Dante Scarnecchia almost scared David Andrews away from joining Patriots

"I was like, man, can’t go to New England with that guy.”

Hall-of-Fame offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia was a force to be reckoned with during his illustrious career with the Patriots. Center David Andrews was one of many offensive linemen to blossom under his tutelage.

But as Andrews tells it, the sight of Scarnecchia’s intense methods almost made him cross the Patriots off his list of future NFL destinations.

The Pats captain and offensive line veteran told the story of his first-ever impression of Scarnecchia during Georgia’s Pro Day in 2012, when Andrews was only a freshman with the Bulldogs on “The Quick Snap” podcast — with Scarnecchia next to him as a guest on the show.

Scarnecchia, he says, was working out senior offensive linemen Cordy Glenn, who was selected by the Bills in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft, and Ben Jones, a center who went to the Texans in the fourth round of the same draft.

“I want to see what this is like, I want to see what they’re doing,” Andrews recalled to Scarnecchia. “So they’re doing the Pro Day, and next thing I know, I look, and — at Georgia, we have an upper field and a lower field. And Dante’s taking the O-linemen away. They’ve already done like a 30-minute workout with him.

“You took them down on that lower field — I don’t think there was anyone else watching, but you put these jokers through another 30 (minutes). I looked at Ben after when I went in the locker room, and Ben’s having a heart attack down there. I was like, man, can’t go to New England with that guy.”

Andrews, of course, did join the Patriots as an undrafted free agent out of Georgia in 2015 and went on to start 11 games at center for New England that year. But Scarnecchia, who had retired in 2013, didn’t coach Andrews as a rookie, though he worked around the team as a consultant.

That all changed when the Patriots fired Dave DeGuglielmo and re-hired Scarnecchia to coach the offensive line in 2016, leading to a humorous encounter between the two that spring.

“The week before the offseason program started, I had gone to Eagle Brook Saloon [in Norfolk]. I did a lot of beer drinking … shut the place down,” Andrews said.

“I’m in the hot tub Monday morning getting warmed up … Dante comes out of the coaches’ locker room. He obviously sees me in the hot tub, doesn’t look at me, just walks by and goes, ‘Heard you were drinking beer by the gallon at Eagle Brook.’ … I was like, this is going to be a long, long tenure here. But it turned out to be great.”

The Patriots immediately returned to form under Scarnecchia, winning the Super Bowl in the 2016 season and earning another title in the 2019-20 season before the coach retired permanently. Andrews, of course, turned into one of the team’s steadiest offensive linemen and a leader on the offense.

Good thing he didn’t let that intimidating first impression keep him away from the Patriots.