in 1997. He spent five years at Howard and worked his way to offensive coordinator before taking his first NFL coaching job with the Jets in 2003 as an offensive quality control coach.
Hamilton had stints with the 49ers and Bears before he was hired by Jim Harbaugh as Stanford’s QB coach for the 2006 season. From there, he spent three years with the Colts as their offensive coordinator before being replaced after the 2015 season.
He was the assistant head coach/QBs coach for the Browns in 2016 and returned to Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan in 2017. From there, Hamilton served as the head coach and general manager for the XFL’s DC Defenders before being hired by the Chargers as a QB coach.
He joined the Texans in the same capacity in 2021 and was later promoted to offensive coordinator back in February of 2022. Hamilton was not retained when Houston let go of former HC David Culley following the 2022 season.
In 2022, the Texans offense ranked No. 30 in points scored, No. 31 in total yards, No. 25 in passing yards and No. 31 in rushing yards.
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