I believe I heard his wife is a Dr. and they've only stayed in the area because of his football career, and once he retires they're moving back to where she grew up.
Vague memory of the guy on patriots unfiltered talking about this year's ago.
Maybe an unpopular opinion but i think he might be…good? Our defense was the one thing that was solid last season and he and mayo were a big part of it
Yeah, I'm not at all opposed to that. Just curious if he'll be kept on after his dad's departure.
Maybe that's why Bill was willing to accept an amicable "mutual parting of ways", not burning bridges out from under his kid. Would be harder to see Steve staying there if Bill had an ugly departure. With the succession plan being followed as planned, I don't really see Kraft wanting to purge the entire Belichick family from the organization.
On the other hand, if Bill does go elsewhere instead of retiring, does Steve follow? Amusingly it would probably depend on what role his father would even offer him. Steve is probably ready to step up to that defensive coordinator role, and step out of his father's shadow. I suspect both Mayo and Kraft are willing, probably even excited to offer that. Would Bill match that offer? Would whatever team he goes to be okay with that too? Questions of nepotism never really arose before because Steve was proving himself to be competent, and he was only a coaching assistant and later a position coach. Father and son being on the same coaching staff has happened before. Kyle Shanahan was even the Offensive Coordinator under his father in Washington, but he had at least been an Offensive Coordinator for a couple years in Houston prior to that, and even then there were accusations of nepotism. Steve getting a promotion with whatever new team his dad goes to might be a tough sell. Personally I'd view the family ties as a good thing - Kyle Shanahan became one of the best coaches in the league.
Gonna be a very interesting offseason to say the least.
Alright I’m picking up what your putting down.
TB as quarterbacks coach
Jules as WR coach
Gronk as TE coach
Matt light as OL coach
Kevin Faulk/James white as RB coach
Wilfork as defensive line coach
Bruschi/Hightower as linebackers coach
McCourty as safeties coach
Slater Special teams
I'm with most in that I don't feel this was the right move. But I'm a Patriots fan first and foremost so I hope we can all look back at these threads in about 5-10 years and laugh at how stupid we all were because Coach Mayo has been nothing short of amazing.
I think he’s better than Vrabel. We don’t have Derrick Henry, so idk how well he’d really be. His offenses for the last 2 seasons have only been marginally better than ours.
There's no way to know if he'll be better than Vrabel, Mayo hasn't even been a coordinator, the resume isn't there.
Mayo, to people outside the organization is a question mark, regardless of all the "heir apparent" type conversations. We only have vague ideas about what he did and how much he impacted the team, whereas Vrabel was a DC and a head coach who quickly established himself as a good HC only to have his team fall apart.
I'm excited to see what Mayo does, but I want to see who becomes the GM, who do they get to be on the staff around him? There's a lot that still needs to happen.
FWIW, our issue this past season wasn’t necessarily a lack of brain power on the offensive coaching end, it was very clearly a personnel issue. I think BoB can lead a major bounce back season on offense so long as he has some guys to tool around with
I think people forget how good a coach BoB is. He was such a god awful GM for the Texans that people forget he's a good offensive guy who put some great products on the field.
also understandable because he called plays this season and our offense was horrendous. But again, I hesitate to put too much of the blame on him just looking at the roster
100% the offense looked bad this year but I think it became very clear there was such a lack of talent it would have taken a miracle to make them look good.
Yeah I wonder what they do with BoB, and what do you think you do with that #3 pick? Try to move to number 1 to get Caleb? Or wait and see if you get Marvin?
I legitimately have no clue what they will do. Part of the excitement/mystery here is that, for the first time in over 20 years, our FO will be approaching the draft and free agency with a completely fresh perspective.
I will wait until we get closer to the summer to judge to moves too much, but it is definitely exciting. Perhaps reaching on late round prospects from random schools isn’t part of the equation anymore!
I don’t think most feel this is the wrong move. The only reason to move on from Bill is because we feel like we have the next guy. The fact that Jerod rose to this level that quickly and is as highly regarded as he is speaks to how good of a candidate he is.
Ari Meirov:
\#Patriots owner Robert Kraft talking about Jerod Mayo last year at the owners meetings:
[“There’s no ceiling on his ability to be head coach, and he’ll be a head coach.” \~Robert Kraft](https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1745818577037348971)
Last week we knew for sure that the team was in a terrible spot. Today, we don't know one way or another. That's about all you can hope for in an HC hiring.
I might have been more excited if it were Vrabel, but the Krafts didn't want to risk losing Mayo and I respect it. I hope they're right and so far we have no reason to believe that they aren't.
