{"id":13381,"date":"2025-02-09T15:08:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T15:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=13381"},"modified":"2025-02-09T15:08:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T15:08:02","slug":"patriots-rumors-new-update-on-departing-franchise-legends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=13381","title":{"rendered":"PATRIOTS RUMORS: New Update On Departing Franchise Legends"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"post-2011498\"><!--?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ??--><!--?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ??-->A pair of Patriots icons left the organization earlier this offseason, but the door wasn\u2019t slammed shut on them.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/02\/Christian-Gonzalez-Deebo-Samuel.jpg?w=480&amp;h=270&amp;crop=1\" alt=\"Patriots Rumors: New Update On Departing Franchise Legends\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Dont\u2019a Hightower and Matthew Slater were not retained to be on Mike Vrabel\u2019s coaching staff for the 2025 season. Both Hightower and Slater made their NFL coaching debuts in the 2024 campaign under first-year head coach Jerod Mayo, who previously played with the standout linebacker and special teams ace.<\/p>\n<p>But while Hightower and Slater no longer have an office at One Patriot Place, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they won\u2019t be seen around the facility moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFormer Patriots greats Matthew Slater, Dont\u2019a Hightower and Troy Brown weren\u2019t retained on staff,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Mike Reiss wrote in a column published Sunday. \u201cSlater and Hightower initially came aboard due to their personal ties to Jerod Mayo, and it\u2019s unclear whether they still want to coach.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bdc2020.o0bc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/5YM5W7MPD24EXF5EJHAZ7P2LTU-65ce8be451ac6-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Bill O'Brien says taking the BC football job was a 'no-brainer'\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNonetheless, Vrabel has told those in the organization he wants to make sure all former players are welcomed back in the building. After all, he\u2019s one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vrabel\u2019s open-door policy for franchise greats might have already been on display. While Dante Scarnecchia denied having any involvement with the team, Bill O\u2019Brien recently claimed the Patriots Hall of Famer had been around Gillette Stadium to help out with the offensive line.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>So, who knows, maybe New England fans will see Hightower and Slater on the practice fields this summer.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new report provided an update on a pair of New England Patriots all-time greats who left the organization this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-england-patriots"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>PATRIOTS RUMORS: New Update On Departing Franchise Legends - 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