Things will clearly be different in 2020 for the New England Patriots.
Tom Brady will don a Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey, leaving New England without a franchise quarterback for the first time in 20 seasons. In the process, the Patriots also lost essential players in Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins and Stephen Gostkowski.
The Patriots did manage to keep offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and director of player personnel Nick Caserio around, maintaining long-tenured and critical staff members. Bill Belichick also kept leaders in the locker room with Devin McCourty and Matthew Slater. Both players have been with the team for at least ten seasons, but Slater is considered the glue of the locker room.
Slater joined a conference call with reporters on Monday and discussed the transition without Brady.
“We’re gonna have to find a new identity for ourselves,” Slater said. “I think part of that new identity is going to built on things that we’ve always stood for and will continue to stand for as long as this organization is led by the people that it’s led by. I think that’s gonna be selflessness, hard work, doing what’s best for the football team, serving one and another, having no expectation that things are going to be handed to us. These are the ways we’ve always operated and I think we’ll have to continue to operate in the same manner we always have and find a new identity for ourselves.
“I don’t think the goals don’t change at all. The standard doesn’t change at all. The pillars that we stand upon don’t change at all.”
Slater will have a tall task ahead of him to keep the ship afloat, especially with the standard New England carries every season. The biggest transition is quarterback, and Jarrett Stidham could very possibly step into that role in his second year. Slater had nothing but positive things to say about the young quarterback.
“He’s a great kid,” Slater said, transcribed by NESN. “I think that’s the thing that’s going to matter the most with any player. Who is he as a man? Who is he as a person? What’s he motivated by? And he’s just a great kid to be around. He brings a lot of positive energy. He’s always got a smile on his face. You can tell he’s very appreciative of the opportunity that he had last year and the opportunity that he’ll have going forward.
“Certainly, he has a lot of great qualities that can make him a good player at the quarterback position. Coach (Bill) Belichick and his staff wouldn’t have brought him in here if they didn’t think he had those qualities. But at that position, almost more than any other, it’s going to be your intangibles that get a guy to maybe a successful position. I think he’s got some good traits. I think he’s going to be a good player, but his attack, his approach is going to have to be one day at a time just like any of us. I think it’s important, and I’ll certainly encourage him just to be himself and continue to be the person that he is, continue to be the teammate that he is. We’ll just take this thing one day at a time.”
Slater will continue to be the rock for a team searching for its new identity.
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