Zolak & Bertrand: Reacting to Matthew Slater retiring
On Tuesday’s edition of Zolak & Bertrand, the crew reacted to the breaking news of Matthew Slater calling it a career.
Slater has an argument for a gold jacket…
Phil Perry: What a run first for (Matthew) Slater and not at all surprising that this would be the offseason in which he decides to retire. The timing of it is phenomenal. So Matthew, known him for a long time, we get along very well, thank you for this. We appreciate the breaking news and thank you for being you. What a gentleman. If there was a sportsmanship award, which there is, actually in the NFL and he’s won it, the Bart Starr Award. He would be taking that thing home every single year. One of the best people that has come through Foxboro in his tenure in New England, drafted in 2008, fifth round pick that gave him a run at receiver. They knew he was going to be a special teams guy. The offensive stuff didn’t really work out.
He ended up being arguably the best cover man of all time and is going to among the special teams corners of the NFL, have an argument for a gold jacket. I mean, that’s the class that he is in. Unbelievable career. Three Super Bowl titles. Really the voice of that locker room for about a decade now because you think about it, but he’s 15 years in the league. About five years in, he had already established himself as who he was as a person and as a player.
Now, the Patriots have been mocked over the years for being so heavy on special teams and for valuing it so much. But he really has defined in some ways what the Patriots have been about, which is making the most of every inch, making the most of the kicking game and he has been the face of that for a long, long time here.
Matt McCarthy: My first reaction to this, in some ways, one of the last few connections you have to the Patriots of old. We knew this news was coming in and it was pretty obvious. Final game of the year, that was going to be you know his last game. But you know Slater is/was in some ways the last remaining holdover. I mean David Andrews is kind of on that list too. Here was a guy who was here in the mid-part of the dynasty where, you know, there were some not to say lean years, but where they didn’t win a Super Bowl. That’s how we defined Patriots lean years under Tom Brady.
He got here in 2008. Played in what six Super Bowls, won three of them if my math is correct. He was an all-time Patriot, you know, say what you will about the position that he played, but he was an all-time patriot. The definition of a core player, a core member of that locker room, a core member of that group. We can talk about the impact of special teams and maybe the Patriots placed a little bit more impact on special teams than they should have at times. You could make that argument over the last few years here where, frankly, their special teams despite the amount of money they were spending, wasn’t good enough. But Slater was a hell of a player.
(Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images)
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Patriots 2024 coaching staff new hires officially announced
After weeks of reports of various hirings, the New England Patriots formally announced the new members of their 2024 coaching staff on Monday.
With Monday’s announcement, the picture of the coaching staff is filled out. Pending any late, lower-level additions, here’s what the group looks like under head coach Jerod Mayo.
Offensive staff:
Offensive coordinator: Alex Van Pelt
Quarterbacks: T.C. McCartney
Running backs coach: Taylor Embree
Wide receivers coach: Tyler Hughes
Assistant wide receivers coach: Tiquan Underwood
Tight ends coach: Bob Bicknell
Offensive line coach: Scott Peters
Assistant offensive line coach: Robert Kugler
Senior offensive assistant: Ben McAdoo
Offensive assistant: Michael McCarthy
Defensive staff:
Defensive coordinator: DeMarcus Covington*
Defensive line coach: Jerry Montgomery
Inside linebackers coach: Dont’a Hightower
Outside linebackers coach: Drew Wilkins
Cornerbacks coach: Mike Pellegrino*
Safeties coach: Brian Belichick*
Defensive assistant: Vinny DePalma
Defensive assistant: Jamael Lett
Special teams staff:
Special teams coordinator: Jeremy Springer
Assistant special teams coach: Tom Quinn
Assistant special teams coach: Coby Tippett
Strength & conditioning staff:
Strength & conditioning coach: Deron Mayo*
Assistant strength & conditioning coach: Brian McDonough
*Returning from 2023 staff
Jan 17, 2024; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo addresses media with owner Robert Kraft (not pictured) at a press conference at Gillette Stadium. Credit: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports
Coaches previously reported to be returning weren’t included in the release. That group is made up of cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino, safeties coach Brian Belichick, and strength and conditioning coach Deron Mayo.
Now that the full coaching roster has finally been made official, here are some big picture takeaways on the Patriots’ 2024 coaching staff…
Number of coaches
Dec 12, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; New England Patriots defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The first thing that stands out about this staff is simply the number of coaches on it. Last year the Patriots had 17 coaches titled at assistant positional coach or higher. This year, that number is 21 (with potentially more on the way).
As ESPN’s Mike Reiss pointed out over the weekend, under Bill Belichick the Patriots tended to have among the NFL’s smallest coaching staffs “partly because [Belichick] wanted to ensure there were no mixed messages.” However, the number is bigger as Mayo takes over because, according to Reiss, “the desire to integrate ideas and perspectives from those who have coached elsewhere — and is also perhaps a nod to how rare Belichick was in terms of having the knack to handle so many responsibilities himself.”
Age
Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt during OTA workouts on Wednesday, June 1, 2022 in Berea. (Phil Masturzo/USA Today Network)
Based on their early interviews, it seemed like the Patriots’ coaching staff was going to trend on the younger side this year. In the end the group is only slightly younger than the 2023 staff, and more staggered in age.
The average age of the Patriots’ 2023 coaching staff was 37.3 years old. However, 71-year-old Belichick skewed that number a bit, and the average age of all the assistants was actually 37.3. As things stand now, this year’s average age of the Patriots’ coaches is 36.6 years old (37-year-0ld head coach Jerod Mayo only moves the number by a small fraction).
Last year, the Patriots had two coaches in their 50s, three in their 40s, and just one in his 20s. For their 2024 staff the Patriots will have three coaches in their 50s, four in their 40s, and two in their 20s. Everybody else is in their 30s.
Remaining questions
Aug 2, 2023; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots wide receivers/kickoff returners coach Troy Brown works with the receiving core at training camp at Gillette Stadium. Credit: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports
This announcement leaves the status of two of last year’s coaches up in the air – Troy Brown and Joe Judge. Both of their previous jobs were filled, suggesting the team is moving on from both without any sort of official announcement. If either does return (it was
Still waiting for more clarity on that, but my understanding is that Troy has an opportunity to stay if he desires (specific role TBD). Not sure on Billy Yates, who some o-linemen speak very highly of as a man/coach.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) February 11, 2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently reported that the team extended Brown, the now-former wide receivers coach, an opportunity to do so), it would most likely be in a new role.
