Jerod Mayo will be a first-time head coach, and the youngest in the NFL.
He’ll also be following bill belichick, the league’s most successful quarterback, who helped the new england patriots to become one of the league’s most respected franchises, and he’s embracing it all, promising first and foremost that the patriots’ new era would be led by someone who is more than just a franchise.
During mayo’s introductory news conference on wednesday, mayo said, “i’m not trying to be bill.” “i think bill is his own man,” bill says. I’m a little bit different up here, if you can tell by now. But the more i think about bill’s lessons, the more i realize that hard work pays off.
Hard work pays off, and that’s what we’re all about.”mayo is also adamant about what it means to be the patriots’ first black head coach in a league that had only three players at the start of the 2023 season: mike tomlin (pittsburgh), todd bowles (tampa bay), and demeco ryans (houston). Mayo said, “you’d better believe being the first black coach here in new england means a lot to me,” adding that “i do see color because i believe if you don’t see color, you won’t see racism.”
Although his appointment is a milestone he acknowledges, he also riped patriots owner robert kraft after he mistakenly pronounced mayo’s brother, shermont. “it’s all fine…. ” says the author. Mayo joked, causing laughter throughout the room. during a nearly 30-minute question and answer session, the 37-year-old displayed all of kraft’s attributes as a player and the past five on new england’s coaching staff, first for eight seasons as a player and the last five seasons as a coach.
During a nearly 30-minute question and answer session, the 37-year-old displayed all attributes kraft said he loved about mayo’s career: first for eight seasons as a player and the last five on new england’s coaching staff. Kraft regained his stamina when he met mayo in 2008, shortly after the patriots selected him 10th overall out of tennessee, and then took a job in corporate america as an executive at optum after retiring in 2015.
When mayo returned to football in 2019 to coach belichick’s linebackers, kraft saw an even more gifted individual who hadn’t lost his ability to relate to players. that same year, mayo accompanied kraft on a trip to israel and got to know him on a much more personal level. Kraft then made an internal prediction. “i knew when watching him in israel that he was the right one to be the next head coach of the new england patriots,” kraft said. “i had the same conviction when i hired bill belichick, a decision that many questioned at the time and told me i was making a big mistake,” said kraft. But mayo will have to face a new england landscape that will be very different from the one that belichick dominated for the better part of his 24-year tenure as coach and de facto general manager.
The patriots earned their third overall draft pick this season, the highest pick since kraft bought the team in 1994.
They could use it to bolster a team that was at the bottom of the league in many areas. It will be one of the biggest moves of the offseason for third-year quarterback mac jones, who had his least productive season. On wednesday, jones was one of many players who listened to mayo from the back of the room.
For the time being, kraft said that many voices will be included in both the draft and the personnel decisions. “in the short run, we’re looking for collaboration,” kraft said. “we’re going to let it evolve and develop, and we’ll nominate someone before making the crucial decisions.” We’ll probably start doing interviews and looking at people from the outside at the same time.”
