Julian Edelman’s trip to Gillette Stadium to observe training camp had him feeling optimistic about the Patriots’ future.

The Super Bowl LIII MVP told Rob Gronkowski on their “Dudes on Dudes” podcast that not only did Josh McDaniels have “the offense going,” the Patriots appeared to have “a lot more cohesiveness.”

“They look energized. I think Drake (Maye) looked really good,” Edelman said. “I mean, he was making it look easy. … That’s a sign of him looking good.”

Maye is entering an important Year 2 and has a lot of expectations surrounding him. And while he hasn’t had the most efficient training camp, Edelman was still impressed by what he saw from the quarterback.

“Just operational, like getting the play in, getting the personnel groups in, getting the play call, identifying the defense, getting the cadence off, changing protection,” Edelman said. “He had all that stuff, looked very good.”

One person who did stand out to Edelman was one of New England’s newest running backs.

“The (TreVeyon) Henderson kid out of the backfield looked very good,” he noted. “Second-round pick at Ohio State, had a couple big plays. Looks smart, looks hungry.”

Henderson had an impressive preseason debut that included running a punt return 100 yards for a touchdown. He’s looked like a game-changer throughout training camp and could be someone Maye ends up relying on in 2025.

After consecutive 4-13 seasons, the Patriots are starting fresh again. They fired Jerod Mayo after one year and brought in Mike Vrabel who’s already made plenty of changes to the team and its culture.

Whether the Patriots return to the playoffs next season remains to be seen, but there seems to be more excitement around the six-time Super Bowl champions this year than there has been in years past.