Dan Orlovsky explains pressing questions for Patriots entering Drake Maye era - "How good is Mayo as a coach?"
The questions about the New England Patriots aren't going to stop until the team starts playing in the 2024 season. With a new era, a new franchise quarterback and a new head coach after over two decades with Bill Belichick, the new structure will attract plenty of scrutiny until the results are seen.
NFL analyst and former quarterback Dan Orlovsky, who works as a media member these days, has highlighted some of the issues that the Patriots will face during the 2024 season. First of all, the questions they need to answer to improve for the future are:
Number one: how good is Mayo as a coach? Can you have the DeMeco Ryans' type of first-year impact? Maybe not the wins, but you walk away saying he could flat-out coach. And two, for Alex Van Pelt: what kind of offense does he walk away from this year saying it's absolutely best for Drake Maye?
And second, Orlovsky highlighted the most pressing needs for Jerod Mayo's roster:
Two things stand out that New England necessarily doesn't have right now. Number one: multiple tight-end usage. Cleveland, under Kevin Stefanski, has majored in that, and it's been really good. And while New England has Hunter Henry, they're going to have to figure it out who their tight ends of the future are. And then, the Amari Cooper type of receiver... they don't have that number one receiver yet.
Is there any reason for Patriots fans to be excited about the 2024 season?
For Drake Maye and the New England Patriots, it's a new dawn. They joined forces after the NFL Draft, where the Patriots grabbed Maye with the third overall pick. New England fans were extremely excited about the team's pick and believed that they would finally be able to replace Tom Brady after four years of unsuccessful tries.
The feeling around the franchise is totally different. Belichick's hard coaching style is not a secret to anyone who has followed the NFL for a long time, and it worked when they were winning with Tom Brady on the roster; when you're losing and your coach follows a hard line, well, players aren't going to take it.
Even though Jerod Mayo played for Belichick, the early expectations about his style are totally different. We'll see if this remains the same throughout the season.