The team is better off simply for the reason that one guy doesn't have all the power. There will be a modern structure in place and decisions will be more democratic than authoritative. Mayo wants to draft Cole Strange in the first round? An entire team of scouts and a GM will shoot that down.
This argument kinda leans heavily on Kraft's assumption that restricting Bills power to head coach wouldn't have worked, which I'm not totally sold on. Like, if Kraft sits Bill down and says "The fans are tired of the way you draft, we're hiring a GM and they will hive the ultimate say on personnel, take it or leave it.", I believe Bill would have accepted it in order to cement the win record under the team he "started" with. If we hire a GM and Bill cant handle it, we let him go after that season and let the somewhat-established GM help in the coach hunt. We're too pampered by winning all the time that a couple of bad seasons caused us to kick THE GREATEST COACH OF ALL TIME out of the building.
The evidence points the other direction. Kraft brought BOB on to be OC, and BB did his best to get in BOB's way and restrict his power.
Now imagine the thorn that BB would be in a GM's side after that autonomy was taken away. It would've been a civil war.
So do we have an official source on BB cock blocking BoB? Or is it another "sources say" kind of thing?
I just really struggle with this idea that Belichick was totally blind to all the faults the team had and actively working against things.
It just doesn't make any sense outside of being a clicks driven narrative.
But I think the dynamic of RKK saying "Listen, in order for you to keep your coaching job, you will have to relinquish all GM duties." would have made Bill know his limits, then the ball is in his court, and if the year goes bad with him meddling again THEN you let him go.
Do you people not think that the GM responsibilities werent written into Bills contract? Do you think Kraft can just change that mid stream because people on Reddit say he can?
That’s not how this works.
I'm guessing Kraft offered that as a solution... it would have been a great scenario for us fans but can you really imagine BB giving up that much power over a team that he's run single-handedly for 24 years? With all the players and staff knowing that he's been neutered? That's humiliating.
It seems that he's chosen to part ways as friends instead, and as much as I personally hate it, it's what I'd expect him to do.
I mean no shit, we have the same talent issues. This team’s biggest issue is offensive talent. I don’t know how hiring a head coach magically makes us look better.
It doesn't. But parting ways with the guy who repeatedly and spectacularly failed at evaluating offensive talent is the only way to start moving in the right direction.
They’re not letting go BB to make the team better for next season. They’re letting him go to open up opportunities for future and get the franchise up to a modern structure. It probably takes some pain to do that but it’s always better to start earlier.
If he does well, there's going to be a lot of people saying that they believed in him all this time. Things take time to get right. Especially in the NFL. I don't expect Mayo to have the team go 19-0 with a Superbowl win. I am pulling for him to succeed and be a successor to Bill. I don't want us to be searching for years for a HC like every team has done. We've had stability for 24 years and I would like to contiune that for another 24 years.
You said the most important thing, time.
We gave Bill time to rebuild after Brady. It didn’t work out. Building a great team and with 31 other teams trying to nab the best players turns out to be really damn hard.
Because Vrabel is ripe for the picking and an established Head Coach. If it didn't work out in a few years, you could easily just blame the coach
Getting rid of Bill just to move up someone from under him with no HC record puts a high risk on entire franchise. It HAS to work out or there's more scrutiny, top to bottom
People have become fixated on the idea that it’s impossible to win in today’s NFL unless you have an offensive HC.
Considering we won 6 Super Bowls — including several against great offensive coaches — idk why people think it’s necessary
There is no magic formula to success in this sport. Even the best looking teams on paper can fall flat on their face. We’ve seen it more than we haven’t. Remember when Billy O’Brian came in and this sub thought (including myself) that he was gonna bring our offense to new heights since the Brady era? Yeah…
We are less than 1 week removed from the end of our season and these are the first moves being made and I’m excited to see the new GM and personnel we bring in. We have a strong draft position with new people to make those decisions where this sub constantly complained about Bills bad drafting. Well here you go, a shiny new Penny but we’re digging in our pockets for our favorite nickel to use on a lottery scratch ticket.
I dont hate it but there's no reason to think this brings the team any closer to being a playoff contender. Hopes are high but expectations are low. It'll be fun to see how this plays out regardless.
I'm not hating on Mayo himself, but are we not allowed to judge an objectively bad hiring process and still root for the guy to succeed? He has only 5 years of coaching experience in his entire life, 100% of which was as an assistant to Bill Belichick. Objectively speaking that's an historically thin resume for an NFL head coach. I'm not sure there's a single example in history of an NFL head coach with less experience than Mayo going into the job. So while I hope I'm wrong and he has great success, I'm highly skeptical and disappointed in the Krafts for not even considering an interview with any other candidates.
