Since day one, Patriots new head coach Jerod Mayo has wanted everyone to know he’s his own man. Sure, he learned much of what he knows about football – both as a player and assistant – under the tutelage of Bill Belichick, arguably the greatest head coach in NFL history. But Mayo plans to do things differently and wants people to know that is in no way a “shot” at his former coach and boss.
“Look, it’s going to be different,” Mayo told reporters at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. “But at the same time, I would say Bill did a great job for a long period of time. I don’t want you guys to take this as, because we’re changing, that’s shots toward the previous regime. In saying that, we will do it differently. It’ll feel different, but at the end of the day we would like to replicate the success that the prior regime has had. I learned a lot from Bill and also his staff. But now, we’ll see what this chapter looks like in the franchise.
Defacto GM Eliot Wolf made similar comments on Tuesday in regards to the vibe in Foxboro being totally different than the one that preceded it for 20 plus years.
“It’s easy to say the culture has changed but there are no players here right now,” Wolf said on Tuesday. “But certainly there’s more of an open, less hard-ass type vibe in the building that we can move forward with.”
Mayo agreed that while the method will be different, the success the Patriots experienced throughout Belichick’s tenure as head coach, is something he admires and hopes to replicate.
“Look, honestly, the way I think about this stuff, it’s been done at a high level for what, 20 years,” Mayo asked. “I would also say there’s more than one way to skin a cat. It worked for a coach. We’ll see what works with Eliot and myself.”
Together Mayo and Wolf will try not only to change a culture that has eroded over the years, but to bolster a roster bereft of high level NFL talent.
“If you want to sustain success — I don’t want to call it a slow burn because we will be competitive,” Mayo said. “We will put a good team out there. Will we win a championship? I don’t know, and I don’t want to make those promises. But at the same time, I feel confident about our plan to really turn this ship around.”
