What type of offense is Alex Van Pelt looking to install with 2024 Patriots?

"It’s the pieces of the puzzle. What’s available and how can we make those guys successful."

Alex Van Pelt will run New England's offense in 2024. Jonathan Wiggs /Globe Staff)

February 22, 2024

2 minutes to read

The Patriots are switching up the script when it comes to their offensive scheme in 2024.

Even with a disastrous 2022 season under Matt Patricia and more woeful returns with Bill O’Brien in 2023, New England hasn’t significantly augmented its offense ever since Josh McDaniels took over the reins as offensive coordinator back in 2006.

But with new OC Alex Van Pelt in place, Jerod Mayo’s Patriots are starting from scratch.

Van Pelt has plenty of experience implementing different offensive schemes over the years. During his four seasons as the Browns’ OC and quarterbacks coach, he ran a West Coast offense under head coach Kevin Stefanski — featuring a run-heavy playbook with plenty of play-action sprinkled in.

Speaking on Wednesday in his first media availability with the Patriots, Van Pelt was asked how similar the 2024 Patriots’ offense will be to the Browns’ schemes over the last few years.

“I wouldn’t say same. Similar,” Van Pelt said. “I’d say there’s a lot of similarities. It’s the pieces of the puzzle. What’s available and how can we make those guys successful. But there’ll be similarities. I’ve taken pieces of a lot of different offenses over my time and melded those together in what’s best for us at that time.”

Even though a West Coast offense has been a signature of Van Pelt’s offenses over the last few seasons, he’s drawn from multiple influences over his lengthy coaching career.

During his time with the Bengals (QB coach, 2018-19), Van Pelt worked under head coach Zac Taylor, who previously served under Sean McVay with the Rams. Van Pelt had plenty of experience working with Stefanski in Cleveland, who served under Gary Kubiak in Minnesota and was a longtime assistant of Mike Shanahan.

Those years of experience with several different systems should come in handy with a Patriots team that still has plenty of question marks surrounding their personnel.

Unless New England does decide to keep Mac Jones around, Van Pelt may not know which quarterback he’ll have to build his roster around until late April.

“The good news is I’ve done it a lot of different ways,” Van Pelt said. “I’ve been under center a ton, I’ve been in the shotgun a ton. I’ve had issues with personnel in certain areas and been able to adjust and adapt to that.

“We’re not exactly sure what pieces of that puzzle we’ll have, but I feel confident with the coach staff that we’ll be able to put those people in the right place. It’s not so much about scheme, it’s about the players and putting those people in position. So there’s a lot of different schemes out there, the best ones put the best players in position to be successful.”