The New England Patriots have finally found a new offensive coordinator. Two weeks after Bill O’Brien left for Ohio State, the club hired former Cleveland Browns assistant coach Alex Van Pelt to fill the void.
Van Pelt is no stranger to this role, having spent four years coordinating the offense in Cleveland. . Now, he will be tasked with rebuilding a team that ranked 31st in the New England League in scoring last season. So let’s take an overview of what the hiring means for the Patriots moving forward. All three coordinator positions are now filled.
During his introductory press conference, new coach Jerod Mayo talked about bringing the title of coordinator back to New England. He didn’t lie and is now hiring people to fill those three positions.Mayo, which promoted D-line coach DeMarcus Covington to defensive coordinator and hired former Los Angeles Rams assistant Jeremy Springer to a special teams role, now has Van Pelt to fill the job final coordinator vacancy.
The fact that those last two spots are going to outsiders shows New England’s willingness to start over during certain periods of the game. It’s the first time since 2017 that the Patriots have official offensive, defensive and special teams coordinators.The Patriots have experience on the offensive side of the ball.
Jerod Mayo is a rookie head coach whose experience is entirely on the defensive side of the ball. There was speculation that he would hire an offensive coordinator like Nick Caley, Zach Robinson or Tanner Engstrand, but he chose one of the more experienced options. Van Pelt, 53, spent 11 years as a quarterback in the NFL, appearing in 32 games as a member of the Buffalo Bills in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
He took over as coach in 2005 and earned his first of major league work the following year.
Since then, Van Pelt has coached quarterbacks and quarterbacks and served two terms as offensive coordinator. He worked with the Bills in 2009 and again with Cleveland the past four years. Now he will have another opportunity to lead the offense after two rough years under Matt Patricia/Joe Judge and Bill O’Brien.
