I wouldn’t leave you, New England.

Last week, when I announced the end of my six-year run at the Boston Herald, your outpouring of support yielded one of the greatest highs of my career. It validated a bond I’ve always felt with my readers, as I’ve worked as hard as imaginable to craft stories that would make you proud. And that response last week? My goodness, that was cool as hell. Thank you again to each and every one of you who reached out.

And that leads me here, as the Patriots beat reporter for The Athletic. Look, I promise it stung to leave the Herald. Born and raised in Lowell (if you missed the billboard) and a graduate of Middlesex Community College and UMass (there’s a billboard for that, too), the Herald was always a dream job, and my experience there greatly exceeded my hopes and expectations. I had absolutely no intentions of leaving.

Then The Athletic called, and I recognized how perfectly we’d fit together. I’ll still provide you with daily Patriots content, which I love to do, but there will be a greater emphasis on the in-depth coverage that fits my strengths. Some of my proudest pieces of work have been the interviews that no one else got (Malcolm Butler’s first detailed comments after Super Bowl LII; Dont’a Hightower’s reaction after the Jamie Collins trade), the features that took the most time to report and craft (Malcolm Mitchell’s journey to learn how to read; Tom Brady’s baseball background; Nate Solder’s willingness to help families who are also dealing with fights against cancer) or the enhancement of a breaking story (the process of Darrelle Revis’ contract negotiations with the Patriots and Jets; Butler’s two-week benching during organized team activities due to a missed flight in 2015). Then mix in a few film breakdowns, like the postgame analysis of Brady’s brilliance against the Seahawks or the pregame predictions in the playoffs that the Patriots would attack Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters in 2015 or the Steelers linebackers in 2016 or that Chris Hogan would go off in the Super Bowl. The most loyal readers surely remember those.

That’s the type of work you’ll get here at The Athletic because we understand the commitment that you’re making to us. If you subscribe, I’ll be driven to validate your support and your belief that our coverage is worth the price of admission, and I can already promise I’ll have a story next week that you’ll want to read. At The Athletic, it’s not about the clicks as much as the experience. And you’ll be stress-free while reading our ad-free content that won’t sabotage your screen, put you on government watch lists and turn your cell phones into bricks.

There’s an interesting dynamic at The Athletic. On one hand, we’ve got a powerhouse cast of writers who are among the best of the industry. On the other hand, I feel like there’s an underdog element because we have to prove we’re worthy of your subscription dollars.

I’ve always been the underdog, so that fits me well. My guidance counselor at Lowell High once told me not to pursue a career in the media because I’d never make it. (She literally had a poster in her office that said to shoot for the moon because even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. I mean, it was right next to her as she basically told me to ignore the moon and the stars, and instead go find a rock and kick it around an alley for a few hours. But I digress.) For some reason, I followed her advice, failed out of UNH’s business school within two years and transferred home to the community college that I stared at every day when I looked out my window growing up. That lit the fire under me that still burns, as I decided to stop listening to everyone else’s conventional thinking and instead chased what I believed was best. It’s a blue-collar mentality that carried over to the Herald, where we took pride in our daily fight against the paper on the other side of town.

So again, I wouldn’t have left a dream job at the Herald if I didn’t recognize the potential to fulfill another dream here, and I feel strongly about The Athletic’s purpose. It’s been working since its launch in other cities around the country, and it’ll work here in an intense market against stiff competition from an incredibly talented pool of reporters around Boston and New England. We have assembled our own impressive team in Boston, and we’re going to show you why we’re worth your commitment.

The other thing I like? The Athletic values the writers’ interaction with the readers, and you already know how much I enjoy chopping it up with you on Twitter. Hopefully, you’ll see that same personality here, and you’ll find me in the comments section from time to time as well. It’s always meant a lot to me to share a bond with you, and I plan to strengthen it here.

Last week, you were there for me. And here at The Athletic, I vow to be here for you, now more than ever.

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(Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)