Jerod Mayo Clarifies Perceived Patriots Shots At Bill Belichick

The Patriots entered the 2024 season without either Tom Brady or Bill Belichick on the sideline, and the franchise made drastic moves to how things were run.

Director of scouting Eliot Wolf on Tuesday spoke to media for the first time, and he revealed how New England will change things up to prepare for the NFL Scouting Combine. Wolf explained how the process is a lot more collaborative and how the grading system better reflects value rather than prioritizing roles.

Fans didn't have to look too deep into Wolf's comments to think those changes were shots at how Bill Belichick ran things. However, head coach Jerod Mayo cleared the air on that notion.

"Bill did a great job for a long period of time," Mayo told reporters at Indianapolis, per the Boston Herald's Andrew Callahan. "I don't want you guys to take this, just because we're changing, as shots toward the previous regime. In saying that, we will do it differently, and it'll feel different. And at the end of the day, we would like to replicate the success that the prior regime had."

Whether or not the new regime is taking shots at Belichick can only be left up to speculation, but it is clear there is an attitude shift on how Mayo, Wolf and director of player personnel Matt Groh want to run the team. The Patriots still might reach for a draft pick as it did with Cole Strange in the 2022 NFL Draft, but there's at least a different process behind the decision-making in an offseason that could shape the franchise for years to come.