Jerod Mayo’s firing shows urgency, but Krafts’ work has only just begun originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Well, that was decisive.
Less than an hour after the end of the Patriots’ final game of the season, the team fired first-year head coach Jerod Mayo.
The move caps a stunning slide over New England’s last four games, as owner Robert Kraft and team president Jonathan Kraft pirouetted from their “through thick and thin” support of Mayo.
In early December, when speculation about Mayo’s job security began, a high-ranking team source was asked if the team could indeed move on.
“What are we talking about, losing every game 90-0? Yeah, so I guess there would be a possibility,” was the response. The conclusion was that Mayo was safe unless the collapse was total and catastrophic.
And it was. Until Sunday’s win over the Buffalo Bills did more harm than good.
The post-Brady years have been crazy for the Patriots. The 51 games since the start of the 2022 season have been embarrassing.
The team’s descent into laughing stock happened with astonishing speed.
The property allowed Bill Belichick to do whatever he wanted until last January because he “earned the right” to write his own ending. Building on his two decades of achievements and the notion of “the last 25 years” has given him lifelong immunity from surveillance, Belichick knocked the franchise off a cliff.
The Krafts got their team back but spent 2024 realizing how far they had fallen.
They were linked to a first-year head coach; a fleet of assistant coaches and coordinators taking on the role for the first time; a front office more adept at shifting blame and keeping a low profile than calling on useful players; and the worst squad in the league.
After swimming from the Belichick wreck to the driftwood where Jerod Mayo and general manager Eliot Wolf were, the team better hope it has a lifeboat to crawl into.
Speculation will immediately (and rightfully) turn to former Patriots player and former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel as Mayo’s successor. Of all the possible candidates, Vrabel is the only one who has the significant head coaching experience the team needs, a proven talent for working well with a bloodthirsty media, and a connection to the early days of the team’s dynasty. Patriots.
If the Patriots don’t turn to Vrabel — and it’s extremely quiet there on all fronts — then the likely painful decision to leave Mayo is a bit absurd.
Last Monday, after the horrible loss to the Chargers, it was the inescapable truth I arrived at.
The Krafts are very clearly out of practice in how to run the football side of the football franchise.
Bill Belichick ran the franchise. Personnel Department. Draft. Scouting. Cap. Expenses. Coaches. Players. Public messaging. He made the decisions, and – even though the Krafts tsk-tsk’d and shook their heads when they went wrong – they let him make the decisions until they decided he’d given up that right.
But it’s become clear over the last 11 months that they literally haven’t replaced Belichick. They raised someone to coach the team. They appointed someone to manage the staff. But no one single-handedly leads the organization to deliver a consistent, concrete message and vision for what the team is trying to do. The goal of the “collaborative” effort is to improve and lay the foundation. Even if you squint really hard, it’s hard to see progress…
If this season was about gathering information post-Belichick, diagnosing problems and charting a path to mediocrity, then the time for observation and data collection is over.
The time to decide on a path and articulate it – not an ambiguous “Try to improve…” – has arrived.?
The Patriots’ historic run of success from 2001-2019 under Belichick left them naturally dependent (addicted?) to their familiar way of doing things.
The team was not only held up as a model for how to run an NFL franchise, but also how to run a successful business. The team transcended sport. But cracks began to appear in 2017 and the team became siloed, paranoid and stagnant.
Ownership was reluctant to intervene too heavily, hoping that adjustments and levers would be enough to bring the franchise back to prominence. It never worked. And when the Patriots moved on from Belichick last January, they were still loath to step in too heavily, hiring Mayo — in large part — because they knew him best.
They whistled past the graveyard thinking someone with so little experience could succeed with a gutted roster and inexperienced assistants/staff he didn’t know, like so many head coaches do when they start. .
Where it was necessary to show determination and urgency, the Patriots shuffled the deckchairs on the Titanic. For half a decade, they’ve associated “We’ll see how it goes…” with major decisions.
Leaving Mayo so quickly if there is a more compelling plan shows the lack of urgency. If there isn’t a compelling plan in place – and we’ll know quickly if there is – then this is a panic move that could do more harm than good.
Sunday’s victory against the Bills has already done damage. In winning 23-16, the Patriots cut off their noses to spite their faces. They threw the baby out with the bathwater.
The team with the consensus worst roster in the NFL missed its chance to: A) take the best player in college football or, B) stage a bidding war for top picks and collect assets.
The short-term victory high would have disappeared by morning. The hangover over the next few months is going to be deadly. How much simpler would life be — how better a position would the team be in — if they were selected first in the 2025 NFL Draft rather than fourth?
They can think about it at the NFL Combine and every Pro Day between now and spring. They left it up to chance who they will end up with.
Full disclosure: Last week I said the Patriots should play with all backup and bit players and then play the game normally. If they were in a position to win, they needed to play fair and let the chips fall where they may. It sounded better in theory than actually watching it unfold.
I will also add that the Patriots did not tinker enough. They did not organize the loss. Antonio Gibson has been the Patriots’ best running back this season (just like Ezekiel Elliott was last season). He played much more than backup Terrell Jennings. Javon Baker saw a pitch. He should have seen half a dozen.
The Patriots should have done more to ensure the outcome was BEST FOR THE TEAM AND THE FOOTBALL ORGANIZATION. Not the players. But the message should have come from above – or simply been understood – that ending the day with the No. 1 pick in hand after a noble performance was ideal.
THAT would have been a victory. I couldn’t do it.
Intelligent people will not agree with the raucous refusals to lose on purpose. Yeah, well. If you give it your all, Drake Maye plays every game. People are okay with playing football without giving full and total effort, but recoil in the face of losing? To me, that’s virtue signaling, boolah-boolah—bullshit.
Ironically, the Bills were more open to letting the Patriots take charge with their game management. It was as if they were saying, “They already made fun of Maye last year and he’s their best player.” …do we also want to let them turn into a better player in April? Let’s keep them where they are…”
One other note to mention: the value of the #1 overall pick isn’t as high as it was last year. This year’s quarterback class is weak. There is no consensus between “generational” actors. It might have been difficult for the Patriots to get a king’s ransom in a deal. Still, they certainly would have had a chance against the draft’s most intriguing and electric player, Travis Hunter. NOW? Probably not. They will have a good player. But they won’t be at the top of the draft.
All the close games that would have been useful and productive for the Patriots to win this year – Seattle, Miami, Tennessee, Rams, Colts, Bills 1.0 – they lost. Then, after losing all that, when was a victory the last thing they really wanted? They win.
Every other three-win team did what they were supposed to do. Browns, Giants, Titans. They all dutifully lost. Among them, only the Patriots did not understand the mission. And they deserve all the mockery they’ll receive across the country for the rest of the offseason.
The Patriots have heard the derision, especially from their own fans. They made a decisive decision. But this was only the first of a two-step, measured and disciplined process.
