The New England Patriots have been searching long and far for someone to run their offense under new head coach Jerod Mayo.
That process came to a culmination on Thursday. According to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero, the Pats have hired former NFL quarterback Alex Van Pelt to be their offensive coordinator.
Van Pelt, 53, was an original eighth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1993 NFL Draft out of Pitt. He played nine seasons in the NFL, starting a mere 11 games in the process. Van Pelt’s entire career was spent with the division-rival Buffalo Bills.
Getting someone with Van Pelt’s experience is no small thing for the defensive-minded Mayo as he attempts to fill the shoes of franchise legend and six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick.
After his retirement from the NFL, Van Pelt has been a mainstay as an assistant in the league. He served as the Buffalo Bills’ quality control coach from 2006-07 before being promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2008 and offensive coordinator in 2009.
Van Pelt then moved on to become the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach from 2010-11 before serving as an assistant with the Green Bay Packers from 2012-17. He also served as the Green Bay Packers’ quarterbacks coach for Aaron Rodgers from 2016-18 before being hired in the same role with the Cincinnati Bengals.
The former NFL quarterback was the Cleveland Browns’ offensive coordinator since 2020 before being fired by head coach Kevin Stefanski last month.
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Despite the Browns’ injury issues this past season, Van Pelt led a top-10 scoring offense. This was pretty impressive given that Cleveland saw star running back Nick Chubb miss all but two games with quarterback Deshaun Watson also sitting out 11 games.
Getting an experienced offensive mind to call shots is no small thing with Mayo’s inexperience on that side of the ball.
