Tag: alex van pelt

Patriots coach Jerod Mayo reveals who will lead in developing QB Drake Maye

Here’s who will take the lead in developing rookie QB Drake Maye

New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo has a plan in place for quarterback Drake Maye’s development. He indicated to media members on Saturday that offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt will be the one primarily working with the rookie quarterback.

This move makes sense given Van Pelt’s experience working with quarterbacks. His experience dates as far back as 2005, when he served as the quarterbacks coach for the Frankfurt Galaxy.

He worked as a quarterbacks coach for the Buffalo Bills in 2008 and then with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2010 and 2011 seasons. He also served in the role with the Green Bay Packers, Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns.

Now, he will be tasked as the “lead guy” working with a promising rookie in Maye.

The development of Maye will be important for both the future of the Patriots’ franchise and for the quarterback himself. The former North Carolina star has all of the tools to succeed, and now, it’s up to him to refine them.

Patriots TE Austin Hooper looking forward to reuniting with Alex Van Pelt

Austin Hooper is excited for reunion with Patriots OC Alex Van Pelt

New England Patriots tight end Austin Hooper had positive reviews of offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, as the two are set to unite once again.

Hooper played under Van Pelt from 2020-2022 in Cleveland. He recorded 84 catches for 780 yards and seven touchdowns during his time with the Browns.

Now, he will be looking to help add depth to a Patriots’ tight end room that is headlined by Hunter Henry.

“Really smart guy. Good energy in the building. That’s a huge part of it,” said Hooper, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “Most people just think of the three hours you see on Sunday, but there’s many more hours throughout the week where you’re spending a lot of time together, and it makes work so much better when you enjoy the people you work with. His style, his approach, his offense, his understanding of his personnel, and who he is as a man and coach, it’s going to make it really fun to be in the building every day.”

Cooper signed a one-year contract with New England after the departure of Mike Gesicki.

It will be interesting to see how the tight end fits in the offense. Familiarity with the way Van Pelt runs things will be important, especially if New England drafts a rookie quarterback.

Having veteran familiarity could go a long way in the quarterback’s development process.

Deep dive into Patriots’ 2024 offensive coaching staff

Here’s what the new offensive coaching staff looks like for the Patriots

The New England Patriots are in preparation mode for the 2024 NFL off-season, after naming their full coaching staff under rookie head coach Jerod Mayo.

Mayo’s new staff includes 17 new coaches, all with different connection points and experiences that should make this a fun staff. The Patriots decided to completely clean house on offense and allow newly-hired offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt to have a say in his offensive staff. They are even employing quality control coaches and assistants, which is something that was atypical during Bill Belichick’s reign.

What I also like is that the Patriots have quite a few former players on staff, which is key to building a new culture and connecting earlier with young players.

Mayo and de facto general manager Eliot Wolf are surely trying to rebuild a winning culture and create a desire for others to come to New England. Relatability, connectivity and passion come to mind with this new-look coaching staff and front office.

We’re going to take a look at the offensive coaching staff for 2024 and dive deeper into each hire and what it means for the Patriots.

OC Alex Van Pelt says Patriots offense will be similar to Browns

The Patriots offense won’t be the same as the Browns under OC Alex Van Pelt, but expect to see similarities

New England Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt isn’t looking to implement a carbon copy of the Cleveland Browns offense, but on Wednesday, he admitted their would be a lot of similarities.

The former Browns offensive coordinator gave a teaser of what to expect from the new-look Patriots offense when meeting with media members at an introductory press conference.

“I wouldn’t say same. Similar, I’d say there’s a lot of similarities,” said Van Pelt. “Again, there’s pieces of that 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 kind of melded those together into what’s best for us at that time.”

Similarities could include a heavy offensive front with diverse run concepts.

Of course, the Patriots will need to get better on the offensive front to aid in a run-heavy approach. Their offensive line underperformed last season after being battered with injuries.

One also has to wonder if the Patriots might be willing to reach a bit more to keep Ezekiel Elliott on the roster. Under Van Pelt’s watch, he could create quite the one-two punch in the offensive backfield, similar to what the Browns have with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.

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Patriots OC Alex Van Pelt comments on possibility of Mac Jones returning as starter in 2024

Don’t close the book on Mac Jones just yet

New England Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt has already met with quarterback Mac Jones and wide receiver Demario “Pop” Douglas since being hired by the team.

Van Pelt is working with the rest of the coaching staff to get up to speed with the current roster and help with future roster-building decisions. There have been reports that Jones is likely out of New England in 2024, but Van Pelt didn’t completely write the struggling quarterback off at Wednesday’s introductory press conference.

In fact, the newly-hired offensive coordinator claimed “everything is on the table,” when asked about the chances of Jones starting for the team next season.

“Right now, everything is on the table,” said Van Pelt.

The Patriots should have opportunities in free agency to go after a veteran quarterback. They’ll also have the option of taking one in the 2024 NFL draft. New England currently has the No. 3 overall pick, which puts them in reach of one of the top-three options on the board—Caleb Williams, Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels.

