1 – If this Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of summer, then last week’s Patriots OTA session in front of the media might as well have been the unofficial kickoff of the 2024 season in New England.
Two things are very clear this May in Foxborough as Jerod Mayo and the new-look New England franchise sails through the potentially rocky uncharted waters of the post-Bill Belichick era.
First, for whatever it’s worth, there is plenty of hope these days at Gillette Stadium, both from the players and the coaches.
“I’m excited. First of all, OTAs, our guys seem ready to go. Really dialed in in the meeting rooms, and we’ll see, now it’s time to apply it to the field. So, excited,” Mayo said to open the May 20th workout, the first of a ramped up third phase of the offseason program, though still voluntary and non-contact.
Mayo and his troops should be excited this time of year.
It’s a time for new beginnings and opportunity. It’s long before guys are cut or games will be lost. A team with a new coach and a new (at some point) franchise QB should have all the hope the football world can offer up at this early point in the process. If you can’t have hope in May then you’re pretty much hopeless.
The second thing that was very clear in OTA action, though, is that the Patriots have lots of holes to fill and questions to answer. New players in new roles. Returning players with plenty to prove.
Schemes to be ironed out. Coaches to be put to the test in elevated responsibilities.
Belichick himself often preached over the many successful years that every player, coach and team has to reestablish itself each season. This Patriots team doesn’t need to reestablish itself, but rather these players and coaches need to establish what they want to be and most importantly what they actually are for both the short and long term future of Robert Kraft’s franchise.
So, it’s indeed a time of plenty of worthy hope and even more deserved doubt. How those two things average out, well that will eventually decide what the 2024 Patriots will be under Mayo’s leadership.
2 – There is no question that the early days under the young, unproven coach Mayo bring a new vibe to New England. Sure, the new vibe for players and even the media is probably received in comparison to life under Belichick, but that doesn’t mean it’s a criticism of the way the legendary coach went about his and his team’s business. Nope. Mayo is a different guy from a different generation taking over a much different team at a much different time in both football and the overall world.
“Mayo is doing a really good job staying true to himself.
Not trying to fill somebody else’s shoes, but create his own path. I really respect that,” second-year defensive lineman Keion White said.
3 – Mayo’s leadership style as a coach is obviously a work in progress. This week, in discussing the evolution in terms of leadership that No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye will undergo, Mayo was left thinking about his own growth as a rookie No. 10 overall pick under Belichick’s during the 2008 season. He actually believes the idea that he was an immediate leader in New England is a bit misleading and told a humorous story to relate that idea.
“Honestly, that narrative of me coming in as a leader my first year is kind of off, in my opinion,” Mayo said. “My big thing was to be a sponge, learn from the Mike Vrabels, the Tom Bradys, the Randy Mosses of the world. And really, like, my leadership happened by those guys throwing me in the room with Bill asking for no pads. So, they knew I really cared about the team more than I cared about myself, because I’d say, ‘Coach, you know, the guys are tired, they don’t want to be in pads.’ 80 percent of the time, Coach was like, ‘get back in the locker room,’ but the two times that he would say, ‘you’re right, you’re probably right,’ I was a hero in there. And that’s where my leadership development really took off my first year.’
4 – When Maye was on the field for rookie mini-camp in early May, he brought a certain energy and leadership vibe to his role as the quarterback and top perceived dog in that setting. This week, though, Maye seemed to take a more deferential and appropriate approach to his reps in OTA practice that came after veterans Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zappe got their work in during various drills. Everyone knows that Maye is the future starter, even if they aren’t sure when that day will come. For now, he has a somewhat delicate balancing act to play out in terms of being respectful of his more experienced teammates while still establishing himself in his current role with an eye on a much bigger one in the future. In that regard, it was certainly worth noting that Maye and his rookie receivers, Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker, were some of the last guys on the field for OTAs. Seeing the hopeful future of the New England offense get extra reps together and then exit the field as a trio was a visual that should excite even the most pessimistic Patriots’ observer.
5 – While Maye, Polk and Baker may indeed be the future of the offense in New England it’s quite clear that the present of the attack being put together under coordinator Alex Van Pelt is running back Rhamondre Stevenson.
During OTA action focused on early downs, Stevenson got loads of reps as both a ball carrier and a pass catcher. After a disappointing 2023 season, Stevenson should have a shot to return to or surpass his 2022 production both in terms of the running game and catching passes. There may not be too many Patriots worthy of drafting in fantasy football this coming season, but Stevenson’s central role in the offense makes him a strong candidate.
6 – One of the more interesting positions from top to bottom on the depth chart this summer and fall in New England could be wide receiver. While it’s tough to call the group of players “stacked,” Mayo’s description of the guys like JuJu Smith-Schuster, Kendrick Bourne (returning from an ACL injury), K.J. Osborn, DeMario Douglas, Tyquan Thornton, Polk and Baker as being in a “crowded” room is very much accurate.
“It’s a wide-open competition. We have some young bulls, we have some older players. We have guys who are really unproven,” Mayo said. “So, this is an opportunity for them to really get a leg up going forward, especially when you don’t have a guy like [Kendrick] Bourne out here during the spring. Guys will have opportunities.”
But competition and high level competition can be two very different things.
7 – One of the more light-hearted moments of media access at the OTA came when White was asked about differences between how he felt as a second-round rookie a year ago compared to these days as a second-year player.
“I ain’t got to get no snacks anymore for the vets. So, that’s smooth,” White deadpanned of his rookie duties this time a year ago.