Linebacker for the Patriots Matthew Judon believes the time to move on from Bill Belichick is now and believes in new head coach Jerod Mayo.
The 146th pick in 2016 signed for the Ravens and spent five successful seasons in Baltimore before making the switch to New England.
He played under Belichick for three seasons and is well placed to ascertain the strengths of the new coach.
“Belichick was a great coach,” Judon said. “I looked up to him. I think he is one of the best to ever do it, at the clip that he did it, and the high-level IQ that he had, it was amazing to learn from him. But I think with him leaving, it’s just new energy and new life in the building. Sometimes it’s just time, and I think it was just one of those times.”
Belichick created a legacy in his 24 years as head coach at New England winning six Superbowl titles but lost some steam in the past couple of seasons, going 4-13 last campaign. “I think with the hire of Mayo and bringing in somebody that’s been actually there for those years, that kind of understands player perspective and coaching and also how coach Belichick actually ran the system, I think bringing in somebody like that instead of somebody that’s outside and didn’t know at all kind of helped us,” he said. “It kind of helped us because Mayo saw it going one way and he’s trying to get it to go a different way.”
The linebacker told NFL Network’s Good Morning Football that there is a new energy at the franchise.
“We’ve got new life; we’ve got new expectations and right now we’re just all getting healthy and getting back right. I think when we start, we’re all going to try to run through a wall for Mayo.”
The Patriots will look to start building a solid team under Mayo before becoming regular contenders, and it all starts in 2024.
