Daily news and links for a Mayo-free Monday.
Here we are one year later, back after the drastic firing of Bill Belichick and the failed one-year Jerod Mayo experiment. I was upset about the move in 2024, it seems with good reason. Patriots ownership got too cute and too smart. It appears they thought they had the perfect plan to oust prickly, disrespectful Bill Belichick and install his deferential good-guy replacement without having to go through the messy NFL interview process. They failed. Turns out t’s not as easy as they thought to replace the greatest coach of all time.
The Krafts were not so naive as to think young position coach Jerod Mayo could simply step into Belichick’s shoes with instant success. Mayo was surrounded by “the collaborative” including Eliot Wolf, Matt Groh and others to help. They also tapped Robyn Glaser, a lawyer and executive with the team’s ownership group, to be executive vice president of football business and senior adviser to the inexperienced new head coach. Remember, Mayo admitted it was the collaborative that decided when Drake Maye would start. Alex Van Pelt called the plays on offense. DeMarcus Covington for the defense. In fact, Jerod Mayo was ‘helped’ so much by this collaborative-blob that it became apparent he was not fully in charge at all. Someone was certainly making him walk back his comments almost on a weekly basis — starting with the “burn some cash” remark in February.
A Week one win was unexpected and fun. The rest, inconsistent and unmemorable. More importantly, there was no confidence in the future. The losses did not showcase a hard-working team that was just missing some talent or were merely a handful of players away from being contenders. The Patriots were falling into a sinkhole of irrelevancy. Unlike the Jets, who were also bad but managed to make headlines, NFL media found no compelling reason to even mention the Patriots. Bad was one thing. Being ignored was worse.
Here’s to Robert and Jonathan Kraft committing to a real coaching search this time. Forget the easier, softer hand-picked successor strategy. Get a good coach, GM and staff — if you can. Grow a thicker skin. Abrasiveness got your franchise to the highest NFL stratosphere. A nice guy brought you to the sinkhole. The fans are begging you to choose wisely.
TEAM TALK
- Post Game Notes: Patriots vs. Bills. Joe Milton III played in his first career NFL game; P Bryce Baringer has second straight season with 30 punts inside the 20; More.
- Gamebook: Full Bills at Patriots stats.
- Evan Lazar’s Game Observations: Eight takeaways from the Patriots win in Sunday’s season finale. Spotlight: Rookie QB Joe Milton impresses in audition for backup role in 2025.
- Post Game Quotes: Patriots and Bills.
- Post Game Pressers: Jerod Mayo – Joe Milton III.
- Highlights: Bills at Patriots. (5.31 min. video)
LOCAL LINKS
- Bernd Buchmasser shares 5 moments that defined the Pats’ 23-16 win. 1, The starting quarterbacks get pulled.
- Doug Kyed gives us his takeaways from the 23-16 win over the Bills: Maye gets one series; Tavai benched first quarter; Baker’s first career catch; Bills playing games; More.
- Alex Barth shares 5 takeaways from the Patriots’ season-ending win over the Bills: The QB plan; Limited look for rookie tackle Caedan Wallace; Young CBs get their chances; More.
- Doug Kyed talks up rookie QB Joe Milton III who surprised with an impressive performance Sunday.
- Doug Kyed tells us the Patriots’ 2025 opponents.
NATIONAL NEWS
- Around the NFL (NFL.com) Week 18: What we learned from Sunday’s games. 1. Patriots coughed up No. 1 draft pick in Mayo’s final game. 2. Bills took their foot off the gas. “…But with chances to win the game several times in the second half, the Bills appeared fine with the Patriots beating them and coughing up the top pick in the draft.”
- Myles Simmons (ProFootballTalk) Patriots beat Bills 23-16, won’t select at No. 1 in 2025 draft.
- Steven Ruiz (The Ringer) The winners and losers of NFL Week 18: The Lions defense dominated, the Patriots fired Jerod Mayo after a costly season-ending win, the Broncos romped to the final AFC playoff spot, the Bucs made sure Mike Evans cashed in, and more
- Around the NFL (NFL.com) Wild Card Weekend schedule.
- Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) 2024-25 NFL Playoff Bracket: Schedule, matchups, scores for AFC and NFC .
- Chad Reuter (NFL.com) 2025 NFL Draft order: Patriots No. 4. Biggest needs: OT, IOL, WR, Edge, CB.
- Jeff Kerr (CBS Sports) NFL playoff narratives for all 14 postseason teams: Sam Darnold not playoff tested? Lions too banged up?
- Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Woody Johnson: Our next coach will have to decide what QB situation is.
- Cody Benjamin (CBS Sports) Tyreek Hill hints he wants to leave Dolphins: Top logical landing spots for potential 2025 trade of star WR
- Jonathan Jones (CBS Sports) Inside the 2025 NFL hiring cycle: Top candidates, interview timeline, rule changes and more as teams hit reset.
- Michael DiRocco (ESPN) Jaguars fire coach Doug Pederson, keep GM Trent Baalke after 4-13 season.
- Frank Schwab (Yahoo! Sports) Giants say coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen will return for 2025 season.
JEROD MAYO FALLOUT
- Statement from Robert Kraft on Jerod Mayo.
- Mike Reiss, et al (ESPN) Why the Patriots fired coach Jerod Mayo after one season: Why wasn’t Mayo given more time? How much of a role did roster talent play in the Patriots’ season? Could other changes to team leadership be on the horizon? How will this change impact QB Drake Maye? How desirable is the Patriots’ head coach opening, and who are the front-runners? What should the Patriots do with the No. 4 pick to help their new coach?
- Tom E. Curran reacts to the stunning firing of Jerod Mayo after one season: Where does Robert Kraft go from here?
- Jason Owens (Yahoo! Sports) Why did Patriots fire Jerod Mayo as head coach after just 1 season?
- Nora Princiotti (The Ringer) By firing Jerod Mayo, the Patriots belatedly admit they need a change. The Krafts’ Belichick succession plan failed. Now, one year later, they get a do-over.
- Andrew Callahan says that by firing Jerod Mayo, the Patriots did right at the end of a season gone wrong.
- Meghan Ottolini thinks that Patriots ownership showed necessary urgency in moving on from Jerod Mayo. In Belichick’s massive shadow, they showed how rusty they are at actually running a football team.
- Tony Massarotti declares the Patriots are now officially a clown show.
- Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Patriots fire Jerod Mayo after only one season. ‘As it turned out, Mayo’s ascension was part of a predetermined succession plan, with Mayo being promised the position multiple years before Belichick left. … Now, Kraft will conduct his first full-blown coaching search since the hiring of Belichick.’
- Nick O’Malley tells us what to know about the Patriots canning coach Jerod Mayo.
- Matt Vautour explains how Robert Kraft’s legacy on the line as he picks the next Patriots coach.
- Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) With Mike Vrabel available, Patriots move quickly to create a vacancy.
- Keagan Stiefel suggests four Patriots head coaching candidates after Jerod Mayo firing.
- Alex Barth considers what the Patriots should prioritize when hiring their next head coach.
- Jack Baer and Ryan Young (Yahoo! Sports) Patriots head coaching search: 8 candidates to replace Jerod Mayo, starting with Mike Vrabel.
- Myles Simmons (ProFootballTalk) Reports: Eliot Wolf is expected to remain with Patriots as EVP of player personnel