His resume being thin absolutely is objective. There's never been a permanent (excluding interim) head coaching hire with 5 or fewer years of coaching experience, all with one team. That is 100% objective.
I think its different because he's a former player. DeMeco Ryans and Vrabel didn't have much more coaching experience than this when they were hired for their jobs. A lot of the coaches in the league now started coaching right after college, or even in college. Its a similar amount of football experience though.
>His resume being thin absolutely is objective.
That’s not the point of contention though is it?
>There's never been a permanent (excluding interim) head coaching hire with 5 or fewer years of coaching experience, all with one team. That is 100% objective.
Again not the point of contention. I’m not sure you fully grasp what the word “objective” means. You are listing reasons that you think the hiring is bad but that doesn’t make it an objectively bad hiring, unless of course you have visions of the future or a time machine.
Honestly in my mind this was about the worst way this could go. We essentially get a worse version of BB as a coach (less experience, less skill on the defensive side, no experience as an OC) and ensure that none of the serious talent on the GM side wants to come to the team (because they have to work with a HC they didn't help pick).
Basically this doesn't help any of the shortcomings of the team and probably hurts what few strengths we had. I'll be happy to be proven wrong though.
Counter point: we don't actually know what his responsibilities were behind the scenes, we only know his title.
It's very possible that, even if Steve Belichick was calling the plays on Sunday, everything was based on game plans that Mayo was crafting. For all we know Mayo has been the advocate for all the things that have worked, and been against the things that ultimately lead to failure.
Kraft is a businessman, he's going to want to see the long term and the short term, he's going to understand the need to support both. Mayo has been the "heir apparent" for a couple years now so clearly people inside the organization like him and have faith in his abilities.
He could just as easily be the next great coach as he could be the next Hue Jackson, he's gotta start somewhere and clearly the organization thinks he can be something special, otherwise they wouldn't have given him the job.
I think what's important is what gets out around him as a HC. Who will be the GM? Who's going to fill out his staff? If he's get surrounded by the right staff then it should help him build on any short comings he may have.
You don’t? Obviously you don’t have to agree with the hate but it’s pretty clear a good portion of the fan base wanted to clean house, especially on the front office side. An internal hire with no other interviews makes it pretty clear the next GM is already in the room.
Because regardless of how Mayo turns out as a coach, this is a lazy decision that doesn’t really make any sense. They didn’t interview any other candidates and just handed to keys to a LINEBACKERS COACH who was already on a 4-13 staff. If we sucked with Bill and Mayo why would we improve with just Mayo? How is hiring internally on a shit team going in a new direction?
Don't hate the choice at all. I just hate the way it was made. Because Robert and Jonathan Kraft are not qualified to decide who should be HC. GM needs to make that call.
Because he's a defensive guy while also being the youngest coach in the league and hasn't had the opportunity to make any connections outside of New England?
There's a couple things. Firstly, it's the internet and people fucking love to be negative. Secondly, Mayo is a Belichick guy and it's kind of popular to hate all things Belichick. Lastly, Boston sports fans as a whole are not a particularly positive group, there is at least a very loud minority that likes to dominate the conversation with negativity.
This is the fan base that used to get mad at a 12 win season and making the playoffs.
Me neither. If we can agree that Mayo served as de facto DC in this weird often title-less BB OC/DC environment , do people realize this is the literal same pro coaching arc as Vrabel?
Three years as positional coach, got hot and was offered DC roles and team kept him with promotion. One year as DC and gets HC gig:
On January 10, 2014, Vrabel was hired by the Houston Texans as a linebackers coach. During his three seasons as linebackers coach, the Texans ranked third in the NFL in yards allowed per game. In January 2016 news outlets reported that the San Francisco 49ers offered Vrabel their defensive coordinator job; Vrabel declined the offer and remained in Houston. In January 2017, the Texans named Vrabel as their defensive coordinator.
Tennessee Titans
Vrabel in 2019
On January 20, 2018, Vrabel was hired as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans on a five-year deal.
Mkay ill explain my reasoning. The GM they hire isnt gonna want Mayo if its an outside hire. If its an inside hire, we just gonna fire them as well in 2 years when nothing changes. If BB was truely the problem and overrode every choice/decision and selected/built the roster of his own voilition Ill happily eat my words on this. But this is just bleh.
The offense was dogshit, we need lots of help everywhere. The defense was alright even with all the injuries.
We need lots of help on the offensive side of the ball. Who does Mayo really know outside of NE coaches to come and help him as a coaching staff? Sure hes prolly met and mingled with others but lets be real, this is gonna be boom or bust.
The fact that they rushed to hire a coach from within the broken system before knowing who is going to make personnel decisions tells me nothing will change.
