Patriots On Jerod Mayo: ‘I Just Don’t Think He Was Ready’

The Patriots elected to move on from Jerod Mayo as its head coach after just one season. The Athletic’s Chad Graff, citing team sources, reports New England’s Week 15 loss appeared to be a catalyst toward the organization’s decision to part ways with Mayo. 

According to Graff, Mayo elected to sit with players on the team’s return flight from Arizona instead of at the front of the plane with coaches and executives. Graff cited one team source who was surprised to see Mayo mingling with players instead of studying film with his assistants on the flight. 

“Look, there are a lot of ways to do the job,” a team source said. “It’s not that Jerod’s was definitely wrong. But I can’t say I’ve seen that before.”

Graff writes people within the organization feel the situation was an example of Mayo going “too far in the opposite direction” of the serious culture Bill Belichick established during his time as head coach. 

Team sources told Graff they felt Mayo tried too hard to act oppositely to Belichick and struggled to uphold discipline within the locker room as a result. 

Sources also reiterated how Mayo struggled to enforce discipline, noting how Mayo told reporters before Week 17 that he planned on benching RB Rhamondre Stevenson but had a “change of heart” ahead of the game. 

“I still don’t know what happened with that,” a team source said of the situation with Stevenson. “Honestly, Jerod is a good guy. I just don’t think he was ready for all the big decisions and discipline and focus the job takes.”

Graff writes Mayo’s integration into the head coaching role didn’t quite go as planned toward the end of Belichick’s reign in 2023. Graff reports that Belichick “withdrew” during New England’s 4-13 campaign and cut off communication with anyone “perceived to be less than entirely loyal to him.” 

According to Graff, Mayo did not give Patriots’ former outside linebacker coach and defensive play-caller Steve Belichick a chance to continue in his role and offered him a less significant position on his coaching staff. 

Mayo, 38, was drafted in the first round by the Patriots out of Tennessee in 2008. He played eight seasons with the team before retiring following the 2015 season. 

Mayo joined the Patriots coaching staff as an inside linebackers coach in 2019 and held the position for five years before being named the head coach to replace Bill Belichick in 2024. 

In his one season as Patriots’ head coach, Mayo posted a record of 4-13.