Patriots hire surprise offensive coordinator.
Alex Van Pelt spent the last four seasons in Cleveland.
The Patriots interviewed a total of 12 candidates for their offensive coordinator job, ultimately hiring the last person to step foot in the original Patriot position.Instead, they hired someone who already held title elsewhere. New England will hire Alex Van Pelt as offensive coordinator, according to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero. Van Pelt has been in the same position with the Cleveland Browns for the past four seasons.
Van Pelt helped lead Cleveland to the playoffs as five different quarterbacks started at least one regular season game. He was fired by the Browns after a loss to the Houston Texans in the AFC Divisional round. The 53-year-old hasn’t played in Cleveland since coach Kevin Stefanski took over.It’s been a long journey to the NFL for Van Pelt. He played nine seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, later coaching the latter’s quarterbacks and being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2009.
He had a brief stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2010 before to spend six seasons with them. He coaches Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers. He was the quarterbacks coach for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2018-2019.Van Pelt overlapped with Patriots scouting director Eliot Wolf while in Green Bay. The Patriots invited Van Pelt in for an interview Thursday, according to MassLive’s Mark Daniels.
They would have been satisfied with the outcome of the meeting and hired him as one of the candidates they had interviewed earlier. His offense will have a big impact on the West Coast like Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay.This causes great excitement in New England.