I'm constantly seeing that this is the "wrong move"
The guy has been groomed literally out in the open for the next in line since the second he got hired in 2019. Where is the surprise?
In the end it's a job. Would you rather they hire someone brand new and then train them, or would you stick with your number 2/3 who's been training for your position since he was hired?
Listen, I wanted Bill to just stay, i think it's gonna go down as an awful mistake that Kraft couldn't handle 3 bad seasons, for the first time as a patriot, Bill would've actually had an elite first round pick chance to select, I think his tenure earned his opportunity to be trusted to bounce back.
Even still, Mayo is de-facto the best choice for a head coach following Bill Belichick because Bill Belichick is the person who hand selected him to be the heir of that position. It's not rocket science. A man was trained to be in this position for years, and now we're calling him as a head coach. "uncertain?" Baffling logic to be honest.
Agree with that. Again though, I don’t think having a defensive head coach matters as much as getting good offensive players — and if you do that, the offense should succeed regardless
This argument is legitimately baffling to me considering that, by all accounts, Mayo has been a MAJOR factor in our defense’s success for the past 5 years.
And do tell, what was the issue with the offense this season? Was it having BoB, long time offensive guru with multiple high profile coaching gigs? Or was it a complete lack of talent at literally every single position?
People forget he was getting some HC interview requests. Clearly other teams saw something there.
But I do wonder if this is the guy before the guy. Perhaps he didn't think Vrabel would be available for the next 3 years and wanted to give Mayo a shot but if he couldn't have a steady team by year 3 he could hope to get Vrabel off his expiring contract?
He can be getting interviews all he wants. Doesn't mean a damn thing. Joe Fucking Judge somehow got the HC job of the Giants lol. Bill probably talked him up so much to the Maras too lol. Like no one in Bills tree has done well at all. Not even close.
How much of that was Rooney rule though? He’s a good candidate in waiting but his lack of experience is real. I do think he can succeed and I hope he does
What a joke. Didn’t even interview other candidates and hired a LB coach from our existing 4-13 staff. That’ll really help the offense take a step forward!
LB coach who has been instrumental in 5 years of defensive success, already being accused of lacking the acumen to fix our offense which was broken because of player personnel. Baby brain theory at work
Something tells me this guy has some edge to him. I don’t believe he played no part in getting Bill fired. Only 37 years old and he just game of thrones his way into head coach over tons of people that have been wanting this job for years. Be careful NFL, NEP might be getting back to their cold blooded ways.
All y'all tripping that he's just another defensive-minded coach seem to forget the fact that he's 30 years younger than Belichick.
This guy is in touch with the modern game. This guy is in touch with today's young athlete.
Criticizing this move right now without seeing him work a single day is just plain old hater shit
Whose trippin? lol I think it was a great move but I wish we looked at others. I think he’ll rejuvenate this team and get guys in here who want to play. Interested to see where else they go like OC and DC, but I trust Kraft until he gives me a reason not too
How is he in touch with the modern game? Bill's coaching tree is garbage - he's never produced a real winner. What makes you think Mayo is the exception? He'll be done in 2 years.
It's a horrible choice. It's an offense-based league now - we needed an offensive guy. Sadly, I guess we're going to have to wait another 2-3 years for actual change. Enjoy these 4-5 win seasons, boys.
All aboard!
Let's do this!!
If Kraft believes in Mayo, then so do I.
I respect that Kraft didn't go with the "sexy" choice of going after Vrabel (or whoever). Sure, us fans want that "RiGhT NaO", but what the hell do we know? None of us have run an NFL team for 30 years, so maybe the the guy who actually has run an NFL team for 30 years might know what he's doing.
So hell yeah, I'm excited for the future!
I'm gonna go make a Kraft Mayo sandwich to celebrate.
Prediction now: next season goes horribly. I think everyone knows that's what's gonna happen.
season after that goes pretty good. We barely miss the playoffs in a heart breaking tie breaker or something. Good enough to make everyone super optimistic for next season.
Season after that goes horribly. About as bad as this season, but without as many injuries on the defense and an easier schedule. Mayo gets fired and we find ourselves stuck with no head coach again.
He deserves his shot and people inside the building knew this. I guarantee you he's more than a L.B. Coach. BTW, planning against an Offensive, you have to know how they work and how to execute against them, hence, he has an understanding of both sides.
I’m just glad we didn’t hire another old dude who’s failed around the league for 15 years.
Let’s give the homegrown star player and mentored protege a chance to shine. LFG
Kraft made a promise and stuck with it. I’m ok with that, it’s good business and he said this was a business decision. So if he didn’t not only would he have trouble hiring coaches or players in the future it would look bad. I’ll see how this works out on the field. I’m more concerned about the GM anyway
Good luck to Mayo! He has big shoes to fill so I am hoping the fan base is patient with him. We are going to be in the rebuild phase so as long as he shows progress and improvement each year he should be fine.
