New England Patriots great Vince Wilfork is confident in the new regime.

The Patriots will usher in a new era — or an old era, depending on how you look at it — with former longtime linebacker Mike Vrabel as their new head coach. They’ll also bring back former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels in the same role, where he won six Super Bowls as a member of the Patriots.

It also doesn’t hurt that New England now has a franchise quarterback in Drake Maye, who went to the Pro Bowl during his rookie season after showing flashes of greatness in his first year.

Even though the Patriots finished with one of the worst records in the NFL in 2024, Wilfork predicts that New England will win at least eight games and potentially compete in the AFC East in Vrabel’s first year as head coach of the Patriots.

“The division is always the division, but now with the Bills and Dolphins, depending on how they play, the division is going to be tough,” says Wilfork in a one-on-one interview. “But let me tell you something, it won’t shock me that if the Patriots are in the running.”

One of Wilfork’s main arguments for why the Patriots could be drastically improved in 2025 is due to the presence of Maye, the team’s first true franchise quarterback since Tom Brady.

“We look totally different than we did last year and the years previous than that because you have to understand trying to find a quarterback and being able to play a quarterback early, that’s hard,” says Wilfork.

Wilfork knows all about playing with a great quarterback during the duration of his career, considering he spent 11 seasons with Brady. The former five-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle made it to the playoffs during every season of his Patriots career except for one (2008), which just so happened to be the year Brady missed 15 games due to injury.

“It’s very hard, and a lot of guys talk about quarterbacks,” says Wilfork. “I heard Tom talk about the difference in quarterbacks now and then, and they’re not being developed. But you know what? You’re not having just pocket passers anymore. The game has changed so much. It’s easy for a quarterback to come in now.”

Maye finished his rookie campaign with 15 touchdowns against 10 interceptions for a solid 88.1 passer rating and 66.6% completion rate. His passer rating ranked third among rookie quarterbacks, and his completion rate finished second.

“You gotta have a head coaching offensive coordinator to understand how to coach the guy in this, but it’s easier now than it was then because Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, they were pocket passers,” says Wilfork.

“That’s the only thing they had was their arm. But now you have guys that can get out of the pocket, run the ball, so it’s a different caliber of players now. It’s cool to see how the game has changed.  The old-school quarterbacks talk about the quarterbacks these days, but I love our quarterback.”

Long story short, Wilfork believes Maye is indeed the Patriots’ franchise quarterback.

“I think we found one, and that’s the starting point,” says Wilfork.