Just a few days ago, we heard that first-year Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo was likely to keep his job for the 2025 season. After all, he was owner Robert Kraft’s hand-picked successor to Bill Belichick, and he inherited a team that was clearly in the early stages of a rebuild, so it would be reasonable to give him some time to learn the ropes as a bench boss and to grow into the role as the club continues to try to improve the roster.
However, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports writes that Mayo has a “weakening case” to be retained, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk hears that “nerves are extremely frayed” among team staffers as they ponder Mayo’s Black Monday fate. Meanwhile, ESPN’s Adam Schefter also hears that there seems to have been a shift in organizational thinking over the last month (video link).
As such, Schefter believes that Mayo will be fired. He references fan anger and fan apathy in his report, and Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald notes that Gillette Stadium was only half-full for the team’s 40-7 drubbing at the hands of the Chargers last week, with multiple “fire Mayo” chants breaking out in the stands late in the game.
Fan reactions are presumably not factors that will motivate Kraft to move on from Mayo, but the nature of the Los Angeles loss, in which the team was outclassed in every facet, certainly could. That defeat was the latest in a string of six consecutive losses, and even late-December reports suggesting that Mayo would be safe included the caveat that a “collapse” over the final three games of the season could change things. While the club did put up a valiant effort in a 24-21 loss to the Bills – the AFC’s No. 2 seed – in Week 16, it is hard to describe a six- or seven-game losing streak to close out a season as anything other than a collapse.
Additionally, in contrast to prior reports that the Patriots’ locker room remained united despite the difficult season, some players have told Kyed that the team suffers from a poor culture and lack of leadership. Such discontent, in conjunction with some of Mayo’s public actions that Jones and/or Kyed have classified as “gaffes” – starting Jacoby Brissett in Week 1 despite admitting that Drake Maye had outplayed Brissett in the preseason, seemingly slighting OC Alex Van Pelt in a postgame presser, and telling a pregame radio show that RB Antonio Gibson would start over Rhamondre Stevenson in Week 17 before making a “coach’s decision” to start Stevenson less than an hour later – could certainly spell trouble for Mayo.
Underscoring all of this, of course, is the presence of franchise icon Mike Vrabel, who is one of the two most coveted coaching candidates in this year’s cycle and who is all but certain to get a head coaching job in the near future. If New England wants Vrabel – and if it does, the interest appears mutual – then now would be the time to make the move.
If Mayo is retained, he is expected to add more veteran coaches to his staff, per Jones. Meanwhile, Jones suggests that executive VP of player personnel Eliot Wolf will be retained, and that he could make further changes to the club’s staff. That presumably includes firing Van Pelt.
Wolf will have the No. 1 overall pick at his disposal in the 2025 draft if the Patriots fall to Buffalo in today’s season finale, which would give the team a 3-14 record.
Definitely should be. 7 games this year they lost by 2 or more scores.
Offense and defense showed no fight in them at times. Just complete lack luster results.
in fairness, this team is absent of any major talent. Maye appears to be the best thing they have on offense but WRs are mostly replaceable, OL is garbage, TE is avg and RBs are mid and RS can’t hold onto the ball.
on D, they need line help, outside help, LB help.
this was meant to be a development year where they knew they’d be bad. has it gone worse than they imagined? sure but getting #1 is a great consolation prize.
this is all about Vrabel and a. wanting him and b. not wanting him to end up in NY.
period!
I doubt the Jets would get him to begin with. That situation just screams Rex Ryan…
The number one pick isn’t worth as much as it is in other years unfortunately.
This is similar to when in 2014 Colts drafted Andrew Luck 1 and Redskins drafted RG3 2 the following year the 1st pick was Erick fisher by the chiefs and second overall was Luke Joeckel by the Jaguars. Only qb that year taken in the first was Ej Manuel at 16. Definitely feels like one of those years where QB doesnt go 1 overall or even top 5.
Sure patriots can grab someone like Travis Hunter but man definitely bad luck they get the first overall in a Erick Fisher year rather than Andrew Luck RG3 year
Completely agree, I would trade no.1 overall and get two number 1’s and a 2nd or 3rd, because as u point out they need help everywhere
You make good points about the Pats needing talent, but there is one major telling factor here that just can’t favor Mayo no matter how it’s assessed, and that’s the state of the defense. It would be one thing if Mayo was brand new to the organization and had no experience with it, the scheme, or the players, but he’s not. Even then, we could allow some natural drop off from the transition to another leader, but it’s gotten worse. What makes that even worse worse is that Mayo isn’t just familiar with the organization or players; he was a coach ON that staff, and even played in it as a captain in the past. The degree that it’s fallen off is truly concerning, especially considering what we saw it do with major availability issues in the recent past (particularly at corner).
I don’t necessarily think that Mayo should be fired (unless they really believe in Vrabel, which would be fair), but he’s definitely earned the lack of faith (or a pink slip) right now. For all of the supposed grooming and backseat guarantees from Kraft (not meant as a double entendre), he’s not shown any degree of readiness that we on the outside can see. I’d have some faith that Mayo was quietly building a disciplined foundation behind closed doors, but the severe regression on defense is really a huge red flag.
It makes it pretty hard (rather, impossible) to overlook the public missteps that Mayo’s made this year. It’d be better to take the Belichick approach of not saying anything at all than to give conflicting statements that go against actions. It doesn’t seem like a strategy of misdirection, especially when you slight your coordinator who’s making what he can out of nothing on offense.
That said, the reason that I’d see not firing him is because it’s only been a year. If Mayo had any plans, he hasn’t had much chance to implement them. Normally, that could ignored, but the fact of the matter is Kraft did this himself. He created this situation himself, and even planned it for years by having Mayo as his successor in waiting. If he was going to reshape the staff on his personal whims, he needs to share in the blame or at least try to see it through thoroughly. Nobody forced him to ignore exploring the field when replacing Belichick, and nobody forced him to decide that he knew more about football than anyone else in the room.
So circling back to the #1 pick.
Mayo is not head coach material. He’s confused. He’s not a leader. And he shows no fire or emotion. He always has that look on his face like someone just stole his puppy. Replacing Belichick with an inexperienced coach was a huge blunder. They want to keep Mayo around to help run the ‘D’, then fine. But this clown is far from a head coach.
Sounds like they should have held the Mayo, because he didn’t cut the mustard…
Any doctor will tell you that Mayo is bad for you.
I will relish that thought.
I think Mayo should be let go, he is in way over his head; but Wolf needs to follow him out the door. If only one goes, it should be Wolf.
Of course the Chargers blew them out, they’re a better team. The Pats are in year one of a long rebuild. The Chargers are a playoff team
49ers and Jags both kicked the Pats on their rear ends. They’re hardly playoff teams. Fire Mayo.
9’ers are still a better team, record be damned
I was standing behind him, but after winning today, he should be fired. He just set the franchise back a year.
Buffalo put the screws to the Patriots today by losing. It meant nothing to the Bills, but that drop of three spots likely cost New England multiple picks in a potential trade.
I was behind Robert KRAFT in the grocery store check out line.
He purchased Miracle Whip and Spin Blend, BUT NO MAYO !!
Brady ruined that team for the future. Now, everyone thinks they’re supposed to be great all the time, but they were great for one reason and that was Brady. Belichick was a horrible GM, and Brady covered for his mistakes. Belichick was an ok coach and Brady made him look fantastic and now the mentality is that the Patriots should always be great, but they never would have been without one person that covered for all the fallacies. Mayo may be good or not, but he should be given a bigger chance than one year to fix the mistakes Belichick made.