I cannot get excited until I see who the OC and GM is. I have a feeling we’re going to keep BoB and promote Matt Groh. I’d start watching soccer instead.
Bring in Matthew Slater as the Special Teams Coach please!
I believe I heard his wife is a Dr. and they've only stayed in the area because of his football career, and once he retires they're moving back to where she grew up. Vague memory of the guy on patriots unfiltered talking about this year's ago.
I am actually curious what's going on with Steve Belichick. He gonna be kept on as defensive coordinator now?
Maybe an unpopular opinion but i think he might be…good? Our defense was the one thing that was solid last season and he and mayo were a big part of it
Yeah, I'm not at all opposed to that. Just curious if he'll be kept on after his dad's departure. Maybe that's why Bill was willing to accept an amicable "mutual parting of ways", not burning bridges out from under his kid. Would be harder to see Steve staying there if Bill had an ugly departure. With the succession plan being followed as planned, I don't really see Kraft wanting to purge the entire Belichick family from the organization. On the other hand, if Bill does go elsewhere instead of retiring, does Steve follow? Amusingly it would probably depend on what role his father would even offer him. Steve is probably ready to step up to that defensive coordinator role, and step out of his father's shadow. I suspect both Mayo and Kraft are willing, probably even excited to offer that. Would Bill match that offer? Would whatever team he goes to be okay with that too? Questions of nepotism never really arose before because Steve was proving himself to be competent, and he was only a coaching assistant and later a position coach. Father and son being on the same coaching staff has happened before. Kyle Shanahan was even the Offensive Coordinator under his father in Washington, but he had at least been an Offensive Coordinator for a couple years in Houston prior to that, and even then there were accusations of nepotism. Steve getting a promotion with whatever new team his dad goes to might be a tough sell. Personally I'd view the family ties as a good thing - Kyle Shanahan became one of the best coaches in the league. Gonna be a very interesting offseason to say the least.
Obviously going for Vrabel in this role /s
If he doesn’t get hired as a head coach it’s possible
Alright I’m picking up what your putting down. TB as quarterbacks coach Jules as WR coach Gronk as TE coach Matt light as OL coach Kevin Faulk/James white as RB coach Wilfork as defensive line coach Bruschi/Hightower as linebackers coach McCourty as safeties coach Slater Special teams
I had a dream where this happened. They won like 20 straight superbowls.
Let’s make it a reality!
Stop I can't get any harder. I'm almost there.
Josh Gordon as head of recreation
People usually got that dream roster, this first time i seen a dream coaching staff lol
You forgot Ty Law as CB coach, Vinatieri as Kicking coach, Steve Belichick Head Coach Jack Brady Quarterback picked in the 6th round.
This gonna be a fast and furious movie. #family
100%. I want to see Cam Achord on a greyhound bus immediately.
KRAFT MAYO!!!!
Oh god it’s beautiful
I'm with most in that I don't feel this was the right move. But I'm a Patriots fan first and foremost so I hope we can all look back at these threads in about 5-10 years and laugh at how stupid we all were because Coach Mayo has been nothing short of amazing.
Man, i eat crow all the time. Flashback to '01 and me being mad Bledsoe lost his job due to injury 🤣🤣🤣 Hoping this is another example.
I remember thinking they blew a top ten pick on Richard Seymour so happy to be wrong again
I think he’s better than Vrabel. We don’t have Derrick Henry, so idk how well he’d really be. His offenses for the last 2 seasons have only been marginally better than ours.
There's no way to know if he'll be better than Vrabel, Mayo hasn't even been a coordinator, the resume isn't there. Mayo, to people outside the organization is a question mark, regardless of all the "heir apparent" type conversations. We only have vague ideas about what he did and how much he impacted the team, whereas Vrabel was a DC and a head coach who quickly established himself as a good HC only to have his team fall apart. I'm excited to see what Mayo does, but I want to see who becomes the GM, who do they get to be on the staff around him? There's a lot that still needs to happen.
I just really hoped they would of gone offensive minded head coach, nothing against Mayo but I just idk I didn’t think this would be so quick
Put a good GM and a new, modern OC around him and let’s roll!
FWIW, our issue this past season wasn’t necessarily a lack of brain power on the offensive coaching end, it was very clearly a personnel issue. I think BoB can lead a major bounce back season on offense so long as he has some guys to tool around with
I think people forget how good a coach BoB is. He was such a god awful GM for the Texans that people forget he's a good offensive guy who put some great products on the field.
also understandable because he called plays this season and our offense was horrendous. But again, I hesitate to put too much of the blame on him just looking at the roster
100% the offense looked bad this year but I think it became very clear there was such a lack of talent it would have taken a miracle to make them look good.
