"They can't put him on special teams, because it makes it look like they promoted (special teams coordinator) Cam Achord -- which they essentially have, but they don't want to make it look that way," Breer said Thursday night on NBC Sports Boston's Arbella Early Edition, as seen in the video above.
"And they can't put him on the offensive staff after what happened last year. So, if you're looking at it, it's either, we put him right next to Bill (Belichick), the optics of that aren't good, put him on offense, the optics of that aren't good, put him on special teams, the optics of that aren't good -- let's just slide him in with the defense and hope nobody else notices. That's what I think this is."
The Patriots are notorious for giving their assistants mysterious titles that don't always match their job descriptions, and it sounds like that trend will continue in 2023. While Achord has been New England's special teams coordinator since 2020, Breer suggested that Judge will be the lead special teams coach, while also performing a variety of "assistant head coach" tasks as Belichick's right-hand man.
"His role is going to be sort of a guy who is, in a lot ways, helping Bill do his job better," Breer said of Judge. "He's going to run the special teams and oversee the special teams with Cam Achord; I think he's the No. 1 and Achord is the No. 2 now. And beyond that, what an assistant head coach does in other places is what Joe Judge will do, which is be sort of the guy who can be Bill's eyes and ears when he can't be certain places and fill some roles that Bill would typically fill when he can't fill them."