FOXBORO, Mass. — As far back as July, when Jerod Mayo arrived at the practice fields out behind Gillette Stadium for his first training camp as coach of the New England Patriots, many prognosticators saw a team that was at the starting point of a big-time rebuild. That the Patriots finished the season with a dismal 4-13 record shouldn’t be looked at as a big surprise.
Why, then, is Mayo out as coach after just one season? We can cherry-pick this or that coaching decision or non-decision, but it wasn’t just what happened on the field that suggested a not-ready-for-prime-time unsteadiness about Mayo. It was also what happened on the record. Almost from the beginning, Mayo’s various media appearances, from news conferences to his weekly morning-drive interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” ranged from contradictory and uncomfortable to one unfortunate instance that had a whiff of old-fashioned buck-passing.
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No one utterance from Mayo led to Patriots fans clamoring for a coaching change. He is, after all, a former Patriots linebacker who in his eight seasons in Foxboro was teammates with the likes of Tom Brady, Wes Welker, Randy Moss. Vince Wilfork, Tedy Bruschi, Rob Ninkovich and Devin McCourty. He also played with Mike Vrabel, the man who could soon be wooed to be Mayo’s replacement.
It’s safe to say Pats fans were rooting for Mayo. But as the verbal missteps continued, it became ever more obvious Mayo lacked the proper amount of training to be a head coach in the NFL.
Statement from Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft: https://t.co/2YgHtzzBHK pic.twitter.com/GMXGgd768x
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 5, 2025
Mayo struck the right notes when he was introduced as the replacement for the legendary Bill Belichick, as when he said, “For me, I’m not trying to be Bill,” and, “The more I think about the lessons that I’ve taken from Bill, hard work works.” He did raise some eyebrows when on several occasions he referred to Patriots owner Robert Kraft as “Young Thundercat” and “Thunder.” Mayo later explained he came up with the nicknames because he felt Kraft, who turned 83 in June, has a “young soul.”
No harm, no foul on that one. But later on, as the losses piled up and Mayo’s public statements became more heavily scrutinized, “Young Thundercat” and “Thunder” were re-examined from critics who believed Mayo had landed the coaching gig because he’d become especially chummy with Kraft over the years. Kraft himself has said he was inspired to view Mayo as a future NFL head coach during the time they spent together on a trip to Israel in 2019.
But it was after the introductory news conference, and after Mayo moved into the redecorated coach’s office at Gillette Stadium, that the media missteps began to pile up.
A sampling:
‘Ready to burn some cash’
Appearing on WEEI on Jan 22, a little more than a week after being named coach, Mayo indicated the Patriots wouldn’t be limiting their roster building to the NFL Draft. “We’re bringing in talent, one thousand percent,” he said. “Have a lot of cap space and cash. Ready to burn some cash.”
The Patriots had somewhere north of $60 million in cap space, but the new coach was soon walking back that comment. “You know, I kind of misspoke when I said ‘burn some cash,’ but I was excited when you see those numbers,” Mayo told Karen Guregian of MassLive. “But when you reflect on those numbers … you don’t have to spend all of it in one year.”
One week into free agency, with most of the top names off the board, “the Patriots roster doesn’t look or feel a whole lot different from the one that went 4-13 last season,” The Athletic’s Chad Graff wrote. They did bring in journeyman quarterback Jacoby Brissett on a one-year deal for about $8 million.
The mixed messaging at quarterback
Almost from the moment the Patriots selected quarterback Drake Maye with the third pick in the draft, Mayo said there would be a “competition” for the job between the rookie (Maye) and the veteran (Brissett). Nothing unusual there, as this is a default quote from coaches after a shiny new draft pick has had his introductory hug with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and been introduced to the media.
But things got complicated when Mayo made repeated references to Maye outperforming Brissett in the preseason, such as when the new coach went on WEEI and said, “This was, or is, a true competition. It wasn’t fluff or anything like that. It’s a true competition. And I would say at this current point, you know, Drake has outplayed Jacoby.”
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Which brings us to an Aug. 28 Mayo media availability that lasted just a few seconds north of a minute.
“We have decided — or I have decided — that Jacoby Brissett will be our starting quarterback this season,” Mayo said.
The competition was fluff after all.