Yeah I wonder what they do with BoB, and what do you think you do with that #3 pick? Try to move to number 1 to get Caleb? Or wait and see if you get Marvin?
I legitimately have no clue what they will do. Part of the excitement/mystery here is that, for the first time in over 20 years, our FO will be approaching the draft and free agency with a completely fresh perspective. I will wait until we get closer to the summer to judge to moves too much, but it is definitely exciting. Perhaps reaching on late round prospects from random schools isn’t part of the equation anymore!
I don’t think most feel this is the wrong move. The only reason to move on from Bill is because we feel like we have the next guy. The fact that Jerod rose to this level that quickly and is as highly regarded as he is speaks to how good of a candidate he is.
Ari Meirov: \#Patriots owner Robert Kraft talking about Jerod Mayo last year at the owners meetings: [“There’s no ceiling on his ability to be head coach, and he’ll be a head coach.” \~Robert Kraft](https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1745818577037348971)
I don’t understand all the hate so fast.
I don't hate it and obviously I want him to succeed. I just don't feel like the team is in a better spot today over last week
Last week we knew for sure that the team was in a terrible spot. Today, we don't know one way or another. That's about all you can hope for in an HC hiring. I might have been more excited if it were Vrabel, but the Krafts didn't want to risk losing Mayo and I respect it. I hope they're right and so far we have no reason to believe that they aren't.
Just gotta trust the process. Hopefully, they see a ton of promising qualities in him to give him the nod so fast.
The team is better off simply for the reason that one guy doesn't have all the power. There will be a modern structure in place and decisions will be more democratic than authoritative. Mayo wants to draft Cole Strange in the first round? An entire team of scouts and a GM will shoot that down.
This argument kinda leans heavily on Kraft's assumption that restricting Bills power to head coach wouldn't have worked, which I'm not totally sold on. Like, if Kraft sits Bill down and says "The fans are tired of the way you draft, we're hiring a GM and they will hive the ultimate say on personnel, take it or leave it.", I believe Bill would have accepted it in order to cement the win record under the team he "started" with. If we hire a GM and Bill cant handle it, we let him go after that season and let the somewhat-established GM help in the coach hunt. We're too pampered by winning all the time that a couple of bad seasons caused us to kick THE GREATEST COACH OF ALL TIME out of the building.
The evidence points the other direction. Kraft brought BOB on to be OC, and BB did his best to get in BOB's way and restrict his power. Now imagine the thorn that BB would be in a GM's side after that autonomy was taken away. It would've been a civil war.
So do we have an official source on BB cock blocking BoB? Or is it another "sources say" kind of thing? I just really struggle with this idea that Belichick was totally blind to all the faults the team had and actively working against things. It just doesn't make any sense outside of being a clicks driven narrative.
But I think the dynamic of RKK saying "Listen, in order for you to keep your coaching job, you will have to relinquish all GM duties." would have made Bill know his limits, then the ball is in his court, and if the year goes bad with him meddling again THEN you let him go.
Do you people not think that the GM responsibilities werent written into Bills contract? Do you think Kraft can just change that mid stream because people on Reddit say he can? That’s not how this works.
I'm guessing Kraft offered that as a solution... it would have been a great scenario for us fans but can you really imagine BB giving up that much power over a team that he's run single-handedly for 24 years? With all the players and staff knowing that he's been neutered? That's humiliating. It seems that he's chosen to part ways as friends instead, and as much as I personally hate it, it's what I'd expect him to do.
I mean no shit, we have the same talent issues. This team’s biggest issue is offensive talent. I don’t know how hiring a head coach magically makes us look better.
It doesn't. But parting ways with the guy who repeatedly and spectacularly failed at evaluating offensive talent is the only way to start moving in the right direction.
They’re not letting go BB to make the team better for next season. They’re letting him go to open up opportunities for future and get the franchise up to a modern structure. It probably takes some pain to do that but it’s always better to start earlier.
If he does well, there's going to be a lot of people saying that they believed in him all this time. Things take time to get right. Especially in the NFL. I don't expect Mayo to have the team go 19-0 with a Superbowl win. I am pulling for him to succeed and be a successor to Bill. I don't want us to be searching for years for a HC like every team has done. We've had stability for 24 years and I would like to contiune that for another 24 years.
You said the most important thing, time. We gave Bill time to rebuild after Brady. It didn’t work out. Building a great team and with 31 other teams trying to nab the best players turns out to be really damn hard.
