The latest edition of our Patriots mailbag answers questions about Jerod Mayo’s future and more.
The New England Patriots have three games left in their season and after a poor effort coming off the bye, this week’s mailbag is full with questions on the coaching staff, the future of the roster, and more.
So, let’s get right into this week’s #PostPulpit mailbag.
What are the chances that Kraft family eats crow and changes the coaching staff? – OohItsMe
I still have a hard time seeing the Krafts making Mayo a one-and-done head coach after identifying him as the successor in years past. They had belief in him that he could be a good coach and want to allow him to grow into the role. His performance next year with what should be a more talented roster will be telling.
With that said, I do expect some sort of changes to the coaching staff. They can’t look like this and run things back as is next season. We’ll see what those changes consist of.
Even if the Pats’ roster was overwhelmed with talent, it’s quite obvious that Jerod Mayo’s head coaching ability is not NFL caliber. His deficiencies whether it’s game decisions or non decisions, throwing shade at other members of the coaching staff and at players are not fixable in a 1 or 2 year time frame. If Kraft realizes this, what is stopping him from a total do-over as far as the coaching staff is concerned? – 70sPatsFan
Nothing is stopping Kraft from making a change. While the optics could look bad after he hand picked Mayo to replace Bill Belichick, you could argue he deserves credit if he cuts his losses and moves on quickly instead of letting a problem linger.
Let’s say AVP is let go as seems to be the prevailing thought of late. What qualified, capable OC wth ANY other options is going to want to work for a lame duck coach like Mayo on a team with such a weak offensive roster? Seems like the only real option is to blow up everything and bring in a new regime like Vrabel with McDaniels. – c. lassiter
It’s a good point and they’d find themselves in a tough situation — one the Bears saw first hand when they hired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron to work with Matt Eberflus. Neither coach made it out of this season. There will be someone who takes the job (there’s only 32 offensive coordinator jobs available in the world), but odds are it’s likely not the best candidate.
As for Vrabel and McDaniels, I get the appeal. Transitioning to a head coach with experience, like Vrabel. would be my main interest if the team ultimately does move on from Mayo. I have more doubts with McDaniels due to the offense and language being a major shift for Drake Maye.
One potential pairing that would interested me: Brian Flores as head coach with Josh McCown as offensive coordinator. McCown works with Flores in Minnesota under Kevin O’Connell as the Vikings quarterback coach. He also coached Maye back in High School.
Please help me understand what the Patriots’ defensive scheme and/or identity is supposed to be? We know it’s bad, but what are they trying to do? – phal3123
It’s a great question because it’s hard to find their identity. Right now it seems like they are just trying to run Bill Belichick’s defense without Bill Belichick. Hard to do.
This is a question that they need to answer internally this offseason and will be impacted by potential staff changes. Do they want to keep Belichick’s formula? Or do they perhaps want to lean more into the aggressive nature we heard them discuss this offseason, perhaps being more like Mike Macdonald’s Baltimore unit that has become popular in the league?
They need an answer as it could impact what types of players management needs to go out and get. Looking at the draft, someone like Abdul Carter, a projected top 10 pick edge rusher, is not the type of player to put in a Belichick defense. He’s not a complete player against the run and may rush past the quarterback at times. He would be, however, a great fit in a more aggressive defense where he could use his athleticism and versatility to impact several areas on the field and be unleashed as a rusher.
Why did so many fans think the defense would still be good-to-great without BB? – Matt1102
I think we all expected their to be some type of drop off. You don’t lose the greatest defensive mind in the game and not have some sort of decline — especially when they’re trying to run similar things as we just discussed.
But, the personnel and carry over from the staff should have been enough to keep the defense more competitive than it is. They lost some big names defensively, but it does not look like a well-coached unit right now which might be the biggest disappointment under Mayo as that’s his expertise.
How would you devise a plan for your offense if you don’t trust your defense or OL? My guess is conservatively with a goal to keep the ball away from the other team. If that is the case, why is everyone harping all over AVP’s game plan? – mattuurban
I get the reasoning and their lack of trust in the offensive line has been apparent in recent weeks with Drake Maye getting the ball out of his hand quickly even though his strength is throwing it down the field. But, as we went over in this week’s Maye’s Plays, living through their quarterback’s playmaking ability is the offenses best chance to compete as of now.
Last week, the game plan did not make much sense against a Cardinals team that does not blitz much. And my main harp then in-game was the lack of adjustments once they saw Arizona’s defense playing more man coverage than expected and sitting on underneath routes.
What in the blue hell are the Patriots going to with this o-line in the offseason? Who’s a realistic target? – BrianCo84
Offensive line is their biggest need this offseason. The issue in the draft is there might not be any offensive lineman worthy of a top five pick.
