And now I am thinking "Ok it is 3rd and medium. You call a pass play. Defense springs a blitz! Saving roll to pickup the blitz fails. Roll for damage to QB. Oh! Critical hit. He is out for the season."
Alex Van Pelt named Patriots OC
- Thread starter Dim13
- Start date
Also has a background with Kyle Shanahan from his time in 2014 in Cleveland and in 17/18 in San Francisco. He's also the grandson of Bill McCartney the former coach of Colorado.
Last edited:
Ha! I'll be hoping that they draft a couple of paladin to protect the new wizard QB.
For all the talk about Brissett, I wonder if Flacco would be interested in coming if offered a chance to compete for the starting job. It was reported yesterday that Flacco would prefer finding a starting job, but would be open to certain back up positions if the situation was right. Maybe working with AVP is part of that assessment.
Interesting...I would have assumed that McAdoo would have been the QB coach. I wonder what his on field role will be after this hire
Springer (ST) is also seen as a keen talent evaluator.
The majority of Boston sports media is falling over each other looking to rip every move by Mssrs. Mayo and Wolf, but if you take an optimistic view, the following themes are emerging about the outside hires since Mayo’s introductory press conference:
Granted, the roster is a train wreck and that may have scared “better” candidates away (allegedly), but I’m willing to give Wolf and Mayo the benefit of the doubt given this is not a one-year fix. Just please spend some money.
The majority of Boston sports media is falling over each other looking to rip every move by Mssrs. Mayo and Wolf, but if you take an optimistic view, the following themes are emerging about the outside hires since Mayo’s introductory press conference:
- Van Pelt: got 5 Cleve QBs ready to play in ‘23, team makes playoffs, experience with early/McCarthy West Coast style offense, has worked with wide range of QBs
- McAdoo: experienced OC, former (failed) HC, eye for talent
- Springer: in addition to ST responsibilities in LA, was someone who helped evaluate Day 3 types for a team with little draft capital
- McCartney: QB experience, more associated with Shanahan-style WC offense
- Highsmith: respected talent evaluator, responsible for portal recruiting strategies and other personnel duties at the U
Granted, the roster is a train wreck and that may have scared “better” candidates away (allegedly), but I’m willing to give Wolf and Mayo the benefit of the doubt given this is not a one-year fix. Just please spend some money.
Heard a poll today that 67% would have preferred to keep BB after the developments of the last month? The Boston media is mostly just filling a gap during the lull in the Celtics/Bruins seasons. All the snap judgments are kind of dumb until the whole off-season plays out. The guys they have hired or elevated all deserve a chance to show what they can do. And there's nothing crazy or illegitimate about any of the choices they have made. You can see the logic for each. It's definitely going to be a whole new operating environment for them.
Your last point is the key one: will the Krafts pony up actual cash to make a run at free agents? I'm already gearing up to be disappointed on that front.
Still don't understand this criticism. Patriots spent tons of cash last time they had the cap space to do so.
My guess is that there will be a combination of resigning some of their own free agents, extending the few promising players on the roster (mostly on defense), and signing free agents to address key needs. The team has to spend to the floor regardless, so it's not like there's much flexibility to cheap out. Doesn't mean there's a need to spend that cap space foolishly on a Kirk Cousins.
Talk radio created this "Kraft is cheap" nonsense because the Pats have used a sustainable approach to cap management over the Belichick era, rather than running up the credit card bills and stealing from future years until a tank is unavoidable when the bill comes due. Then when the team does sign a bunch of folks, they move the goalposts to discuss how stupidly the money was spent. Anything for outrage.
His kid, Bradlee Van Pelt, was a QB.
I just learned that Brad Van Pelt died about 15 years ago. I had no idea. Growing up in E. Lansing, he was a big name. One of the very few noteworthy Spartans between 1966 and the mid/late '70s (when guys like Kirk Gibson, Larry Bethea, Mark Brammer, Morten Andersen and Carl Banks arrived).
BB's mouthpiece Mike Lombardi went out of his way to state exactly this, the Pats don't spend money, two days ago. Bill himself brought it up. I have no idea what the truth is, but BB started this narrative in that press conference awhile back.
Sure, if you cherry pick certain seasons, and ignore say the 2021 free agent spree, the Patriots cash spending looks fairly low. And there is zero relationship between cash spending and winning in the NFL.
Even including 2021 they are below average. From 2021-2023 the NFL PA released data (this Browns article has the chart: https://247sports.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/LongFormArticle/How-The-Cleveland-Browns-Spending-Is-Sustainable-And-Other-Teams-Wont-Like-It-208080026/)
Patriots had the 2nd highest cash spending in 2021, but were still below league average for the 3 year period.
Of course, cash spending and winning don't seem to be correlated so it doesn't really matter.
Sorry, never meant to imply that you were the one doing the cherrypicking.