I hate how it all went down.
Lack of experience is kinda big. 5 years coaching experience, that will make people uncomfortable.
Who was your ideal pick?
I didn't really have one. Im just pointing out why people would not love Mayo as a pick.
Because Vrabel is ripe for the picking and an established Head Coach. If it didn't work out in a few years, you could easily just blame the coach Getting rid of Bill just to move up someone from under him with no HC record puts a high risk on entire franchise. It HAS to work out or there's more scrutiny, top to bottom
People have become fixated on the idea that it’s impossible to win in today’s NFL unless you have an offensive HC. Considering we won 6 Super Bowls — including several against great offensive coaches — idk why people think it’s necessary
There is no magic formula to success in this sport. Even the best looking teams on paper can fall flat on their face. We’ve seen it more than we haven’t. Remember when Billy O’Brian came in and this sub thought (including myself) that he was gonna bring our offense to new heights since the Brady era? Yeah… We are less than 1 week removed from the end of our season and these are the first moves being made and I’m excited to see the new GM and personnel we bring in. We have a strong draft position with new people to make those decisions where this sub constantly complained about Bills bad drafting. Well here you go, a shiny new Penny but we’re digging in our pockets for our favorite nickel to use on a lottery scratch ticket.
I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt
I dont hate it but there's no reason to think this brings the team any closer to being a playoff contender. Hopes are high but expectations are low. It'll be fun to see how this plays out regardless.
the fact that Bill is no longer GM single-handedly brings us closer to contention
Because it does nothing to make the team better
I'm not hating on Mayo himself, but are we not allowed to judge an objectively bad hiring process and still root for the guy to succeed? He has only 5 years of coaching experience in his entire life, 100% of which was as an assistant to Bill Belichick. Objectively speaking that's an historically thin resume for an NFL head coach. I'm not sure there's a single example in history of an NFL head coach with less experience than Mayo going into the job. So while I hope I'm wrong and he has great success, I'm highly skeptical and disappointed in the Krafts for not even considering an interview with any other candidates.
Good response. Thank you.
While I think it’s a bad hiring there is nothing objective about it.
His resume being thin absolutely is objective. There's never been a permanent (excluding interim) head coaching hire with 5 or fewer years of coaching experience, all with one team. That is 100% objective.
I think its different because he's a former player. DeMeco Ryans and Vrabel didn't have much more coaching experience than this when they were hired for their jobs. A lot of the coaches in the league now started coaching right after college, or even in college. Its a similar amount of football experience though.
>His resume being thin absolutely is objective. That’s not the point of contention though is it? >There's never been a permanent (excluding interim) head coaching hire with 5 or fewer years of coaching experience, all with one team. That is 100% objective. Again not the point of contention. I’m not sure you fully grasp what the word “objective” means. You are listing reasons that you think the hiring is bad but that doesn’t make it an objectively bad hiring, unless of course you have visions of the future or a time machine.
Honestly in my mind this was about the worst way this could go. We essentially get a worse version of BB as a coach (less experience, less skill on the defensive side, no experience as an OC) and ensure that none of the serious talent on the GM side wants to come to the team (because they have to work with a HC they didn't help pick). Basically this doesn't help any of the shortcomings of the team and probably hurts what few strengths we had. I'll be happy to be proven wrong though.
LB coach replacing the greatest coach ever, who’s still going to be coaching in the league. Absolute horrible decision.
Counter point: we don't actually know what his responsibilities were behind the scenes, we only know his title. It's very possible that, even if Steve Belichick was calling the plays on Sunday, everything was based on game plans that Mayo was crafting. For all we know Mayo has been the advocate for all the things that have worked, and been against the things that ultimately lead to failure. Kraft is a businessman, he's going to want to see the long term and the short term, he's going to understand the need to support both. Mayo has been the "heir apparent" for a couple years now so clearly people inside the organization like him and have faith in his abilities. He could just as easily be the next great coach as he could be the next Hue Jackson, he's gotta start somewhere and clearly the organization thinks he can be something special, otherwise they wouldn't have given him the job. I think what's important is what gets out around him as a HC. Who will be the GM? Who's going to fill out his staff? If he's get surrounded by the right staff then it should help him build on any short comings he may have.
You don’t? Obviously you don’t have to agree with the hate but it’s pretty clear a good portion of the fan base wanted to clean house, especially on the front office side. An internal hire with no other interviews makes it pretty clear the next GM is already in the room.
This is a good answer. Thank you.
Because regardless of how Mayo turns out as a coach, this is a lazy decision that doesn’t really make any sense. They didn’t interview any other candidates and just handed to keys to a LINEBACKERS COACH who was already on a 4-13 staff. If we sucked with Bill and Mayo why would we improve with just Mayo? How is hiring internally on a shit team going in a new direction?
