Matthew Slater, who holds the NFL record for most special teams Pro Bowl appearances with 10, announced his retirement on Tuesday after 16 seasons.

"I have given all that I possibly can to respect and honor the game," Slater wrote in a social media post shared by the New England Patriots. "Though it is time for my relationship with the game to evolve, the love I have for it will last a lifetime."

The quarterback situation for the New England Patriots might have been even worse than it appeared.

Mac Jones struggled in his third season and towards the end of the year Bill Belichick wouldn't even name a starter ahead of games. According to a MassLive report, communication between Jones and Belichick was "nonexistent."

Belichick is gone and Jones remains on the roster, for now.

According to Sports Illustrated, Jones was "well-liked" when he first arrived, but "lost support of the building" when his promising rookie season did not carry over. The report described the situation as "toxic," saying there were times when, as a rookie in 2022, Bailey Zappe would watch tape in the receiver room, because the quarterback room was such a mess.

First-year New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo is turning to an old teammate to fill a void on his coaching staff, hiring Dont'a Hightower to work with the team's linebackers.

There were a number of head coaching vacancies in the NFL over the last month, but Bill Belichick remains without a job after parting ways with the New England Patriots.

"I don't know the criteria for hiring coaches. I've never been a part of it," Brady said this week on his "Let's Go!" podcast. "I mean, I'm surprised that the greatest coach ever doesn't have a job, absolutely. But I'm surprised [by] a lot of things in the NFL."

Belichick interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons twice, but the job ultimately went to Raheem Morris.

If Belichick doesn't take a job as an assistant coach, next season will be the first time since 1975 that he will not be coaching in the NFL.

Eliot Wolf will be in charge of the 53-man roster for the New England Patriots. 

Bill Belichick previously had final say on the roster for the Patriots. 

Wolf joined the Patriots in 2020 as a consultant and was previously with the Green Bay Packers and is the son of Ron Wolf. 

The New England Patriots have hired Ben McAdoo as an offensive assistant coach.

McAdoo was previously head coach of the New York Giants from 2016 until 2017, and also was offensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers in 2022.

The New England Patriots are "in talks" to hire Ben McAdoo as an assistant coach, according to a report.

McAdoo would have an assistant head coach-type role under Jerod Mayo and focus on the offense.

McAdoo, 46, most recently was the Carolina Panthers' offensive coordinator in 2022.

Former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick wrote a heartfelt thank-you letter to fans that appeared in The Boston Globe on Sunday.

The Patriots and Belichick mutually parted ways after 24 seasons on Jan. 11. When Belichick and owner Robert Kraft stood together to announce the decision, Belichick had referenced how much the team's fans had meant to him, which he put into writing in his full-page advertisement.

The letter was written "To Patriots fans everywhere," had a blue background, included a picture of Belichick from one of the team's six Super Bowl championship parades and ran on Page A3 of the newspaper.

The New England Patriots have hired Alex Van Pelt as offensive coordinator. 

Van Pelt was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the Cleveland Browns from 2020 until 2023. Kevin Stefanski, however, called plays for the Browns. Van Pelt was fired by the Browns after their loss to the Houston Texans in the Wildcard round.

Robert Kraft has admitted that letting Tom Brady leave the New England Patriots in 2020 was a mistake.

The Patriots let Brady sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in free agency. The quarterback won a Super Bowl in his first season away from the Patriots.

New England has gone 29-38 since Brady left.

Kraft had a conversation with Tom Brady, Sr. in September in which he admitted the mistake.

"He just said, 'I made a mistake.' He told us that back in September," Brady Sr. said. "We don't all make the right decisions, but he's made a hell of a lot of good ones over the years. But I know that it galls him that Tommy went elsewhere and won. Not that he won, but that he won after Bill (Belichick) said he was done."