Patriots hire former Browns assistant coach Alex Van Pelt as their offensive coordinator
Jerod Mayo has made the third and final major coaching hire for the 2024 season. While there are a lot of other coaching positions to fill, this one is a big deal. According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Patriots have hired former Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt to fill that role in New […]
Jerod Mayo has made the third and final major coaching hire for the 2024 season. While there are a lot of other coaching positions to fill, this one is a big deal.
According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Patriots have hired former Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt to fill that role in New England.
Mayo interviewed 11 known candidates, but Van Pelt was not one of the names that was made public. But it's clear he made an impression.
"The #Patriots own the No. 3 overall pick in April’s draft and could target their quarterback of the future. Van Pelt has spent most of his two decades in coaching working with QBs, and now could play a big role in developing another," Pelissero wrote.
Van Pelt played as a quarterback in the NFL from 1993 to 2003 mostly with the Buffalo Bills. He transitioned to coaching and joined the Bills staff in 2006. There he went from offensive quality control coach, to quarterbacks coach, and then offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in four season.
Following his lone season as the Bills offensive coordinator, Van Pelt moved to the Tamp Bay Buccaneers and spent two seasons there as the quarterbacks coach. In 2014 he moved to Green Bay and signed with the Packers as their running backs coach for two seasons before ultimately moving to become their quarterbacks coach.
In 2018, he moved once again, joining the Cincinnati Bengals as the quarterbacks coach for two season before the Browns swooped in and hired him as their offensive coordinator. However, Van Pelt was fired this past season after the Browns lost to the Houston Texans in the AFC Playoffs.
This is an interesting move, but one that could truly help the offense. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski and Van Pelt had their fair share of quarterback struggles this season, but never let that stop them. So with that, they made it all the way to the playoffs.
And as we all know, the Patriots quarterback situation leaves something to be desired. But he has a good track record of helping fix some of those issues.
With this, Van Pelt rounds out the major coaching hires, with Jeremy Springer announced as the new special teams coordinator and DeMarcus Covington expected to take over the defense.
