Daily news and links for Wednesday.
TEAM TALK
- Evan Lazar’s After Further Review: Breaking down QB Joe Milton’s performance in the Patriots season finale.
- Mike Dussault gives us his 2025 Patriots offseason primer: Everything you need to know about the upcoming offseason for New England.
- Evan Lazar picks his top candidates for the Patriots next head coach.
- Patriots complete two head coaching interviews.
- Highlights: Drake Maye’s top plays in the 2024 season. (21 min. video)
- Patriots Unfiltered: Head coaching search, offseason outlook, draft talk. (2 hours)
LOCAL LINKS
- Matt Vautour asserts the coaching change is not enough, fixing the front office is critical. Patriots can’t afford another year of roster blunders.
- Jerry Thornton gives us his ‘one man’s too-soon, hastily thrown together plan’ for the 2025 Patriots.
- Jerry Thornton conducts the 2024 Patriots autopsy.
- Mark Morse tries to figure out what’s next for the Mayo-free Patriots.
- Tom E. Curran shares his thoughts on Robert Kraft taking accountability after firing Jerod Mayo and laments that attitude being in short supply in Foxboro in recent years.
- Bernd Buchmasser raises some concerning questions about the early stages of the Patriots coaching search: The Patriots have been tied to only four candidates so far.
- Jon Lyons ranks the top 3 candidates to be Patriots’ next coach.
- Justin Leger relays Albert Breer ripping the Patriots for their handling of the Rooney Rule in what he believes has been a “sham” of a search for their new head coach. /Breer can go screw. He knows nothing definite but has a career throwing out insinuations. His assumptions do to minority candidates what he accuses the Patriots are doing — assuming the only reason they would ever be interviewed is the color of their skin.
- Joe Murray predicts it’s going to be a showdown for Mike Vrabel.
- Darren Hartwell highlights Gronk and Drew Brees pushing back on concern about the Patriots hiring Mike Vrabel, “A defensive-minded head coach is no problem.”
- Ian Logue notes that the Pats’ coaching staff remains in limbo with head coaching interviews underway.
- Mark Daniels mentions Brian Flores is interested in the Patriots coaching job, but hasn’t been invited to interview.
- Karen Guregian passes along a report that Demarcus Covington will interview for the Bengals DC job.
- Lauren Campbell highlights BC coach Billy O’Brien on the Adam Schefter podcast on whether the ex-Patriots assistant would consider a return to the NFL.
NATIONAL NEWS
- Henry McKenna (Fox Sports) Inside Drake Maye’s rookie year: ‘We’re going to have that Tom Brady story again’
- Albert Breer (SI) NFL Playoffs Preview 2025: Why each team could win the Super Bowl.
- John Breech (CBS Sports) 2025 NFL playoff bracket picks, score predictions: Rams shock Vikings in wild-card round, Ravens edge Steelers.
- Will Brinson (CBS Sports) 2025 NFL playoff bracket projection: Bills take down Rams for first Super Bowl win; predictions for every game.
- MMQB Staff (Si) NFL Awards 2024: Picks for MVP, Rookies of the Year, Coach of the Year and More.
- Gilberto Manzano and Matt Verderame (SI) 2024 NFL All-Pro: MMQB’s first- and second-team picks.
- Myles Simmons (ProFootballTalk) Report: Patriots interviewing Byron Leftwich for head coach.
- Myles Simmons (ProFootballTalk) Patriots interviewed Pep Hamilton for head coach on Tuesday.
- Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Bears to interview Mike Vrabel Wednesday, Saints want interview as well. Mike Vrabel’s dance card is filling up.
- Kevin Patra (NFL.com) Raiders fire head coach Antonio Pierce after 4-13 season.
- Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Rex Ryan: If I’m Jets coach, Aaron Rodgers won’t get “country club” treatment. “Clearly, when you have a guy that doesn’t show up for mandatory minicamp — and, by the way, he’s your quarterback, coming off an injury — I think that’s an absolutely ridiculous message you send to the team,” /Rexy knows all about sending ridiculous messages to his team.
- Charean Williams (ProFootballTalk) Reports: Ezekiel Elliott agrees to terms with Chargers.
- Kevin Seifert (ESPN) Vikings’ Brian Flores says he will take every interview request.
- Conor Orr (SI) The Raiders’ next move should tell us how involved Tom Brady really is.
MAYO FALLOUT
- Jerry Thornton discusses the paywalled report that details the insane dysfunction of Jerod Mayo’s year as HC.
- Tom Carroll highlights Chad Graff’s story in The Athletic: Jerod Mayo reportedly tried to demote Steve Belichick, played cards with players instead of watching film.
- Conor Ryan quotes a column from Mike Giardi (Boston Sports Journal) Patriots veteran: Team ‘lost faith’ in Jerod Mayo, coaches before season started. “Felt like he — they — were making it up as they went along.”
- Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Bill Belichick says he had “shared vision” with Patriots, until “the last four years”.
- Tony Massarotti writes how the Jerod Mayo hiring and firing raises legitimate questions about Patriots ownership.
- Video clip (ESPN) NFL coaches to last only 1 season in the past 10 years. (1 min. video)