2024 Draft Class Looking To Help Restore Patriots’ Past Glory
The Patriots added a lot of young players in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Is that obvious? Yes, it’s literally a pool of college-aged players. New England added dudes who weren’t even alive for Super Bowl XXXVI, though.
Drake Maye is 21. Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker are 22. Layden Robinson is 23. The Patriots being anything but dominant is something new for all those guys, so their top priority is returning the franchise to its past glory.
“The Patriots, it’s been a dynasty,” Maye told reporters in his first meeting with the media Thursday. “It’s one of the best areas, best sports towns’ I think it’s the best in the country.”
Maye’s role in the rebuild is obvious. He’s the face.
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New England will place the onus squarely on his shoulders, and though starting games might not be his role right away, he’ll be the man who will receive all of the glory and/or blame for how this era of Patriots football turns out. It’s guys like Polk, Baker and Robinson who will look to help Maye be successful, sharing the same view of Gillette Stadium as your typical young adult.
“Honestly, just being a part of that organization, I know it is a winning mentality, just like how it was at Alabama,” Baker said of joining the Patriots. “Just winning, like everybody likes winning. It couldn’t be a better opportunity and a better place to go to than this place, so I just can’t wait.”
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“The impression of the Patriots, it’s just a championship program,” Robinson echoed. “… Just going around the facility and seeing all the previous players, all the accolades and just the tradition of the Super Bowl championships that they had in there. That’s a winning program, and we’re doing everything that we can to try to get this back on the road to becoming a Super Bowl-contending team again.”
It’s a new era in New England, and we know you’ve heard that way too much over the past several months, but perhaps nothing represents it more than knowing these newcomers grew up watching the likes of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick run the show for two decades.
It’s their turn, now.