FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots are expected to hire Adrian Klemm as an assistant coach on their offensive staff, filling a critical offensive line-based role under new coordinator Bill O'Brien, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Klemm is expected to receive a pay raise with the move back to the NFL.
Klemm spent last year as the University of Oregon's associate head coach, offensive line coach and run-game coordinator. He had been interviewed by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in January as part of the process that resulted in O'Brien being hired.
Oregon finished No. 1 in all of college football in sacks allowed this year, giving up just five in 13 games.
Belichick and Klemm needed no formal introduction, as the 45-year-old was Belichick's first-ever draft pick with the Patriots -- a second-round choice out of the University of Hawai'i in 2000 (No. 46 overall).
Klemm played 26 games (10 starts) for the Patriots from 2000 to 2004, and moved on to the Green Bay Packers, with whom he played for two seasons before transitioning to a coaching career with Southern Methodist University (2008-2011), UCLA (2012-2016), the Pittsburgh Steelers (2019-2021) and Oregon (2022).
In the college ranks, Klemm was viewed as a strong recruiter with a knack for relating to players.
In 2022, the Patriots split their offensive line coaching duties between Matt Patricia and Billy Yates, with Yates seemingly doing the majority of coaching on game day.