No one is expecting New England to win the Super Bowl this season, but it is important for the new leadership to show they have a plan.

Bill Belichick calls special-team standout Matthew Slater ‘just about the perfect player’ and says he deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Hightower, 33, joins the staff of former teammate Jerod Mayo despite being out of football since retiring after the 2021 season.

Alonzo Highsmith, a longtime NFL executive and former player, has a history with director of scouting Eliot Wolf.

Ben McAdoo, hired by New England as an offensive assistant, has a history of properly scouting quarterbacks.

The legendary coach, who departed from the Patriots on Jan. 11, took out a full-page ad in The Boston Globe on Sunday.

Van Pelt, a former coordinator for the Browns and Bills, has been coaching in the NFL since 2006.

It’s still not clear if Jerod Mayo will stick with the same system or go in a completely different direction.

Robert Kraft let Tom Brady go, and he won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, and former coach Bill Belichick is in the process of choosing his next destination.

Commentary: Mayo is a modernized, friendlier version of Belichick who has more of an open mind to understand what’s needed to succeed in today’s NFL.