Van Pelt, Patriots Coaches Remain in Limbo with Head Coaching Interviews Underway
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While Jerod Mayo may have been fired barely an hour following Sunday’s win over the Buffalo Bills, it appears the other foot has yet to drop when it comes to the future of his staff.
Despite a report by Ben Volin following the loss that Alex Van Pelt had joined Mayo in being let go by the club, it seems that hasn’t happened just yet.
In fact, reports so far seem to indicate that no moves will likely be made with any of the coaches until after the team conducts its interviews and makes a final decision. From there, it’s expected that the new head coach would either choose to keep those current coaches on staff, or bring in his own people.
That puts both Van Pelt and fellow coordinator Demarcus Covington in limbo, with both likely wondering what their respective futures hold. Van Pelt is certainly one people will be watching, given his relationship with Drake Maye and how highly the rookie has spoken of him all season.
His development moving forward is going to be critical, which is why it’s going to be important for Kraft to make sure he gets it right when it comes to whatever offensive coach replaces Van Pelt during this hiring cycle.
The team has wasted little time starting the search for Mayo’s replacement. They’ve reportedly requested to interview Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, with the interview expected to be virtual due to the Lions current postseason preparations.
Albert Breer reported Tuesday morning that Johnson may only agree to interviews with Chicago and New England, which may indicate those are his two preferred landing spots. There had been reports that he possibly had interest in Jacksonville’s opening, with Johnson’s name appearing among names the club requested interviews with. However, it’s not known if Johnson will, in fact, interview with the Jaguars.
Meanwhile, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported on Monday that Mike Vrabel will interview with the Patriots on Thursday, with Vrabel believed to be the favorite for the position. The club posted on X on Tuesday that New England has completed interviews with both Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton, putting them in compliance with the Rooney Rule.
While some might dismiss those interviews, especially given what we’ve heard when it comes to both Vrabel and Johnson, Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal made a good point about their importance in his recent podcast.
“I think you guys remember at this time last year when we heard about the Jerod Mayo succession language, I was a little bit ticked off because while they ended up hiring a black head coach, which is great, but I still thought they violated the substance of the Rooney Rule,” said Bedard. “The reason for having it, which is it’s not just about hiring minorities, it’s about giving minorities a bigger platform, advancing them.”
“That can happen when, say, the Patriots conducted a full search, and even if they landed on Mayo, they could have interviewed any number of minority candidates, and all of a sudden, and this goes for any job, if they interviewed them and they’re impressed, maybe they don’t hire them, but they go talk to one of their owners’ buddies at one of these meetings and they say, ‘You know what? We really liked this guy, but we didn’t end up hiring [them]. You should definitely talk to them.’ That helps people advance, or they might get a coordinator position out of those things.”
For now, until the next person is hired, Van Pelt and the rest of the staff face an uncertain future. The coming days might shed some light on the direction the team might go, and Kraft suggested yesterday they planned to move “fast.”
As a result, it should be interesting to see if it is indeed Vrabel, or if they instead make a surprise move after conducting what will hopefully be a thorough process before they make what will obviously be a critical decision for their future.
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