Jerod Mayo is the latest coach to be given just one season in charge before being fired.https://t.co/LIr8PTbGY7 pic.twitter.com/VdDhmC0sa4
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) January 5, 2025
‘We’re a soft football team across the board’
So said Mayo to the media following the Patriots’ 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 20 in London. It was New England’s sixth straight loss following their season-opening 16-10 victory over Cincinnati.
Not only did Mayo say, “We’re a soft football team across the board,” he took the time to define what makes a team “tough.”
“What makes a tough football team?” Mayo asked. “Being able to run the ball and being able to stop the run and being able to cover kicks, and we did none of that today.”
This was followed by what was now being called Walkback Monday.
“We’re playing soft,” Mayo said during his weekly WEEI hit. “Look, let me just go ahead and correct that. We’re playing soft. Because if you go back to training camp, there was definitely some toughness all around the place. We still have the same players. We’ve just got to play that way.”
It worked for Belichick
There was much buzz over Mayo’s clock management late in the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ 25-24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Dec. 1 at Gillette Stadium. With the Colts moving the ball toward the end zone, Mayo did not burn any timeouts in order to keep alive his team’s last-ditch drive if needed.
The Colts, trailing 24-17, rallied for a 3-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Richardson to Alec Pierce, followed by Richardson’s run on the conversion try, giving Indy a 25-24 lead. Only 12 seconds remained in the game, which ended with Joey Slye’s failed 68-yard field goal attempt.
“Absolutely, there was a thought,” Mayo said afterward when asked if he considered using timeouts. “We have also won a Super Bowl here doing it the other way. Keeping our timeouts is what I thought was best for our team.”
Mayo was referring to the Patriots’ 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX, when Belichick allowed the clock to run down on Seattle’s last drive. It worked out for the Patriots, thanks to Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s head-scratching pass attempt to Ricardo Lockette on second-and-goal from the New England 1 that Malcolm Butler miraculously intercepted to secure New England’s victory.
The next morning on WEEI …
“I shouldn’t have said that,” Mayo said. “When I said it, I was frustrated, first of all, which I should have taken a deep breath. I should not have said that.”
Did anyone get the license number of that bus?
The Patriots’ 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Dec. 15 was lowlighted by the team’s inability to gain a crucial first down on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 from the Arizona 4-yard line. The Pats gave it a go on runs by Antonio Gibson and Rhamondre Stevenson, both of which went nowhere, leading to this obvious postgame question for Mayo: Why not have Maye, a big, mobile quarterback, go for a sneak?
“You said it, I didn’t,” Mayo replied, which was viewed far and wide as a criticism of offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. Mayo then followed up with, “It’s always my decision, I would say, look, the quarterback obviously has a good pair of legs and does a good job running the ball. We just chose not to do it there.”
The next morning, on Walkback Monday, Mayo tidied up the comment during a conference call with the media.
“I know there’s a lot of chatter about the question last night, ‘You said that,’” Mayo said. “I didn’t mean anything by that. It was more of a defensive response and, ultimately, I tried to clarify that with the follow-up question. Because ultimately all of those decisions are mine. So just wanted to get that out there.”
Mayo then pivoted to his weekly WEEI hit, during which he said he “shouldn’t have done that. Just like I tell the players, I’m still learning how these things work.”
The benching that wasn’t
On Dec. 28, less than an hour before the Patriots would host the Los Angeles Chargers, Mayo went on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s pregame show and responded to Stevenson’s recent fumble issues by telling Scott Zolak, “Gibby is going to start for us today,” referring to Gibson.
The game began, and on New England’s first possession, it was Stevenson toting the ball for a gain of 5 yards.
Why the sudden change of heart?
“Coach’s decision,” Mayo said after the Patriots’ 40-7 loss to the Chargers.
LIVE: Patriots Postgame Press Conferences: https://t.co/kY9REgnEZn
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 5, 2025
The Patriots closed out their season on Sunday with a 23-16 victory against the playoff-bound Buffalo Bills in what may be the most sparsely attended game in the 23-year history of Gillette Stadium.
Mayo was asked 15 questions during his postgame media availability.
The last question: How would you best summarize this year, and did you learn maybe that the team is a little bit further away than you were anticipating?
“I’m not going to get into that,” Mayo said. “Like I said, tomorrow we’ll have a lot of time to talk about those things, but tonight, it’s all about these guys going out there and winning a football game.”
That’s one Mayo won’t need to walk back.
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(Photo: Billie Weiss / Getty Images)
