The New England Patriots have no desire to discredit the legacy of Bill Belichick. After spending 24 years crafting “The Patriot Way,” former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s team appears eager to take a very different approach in their first offseason without him.
De facto general manager Eliot Wolf told reporters during the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday that there is “less of a hard-ass type vibe” in the Patriots headquarters than there was under Belichick. Because of the nature of the Internet, a lot of bystanders interpreted Wolf’s remark as a jab at Belichick and the former administration in general.
Mayo speaks about Bill Belichick
But it was in no way Wolf’s objective. The alleged shot was addressed by new coach Jerod Mayo on Wednesday. He said that although he may manage the team differently than his predecessor, there is still a lot of respect for the past. Mayo told reporters,
“It’s going to be different, but at the same time, I would say Bill (Belichick) 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 towards the previous regime.”
“In 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.”
The Patriots are undergoing more than just a building’s atmosphere in the post-Belichick era. There should be fewer dubious reaches than in previous years as New England’s brass announced that they plan to alter how they assess draft prospects.
Thus, even if the Patriots are now heading in a different direction, they continue to show respect for Belichick’s methods. Needless to say, his strategies have some merit—he guided them to six Super Bowls in twenty years.