FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Patriots announced today the addition of Brendan Daly to Bill Belichick's staff as a defensive assistant coach.

Daly is a 17-year coaching veteran, including eight seasons in the NFL as an assistant. Daly had two stints with the Minnesota Vikings (2006-08) as a defensive assistant/defensive line coach and (2012-13) as a defensive line coach, sandwiched between a three-year stint with the St. Louis Rams (2009-11) as a defensive line coach.

Daly worked in the college ranks as the defensive line coach at Villanova in 2005 and tight ends coach at Illinois State in 2004. From 2001-03, Daly was on the staff at Oklahoma State, where he worked on both sides of the ball and in strength and conditioning. Daly's first exposure to major Division I football came as an offensive graduate assistant at Maryland in 2000, where he worked with the tight ends. He got his coaching start at Ridgewood High in New Port Richey, Fla., in 1997 before moving to his alma mater, Drake, in 1998 and Villanova in 1999.

Daly was a tight end during his college career at Drake.