Kevin Stefanski‘s staff is starting to take shape. The Browns will hire Alex Van Pelt as their offensive coordinator, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com (via Twitter). The Athletic’s Zac Jackson was first with the news (on Twitter).
Van Pelt had an 11-year career as a quarterback before joining the coaching ranks in 2005. He spent four seasons with the Bills, working his way from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator. He spent two seasons coaching quarterbacks in Tampa Bay before making his way to Green Bay in 2012. After serving as the Packers running backs coach for two seasons, Van Pelt took on the role of quarterbacks coach in 2014. He’d spend three seasons coaching Aaron Rodgers, but he wasn’t retained following the 2017 campaign.
He took on the quarterbacks-coach post with Cincy in 2018, and he’s spent the past two years toying with the likes of Andy Dalton, Jeff Driskel, and Ryan Finley. Despite the uncertainty at the position, Van Pelt earned praise during his time in Cincinnati. ESPN’s Ben Baby tweets that Bengals head coach Zac Taylor constantly lauded his quarterbacks coach this past season.
There’s a chance that Stefanski could end up retaining play-calling duties in Cleveland, but he previously expressed willingness in handing over the duty to his offensive coordinator. Van Pelt will likely be joined on the staff by 49ers defensive backs coach Joe Woods, who’s expected to be named defensive coordinator.
This will also open up a spot on the Cincy staff, but Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic expects Dan Pitcher to get promoted to quarterbacks coach (Twitter link). Pitcher has been the assistant quarterbacks coach for some time, but he took on more responsibilities this past season.
Guy looks he owns a dozen MAGA caps
You really only need one
Or none
To match the one brain cell, sure
Definitely unrecognizable from his playing days.
Aren’t we all?
No. I recognize plenty of former NFL players. I remember watching him breaking Marino’s records at Pitt. Now he doesn’t look like he ever played QB. I just didn’t realize he had put on so much weight.
Doomed
I swear this guy is on the TV show moonshiners
Thought it was a poster for the Richard Jewell movie…
Beahahahah
Meh. He’s used to trying to do something with nothing. So, he should be up to the task.
Didn’t they just fire this guy?
My thoughts exactly.
Ha wow just like a browns more!!
I really like this personnel group. Maybe the first time I’ve ever been able to say that as a Browns fan.
I think the off season hires have been good too. They’ve avoided coaches who have ego issues. This group should be able to work together well without getting into pi$$ing contests with each other. That has been a problem for the Browns in the past.
It looks better than it has in a while.