Albert Breer: It Makes Sense That Alex Van Pelt is Deciding on Drake Maye

On Friday's edition of Toucher & Hardy, Albert Breer who is the lead content strategist of the MMQB, joined the show. Breer made the point that due to his vast experience in coaching on the offensive side of the ball in the NFL, it makes sense that he is making the decision on how to handle Drake Maye, over new Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo.

Toucher: Mayo said that Alex Van Pelt was the head coach of the offense, what does that mean?

Albert Breer: I think Jerod's intentions all along has been to be a walk around Head Coach. He wants to put DeMarcus Covington in charge of the defense, and put Alex Van Pelt in charge of the offense, and Mayo will be have quality control over everything. So, when you do that you do empower the coordinators on each side of the ball. I know Alex Van Pelt wasn't the sexiest name out there. They made a very strong offer to Nick Caley, and Caley decided he wanted to stay with the Rams. Zach Robinson was was on their radar, but he was never going anywhere else but with Raheem Morris if Morris got a job, which he did in Atlanta. So I think the one thing that they did here is they looked on the offensive side of the ball. Jerod's expertise has been on defense. DeMarcus Covington's a first time coordinator on that side, so they wanted experience with the offense. So the fact that Alex Van Pelt, Ben McAdoo, and T.C. McCartney are all coming over, I think it makes sense that you're going to leave the process of developing Drake Maye, the process of assessing Drake Maye, and then ultimately decision on who's going to start, largely in the hands of the offensive coaches. That's not Jerod Mayo's area of expertise.

Toucher: Yeah, it is smart. What is Alex Van Pelt's reputation around the NFL like? Is he suited for this?

Albert Breer: I feel like we've been over this discussion a lot. I know it's coming back up now because of what's happening with the quarterbacks, I understand that. But he has a good reputation. He coached a lot of years in Green Bay. He's always been really good at, as a former player and a guy who played in the league for a long time, is somebody who can help the climate of a locker room and help build a program. In Green Bay, there was a point where he was the buffer between (Aaron) Rodgers and (Mike) McCarthy. Then in Cleveland the last couple of years, he was really valuable in how they dealt with a lot of weird situations. With the Deshaun Watson trade, and all the quarterback shuffling last year. He was able to maintain the the sort of culture they wanted. That's something that's going to be really valuable on a team that's probably going to lose a lot of games, you know what I mean? Like, so that's number one.

Then number two, he's been around a lot of good offensive systems. With (Mike) McCarthy, it may have gotten stale at the end of his time in Green Bay, but they scored a lot of points for a lot of years. Then he's in Cincinnati with Zac Taylor for that first year. So he got to see the (Sean) McVay system from Zach Taylor. Then Kevin Stefanski comes over, and his background is in the Gary Kubiak system. That was what he was running the last four years in Cleveland. He's seen different ways to do it. I mean, his background's in the West Coast, but he's seen a lot of different ways to run that system. I think we're all guilty sometimes of optics here, and when you look at him, he doesn't look like Zach Robinson. I just think that that's part of it.

This year’s New England Patriots training camp has a chance to be as busy and as involved as any camp the team has had in recent years. After all of their offseason changes - in terms of both players and coaches - the team has a lot of questions to answer as camp begins on Wednesday. 

Of course, position and roster battles tend to be the bigger storylines of any training camp, but there’s much more going on than just that. So, having already covered the top position battles to watch this summer last week, let’s dig a little deeper. 

Today, we’ll be taking a look at the biggest non-battle storylines to watch at each position on the Patriots’ roster (not including coaching, which is in itself arguably the biggest story following the departure of Bill Belichick but will have less tangible short-term results). That ranges from individual player improvement and usage to full positional questions. 

Heading down to Gillette Stadium for a practice or two this summer, or just following along from afar? Here are some key storylines to keep track of…

Quarterbacks: Drake Maye’s development

This is probably the most obvious ‘what to watch for’ of all the positions. Rookie quarterback Drake Maye seemingly checked every box he could be expected to check in the spring non-padded, non-contact practices. Can he keep building and keep that momentum going in camp?

The biggest test will be when the pads come on and he starts facing something resembling more of a ‘live’ pass rush. That will build up to the actual pass rushers he’ll face in the preseason. Can he operate as cleanly when there are NFL defenders actually on their way to/allowed to hit him?

Running backs: How are they splitting up the reps

For a long time, the Patriots split their running back responsibilities by situation. They had early-down backs (ex. Antowain Smith, Corey Dillon, LeGarrette Blount, Stevan Ridley) and passing-down backs (ex. Kevin Faulk, Shane Vereen, James White). While some backs did both, for the most part there was a clear division in the usage. 

Now the Patriots are running a new offensive philosophy with a new coaching staff, and have two well-rounded backs at the top of their depth chart in Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson. They are now set up better to divide the workload simply by rotation or fatigue, rather than situation. This can have the advantage of making the offense less predictable, but running backs capable of playing this style can be harder to find. 

Training camp will give us an early look at how the Patriots are dividing the workload. Are there certain situations only one back is repping in? How comfortable do the backs look, not just catching the ball, but blocking? These will be important to track at the position.

Wide receivers: Is Kendrick Bourne ready to start the season?

There’s a log-jam at the bottom of the Patriots’ wide receiver depth chart, which we discussed in our position battle preview. As those players compete amongst themselves, Kendrick Bourne’s ability will loom large.

Bourne is working his way back from a torn ACL he suffered in October. He didn’t participate in any practices this spring, but was on the field with his teammates at times in street clothes. There hasn’t been an update on Bourne specifically since, but head coach Jerod Mayo did tell reporters at the end of minicamp that - besides Cole Strange - he expects all players to be good to go within “the first couple of weeks of training camp.”

If Bourne is back and at full strength by roster cuts, that’s one less wide receiver job available. However, there is a new rule this year where up to two players can be placed on IR prior to final roster cuts, and still be eligible to return during the regular season. If Bourne isn’t going to be ready for Week 1, the Patriots could go that route with him - potentially opening another spot for a receiver.

Special teams: New kickoff rule