Rodney Harrison encouraged by Patriots’ Drake Maye and Jerod Mayo

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Quick thoughts and notes on the New England Patriots and the NFL:

1. Rodney’s point of view: Rodney Harrison is in his 16th season as an analyst for NBC’s “Football Night In America” ​​and he’s noticed a change over the past two years.

“I get reminded every week that I go to the stadiums. From the fans’ point of view, they’re laughing. ‘Hey, what about your Patriots?’ That hurts,” Harrison said in a telephone interview. “You go from being well-respected and a dominant force to where, all of a sudden, people are joking that your team is at the bottom of the ladder.”

Harrison, who turns 52 on Dec. 15, has close ties to the Chargers (1994-2002) and Patriots (2003-2008) during his playing career. Because he was part of two Super Bowl championship teams in New England, as well as the 2007 club that went 16-0 in the regular season, many remember him as a Patriot.

Harrison was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2019 and has often spoken about the importance of the organization to him, including owner Robert Kraft, former coach Bill Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady and ‘others. At the same time, just as he was an impactful safety on the field, he has not hesitated to provide a haymaker for the franchise as an analyst if he feels it is warranted.

So Harrison’s perspective on the current state of the Patriots was sought during the bye week – a natural time to take stock of the 3-10 team under the executive vice president of the staff of first-year players Eliot Wolf and first-year coach Jerod. Mayo, with whom Harrison rode for a year as a player.

“The first thing is I saw some things from Drake Maye that surprised me. He’s better than I expected,” Harrison said. “I like the kid’s personality. I like his demeanor. He has this quiet competitiveness about him. He’s a much better athlete than I thought he was.

“The main thing I see is they don’t have enough talent around him. They need to work on building that offensive line, and you need to have a No. 1 receiver. The tight end situation is solid I’d bring in another one. And quite frankly, I was looking at some contracts on the defensive side of the ball and saying, “Hey, do we need this guy to make ‘X’ amount or do we need to reallocate those resources. to the offensive line?

At the same time, Harrison acknowledged that he thought the defense, outside of promising second-year cornerback Christian Gonzalez, would have produced better results than a No. 20 ranking in average points allowed per game (23.6 ).

From a big picture perspective, he highlighted Mayo’s post-match remarks on October 20 after a loss to the Jaguars in London as notable.

“When he said they were playing slow, I thought the players reacted well. They could have gone the opposite direction and abandoned him and said: ‘The coach is not for us. He is trying to save his ass and point the ball at him.’ pointing fingers at us But they kept playing hard,” Harrison said.

“It’s just not a hugely talented team. So I think Jerod has done a solid job in his first year and he needs to continue to grow – asking questions, seeking sound advice from others coaches, and going back and looking at different situations that they were in as a team and revisiting those things He has to do that work, what he did as a player, so I think he. will improve. But they need to acquire talent. and it’s Eliot’s fault.”

With approximately $130 million in salary cap space in 2025, easily a league high, the Patriots are poised for an aggressive offseason.

“What you might have to do, because the Patriots have a reputation, is overpay up front,” Harrison said. “Guys won’t come to New England because Belichick is there or because they believe they’ll be on a good team. They come to New England because they get paid.

“So right now what you have to do is rebuild the trust in your organization and you have to let the players outside the building know, ‘Hey, we’re not cheapskates. We’re going to pay the guys. We’re going to get football players here. Your reputation and what you’ve done in the past, no one comes here because of that.”

2. Goodbye practice: The Patriots return Monday after having a practice during their bye week, which took place Tuesday. They are one of six teams benefiting from the Week 13 bye, and of that group, they were the only team to hold a practice during the bye week.

The Broncos played the Monday night game in Week 12 and coach Sean Payton gave the players the rest of their week off. Meanwhile, the Colts, Commanders, Ravens and Texans all worked on film Monday before the players left until the following Monday.

One difference between these teams and the Patriots: All are in the playoff race and preparing for what they hope will be a deep run in early February, while New England is already eliminated from the playoffs.

A screen inside the Patriots locker room informs players of the weather, location of practice, whether it will be held with full pads or shells, and what practice number it is from start of training camp. For those keeping track, Tuesday’s bye week practice was #65.

3. Strange recording: Offensive lineman Cole Strange has one more hurdle to hopefully clear: practicing with full pads. The Patriots haven’t been in great shape over the past three weeks since Strange (knee) was designated to return from injured reserve, so he’s looking forward to that hopefully happening this week.

That would better prepare him for the game, where the coaching staff would ideally find some sort of rotation with Ben Brown at center starting Dec. 15 at Arizona.

4. Last two matches: The day and time of the Patriots’ final two home games — Week 17 against the Chargers and Week 18 against the Bills — have yet to be determined by the NFL. If the Bills play for the AFC’s top seed, that could potentially impact the league’s decision-making process.

Otherwise, it is assumed that both games would remain on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The NFL will announce the Week 17 schedule after the Week 15 games and the Week 18 games after the Week 17 games.

5. New installation: The Patriots announced plans to begin construction on a new football practice facility, scheduled to open in spring 2026. Reaction from players has been positive.

The Patriots will begin construction on a new football practice facility: pic.twitter.com/djixWQoRv0

– New England Patriots (@Patriots) December 4, 2024

“Being there a long time, seeing the same thing, the change is good to see. I’m excited to see the evolution of that,” said cornerback Jonathan Jones, who is in his ninth year with the franchise.

“At the end of the day, we know ownership is investing in us as players and we have to make sure we get a return on that investment,” added 10-year veteran and captain Joe Cardona, the team’s longest-tenured player. .

6. The Return of Wallace: Offensive tackle Caedan Wallace, Penn State’s 2024 third-round pick, has been out since Week 4 with an ankle injury. Mayo said the hope is Wallace returns before the end of the season, so designating him to return would apparently be on the radar when the team returns for practice Monday.

Just as 2024 fourth-round pick Layden Robinson was inserted into the starting lineup last week – with Mayo saying it was his best performance of the season – the Patriots would ideally like to see Wallace generate positive momentum before the offseason. Can Wallace be the right tackle of the future? The last four games could provide answers.

7. Young CB: In what could be a sign of things to come over the past four games to get better evaluation of young players, the Patriots used a cornerback rotation opposite Gonzalez in last week’s loss to the Colts. Jones played a season-low 21 snaps as 2023 seventh-round picks Isaiah Bolden (15) and Alex Austin (26) cut down on his time.

It was Austin’s first action since Week 3, as he was on injured reserve with his ankle, and he was one of the few players not looking forward to this week’s break.

“I’m ready to come back after the bye,” he said before the players left the locker room last Tuesday.

8. Harrison and Hall: Harrison is once again in a group of 25 semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the next step is to see if he makes the 15 finalists later this month. Belichick was one of his biggest promoters.

Saying he is at peace with the outcome of the vote, Harrison added: “I’m impressed by the support I’ve received. I never thought about these individual Hall of Fame honors; for me, it was always a team. I know that doesn’t define me and I’ve done everything I could do, so ‘it is what it is,’ it happens, bro.”

9. They said it: “From the first time I was announced the incumbent, he came in and said, ‘That’s part of it, let’s not make it awkward.’ From that moment on, we knew what kind of teammate he was.” – Maye, on “Patriots All-Access,” asked about veteran QB Jacoby Brissett

10. Did you know: Guard/tackle Mike Onwenu has played 100% of the offensive snaps this season, the only Patriots player to do so. Gonzalez leads the defense at 98%.