For decades, the credit for dynastic NFL success in New England was split between a couple will-be HOF GOATs in head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady.
How you split the heaping helping of credit pie was up to you.
Now, with Belichick and Brady out of the league and off roasting each other, it’s clearly a brand new era in Foxborough with fresh new faces in the most critical of roles in football.
Jerod Mayo is the former All-Pro player who’s now running the post-Belichick sideline show at Gillette Stadium, a 38-year-young head coach with much love and more to prove.
And at some point sooner rather than later there will be a new would-be franchise QB under center at the center of the universe that is Patriot Nation, No. 3 overall pick North Carolina boy Drake Maye who’s very much in the aww shucks is “awww yeah!” awesome honeymoon period of life in New England.
The Patriots’ future is now and it’s all about the collaborative combo of Mayo and Maye this May!
Maybe.
Or, alternate line of thought, neither Mayo nor Maye is the key to the success the Patriots may or may not find in the fall of 2024 and beyond. Nope.
Rather, the key to it all, including Maye’s development from potential-filled, Josh Allen wannabe to an NFL game day field reality, is probably a journeyman assistant coach who much later in his professional life than one might expect is getting his shot to shoot his own shot and shine.
Yes, while all the focus of Patriots’ rookie mini-camp over the weekend was seemingly on Mayo and Maye making their practice field debuts, a little more attention probably needs to be shined on offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt.
Yup, Van Pelt is the QB talking key – he probably hasn’t earned the “whisperer” title yet, even if he got five QBs ready to play for NFL Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski in a run to the playoffs last fall in Cleveland – to both Maye and Mayo getting their careers going.
While Mayo didn’t necessarily call AVP the key to success, he did acknowledge that the veteran former NFL QB and longtime assistant will be the point man on Maye’s development. The one voice the young passer will hear and have to adhere to more than any other.
“Across the league, most offensive coordinators, they interact with the quarterback, the starting quarterback for the most part. We do have a group of coaches that have quarterback backgrounds, but I would say overall it would be AVP as far as that lead guy,” Mayo said at rookie mini-camp this past weekend. “You don’t want Drake hearing too many voices. Once again, that’s why I’m saying that AVP will be the lead guy as far as that communication with Drake.”
Van Pelt will indeed mentor the unsuccessful Bruins cheerleader Maye.
And as everyone knows, as the QB goes so go NFL teams.
For developmental better or frustrating, see-you-again-at-the-top-of-the-draft-in-three-years worse.
Coach matters more than ever in the NFL. But it may not always be about the head coach as much as the guy working hand in hand with the QB. Brian Daboll built up Allen in Buffalo. Andy Reid works perfectly with Patrick Mahomes in K.C.. Kyle Shanahan puts it all together with Brock Purdy and the 49ers. Bobby Slowik seemingly fast tracked C.J. Stroud to success in Houston. Ben Johnson has been the key to Jared Goff’s resurgence with the Lions.
The list is long and many times lucrative for both the coach and his star pupil. The guy behind and in the ear of Da Man under center in professional football has arguably become the most important figure in plenty of organizations.
That guy in New England is Van Pelt.
And whether people realize it or not, Van Pelt just might be the key to success for Maye, Mayo and the Patriots in the coming months and years.
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