Patriots News: Bill Belichick, Drake Maye, Matthew Slater and Eliot Wolf

Stay up to date with all the latest Patriots news as the rookie minicamp is underway at Gillette Stadium.

Jerod Mayo keeps one Bill Belichick tradition going at rookie mini camp

Much of this offseason has revolved around the Patriots appearing to put in effort to erase any reminder of Bill Belichick around the team. It has been a stain on Robert Kraft over the last few months, as the owner seemed to making his grievances with the former head coach public.

The same could be said regarding how things looked at Gillette Stadium, with most of what Belichick had displayed around the building replaced by new mantras and graphics.

There was an expectation that rookie minicamp would follow the same pattern, as Jerod Mayo allowed the media to attend the practices this weekend when Belichick historically didn't. But the head coach kept one Belichick tradition to end camp on Saturday; "Mount Belichick."

Chris Mason of MassLive detailed the final act of the practice, stating Mayo had "players run sprints up the hill at the back of the facility" revealing it appears at least one part of Belichick's coaching will remain in Foxboro.

Drake Maye gave glowing reviews of Javon Baker and Ja'Lynn Polk

Patriots fans and media got their first glimpse of the 2024 draft class in action on Saturday, most excitingly seeing Drake Maye suited up and making throws to the new receivers. There has been a lot of hype around the quarterback, Javon Baker and Ja'Lynn Polk and the fans aren't the only ones feeling it.

Maye spoke about his first impressions of his new teammates after practice on Saturday, giving glowing receives of both with high hopes for the future.

“They look good, they look good. They made some plays in 7-on-7. I threw a couple behind them, and they still made the catches. I don’t know if we had one on the ground yet, knock on wood. … They’ll be some special players.”

It's cool to hear Maye's excitement matches that of the fans, and the new trio looked great on the field together for the first time. It'll certainly be fun to watch them this summer.

Matthew Slater set to be Jerod Mayo's right hand man on Patriots staff

When it was announced that Super Bowl hero Dont'a Hightower was joining Jerod Mayo's staff for the 2024 season, it got many thinking if any other former Patriots would also return in a new role. There had been whispers of a few possible candidates, but when Matthew Slater was revealed as the next one to join, fans couldn't contain their happiness.

The future Hall of Fame special teamer officially hung up his cleats at the end of the 2023 season and was expected to take time away from football. However, an opportunity presented itself to join Mayo's staff and Slater took it.

It was first reported that he would be taking on an advisor role, but not much detail was shared. Mayo clarified Slater's new job after mini camp on Saturday, revealing that Slater would essentially be his right-hand man for all things football.

“… He’s an advisor for me for all things football and, honestly, things off the field. He’s a very smart individual and I would say we see most things the same way. And at the same time, I know he’s a guy that will be honest with me. You know, once you put the head coach hat on it’s hard to find people that will be honest with you.”

Hearing Mayo describe what Slater will be doing on the staff makes complete sense, and for most fans, it wouldn't matter what his role was; it's just great to have him still around the team.

Eliot Wolf is announced as the Patriots' new executive vice president of player personnel

It was made clear from the start that Eliot Wolf was going to need to prove to the Kraft's through his work during the offseason that he deserved the permanent role as the Patriots general manager.

They made that even more clear this past week when they began to conduct interviews for the role, although they were calling it anything but the label of GM.

Several candidates turned down interviews, presumably because they knew the job was already Wolf's, given how well he did through free agency and the draft. The Patriots made it official over the weekend by announcing that Wolf would become the new executive vice president of player personnel.

The new title gives Wolf “the overall direction of the personnel department, the management of the salary cap, and [be] in control of the 53-man roster.” So, basically being a general manager without being named the general manager.

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