Report: Patriots add Keith Jones to staff as coaching assistant

Patriots reportedly add a fourth new coach to their staff.

The New England Patriots have added another coach to their coaching staff.

According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the Patriots are expected to add Keith Jones to the staff as a coaching assistant.

Jones is no stranger to New England, as he spent last summer with the Patriots during training camp as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Fellowship. Jones was also part of the New England coaching contingent at the East-West Shrine Bowl earlier this offseason, serving as an assistant defensive line coach.

The former defensive lineman at Tennessee-Martin – who also played for the Iowa Barnstormers in the Indoor Football League – has spent the last two years as a Defensive Graduate Assistant at Arkansas St. (2021) and Arkansas (2022).

Jones becomes the fourth reported addition to New England’s coaching staff this offseason, joining Bill O’Brien, Adrian Klemm, and Will Lawing. While no coach outside of O’Brien has formally been announced, Jones is expected to be the only addition to assist the defensive staff.

New England is expected to return their entire defensive staff from last season. As Jones has experience coaching the defensive line, he perhaps could assist – and be a potential eventual replacement for – DeMarcus Covington, who drew plenty of interest around the league for defensive coordinator positions this offseason.