Slater was an assistant to head coach Jerod Mayo last season.

Matthew Slater’s tenure as a special assistant to the New England Patriots’ head coach lasted only one season.

The former special teams ace, who announced his retirement from the game last offseason and quickly transitioned into a coaching assistant under head coach Jerod Mayo, will not reprise his role in 2025. According to a report by Mike Reiss of ESPN, new Patriots HC Mike Vrabel opted against having Slater on his staff in his previous capacity.

3. Maye’s salute: In his SiriusXM NFL Radio interview, Maye noted how Matthew Slater was a top mentor to him during his rookie season, which included “all aspects of life.”

That leaves a significant void for Maye in 2025. Slater was serving as the special assistant to former head coach Jerod Mayo, a position that didn’t carry over to the new regime.

Whether that also means that Slater will be departing the organization remains to be seen. Vrabel did elect to keep some members of Mayo’s former staff around, including special teams coaches Jeremy Springer and Tom Quinn.

Even though he was officially an assistant to Mayo, Slater also helped out in the kicking game. During the regular season, Springer praised his contributions.

“He’s phenomenal,” Springer he said. “Everybody in the building uses him for everything, and he helps with the leadership council. He’s not going to be in my room game planning all day and things like that. But what he does do is he’s always on the field helping me out.

“He’s always giving me insight on little things I might have forgotten in a meeting to mention, or a little technique that I’m teaching where he comes in and says, ‘Hey man, I’ve done it like that before and it doesn’t work like that.’ ‘Alright, how do you think we should teach it, Slater?’ And even on game days on the sideline he’s phenomenal.”

Slater originally joined the Patriots as a fifth-round draft pick in 2008, the final year of Vrabel’s stint in New England as an outside linebacker. Whereas the latter headed off to Kansas City and eventually a coaching career, Slater developed into one of the most decorated special teamers of all time.

A three-time Super Bowl champion and five-time All-Pro, he stepped away from the game last February after having appeared in 239 regular season games and 25 playoff contests for the Patriots.