FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots are making a head coaching change, parting ways with Jerod Mayo just one year after replacing Bill Belichick. The franchise, which once boasted consistency and success unrivaled in the NFL, is now on its way to its third coach in just three seasons.
New England fired Mayo less than 90 minutes after the season ended on Sunday. After a dismal 4-13 season (and a Week 18 win costing the team the No. 1 draft pick), Mayo seemed to be constantly preoccupied with everything from planning games to speaking to the media. In every aspect. Mayo was given one of the worst rosters in the NFL, overseen by Vice President of Player Personnel Elliott Wolfe, but team officials say early indications are that Wolfe may remain with the Patriots.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft said the decision to fire Mayo was “one of the hardest decisions I've ever made.”
“Unfortunately, the team's performance throughout the season did not meet our expectations,” he said in a statement.
Statement from Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft: https://t.co/2YgHtzzBHK pic.twitter.com/GMXGgd768x
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 5, 2025
It was a shocking fall from 12 months ago, when Mayo, then 37, was revealed to be Kraft's hand-picked successor to replace Belichick after 24 years at the helm. Because Mr. Kraft had secretly put his succession plan in writing, the Patriots did not have to interview a single candidate before handing over the reins to Mr. Mayo.
Not this time. The Patriots are expected to begin a search for a new head coach immediately, and league officials say early signs point to one head coach. Kraft and others are expected to pursue a replacement for 49-year-old former Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel, who coached Belichick from 2001 to 2008 during the team's first dynasty, but the team remains in the league. An additional interview must be conducted for the position according to the Rooney Rule. .
Vrabel served as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans for six years, leading the team to two district titles and an appearance in the AFC Championship Game, compiling a 54-45 record. But faith in Vrabel began to waver last year as team executives watched him soak up all things New England while inducting him into the Patriots Hall of Fame and spending a bye weekend in Foxboro. “We have a game to win,” Vrabel, the Titans' head coach, even said of the Patriots in his on-field speech at halftime. Less than three months later, Vrabel was fired and was unable to find a new head coaching job.
“It takes ownership and clear communication to understand what is expected of us as coaches,” Vrabel said. The Athletic's Zach Rosenblatt talks about what he's looking for in his next job. “And I want to be able to say there's a quarterback that I think we can win with, or there's a path to finding a quarterback that we can win with.”
In Vrabel, the Patriots likely check both of those boxes. Officials believe Vrabel has expressed interest in the Patriots' potential vacancy in recent weeks. He was also interested in the Patriots gig after breaking up with Belichick a year ago, before learning Mayo had already been assigned the job.
At that point, the Patriots thought Mayo would be their coach for the next 10 years. Kraft and his fellow decision-makers thought Mayo was the right person to follow Belichick because he was a bridge to the franchise's past successes while offering a new path forward.
In a press conference announcing Mayo's hire last January, Craft said he knew Mayo would be the Patriots' next coach in 2019.
“I believe Jerrod is the right person to lead the Patriots to championship-level contention and long-term success,” Kraft said at the time.
Instead, Mayo oversaw one of the Patriots' worst seasons since Kraft bought the team in 1994.
Mayo's tenure began with a surprise upset victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. After four straight losses, Mayo installed 2024 NFL Draft No. 3 pick Drake Maye as the starting QB and benched veteran Jacoby Brissett. In the midseason week, the Patriots pulled off a last-minute win against the arch-rival New York Jets and also picked up a win over the Chicago Bears. Things were looking up.
Kraft and the Patriots knew this season wouldn't bring them many wins. It was the first year of the post-Belichick rebuild. The list was bad. However, they hoped Mayo would establish a culture that would lead to excitement and improvement by the end of the season.
Instead, the Patriots became a punching bag. After a bye in Week 14, they suffered a blowout loss to the Arizona Cardinals, blew a 14-point lead against the Buffalo Bills, and lost at home to the Los Angeles Chargers 40-7. A loss to the Bills on Sunday would have sealed the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, but rookie backup quarterback Joe Milton led the Pats to a surprising 23-16 victory.
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Jerod Mayo's firing was as much about his command off the field as it was about the Patriots' play.
To be fair to Mayo, many of the Patriots' problems predate him. The franchise is 10-31 in its last 41 games. The Pats have not scored 30 or more points in 45 consecutive games. Over the past four seasons, they are 11-22 at home. (Tom Brady lost fewer games at Gillette Stadium during his entire Patriots career, going 115-19 at home.) They finished below .300 the last few years, but they haven't gotten there since. It's a result I didn't have. They were the Boston Patriots of the AFL in 1969 and 1970.
