Patriots coaches confirm play-caller status for 2024
Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) meets with Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, center, and Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski during the first half of an NFL football game against the Houston Texans, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021, in Cleveland, Ohio. [Jeff Lange/Beacon Journal]
Browns 10
One of the biggest early questions about the 2024 New England Patriots’ coaching staff is who would call the plays? Both of last year’s play-callers are gone – offensive coordinator
Bill O’Brien is now the head coach at Boston College, and defensive play-caller
Steve Belichick is the defensive coordinator at Washington.
Given the lack of play-calling experience on the new staff, there was some external ambiguity as to who would take over those roles to begin the Jerod Mayo era. When the Patriots’ coordinators were formally introduced on Wednesday, coordinators on both sides of the ball provided the answers.
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“I’m excited about doing it. I’ve had opportunities to do it in the past at different levels,” offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said when asked about calling plays, recalling his experience in NFL Europe in 2005, with the Buffalo Bills in 2009, and two isolated games during his tenure in Cleveland when head coach and play-caller Kevin Stefanski was sick and could not coach. “I think I’ve just gotten more experienced and feel way more comfortable than I did the first game I called on that Monday night here [Patriots vs Bills in the 2009 season opener]. But, excited about the opportunity.”
As for what the offense will look like with Van Pelt calling the plays? “I wouldn’t say [the] same. Similar. I’d say there’s a lot of similarities,” Van Pelt said, when asked if his offense will resemble the one he coordinated in Cleveland the last four years. He added that the scheme still isn’t fully locked in, with the personnel the team adds over the next few months in free agency and the draft ultimately helping dictate the eventual system.
Meanwhile, defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington confirmed he will be calling the defense this year, his first time doing so in the NFL. Covington relayed that much like the players, he’ll work on those skills in practice.
“I do plan on calling plays and I will say you get those practice reps obviously on the practice field and in the classroom for me,” he said. “So gaining those reps, going through different games, going through situations in the meeting room with the other coaches and then also, putting myself in those situations on the practice field. That’s how we do. Just like the players are out there preparing to play and they’re going through reps, I should be doing the same thing as a play-caller, doing those reps. It just doesn’t happen overnight. This is something where – I’ve been preparing this is something I wanted to do. So you already kind of take the necessary steps to prepare yourself for when you get the opportunity.”
Covington said the Patriots will still run the same defensive system they ran last year. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given both the success they’ve had the last few years and the talent that is returning on that side of the ball.
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Patriots have three franchise tag candidates as tag window opens
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – AUGUST 11: Kyle Dugger #23 of the New England Patriots looks on during the preseason game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on August 11, 2022 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Tuesday is an important day on the NFL offseason calendar. Starting at 4:00 p.m. ET, teams can begin using franchise tags on pending free agents.
Franchise tags are a device that allows NFL teams to keep pending free agents they can’t agree on a long-term deal with, but at a cost. Each franchise tag represents a one-year, fully guaranteed deal that is based on other top contracts around the league at the player’s position. The exact value of the tag depends on which of the three franchise tags the organization uses.
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The exclusive franchise tag is the most well-known of the three tags and often just referred to generally as ‘the franchise tag.’ When teams put the exclusive franchise tag on a player it’s a full guaranteed contract worth the average of the top five salaries at that player’s position for the given year, or 120 percent of the player’s previous salary (whichever is higher). There’s also an escalator for players who are tagged in consecutive seasons.
Then there’s the non-exclusive franchise tag, which is worth the average of the top five salaries over the previous five years (so slightly less than the exclusive tag). Players on non-exclusive tags essentially become restricted free agents until signing the tender, but the tagging team has the right to match any contract offer or receive two first-round picks from the player’s new team if they don’t match.
Finally there’s the transition tag, which can only be applied to players who were top-10 highest paid at their position the previous season. It’s slightly cheaper than either franchise tag and also allows the player to enter free agency with the original team having right of first refusal. However, the original team gets no compensation if the player signs elsewhere.
Once a team has a player on a franchise tag, they can keep on negotiating a long-term extension. In fact, sometimes the franchise tag is simply used to extend the window for the player and team to negotiate. Both sides have until July 15 this year or reach an extension, or the player is locked into playing on the tag in 2024.
Under Bill Belichick the Patriots used the franchise tag 10 times. Of those 10, four played under the tag, four got new contracts before the season, and two were traded.
The most recent Patriots franchise tag recipient was guard Joe Thuney, who ended up playing the 2020 season on the tag then left the next year in free agency. Will new de facto GM Eliot Wolf use the tag in his first year running the show? If he does, here are the three most likely candidates.
Franchise tag values projected by OverTheCap.com
Alex Barth is a digital content producer and on-air host for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Barth grew up in the Boston area and began covering both the New England Patriots, Boston Celtics, and Boston Red Sox in 2017 before joining the Hub in 2020. He now covers all things Boston Sports for 985TheSportsHub.com as well as appearing on air. Alex writes about all New England sports, as well as college football. You can follow him across all social media platforms at @RealAlexBarth.