Juju Smith-Schuster comments highlight importance of Bill O’Brien

After a great day for the Patriots' offense in practice on Wednesday, Juju Smith-Schuster, the newly signed receiver had some interesting comments. Smith-Schuster referenced the confidence of the offense, but one comment about new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien caught my attention.

When referencing O’Brien, Smith-Schuster stated, “When they got Bill O’Brien, it was kind of like a no-brainer.” The comment from the new receiver highlights how important bringing back O’Brien was for the Patriots and the growth of the offense after a poor season a year ago. The Patriots have a real offensive coordinator again, and the players are reaping the benefits of it. 

Bringing back O’Brien has already had a positive effect on the Patriots, as it helped them land Smith-Schuster and Mike Gesicki in free agency. I think it’s important to see Smith-Schuster speak so highly of O’Brien because it shows the respect he has in the locker room. It just goes to show the power of having a functional and well-known commodity on your coaching staff. Ultimately, it’s fair to question if the Patriots could have signed Smith-Schuster if Matt Patricia and Joe Judge were still running the offense.

The importance of O’Brien has also been shown in the confidence level of the Patriot's offense. After practice, Smith-Schuster said that the confidence level has been “through the roof.” This comment from Smith-Schuster is important because it shows a drastic change in the offense from a year ago at this point. The Patriots players have a real belief in the offense, which should set them off on the right foot this season. The Patriots offense is finally starting to come together again, and it seems that O’Brien is at the forefront of it.

Moving forward, it will be interesting to see how the Patriot's offense looks once the preseason starts.