FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The break is complete now. The glory days are a fading memory. The New England Patriots are starting over, and there were few visible reminders of their dynasty as they worked their way through drills on the practice fields alongside Gillette Stadium on a picturesque afternoon this week.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft stood on a sideline and watched the practice. But the other mainstays of the teams that won six Super Bowls and reached three others over two decades of unrelenting, unapologetic, polarizing dominance were nowhere to be seen. The Patriots are about to begin their fifth season since quarterback Tom Brady’s exit. They parted with Bill Belichick in January after going an unsightly 4-13 in his 24th season as their coach.

It is a new day indeed as the Patriots retool and regroup – does anyone dare say “rebuild” to a fan base accustomed to such lofty levels of success? – around a first-year head coach, Jerod Mayo, and a prized rookie quarterback, Drake Maye. Mayo, 38, was the NFL defensive rookie of the year, a two-time Pro Bowl selection and a Super Bowl winner for the Patriots as a player. Maye, 21, may or may not have to wait his turn behind veteran placeholder Jacoby Brissett. But they’re the key figures for the new Patriots.

“You’re not trying to recreate that identity, because those teams had their own identity,” said center David Andrews, a member of two of the Patriots’ Super Bowl-winning teams. “Even though I was part of multiple of them, each one had its own identity. So you’ve got to create your own identity. But also, I think there’s a lot of good you want to try to take from that, lessons learned. And obviously Mayo was a part of it as a player. So he knows that, too. But at the same time, we’re trying to build our own identity, start something new to try to work back to that.”

Andrews said he finds the reset “exciting” rather than dispiriting.

“Look, no matter what, even when Belichick, Tom, whoever was here … it was still hard to go out there and win,” Andrews said, standing on the field after a practice. “It was still hard every year to go out there and do the OTAs, the training camp, all that stuff, build it back, build the fundamentals. That stuff’s hard. It’s a hard game. And it can be a very rewarding game. Or it can be a very hurtful game at times.”

Realistically, this season should be about providing signs of progress, about whether Mayo and Maye can demonstrate that they can be foundational pieces of the next run of success.

“Our goal is always to win now,” Mayo said. “And it’s a week-to-week type of thing. In saying that, we want to continue to get better. I think the ultimate goal is to continue to get better as a team playing complementary football … but to get better each and every week. And then when we get into the winter, we’ll see where that lands us.”

Following a coaching legend has its own set of particular demands. Mayo said he is not dwelling on that, that “I’m able to put that aside and really just focus on this team and focus on this year.”

He played for Belichick and coached on Belichick’s staff. But he is attempting to create his own coaching identity, saying: “I think that’s a very important thing for me to do, be myself and not try to be anyone else.”

Belichick’s post-Brady seasons were trying for the Patriots, who are scheduled to close the preseason Sunday night at Commanders Field against the Washington Commanders. They had a 29-38 record over those four seasons, reached the playoffs only once and did not manage a single postseason victory. Things completely unraveled last season as the Patriots plummeted to the AFC East basement.

“Unfortunately there’s only one (successful) team,” Andrews said. “The rest, we all crash-land. You know, we definitely crash-landed last year. But, you know, it’s been just as devastating … losing in the Super Bowl or the AFC championship game, whatever it may be. It doesn’t matter if you finish fifth, eighth, whatever it may be – it’s all a crash-landing at the end of the year, unless you’re holding up that trophy. It was definitely tough and challenging at times. I think I learned a lot about myself.”

Mayo left football and was an executive at Optum, a health care services provider, before returning to the Patriots in 2019 as Belichick’s inside linebackers coach. Kraft utilized a head coach succession clause written into Mayo’s contract to promote him to replace Belichick the day after Belichick’s exit without being subject to the NFL’s usual interviewing rules. Mayo became the first Black head coach in franchise history.

He was asked during a news conference this week about his dislike for being called a players’ coach.

“I think I’m going to be a great coach,” Mayo said. “Whatever you want to label it as, I mean, more power to you. It’s the same thing when people say, ‘Well, he’s a Black coach.’ No, I want to be a good coach first that happens to be Black. That’s kind of how I see it. I happened to be a player at one point in time.”

Mayo ran a demanding training camp by current NFL standards, with few days off for veteran players. He had to deal with the team’s contract-extension standoff with four-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Matthew Judon, who eventually was traded to the Atlanta Falcons for a third-round draft choice.

“I would handle it the same way,” Mayo said, standing by the practice field following that day’s news conference. “He’s a man. I’m a man. We have a good relationship. I think you have to be able to have those tough conversations.”

Andrews said of his former teammate: “One thing I’ve always respected about Jerod is he’s consistent. He’s consistently him. He doesn’t change who he is. For whatever he’s doing, he is Jerod Mayo. And I think that authenticity is huge. … Guys respect that.”

Mayo said that he is “on the same page” with Eliot Wolf, the Patriots’ new top football front office executive, and the two will “collaborate on everything.” The Patriots used the No. 3 pick in the draft in April on Maye, the North Carolina product who once had been projected to vie with fellow quarterback Caleb Williams to be the draft’s top selection.

The new regime also signed Brissett and traded former first-round choice Mac Jones to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now the Patriots must decide when to make Maye the starter.

“As a top-10 pick myself, I know the stress that really comes with that,” Mayo said. “Now, in saying that, the hard part for us as a coaching staff is to ignore the noise on the outside and do what’s best for the player. And that’s what we’ll do. We’ll do everything that’s best for Drake and any other person that we draft here.”

Maye said this week that he is “kind of finding a groove, getting more comfortable,” but declined to speculate about the Opening Day quarterback decision.

“I’m just trusting the organization, trusting what the coaches think,” Maye said. “I’m just here to do your work and get ready when my name’s called.”

Mayo said he expects to make the quarterback choice by Tuesday. The Patriots open the regular season Sept. 8 at Cincinnati. If his sense of anticipation has begun to build, Mayo isn’t saying so; it’s one of the rare topics on which he slips into coach-speak reminiscent of his predecessor.

“I’m sure when we get closer to that date, it’ll be pretty exciting,” Mayo said. “But right now, just focused on Washington.”