Entering his ninth season with the Patriots, David Andrews still has that desire.

Often times, when retirement is legitimately considered, guys already have one foot out the door. Even last season, there was speculation that it might be the last one for No. 60 – one of the last few remaining players from the Dynasty years.

But, whether it was being chirped by local high school kids while working out at his wife’s old high school or having a UPS driver tell him he “thought he’d be bigger,” Andrews is still motivated.

“It’s not much about loving the game. I’ll be 65 years old still loving the game,” he said. “But, it’s just making sure I can do all the things I need to do to prepare and be ready to go on Sunday. I took some time and got away and spent some time with my family – much needed – and that desire was still down in there to want to get up and go train and do all the things I need to do, take care of myself. That was still there.

“Then, obviously with the changes and everything, getting to talk to Mayo, sit down with him. I was very excited to be a part of something new, a change. Hopefully trying to figure it out and start something new and start something good. Being a part of that process is something I was excited about. It’s still kind of funny to me. I played with my head coach, it’s still kind of weird, you know?”

While Andrews wants to be part of the new Mayo era, he’s also seen what it looks like when a rookie quarterback comes in and fails. So, is there any lessons Andrews learned while Mac Jones was here that he can apply with Drake Maye to make sure things go a little differently?

“I think…just staying with the process throughout the whole thing. I think just trying to be a sounding board as much as I can for him and helping him,” Andrews added. “It’s a long year for a lot of the rookies, you know? As a veteran, you’ve got to be tough on them. You’ve got to try to help them achieve – I believe that because a lot of the veterans were hard on me – they pushed me a lot and that’s how you learn is getting pushed and challenged.

“I’m super excited to get to work with him. I don’t know that much about him obviously. I met him early on in the process and then obviously talked to him. Get to see if he can take an under-center snap on Monday, we’ll see. It’s a great process. You just hope to be an asset to those guys, right? Because I have a lot of respect and gratitude for  the veterans and the ways they tried to help me out in my career…just by watching them, learning from them and seeing how they did certain things.

“I think that’s the cool thing about this league. If you can have an impact on a guy’s career, I think that’s a huge honor.”