Patriots linebackers coach/defensive play-caller Steve Belichick is reportedly leaving New England to become the next defensive coordinator at the University of Washington.

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Belichick, 36, had the option to return under new Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo. Belichick served as the team’s defensive play-caller the last five seasons, when he and Mayo effectively functioned as co-coordinators. During that time, the Patriots defense ranked No. 1 in the league by EPA and posted three top-10 finishes in points allowed.

Mayo recently promoted defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington to defensive coordinator over Belichick. Steve, the elder son of Bill Belichick, spent 12 years on the Patriots’ staff, rising from coaching assistant to safeties coach, outside linebackers coach and then linebackers coach. He first called plays in 2019, when the Patriots boasted the league’s top-ranked defense.

Belichick was the team’s longest-tenured assistant coach. His departure leaves the Patriots’ defensive staff low on assistants with experience coaching in the secondary. Both Mayo and Covington have spent their entire coaching careers in the front seven.

Belichick’s brother, Brian, could remain as the safeties coach, a job he’s held since 2020.

“We have a great relationship. They have the option to stay,” Mayo said of Steve and Brian Belichick last month. “They also have the option to go with their father, if they want to. Still kind of going through it. I have a good relationship with both of them. They’re great coaches. We’ll see what happens.”

Covington is well-positioned to replace Steve Belichick as the defense’s play-caller, but filling the linebackers coach vacancy. During his defensive coordinator search, Mayo interviewed two linebackers coaches: ex-Carolina assistant Tem Lukabu and the Saints’ Michael Hodges. Brian Belichick could follow his brother’s example and move from safeties to linebackers, a position he coached last year at the East-West Shrine Bowl.

The Patriots’ only other holdover assistants on defense are cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino and coaching assistant Keith Jones, who mostly worked with the defensive line.

In Washington, Steve Belichick reunites with ex-Patriots quarterback coach Jedd Fisch. The Patriots hired Fisch in 2020, his only season in New England before leaving to take the head-coaching job at Arizona. Fisch accepted Washington’s head job last month.

Belichick’s hiring was first reported by 247Sports.