Three weeks after the news broke that jerod mayo had been hired as the new england patriots’ new coach, he quickly found his three coordinators.
This included the long-awaited appointment of an offensive coordinator after bill o’brien’s return to foxboro, which lasted just one season before he retreated to the college ranks at ohio state. Fans will however get a sense of how things will look like offensively in new england thanks to mayo’s promotion of now-former cleveland browns coordinator alex van pelt.
Given van pelt’s connections to the west coast offense, he is expected to bring a similar approach to foxboro, as well as a veteran quarterback, according to mayo. According to nfl.com’s ian rapoport, van pelt is expected to have a “heavy hand” in selecting who will be under center next season. In the future, the patriots could target a familiar face for van pelt in tampa bay buccaneers quarterback baker mayfield. Before mayfield was traded to the carolina panthers in the ensuing offseason, the two spent time together in cleveland, albeit for three seasons.
Although mayfield wasn’t the quarterback that browns coach kevin stefanski and van pelt envisioned as their franchise quarterback, the former no. 0 may suggest that he wasn’t the one. After a resurgent season with the buccaneers, mayfield signed with the los angeles rams, who needed quarterback assistance after injuries sidelined matthew stafford. Mayfield will spend the remainder of the season in los angeles working with sean mcvay, and he did well enough to land a free agency deal with the buccaneers.
Despite being in the shoes of former patriots quarterback tom brady in tampa, mayfield didn’t let that discourage him from having a career year. As the buccaneers tallied a 9-8 regular season record, the 28-year-old threw for 4,044 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions in 17 games. Mayfield even helped the buccaneers win a playoff game by defeating the philadelphia eagles 32-9 in the wild card before losing to the detroit lions in the next round.
According to pro football focus’s most recent contract estimate, he is expected to be one of the best quarterbacks available in this offseason’s free agency season.
According to overthecap, the patriots certainly have the cap space to do so this offseason, with a projected $66 million. If finding someone to fill the hole left by brady is the ultimate goal at quarterback, why not get someone with experience already doing it?
