Austin Hooper Sees Patriots Having Ton Of ‘Fun’ With Alex Van Pelt

Austin Hooper fondly remembers his time spent with Alex Van Pelt when they crossed paths with the Cleveland Browns.

And Hooper is excited for the opportunity to work alongside the New England Patriots offensive coordinator again for the upcoming season.

Hooper, who signed a one-year deal worth $4.25 million to join the Patriots in free agency, had glowing praise for Van Pelt when the veteran tight end spoke with reporters on a video conference call Thursday. Hooper and Van Pelt spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons together with Cleveland.

And there was common theme from Hooper's descriptions of Van Pelt: fun.

"We worked together for two years, really smart guy," Hooper told reporters, per team-provided video. "He has good energy in the building, and that's a huge part of it. Most people just think of the three hours you see on Sunday, but there's many more hours throughout the week where you're spending a lot of time together, and it makes work so much better when you enjoy the people you work with. It makes sense, right?

"His style, his approach, his offense, his understanding of his personnel, and who he is as a man and coach, it's going to make it really fun to be in the building every day."

Van Pelt arrives to New England being lauded for his character and for being a player's coach. The 53-year-old played nine seasons in the NFL as a backup quarterback for the Buffalo Bills and has almost two decades of coaching experience in the league across five different organizations to aid him in relating to players.

Van Pelt is tasked with trying to revamp a broken Patriots offense. It's unclear how much Hooper will factor into those plans, but having familiarity of Van Pelt's system certainly should help.

Hooper didn't have the best seasons of his eight-year NFL career with the Browns, but the two-time Pro Bowler still turned in respectable production. He recorded 46 receptions for 435 yards and four touchdowns during his first season with Cleveland and followed that with 38 catches for 345 yards and three touchdowns in 2021.

Hooper went on to have a similar output during a lone season with the Tennessee Titans in 2022, but his numbers fell off last season with the Las Vegas Raiders, recording just 25 receptions for 234 yards and never finding the end zone.

But perhaps Hooper's tremendous comfort level with Van Pelt will help get the most out of the 29-year-old and the Patriots offense.

"Just a guy who's played a lot, been through a lot, has coached a lot and has seen the game from every angle, so to speak," Hooper said. "… Being able to work with him and seeing him be the same dude every single day. By no means am I implying does he let things slide. He'll address issues if they're there, obviously like all good coaches do.

"But there's a way to go about it, which inspires the guys and keeps the atmosphere good, keeps the atmosphere one where you can learn. One where you can try stuff out at practice, you can push that boundary. I worked with a lot of coaches and not everyone's like that."