Seeing many here pissing on this hire when most of the urinators know very little about Van Pelt, his reputation or his history with other organizations, is classic Patsfans. It seems important to clarify that Stefanski did not take away Van Pelt’s play call duty because of poor performance. Like several head coaches with a history as OCs, Stefanski has called the plays all four years that Van Pelt has been quarterbacks coach and OC. That shouldn’t be an indictment on Van Pelt, who apparently did have a critical role in developing the game plans and called plays when he was the OC of the Bills in the late 2000s. Members here have hard-ons for young coaches who have never called plays at any level. So, that is acceptable in young coach, who are all the rage right now, but not for a veteran coach with a very good reputation throughout the league, who has called plays in the NFL?
He lasted four years with the Browns, which wouldn’t have been the case, if Stefanski had been unhappy with his performance during his tenure there. We also don’t know the circumstances behind his firing. We’ve already established that it’s not his play-calling. It’s very possible that Van Pelt also for the opportunity to start calling plays, after four years of experience in Stefanski’s offense, but he was denied the opportunity and asked for his release. Firing him probably guaranteed his 2024 salary, in case he was unable to find a job. It’s also possible that Van Pelt already knew going into the off-season that he was never going to be able to call the plays under Stefanski and asked to be released, in order to pursue an OC job that would allow him the opportunity to call plays. Finally, it is possible that Van Pelt and the sexual assaulter did not get along, and they fired Van Pelt because they have no choice but to keep their wagon hitched to Watson, given his guaranteed contract.
Most posters here were excited about the possibility of changing to a McVay/Shanahan.
Well, Stefanski run a Shanahan-like offense. He is also familiar with the West Coast offense after working for years with Childress. Essentially, the Pats now have an OC with 4 years of experience in the Shanahan offense.
Other potential positives of this hire:
1. In my opinion, it would have been a big mistake to have the head coach, defensive coordinator, and offensive coordinator all be young coaches in their mid to late 30s. That sounds likep a recipe for failure.
2. One other thing that I was concerned about in terms of hiring one of these young “up-and-coming” coaches from the McVay or Shanahan tree is that there was a good chance that he would get hired away as a HC in a year or two, if they have success. That’s not a good thing for a young quarterback. Van Pelt is much less likely to be offered a head coaching job and, if he works out, offers more continuity.
Mayo, Groh and Wolfe clearly took their time with this OC search and likely did extensive research on all of the candidates. I am going to keep an open mind about Van Pelt and let his performance and the performance of the offense ultimately determine whether he was a good choice. po
