AFC East Staff Updates: Patriots, Clark, Jets

The Patriots brought former Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen onto their staff just over a month ago, placing him in a minor role under new defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr who used to have a minor role on Bowen’s defensive staffs in Tennessee and New York. According to Ryan Dunleavy of New York Post Sports, New England wanted to bring Bowen on last year for a more significant role on their staff, but the Giants reportedly “wouldn’t let him go.”

Serving as a defensive coordinator over the past five seasons, Bowen is obviously overqualified for a defensive analyst position, but unable to find a new significant role immediately following his dismissal from New York, he has accepted the minor role with a staff that hold several familiar faces from head coach Mike Vrabel‘s time in Tennessee. Bowen will likely attempt to land a coordinator job in the next offseason.

Elsewhere, in the front office, New England has parted ways with director of scouting projects Marshall Oium, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. After beginning his scouting career in Cleveland, Oium joined the Patriots as a pro scout in 2018, earning a promotion to assistant director of scouting in 2023. The next year, they moved Oium over the analytics side of things, naming him director of football strategy. Following rumors that the organization was looking to improve with analytics and research, Oium was moved to his most recent role. His dismissal ends an eight-year tenure with the team.

Here are a couple other staffing updates from across the AFC East:

• One of the few holdovers from Mike McDaniel‘s staff in Miami, Austin Clark has been on the Dolphins‘ defensive staff since 2020. He started that year, under then-head coach Brian Flores, as the team’s outside linebackers coach, overseeing the edge rushing group. From 2021 up until now, though, Clark worked as the team’s defensive line coach. According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Clark’s role under new head coach Jeff Hafley, though unchanged in title, will see him take on the coaching of the edge rushers in addition to the defensive line. Following the departures of Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips, Clark will have his work cut out for him.
• Lastly, per Wilson, the Jets have parted ways with pro scout Dominic Esposito. Esposito’s NFL debut came with the Jets following a short time working in recruiting at South Alabama. He arrived in New York as a training camp intern in 2019, got hired on full-time as a player personnel assistant, and become a pro scout after three years with the team.