Bringing in former colleagues of de facto general manager Eliot Wolf and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt has been a staple of the Patriots’ 2024 offseason. That trend continued on the first day of legal tampering, with New England signing former Browns Jacoby Brissett, Sione Takitaki, and Austin Hooper.
Hooper spoke with the media for the first time on Wednesday. During his availability, the tight end’s reverence for Van Pelt, who he played for in Cleveland from 2020-2021, was a running theme.
“It’s good energy in the building, and that’s a huge part of it,” Hooper said. “Most people just think there’s the three hours you see on Sunday, but as you guys know, there’s many more hours throughout the week where you’re spending a lot of time together. It makes work so much better when you enjoy the people you work with–makes sense, right? So, his style, his approach, his offense, his understanding of his personnel, who he is as a man and a coach, it’s gonna make it really fun to be in the building every day.”
The 29-year-old went on to explain what makes Van Pelt, who quarterbacked in the NFL for eleven years before transitioning to the sideline, such a unique coach.
“He’s a guy who played in the league. A guy who gets it. Just a guy who’s played a lot, been through a lot, coached a lot, and has seen the game from every angle,” Hooper said. “Being able to work with him and seeing him be the same dude every single day, I’m not implying he’ll let things slide, he’ll address issues as 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.”
Like his coordinator, Hooper has experience in many different offensive systems—five or six in nine years, by his count. He touched on how that wealth of knowledge and repetition has helped him improve as a player.
“Whenever you’re in any type of offense, you can just relate that and go based off of experience, go based off of coverage,” Hooper explained. “And in the run game, understanding, being in the league nine years, you play a lot of these guys. A lot of these guys, they’re around for a long, long time. You get a feel for them, you understand what they like to do. It’s kind of like you play the game within the game a little bit.”
Last season with the Raiders, Hooper was primarily a blocker and underneath option despite still flashing ability as a downfield threat.
Most of Hooper's receptions came on checkdowns, ripping off a couple of big gains by making the first defender miss
The TE was rarely targeted downfield, but he still moves pretty well and has great hands to attack the football pic.twitter.com/Zcw7WNeiXt
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) March 13, 2024
When asked about his physical skill set, Hooper mentioned how filling different roles for different offenses has pushed him outside of his comfort zone and expanded his skill set.
“When I was a young boy in Atlanta, I was in the slot 50% of the time. In Cleveland, I was in line a bunch and really had a tool up that part of my game in the AFC North,” Hooper reflected. “I pride myself off of being that jack-of-all trades type guy. A guy who can be comfortable in the slot, be comfortable in-line in the backfield. You need me to be in the backfield picking up blitzers, I’ve done that.”
Hooper’s diverse background also allowed him to work with different quarterbacks, which taught him tricks for becoming more friendly with the person throwing him the ball.
“If you’re in the right spot at the right time, the quarterback loves that. If you do that consistently, he’ll like you more,” Hooper explained. “It’s just like, hey man, he’s gonna get hit. He’s gonna throw this ball to a point in space. Can he trust that you’re going to go in front of that defender and not make him look like an idiot in front of ten million people?”
The Patriots are virtually guaranteed to take a passer with the third overall pick in next month’s draft. Hooper admitted the team didn’t tip its hand regarding the quarterback plan, but he added the uncertainty didn’t affect his decision.
“Realizing the staff that’s in place, especially on the offensive side of the ball, that made it really simple.”
