The Patriots are targeting ex-Browns assistant T.C. McCartney to be their next quarterbacks coach, according to CBS Sports.

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McCartney spent the past four years with new Pats offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt in Cleveland. He coached Browns tight ends the last two seasons, after originally rejoining the organization as an offensive assistant. McCartney previously coached Broncos quarterbacks in 2019 and worked as an 49ers offensive assistant under head coach Kyle Shanahan from 2017-18.

Last season, Cleveland tight end David Njoku reached his first Pro Bowl and set career highs in catches (81), yards (882) and touchdowns (6) under McCartney’s tutelage. Njoku produced despite playing with five different quarterbacks, who worked directly with Van Pelt during a surprising playoff campaign.

McCartney, 34, is the first position coach reportedly added to Van Pelt’s offensive staff. Earlier this week, the Patriots hired ex-Giants head coach Ben McAdoo as a senior offensive assistant, per source, and former Packers defensive line coach Jerry Mongtomery to the same position.

McCartney has eight years of NFL experience and comes from a football family with deep roots in the game. He was a backup quarterback at LSU from 2007-10. He appeared in one game during his final season and remained with the program as a graduate assistant in 2011. McCartney’s father played quarterback at the University of Colorado, where his grandfather, Bill McCartney, is the winningest coach in program history.

After leaving LSU, the youngest McCartney joined Colorado’s staff for two seasons as a graduate assistant/offensive coach. In 2014, he moved to Cleveland for the first time as an offensive assistant, a stop that lasted one season and led to ensuing one-year stops in San Francisco (quality control coach) and LSU again (offensive assistant).

McCartney’s final college stint led him back to San Francisco, where he joined Shanahan’s original staff. He took his first position coach job in 2019 under ex-Broncos head coach Vic Fangio and former Denver offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello. McCartney went back to Cleveland in 2020, shortly after Scangarello was fired.

The Browns did not retain McCartney this offseason, when his contract expired. He was part of a coaching shakeup that included Van Pelt and former running backs coach Stump Mitchell. McCartney is the Patriots’ fourth outside coaching hire made this offseason with ties to director of scouting Eliot Wolf, an ex-Browns and Packers executive.