There is a lot new in New England this year.
Jerod Mayo is a head coach for the first time and they used the third pick in the draft on quarterback Drake Maye in the first big move from new head of football operations Eliot Wolf. The post-Bill Belichick era is also expected to feature a left tackle for the first time.
Chuks Okorafor played right tackle with the Steelers, but Mayo said he is currently the Patriots’ No. 1 left tackle and that will make him a significant piece of the puzzle as to whether Maye or Jacoby Brissett will be running the offense in the fall. Okorafor said there are “a lot of things” to learn as part of the process, but he is confident he can handle what is in front of him.
“I’ve been in the NFL for a while now. If I knew I couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t do it I chose to do this,” Okorafor said, via Doug Kyed of Boston Herald. “It will take time, but I know who I am and what I can do.”
Fixing everything that was wrong with the offense may not be a one-year project for the Patriots, but nailing the left tackle position would be a huge step forward for the unit.
