How do we feel about Matthew Slater announcing his retirement?
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
A digression, but with something like only 30% of kick-offs being returned at all - is it time for the NFL to just do away with the whole thing? I guess it's tradition, but just seems like they have nerfed the whole thing so much to be without much real excitement.
Well, people are widely talking of him as a hall of famer. Seems to me as if there's at least some dispute in that regard.
As a Hall of Famer throughout his career? There's certainly an argument to be had. However, I don't think anyone is saying his loss will have any real effect to the Patriots on the field this upcoming season.
It was actually UCLA punter at the time, Aaron Perez. I did check to see if he is a scout NOW with his foretelling here, but it appears he runs kicking camps and performance training.
Just a minor clarification. Hester was just announced as a HoF member two weeks ago during the NFL awards show.
Slater deserves to get in but comparing his accolades to Tasker (who played before ST coverage guys got All Pro recognition and at least one of Slater’s pro bowl appearances was undeserved -2017 when he played only 9 games) seems unfair
They both deserve to be in but I doubt either do get in.
This made me look up some old Pats threads. There's one in 2014 asking if the 62-year-old BB has lost his fastball as a GM. Another about a potential Brady rift with the coaches. And the draft day thread after we picked James White that went all of 16 posts.
Also, the guy going to bat for Aaron Hernandez was something else.
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If you spill a drink on him and report back on what happens, I've got five bucks for you.
That would be interesting! I'd just need to know where to get the data, since it's not readily scrape-able from PFR, and I obviously don't have any licensed play-by-play datasets to go filter. I imagine there's something that's available for non-commercial use, though. Maybe @Brand Name would know?
Methodology: Separate punts and kickoffs, group it by the yard line of scrimmage (for punts) and where the kickoff was received (for kickoffs), calculate leaguewide average for # of yards gained in that scenario. There will be some curve for average yards the returner gets, increasing as the punt/kickoff distance itself increases as they start out farther from the gunners. Then separate out the subset where it was the Patriots defending, and ideally (As you note) separate out the Slater plays from the non-Slater Patriots plays (maybe the BB era before he was drafted, since he basically played almost all punt and kickoff defense), and plot the same average-yards curve. See to what extent the Patriots under Slater bent that curve, or even the difference Slater himself made if we have the sample size to draw any conclusions.
Would be cool, not least because I can't recall seeing anything like that done for special teams before, other than VORP calcs for punters and kickers.
Wish I had data for that! Fun concept and idea to be sure on that stat, IF.
Slater was fantastic as a special teams nut. So, when you look at how he was a gunner, he didn't simply go straight-line running as TV would imply to you. He was often incredibly precise in how he'd streak down past the kickoff, really incredible of escaping opposing blockers. Perhaps most similar to precision in route running. Just stayed his course, pretty much unstoppable. Complete control of his body, like the world's best racecar engine. No side veers. Just perfectly humming at top speed until reaching the destination. Incredible. AWW, yeah! Indeed.
Slater was fantastic as a special teams nut. So, when you look at how he was a gunner, he didn't simply go straight-line running as TV would imply to you. He was often incredibly precise in how he'd streak down past the kickoff, really incredible of escaping opposing blockers. Perhaps most similar to precision in route running. Just stayed his course, pretty much unstoppable. Complete control of his body, like the world's best racecar engine. No side veers. Just perfectly humming at top speed until reaching the destination. Incredible. AWW, yeah! Indeed.
Advisor. Honestly I never dreamed this possible. Figured he would do something with his faith. I love this news.
View: https://twitter.com/philaperry/status/1777741548337164657?s=46
View: https://twitter.com/philaperry/status/1777741548337164657?s=46
That's great news for the Pats. His hours shouldn't be nearly as demanding as a position coach's hours, so this will work with his desire to not get into that rat race. But it's awesome that he's still going to be part of the team. They need him.
I wouldn't be surprised if his faith is part of the decision by both the team and Slater. I'm not much of a believer, but from watching the players who join after games and kneel and pray you can tell that it's a part of the culture for many teams.
Kraft is also a man of faith and while it's a different faith, you kind of get the sense that he views its importance to building a certain football culture when he does things like talk about Mayo's thoughtfulness in the Jerusalem trip.
