For the second year in a row, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking for a new offensive coordinator. One of the first candidates to interview for the position in 2024 is Alex Van Pelt, who held the same position with the Cleveland Browns for the past four seasons.
Van Pelt visited the Buccaneers’ headquarters on Monday as the team seeks to replace Dave Canales, who was hired as the new head coach by the Carolina Panthers last Thursday. The Bucs hired Canales, a former Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks coach, as offensive coordinator last February. Van Pelt was familiar with the building, having worked on Raheem Morris’ staff as the Bucs’ quarterbacks coach in 2010 and 2011.
The Browns were the 10th highest scoring team in the NFL in 2023, averaging 23.3 points per game. Cleveland won 11 games and made the playoffs despite five different quarterbacks starting at least one game during the regular season. Opening Day starter Deshaun Watson missed 11 games with a shoulder injury and was eventually placed on injured reserve, leaving P.J. Walker, Jeff Driskel and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson on various sidelines. He played in the starting lineup. Joe Flacco signed with the Browns in late November and started the final six games, winning four of them.
Cleveland ranked 16th in total yards per game (335.9) in 2023 and averaged a league-best 32 minutes, 19 seconds of possession time. The Browns finished 12th in rushing yards per game (118.6) despite losing star running back Nick Chubb to a season-ending injury just two weeks into the season.
Van Pelt played nine seasons in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills, finishing in 2003. Two years later, he began his coaching career with the Frankfort Galaxy in NFL Europe and returned to the Bills in 2006 as a quality control coach. He was later promoted. He came to Tampa in 2010 after serving as quarterbacks coach in 2009 and then offensive coordinator. He spent six seasons as running backs and quarterbacks coach in Green Bay, then spent the 2018-19 season as quarterbacks coach in Cincinnati.