New England Patriots Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports

After many years of Bill Belichick leading the way in New England, the Patriots are now going in a new direction with Jerod Mayo leading the way. And while things will be different under the new leadership, that doesn’t mean they won’t respect the past.

During a recent interview, Jerod Mayo made it clear that things will be changing as the team undergoes a change in leadership, but that is not a shot at the way Bill Belichick ran the team previously, as he was obviously very successful.

“It’s going to be different, but at the same time I would say Bill did a great job for a long period of time,” Mayo said according to Mike Reiss of ESPN. “I don’t want you to take this as ‘because we’re changing, there are shots toward the previous regime.’ In saying that, we will do it differently and it will feel different. But at the end of the day, we would like to replicate the success that the prior regime has had. I learned a lot from Bill and also his staff. Now we’ll see what this chapter looks like in the franchise.”

We’ll have to see how Mayo performs in his first season leading the Patriots.

[ESPN]