But it also isn’t out of the realm of possibility that the Patriots use their first-round pick to improve at wide receiver or the offensive line. If that’s the plan, they could save assets and money keeping either Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe as the starter.

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Patriots to host press conference with new coaching staff on Wednesday

Patriots set to hold their first press conference to introduce the new coaching staff.

The New England Patriots and head coach Jerod Mayo will hold an introductory press conference on Wednesday with offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington and special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer.

The press conference will take place on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET, per Patriots.com’s Evan Lazar.

This will give fans and media alike a chance to hear from the new coaching staff for the very first time. All three were hired in February as part of a rebuild in the post-Bill Belichick era.

Van Pelt comes to New England from the Cleveland Browns, while Covington received an in-house promotion from defensive line coach. Meanwhile, Springer was the assistant special teams coach of the Los Angeles Rams in 2022 and 2023.

A new era of Patriots football is officially beginning, and now, we will get our first chance to hear from the architects behind it.

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OC Alex Van Pelt gives first interview since joining Patriots

Patriots OC Alex Van Pelt delves into offensive philosophies

New England Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt gave an interview for the first time as a member of the organization on Wednesday.

In the interview, he shared some insight into his offensive philosophies ahead of coaching a Patriots team hoping to become a more cohesive unit.

Van Pelt was hired by the Patriots on February 1. He comes to New England from the Cleveland Browns and is known for being a quarterback developer. Granted, he will have his work cut out for him as the Patriots look to rejuvenate an offensive unit that ranked 30th in the NFL with 276.2 yards per game in 2023.

New England needs a new offensive identity, and it sounds as though Van Pelt can provide one.

Tailoring the offense to its personnel will be important, as the Patriots will look to have several new pieces on the offensive side of the football.

The key aspect for the Patriots will be getting the quarterback position right. Poor quarterback development was a problem for the Patriots with Mac Jones, and the franchise could ill-afford to have that scenario play out again.

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Patriots hiring former Browns assistant as new OL coach

Another former Cleveland Browns assistant coach is New England-bound

The band is getting back together.

After targeting former Cleveland Browns tight ends coach T.C. McCartney as a quarterbacks coach, the New England Patriots are reportedly hiring former Browns assistant coach Scott Peters as their new offensive line coach, per the Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan.

Peters landed his first NFL opportunity with the Browns in 2020 and worked extensively underneath Van Pelt for four seasons. He’ll now join him in New England in hopes of helping to fix one of the biggest trouble spots for the team throughout the 2023 season.

If anything, this signing shows the Patriots are letting Van Pelt pick his own offensive staff. Per the Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi, this Patriots coaching staff was hoping to avoid a Bill O’Brien situation.

The Patriots are buying in completely and letting Van Pelt run with the offense. Of course, the biggest question is whether Peters will have the right personnel to be successful, which was the issue last season with Adrian Klemm coaching the offensive line.

It was a revolving door of injuries, linemen playing out of position and players just straight up underperforming. But this time around, the Patriots have the cap space and draft capital to fix those problems. Hopefully, they also have the right coaches to show them the way.

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Another Browns assistant joins Alex Van Pelt with Patriots

The Browns are down an assistant offensive line coach as Scott Peters joins Alex Van Pelt with the Patriots

The Cleveland Browns see another member of their 2023 offensive staff join the New England Patriots as assistant offensive line coach Scott Peters joins Alex Van Pelt in the AFC East.

After the departure of Bill Callahan, there was a thought that Peters could be promoted from assistant offensive line coach to Callahan’s job. However, the Browns have other plans as Peters is now off to New England. He joins Van Pelt, former tight ends coach T.C. McCartney, former assistant GM Eliot Wolf, and former front office staffer Alonzo Highsmith as former Browns personnel to join the new era in New England.

This could mean that Andy Dickerson, the former offensive line coach of the Seattle Seahawks, could be announced as the heir apparent to Bill Callahan any day now. The Browns interviewed Dickerson for the offensive coordinator gig before hiring Ken Dorsey, and it was reported the Patriots were making a “strong push” to hire the former Seattle coach as well.

With one coach exiting Cleveland and another not going to New England as originally thought, could the writing be on the wall?

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Former Browns assistant following Alex Van Pelt to the Patriots

Another former Browns assistant is joining New England

Former Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt is taking another former assistant with him to the Patriots. Last year’s tight ends coach T.C. McCartney is reportedly joining Van Pelt on new Patriots head coach Jerrod Mayo’s staff.

McCartney had been with the Browns for the past four seasons, in 2020 and 2021 he was an offensive assistant before being the team’s tight end coach the past two seasons. McCartney was let go after the season at the same time as Van Pelt.

It makes sense that Van Pelt would look to add coaches he is familiar with going into his first season with the Patriots. AVP will get a chance to truly run an offense and call plays for the first time joining a defensive-minded head coach’s staff. Keep an eye on other former Browns assistants who have worked with Van Pelt as he builds his support staff for the 2024 NFL season.

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