But by the end of the season, there was no sense that Mayo had put the team on track to solve problems. No player other than quarterback has improved under his guidance. While this is a notable exception, Maye's success as a rookie also heightens the importance of making sure the second year is in the hands of the right person.
“We have great fans who expect and deserve a better product than we've delivered in recent years,” Kraft said Sunday. “We apologize for that. We have given much thought and consideration to what actions we can take to expedite our return to championship contention and have determined that this action is the best option at this time.” I did.”
Mayo becomes the sixth one-and-done NFL coach in the last four seasons and the first one-and-done Patriots since Rod Rust led the team to a 1-15 record in 1990. Become a coach.
It all turned out to be too soon for Mayo. Kraft's original plan was for Belichick to remain the Patriots' head coach in 2024, break Don Shula's all-time wins record, and mentor Mayo. However, the relationship between Belichick and Mayo soured after the succession plan was documented, and Belichick, who had originally taken a detached approach, retreated even further. The idea of having Mayo as Belichick's mentor quickly fell through.
At that point, Kraft decided to part ways with Belichick and hand over the reins to Mayo — a year earlier than expected and without the coaching he had originally planned. Granted, Mayo will struggle early on. However, he was expected to learn on the job and grow throughout the year.
That didn't happen. In many ways, Mayo tried to be something Belichick wasn't. As a former player, he tried to be a player-friendly coach, but after the Week 7 loss he accused the entire team of being “naive.” He tried to appear more amiable than his leaders when speaking to the media, but was later forced to retract his statements several times. He said the team intended to “burn some money” in free agency, but reversed course a few days later and said the Patriots did not sign any potential free agents.
Asked after the Week 15 loss whether offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt should have called a quarterback sneak on a key short-yardage play, he responded, “You said, I didn't.” “Yes,” he replied. The next day, he retracted those comments as a “defensive reaction.” Before the Week 17 loss, he told radio and television broadcast crews that Rhamondre Stephenson would not start the game to send a message about his recent fumble. Then Stevenson started the game.
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More importantly, the product on the ground suffered an embarrassing setback. As a former linebacker who learned under Belichick, defense was supposed to be Mayo's specialty. However, the Patriots' defense, which ranked seventh in yards allowed per game (301.6) in 2023, dropped to 23rd in 2024 (348.7 yards per game). The team's rushing defense, which ranked fourth in 2023, dropped to 25th in 2024. The pass rush struggled. They will be under pressure as a unit that ranks last in the league with 28 sacks. The defense also conceded 30 or more points six times this season.
Offensively, the Patriots never scored more than 25 points in a game all season. Maye's promotion was a positive, but the team lacked a playmaker in the passing game, and the offense allowed the fifth-most sacks in the league. This season, only the Bears and Carolina Panthers averaged fewer yards per game, and only the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants averaged fewer points per game.
Part of the problem was Mayo's inexperience and lack of familiarity with other teams in the NFL. He was drafted 10th overall by the Patriots in 2008. The University of Tennessee product spent eight seasons with the Patriots, making two Pro Bowls, earning Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2008 and being named first-team All-Pro in 2010. He played his entire career for Belichick. He spent five years as a position coach with the Patriots, but Belichick was the only coach he worked under once. So when it came time to fill out his staff, Mayo didn't have the rolodex of league-wide contacts that most head coaches have.
He interviewed with more than a dozen offensive coordinator candidates after several declined his offer. After all, Mayo began his tenure surrounded by his first front office leader (Wolf), his first offensive play caller (Van Pelt), his first defensive coordinator (DeMarcus Covington) and his first special teams. Coordinator (Jeremy Springer), first linebackers coach (Donta Hightower), first offensive line coach (Scott Peters) and first wide receivers coach (Tyler Hughes).
His lack of experience was exposed.
Former Patriots officials expressed skepticism about Mayo's readiness to become head coach. Some coaches thought he needed more experience in game planning, play calling and handling big situational decisions. How was this season? “About how we thought,” one said.
The next coach, whether Vrabel or someone else, inherits up-and-coming talent in quarterback Maye, running back Stephenson, cornerback Christian Gonzalez, and a solid defensive line led by Keion White and Christian Barmore. I will do it. New England will have the No. 4 pick in the 2025 draft. The team will also have plenty of cap space to address multiple needs on the roster, particularly wide receivers, offensive line, defensive backs and pass rushers.
— The AthleticJeff Howe of Contributed to this report.
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(Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
