Mayo’s to-do list is long, after all. Mayo must first fill up his coaching staff, which will help the patriots’ success in his early years. Remember: belichick had five future head coaches/coordinators on his early staffs, as well as patriots hall of fame assistant dante scarnecchia. a head coach’s vision is only worth its execution, as is every play drawn on a whiteboard. Mayo’s assistants will guide the players in his direction.
The better the coaches are, the better the players will be, and the better the team will perform. Two weeks into the jerod mayo period, the patriots’ coaching staff is here. What we know let us start with all the coordinator candidates, as per various sources. Offensive coordinator: ex-patriots assistant and rams tight ends coach nick caley, rams quarterbacks coach zac robinson, bengals quarterbacks coach dan pitcher (since promoted in cincinnati), and ex-seahawks offensive coordinator shane waldron (since hired in chicago). defensive coordinator: demarcus covington, panthers outside linebackers coach michael hodges, broncos defensive linebackers coach christian parker, and steelers assistant defensive Special teams coordinator: marquice williams of the falcons, thomas mcgaughey of the giants, and jeremy springer of the rams, were among those coaches who offered defensive assistants steve and brian belichick the opportunity to stay on staff before starting the interviews. their father, bill, is looking for a new head-coaching position.
According to a source, mayo’s first moves were to offer the belichicks, and those coaches have support elsewhere in the building if they choose to stay. Mayo sent mayo a note asking lukabu, an ex-defensive coordinator at boston college and former college linebacker, to speak with him around the same time. Mayo immediately followed the rooney rule, which requires at least one interview with an outside minority candidate for coordinator positions, by interviewing lukabu first. By interviewing williams last week, mayo also met the rooney rule for his special teams coordinator position.
The patriots’ offensive coordinator position is “not highly coveted” by the top candidates, according to the athletic. Caley has spent eight of his nine nfl seasons in new england, most notably under former offensive coordinator josh mcdaniels. Mcdaniels has been a fixture in new england in recent weeks, according to a source. If belichick finds another head-coaching gig, he’s considered a good candidate to join mayo’s staff or follow belichick elsewhere. Mayo has also stated that titles are important, which is in stark contrast to belichick’s approach to recruiting staff, and gives an indication that he is open to using new titles such as run game coordinator and pass game coordinator when recruiting assistants.
mayo intentionally started in the phases that he knows best and those with coordinator vacancies: defense and special teams. Mayo understands what he needs from his defense, a system he fought in for eight years and has spent the past five years as a coach. Curiously, none of his potential candidates have any prior experience as an nfl coordinator, let alone in the patriots’ organization. It’s a whole different story on the outside. Covington is the only defensive coordinator available for this position.
According to sports illustrated, the 34-year-old is already a “strong candidate” for the job. Covington applied for the cardinals’ defensive coordinator position last year, when he was named in the senior bowl after being highly coveted by belichick and the patriots’ staffers. Mayo seems to be placing a lot of emphasis on the coordinator experience on special teams. Springer, the least experienced of the candidates to interview (just two years in los angeles), served as a coordinator for three years at the university of arizona. Mcgaughey previously worked under patriots assistant brian daboll, who fired him earlier this week, as judge and giants coach.
Although mayo was initially drawn to seeking coaches with knowledge of mcvay’s methodology, his current candidate pool paints mcdaniels as the odds-on favorite. Mcdaniels has more nfl experience than caley and robinson combined, and he is the only one with a tradition of developing young quarterbacks.
Mayo may want to extend the patriots’ offensive scheme with mcvay influence and bring caley and/or robinson aboard to assist with this change, but mayo’s only optimistic remarks on his offense said that the patriots’ will continue to be a “game-plan team.”
