New England Patriots make a surprise hire at offensive coordinator
The New England Patriots will hire Alex Van Pelt as their new offensive coordinator, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Van Pelt was most recently the former offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns.
The hire comes as a surprise as the Patriots interviewed 11 known candidates throughout the process. Van Pelt was not on that list until the decision was reported.
Van Pelt has ties to New England as he worked with director of scouting Eliot Wolf in Green Bay. During his four season tenure in Cleveland the Browns ranked 12th, 17th, 20th, and 13th in scoring. He also drew interest from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Las Vegas Raiders.
The Patriots seemed to be searching for an offensive coordinator with influence from the Shanahan coaching tree. The Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, worked with Gary Kubiak who worked with Mike Shanahan.
Prior to the Browns, Van Pelt was a quarterback coach and runningback coach with the Packers. He worked closely with Aaron Rodgers. Van Pelt brings coaching experince to what is a young Patriots staff.
“Per source on Van Pelt: Great dude. Culture changer. Good coach. West Coast mostly, but has other influences,” Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Callahan added the Patriots interviewed Van Pelt last night and today before moving quickly on the decision.
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