My preference would be to solve as many holes in free agency as possible, allowing them to go best player available in the draft and adding some veteran experience to the offensive line (and roster). LG Trey Smith is the top offensive player in free agency, while OT’s Ronnie Staley, Cam Robinson, and Alaric Jackson are also set to hit the open market. As we saw last week in Denver with LT Garrett Bolles, there’s time for those players to resign and avoid free agency. But, if they reach the market New England should be involved.
Which one player currently on the roster, other than Maye, would have the most impact on our future if he made a leap between now and game one next year? – Matt1102
Speaking of that offensive line, I’ll go Caedan Wallace here. The third-round pick suffered a pair of significant injuries back in Week 4 and is getting closer to returning to action. If he can prove worthy of locking things down at right tackle, that’s one less position up front they need to worry about.
Do we have an idea of how New England will approach our WR situation for these last 3 games? I would assume we see more of the young WRs, and as a result maybe a little less of Bourne, if anything at all. Is there any merit to that thought? – LandenPatz1
With the same group of five it’s tough to see a major change. My one push would be for rookie Javon Baker, who is back from concussion protocol, to replace Kayshon Boutte.
It’s fair to point out that Boutte is playing out of position at the X due to necessity, but he’s giving them virtually nothing. His deep connection with Maye has dried up, he’s dropped five passes this season, and then had issues finishing his routes at times (below) against Arizona.
After connecting on their first two deep passes, Drake Maye is now 0-for-8 targeting Kayshon Boutte deep over the last six games. pic.twitter.com/iaSjI3FBN7
— Brian Hines (@iambrianhines) December 16, 2024
The staff has been hesitant to put Baker on the field due to him making his own rookie mistakes, but if the guy already on the field is just as bad then why not? Plus, Baker is more of a natural fit along the outside and gives Maye a better deep threat.
Do you think Polk will have over or under 5 total receptions in the last three games? (Ladd’s got 63 for 873 yards and 5 TDs on the year…) – WillisMcGooberstine
Speaking of rookie wide receivers, it’s tough to go over five receptions here as Polk has two catches since Halloween. If you’re looking for the path to five: more playing time and more throws as New England likely will be spending plenty of time behind on the scoreboard over these last three weeks.
Is Joe Milton destined to be anything but dead weight to this organization? How long does he stay without being given an opportunity to do anything other than play Josh Allen on the practice team? Could they not design a play or two for him? ???
In the same draft class as Drake Maye, the best case scenario for Joe Milton was always that he could serve as a quality backup and show enough in the preseason (or any game action he gets) that a team would trade draft capital for him that was higher than what the Patriots used on him (sixth rounder).
With Jerod Mayo noting Brissett is remaining QB2 for now, next year is where they could get creative with Milton on game day if he is the primary backup — where they could install some sort of package for him. Serving as the emergency quarterback this year, he can’t enter the game unless an injury occurs to Maye and then Brissett.
Last week I asked your opinion about the future of Bentley given that he will be 29 next year and could save $5Mish in cap space if cut and you told me how great Bentley was two years ago. I don’t think he will hold up welll against father time after a bad injury but we can agree to disagree
The Pats have one other obvious cut on the roster next year, Bourne, cutting him saves even more cap space and he will be 30 next year. What about him? – Bits_of_Real_Panther
To be fair, I said Bentley was good last year and to start this year. Plus, I did agree that linebacker was a need — whether it be someone to play next to Bentley or takeover as injuries for the veteran are a concern.
As for Bourne, they can move off his three-year extension easily this year. A release would come with a $2.8 million dead cap hit and $5.1 million in savings. They don’t need to release him for the money, but changes will certainly take place in this room which could leave Bourne on the outside looking in. I would still see if there is a trade market for him before just cutting him.
Lots of well-deserved hype for Travis Hunter, but at the NFL level shouldn’t he be valued as EITHER a top CB prospect OR a top WR prospect? There’s zero chance he becomes a 2-way star in this league. He’ll get practice reps on one side of the ball or the other, and could maybe be a gadget receiver and CB, but he’s not going to be starter level at both, right? And if he was, the wear and tear would be too much anyway, right? – ed.liebfried
Ed, we talked about this in last week’s mailbag which you can find here. It’ll be a big talking point throughout draft season and we’ll see what Hunter’s plans are. But, I agree with you that being a full-time, two-way player is unlikely.
Whatever side of the ball he chooses to play full-time, I’d complement with third-down, red area, two-minute, and other snaps in select situations on the other side. He’s probably better at cornerback now but I think he’ll be a great player on either side he chooses. I’d leave the door open for him playing wide receiver primarily too.
That’s all for this week’s #PostPulpit mailbag. If you have questions you’d liked to be answered next week, submit them online in our weekly submission post or on Twitter using #PostPulpit. Make sure to be following @iambrianhines and @PatsPulpit as well.