Kevin Stefanski confirmed Wednesday the hiring of Alex Van Pelt as the Browns' new offensive coordinator.
Van Pelt, a former NFL quarterback who has been coaching in the NFL since 2006, comes to Cleveland after two seasons as the Bengals quarterbacks coach. Stefanski said it's yet to be decided if Van Pelt will call plays or if he will add an additional quarterbacks coach to the staff.
"He's a really fine man, first off. He's a family man and a man of the highest integrity, which matters a lot to me and this organization," Stefanski said Wednesday following Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Andrew Berry's introductory press conference.
"His reputation as an offensive mind, played the game, played the position, has coached the position, so he really checked all of the boxes for me. A good man and looking forward to working with him."
Van Pelt, who broke a number of Dan Marino's records during his playing days at the University of Pittsburgh, spent the vast majority of his NFL career with the Buffalo Bills, where he backed up Hall of Famer Jim Kelly and a handful of others during a 10-year run with the franchise. He appeared in 31 games and made 11 starts, eight of which came during the 2001 season.
Van Pelt broke into the NFL as a coach in 2006 as an offensive quality control coach with the Bills. Just three years later, he was Buffalo's offensive coordinator.
Some of Van Pelt's best work came during his run with the Packers that stretched from 2012-17. He worked closely with Aaron Rodgers as quarterbacks coach from 2014-17, a stretch in which Rodgers completed 64 percent of his passes for 14,305 yards, 125 touchdowns and just 26 interceptions. In 2016, Rodgers led the NFL with 40 touchdown passes and became just the second QB in NFL history (Tom Brady, 2015) to post 600-plus attempts and seven or fewer INTs in a season. Rodgers was named NFL MVP in 2014 after totaling 4,381 passing yards, 38 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 112.2 rating.
"He has worked with a bunch of different quarterbacks, played quarterback at a high level in this league," Stefanski said. "I've been very impressed with Alex."
Van Pelt joins an offensive staff that includes pass game coordinator/wide receivers coach Chad O'Shea, run game coordinator/running backs coach Stump Mitchell, offensive line coach Bill Callahan and tight ends coach Drew Petzing.
"It's a very impressive group," Stefanski said. "Just listening to Andrew speak about diversity of thought, I think we have that and I'm really looking forward to finalizing that and putting together a good first staff."
