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6 things to know about new Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt
Van Pelt spent the previous four seasons serving as the Browns' offensive coordinator.
The Patriots have a new offensive coordinator.
New England officially announced its three coordinator hirings on Thursday evening, with the Patriots tabbing former Browns offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Alex Van Pelt to run their offense in 2024 and beyond.
Van Pelt, 53, served as Cleveland’s OC for four seasons but has made plenty of stops in his career — including extended reps working with some of the top QBs in the NFL.
Here are six things you need to know about New England’s new OC:
Van Pelt is an elder statesman on New England’s new coaching staff
The Patriots’ revamped coaching staff is banking on potential over established results so far in the NFL ranks.
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Jerod Mayo (37 years old) was the youngest head coach in the NFL until 36-year-old Mike McDonald was named Seahawks head coach on Wednesday. Patriots defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington is just 34 years old, as is new special-teams coordinator Jeremy Springer.
On a coaching personnel rife with promising (but inexperienced) staff, Van Pelt should provide plenty of insight, given his lengthy resume in the NFL.
Along with serving as the Browns’ offensive coordinator and QB coach the past four seasons, he also served as the Bills’ OC during the 2009 season.
He has served in some coaching capacity in the NFL since 2006. After four seasons with Buffalo, Van Pelt coached with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (QB coach, 2010-11), Green Bay Packers (running backs coach, 2012-13 and quarterbacks coach 2014-17) and the Cincinnati Bengals (quarterbacks coach 2018-19) before landing with Cleveland.
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Under Van Pelt, the Browns finished 14th, 20th, 18th and 10th in points scored from 2020-23.
He helped elevate a Browns offense marred by injury in 2023
Even though the Browns parted ways with Van Pelt this offseason, the case can be made that the veteran OC’s stock spiked this winter after drawing strong results out of a banged-up Cleveland offense.
The Browns were stung by the injury bug all season long, with Cleveland forced to turn to five different quarterbacks throughout the season in Deshaun Watson (six starts), Joe Flacco (five starts), Dorian Thompson-Robinson (three starts), P.J. Walker (two starts) and Jeff Driskel (one start).
The Browns also lost their top playmaker in Nick Chubb during Week 2 after he suffered a severe knee injury in a loss to the Steelers.
Despite several season-altering injuries, the Browns still managed to put together a strong offensive unit in 2023, with their 23.3 points per game ranking 10th in the NFL.
Flacco in particular looked rejuvenated under Van Pelt, with the 38-year-old veteran QB tossing 13 touchdowns and recording 1,616 passing yards in five regular-season games.
One potential knock against Van Pelt is that he wasn’t tasked with calling plays in Cleveland, with head coach Kevin Stefanski handling those duties.
However, as noted by NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry, Van Pelt did call plays during Cleveland’s 48-37 playoff win over the Steelers in January 2021, as well as a regular-season loss to the Raiders on Dec. 20, 2021. Stefanski was sidelined due to COVID during both of those games.
Van Pelt has plenty of experience with quarterbacks
With the Patriots holding onto the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, a tenured QB coach like Van Pelt should come in handy if New England opts to select a blue-chip signal-caller like UNC’s Drake Maye or LSU’s Jayden Daniels.
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Over his two-decade coaching career, Van Pelt has served as a QB coach with the Bills, Buccaneers, Packers, Bengals, and Browns.
As noted by The Boston Globe’s Nicole Yang, Van Pelt has worked with starting QBs in Trent Edwards (2008), Ryan Fitzpatrick (2009), Josh Freeman (2010-11), Aaron Rodgers (2014-17), Andy Dalton (2018-19), Baker Mayfield (2020-21), Jacoby Brissett (2022), Deshaun Watson (2022-23), and Joe Flacco (2023) over the years.
Van Pelt drew high praise from Rodgers during their time together in Green Bay, with the future Hall-of-Fame QB taking home his second MVP award during Van Pelt’s first season as QB coach in 2014.
Rodgers vented his frustration with the Packers in 2018 after the team opted to not retain Van Pelt — telling ESPN Radio’s Golic & Wingo that Green Bay’s offseason decisions were a “little strange”.
“Well, my quarterback coach didn’t get retained,” Rodgers added. “I thought that was an interesting change, really without consulting me. There’s a close connection between quarterback and quarterback coach, and that was an interesting decision.”
Given Van Pelt’s established track record of working with several QBs with different skill sets, that coaching acumen should come in handy with whichever passer New England targets this offseason.
He was an NFL quarterback in the AFC East
It should come as little surprise that Van Pelt is well-versed in working with quarterbacks, considering he was a QB during his playing career.
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Van Pelt started at QB for four seasons at the University of Pittsburgh, setting school records at the time for passing yards in a season (3,192 in 1992), career passing yards (11,267), completions (867), and attempts (1,503).
He was drafted by the Steelers in the eighth round of the 1993 NFL Draft, but eventually caught on with the Buffalo Bills — playing with the team for nine seasons. He appeared in 31 total games (11 starts) with Buffalo, tossing 16 touchdowns.
His final season in the NFL was in 2003, with Van Pelt eventually rejoining the Bills as an offensive quality control coach in 2006.
Van Pelt flew under the radar before the Patriots hired him
Jerod Mayo and the Patriots cast a wide net in their search for a new offensive coordinator.
Before Thursday’s news of Van Pelt’s hiring, the Patriots reportedly interviewed 11 different coaches for their OC vacancy: Nick Caley, Zac Robinson, Dan Pitcher, Shane Waldron, Jerrod Johnson, Thomas Brown, Tanner Engstrand, Brian Feury, Luke Getsy, Klint Kubiak, and Scott Turner.
Van Pelt clearly made a good impression. According to MassLive.com’s Mark Daniels, Van Pelt was hired after the veteran coach completed an in-person interview at Gillette Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
Van Pelt should install a new offensive scheme in Foxborough
With Van Pelt taking the reins of New England’s offense, the Patriots could be augmenting their overall approach on that side of the ball in 2024.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, Van Pelt’s “system has been based in West Coast, but multiple influences.”
During his time with the Bengals, Van Pelt worked under head coach Zac Taylor, who previously served under Sean McVay with the Rams. Over the previous four years, Van Pelt worked with Stefanski in Cleveland, who worked under Gary Kubiak in Minnesota and was a longtime assistant of Mike Shanahan.
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Whichever QB New England adds to the roster this offseason, Van Pelt should be able to adjust the Patriots’ scheme to best complement whoever is orchestrating drives down the field.
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