The New England Patriots’ new offensive coordinator is a 53-year-old former NFL quarterback who broke college passing records for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The beautiful journey, Alex Van Pelt joined Jerod Mayo after 30 years in professional football. Van Pelt brings extensive offensive experience from two decades as a coach, including serving as the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns.
Here are three things you didn’t know about the Patriots’ newest offensive lineman. It started after his career in BuffaloAfter spending 10 years as a backup for the Bills, Van Pelt retired from the NFL in 2004 and immediately landed in Buffalo’s radio booth.
The Pittsburgh native served as the color analyst alongside play-by-play man John Murphy during the team’s official game broadcasts. Volunteering as the quarterbacks coach at the nearby University of Buffalo, Van Pelt quickly moved from the Bills’ radio station to the coaches’ box. In 2006, he joined coach Dick Jauron’s staff as the offensive line coach for quality control. He was named OC for the 2009 season.
Pete Panther is a legendVan Pelt and Dan Marino played collegiately at Pittsburgh, but only one of them passed for over 10,000 yards. After Marino (7,905) graduated as the school’s leading passer, Van Pelt broke the career rushing record in 1992 with 10,913 yards.Van Pelt held Pitt’s record for nearly 30 years until 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett (12,303) surpassed him in 2021. Pittsburgh competed in the Big East Conference, which did not sponsor football during the Van Pelt era.
Coach Aaron RogersAfter spending two seasons (2010-11) as Tampa Bay’s quarterbacks coach, Van Pelt came to Green Bay as the quarterbacks coach in 2012. After his first two years with the Packers, he returned to play quarterback.
Future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers earned three straight Pro Bowl selections and the 2014 NFL MVP award during Van Pelt’s four years as the team’s fourth head coach. In the three seasons before his 2017 injury, Rodgers averaged 4,210 passing yards and 36.3 touchdowns in 16 games.
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