INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots will have new leadership and a new offense, grading system and culture in 2024.
But Jerod Mayo made it clear on Wednesday morning that he’s not taking any shots at his predecessor, Bill Belichick, in making changes.
“Look, it’s going to be different, but at the same time, I would say Bill did a great job for a long period of time,” Mayo told what he called a “gaggle” of local reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I don’t want you guys to take this as because we’re changing as shots towards the previous regime. And saying that, we will do it differently. And it’ll feel different. But at the end of the day, we would like to replicate the success that the prior regime has had. So, I learned a lot from Bill and also his staff, but now we’ll see what this chapter looks like.”
Patriots de facto general manager Eliot Wolf, whose official title is still “director of scouting,” detailed what a new culture will look like while speaking to reporters on Tuesday.
“It’s easy to say the culture has changed but there are no players here right now,” Wolf said. “But certainly there’s more of an open, less hard-ass type vibe in the building that we can move forward with.”
The Patriots brought in an almost entirely new offensive staff this offseason with Alex Van Pelt replacing Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator while bringing in quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney, running backs coach Taylor Embree, wide receivers coach Tyler Hughes, tight ends coach Bob Bicknell, offensive line coach Scott Peters and assistants Ben McAdoo, Tyquan Underwood, Robert Kugler and Michael McCarthy.
Mayo also hired five new defensive assistants in defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery, linebackers coaches Dont’a Hightower and Drew Wilkins and assistants Jamael Lett and Vinny DePalma. Wolf brought in senior personnel assistant Alonzo Highsmith, whom he worked with in previous stops with the Packers and Browns, into the front office.