Matthew Slater, now the longest-tenured player on the New England Patriots, believes the NFL’s winningest organization must forge a new identity without Tom Brady as their quarterback.
The 42-year-old Brady signed with Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a free agent earlier this month after 20 seasons — and six Super Bowl titles — with the Pats.
“When you talk about Tom and everything he’s meant to this organization and our team, a lot of our identity over the last 20 years has been centered around him. Any time you transition away from a player like that, it’s a tall task,” Slater said Monday on a conference call, according to ESPN. “You have to find a way to deal with that personally and process it.
“I think as a team, obviously, we’re going to have to process that Tom is gone. Do it in a healthy way, and be able to move on.”
Slater, a team captain, has been named to eight Pro Bowls on special teams in 13 seasons with the Pats. The 34-year-old son of Hall of Fame offensive tackle Jackie Slater says others will have to fill the locker-room void from Brady’s departure.
“We’re going to have to be able to find a new identity for ourselves. I think part of that identity is going to be built upon things we’ve always stood for and will continue to stand for as long as this organization is led by the people it’s led by,” Slater said. “That’s going to be selflessness, hard work, doing what’s best for the football team, serving one another, not having any level of expectation that things are going to be handed to us.
“Certainly there is going to be an evolution that occurs within our locker room, an evolution that occurs within our offense. That time was going to come in some way, shape or form. What the void is, how we fill it, I can’t really speak to that right now. I think it’s important guys stay within themselves.”
Barring a trade or free-agent signing, the Patriots presently boast 2019 fourth-round pick Jarrett Stidham and journeyman Brian Hoyer on their depth chart at quarterback.
Still, New England allowed the fewest points and yards in the NFL last season in winning its 11th straight AFC East title and 16th in the last 17 seasons under head coach Bill Belichick.
“I don’t think the goals change at all. The standard doesn’t change at all. The pillars that we stand upon, they don’t change at all,” Slater said. “If you go into the season with a defeatist mindset, then you can’t expect to be successful.
“We have a great opportunity. We have a lot of good football players. We have a tremendous coaching staff. … We have to go into the season expecting more from ourselves than anyone outside the building expects from us. We have to go in with the same drive, the same focus, the same determination. If we don’t, you shouldn’t even step foot in the building, because we’re already going to be beat.”