It's all Greek to me, but I would not be surprised if this role is part bible study part special teams part guru part confessor. I think it's all about building connections on a team sport, and while it's not a connection that is important to me, I can see where an NFL team would think it worth having a sometimes spiritual advisor, sometimes mentor, sometimes football guy be part of the locker room.
Edit: Beaten by @Saints Rest -- with many fewer words too!
The team already has a chaplain, and I haven't heard that they're making a change. Doesn't mean that Slater's faith won't be part of his job. I have no idea. But for years they've had a chaplain who serves as a spiritual advisor to so many players.
Please welcome Matt Easterby!
Mayo clearly gets how important maintaining the Patriots’ culture is. Keeping Slater around can only be a good thing.
Mayo clearly gets how important maintaining the Patriots’ culture is. Keeping Slater around can only be a good thing.
I don't see any reason why there can't be two of those guys. I had a guidance counselor assigned in high school, but he was the football coach for grades 10-12. I went to my 9th grade one for most questions and had the official one sign off on stuff only. There's also psychologists around. Sometimes dudes just need to talk and maybe don't connect with one guy but do with others.
Slater has been serving as a spiritual advisor and as the leader of the teams bible study group (largest in the NFL, as I mentioned earlier in this thread) for over a decade.
This is from 2012:
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/patriots-slater-a-spiritual-leader-for-teammates/
“Matthew is great because he does our Bible studies and everything, and I’m always there with him,” said New England running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis. “We have a good little group of guys, but Matthew oversees it. We’re happy to have him on the team — someone that we can go to and have a Christian brother that we can go and talk to.”
“We have a lot of guys who love Jesus on this team,” Slater said. “To be able to lead them in Bible studies, and fellowship with them and pray with them, it means a lot. It’s very humbling to think that the Lord would use a simple man like me to do that.”
For Slater, the opportunity to play in his first Super Bowl is certainly a blessing, and his desire is to use the spotlight to talk about the source of that blessing. When people look at him and his teammates “to give us a pat on the back,” he said he wants to make sure that people know “that we’re very blessed, and the Lord has shown His favor, and we’re here because of the love of Christ.”
He was in the middle of leading a Bible study group when Bart Starr's wife called him to tell him he'd won the Bart Starr Award in 2017:
https://purpose2play.com/breakthrough-athletes/matthew-slater-receives-call-patriots-bible-study-informing-hes-bart-star-award-winner-2017/
View: https://twitter.com/Patriots/status/816816994720825344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E816816994720825344%7Ctwgr%5Ea6cd641e788533b750c6aca16a9bc9f9856f683b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurpose2play.com%2Fbreakthrough-athletes%2Fmatthew-slater-receives-call-patriots-bible-study-informing-hes-bart-star-award-winner-2017%2F
There are good people in this world.
And those people think Matthew Slater is a saint.
From Reiss
2. Full-time Slater: One notable behind-the-scenes development over the past few weeks came with longtime captain Matthew Slater accepting a full-time position with the Patriots, according to sources.
Slater had other opportunities he could have pursued but elected to stay with the franchise he played for from 2008 to 2023. One source described his role as a "right-hand man" to first-year head coach Mayo, providing Mayo a sounding board on football and team building, as well as assistance in "people development."
Mayo was a first-round draft pick of the Patriots in 2008, while Slater was a fifth-round pick that year, so they've known each other since that time. Once Mayo pursued a career in coaching, he had previously told Slater it was one of his dreams for them to work together in hopes of developing something in which they could be proud.
2. Full-time Slater: One notable behind-the-scenes development over the past few weeks came with longtime captain Matthew Slater accepting a full-time position with the Patriots, according to sources.
Slater had other opportunities he could have pursued but elected to stay with the franchise he played for from 2008 to 2023. One source described his role as a "right-hand man" to first-year head coach Mayo, providing Mayo a sounding board on football and team building, as well as assistance in "people development."
Mayo was a first-round draft pick of the Patriots in 2008, while Slater was a fifth-round pick that year, so they've known each other since that time. Once Mayo pursued a career in coaching, he had previously told Slater it was one of his dreams for them to work together in hopes of developing something in which they could be proud.
This is great and I think a much better fit for him than ST coordinator or something. Frees him up to do different things. He's probably been doing a version of it the last few years as a player with Bill.
Surprising (to me) fact: Over the last 25 years, it is Matthew Slater, not Tom Brady or Gronk or anyone else, who has the most All-Pro selections (first and second teams combined) of all the Patriots.