Alex Van Pelt was a candidate for NFL Assistant Coach of the Year
On Feb. 6, the Associated Press listed out the coaches that received votes for the NFL Assistant Coach of the Year Award. Notably, former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt was one of the coaches mentioned on the list.
Van Pelt joined the Patriots after four years as the offensive coordinator in Cleveland. He was later let go after only one year on the staff, but that was largely due to a revamping of the coaching personnel by newly hired head coach Mike Vrabel.
Van Pelt was praised for his work in New England. Many saw an offensive improvement from 2023 to 2024 when Van Pelt took over.
The Patriots’ offense was ranked No. 31 overall in the NFL — they were 32nd in passing and 13th in rushing, according to Fox Sports. So, the numbers show the Patriots offensive unit did not perform well, but many have pointed out the talent was the larger issue rather than the coaching.
Moreover, Van Pelt played a large role in Drake Maye’s productivity in his rookie year. Going into the season, the concerns surrounding Maye were with his fundamentals, like his footwork. However, when Maye took over as starting quarterback in Week 6, many of those earlier critiques seemed to be fixed. Leading Maye to have a decent rookie year, despite a lack of talent around him.
Overall, the Patriots’ offense averaged 291.1 yards per game and had 30 touchdowns on the season. Although the stats are near the bottom of the league, Alex Van Pelt did an adequate job at coaching up a representative offensive unit — hence the votes for Assistant of the Year.
Luke Graham is a digital sports content co-op for 98.5 the Sports Hub. He is currently a sophomore communications student at Northeastern University. Follow him on X @LukeGraham05.