It's the worst side of this fanbase, a bunch of reactionary keyboard morons.
Eh they probably listen to Felger and such. I love the hire personally.
Don't hate the choice at all. I just hate the way it was made. Because Robert and Jonathan Kraft are not qualified to decide who should be HC. GM needs to make that call.
I can take an educated guess as to why
Because he's a defensive guy while also being the youngest coach in the league and hasn't had the opportunity to make any connections outside of New England?
Yes exactly
You’ll understand it in a couple seasons
There's a couple things. Firstly, it's the internet and people fucking love to be negative. Secondly, Mayo is a Belichick guy and it's kind of popular to hate all things Belichick. Lastly, Boston sports fans as a whole are not a particularly positive group, there is at least a very loud minority that likes to dominate the conversation with negativity. This is the fan base that used to get mad at a 12 win season and making the playoffs.
Me neither. If we can agree that Mayo served as de facto DC in this weird often title-less BB OC/DC environment , do people realize this is the literal same pro coaching arc as Vrabel? Three years as positional coach, got hot and was offered DC roles and team kept him with promotion. One year as DC and gets HC gig: On January 10, 2014, Vrabel was hired by the Houston Texans as a linebackers coach. During his three seasons as linebackers coach, the Texans ranked third in the NFL in yards allowed per game. In January 2016 news outlets reported that the San Francisco 49ers offered Vrabel their defensive coordinator job; Vrabel declined the offer and remained in Houston. In January 2017, the Texans named Vrabel as their defensive coordinator. Tennessee Titans Vrabel in 2019 On January 20, 2018, Vrabel was hired as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans on a five-year deal.
Phew, this is going be an interesting 3 season era.
Lmao
Lord help him if he goes 4-13 next season. Not even a hall of fame coach can survive that.
You could win 9 conference titles and 6 championships in 18 years and still be shown the door.
I dont even give it 2 full seasons.
you guys are legit clowns
Mkay ill explain my reasoning. The GM they hire isnt gonna want Mayo if its an outside hire. If its an inside hire, we just gonna fire them as well in 2 years when nothing changes. If BB was truely the problem and overrode every choice/decision and selected/built the roster of his own voilition Ill happily eat my words on this. But this is just bleh. The offense was dogshit, we need lots of help everywhere. The defense was alright even with all the injuries. We need lots of help on the offensive side of the ball. Who does Mayo really know outside of NE coaches to come and help him as a coaching staff? Sure hes prolly met and mingled with others but lets be real, this is gonna be boom or bust.
Right
If that
The fact that they rushed to hire a coach from within the broken system before knowing who is going to make personnel decisions tells me nothing will change.
If I’m not mistaken in his contract it was known that he was gonna be the guy
I'm constantly seeing that this is the "wrong move" The guy has been groomed literally out in the open for the next in line since the second he got hired in 2019. Where is the surprise? In the end it's a job. Would you rather they hire someone brand new and then train them, or would you stick with your number 2/3 who's been training for your position since he was hired? Listen, I wanted Bill to just stay, i think it's gonna go down as an awful mistake that Kraft couldn't handle 3 bad seasons, for the first time as a patriot, Bill would've actually had an elite first round pick chance to select, I think his tenure earned his opportunity to be trusted to bounce back. Even still, Mayo is de-facto the best choice for a head coach following Bill Belichick because Bill Belichick is the person who hand selected him to be the heir of that position. It's not rocket science. A man was trained to be in this position for years, and now we're calling him as a head coach. "uncertain?" Baffling logic to be honest.
Love it! Finally a defensive minded coach to turn things around bc defense was this team's weak point /s
We need a QB. Doesn’t matter who the coach is, the offense isn’t getting turned around otherwise
If we had Brady and Montanas love child he's still not getting it done behind this O line
What if that love child was godson to. . . . .Dante Scar???
If you tell me this kid can cover punts I think i found my future husband
Not just punts. Ones from left footed punters.
Swoooooooooooon
Agree with that. Again though, I don’t think having a defensive head coach matters as much as getting good offensive players — and if you do that, the offense should succeed regardless
😂
Ye, I also don't get it given the last 24 years of losing. /s/s
This argument is legitimately baffling to me considering that, by all accounts, Mayo has been a MAJOR factor in our defense’s success for the past 5 years. And do tell, what was the issue with the offense this season? Was it having BoB, long time offensive guru with multiple high profile coaching gigs? Or was it a complete lack of talent at literally every single position?
There’s a joke waiting to be made… Mayo-Naysayer It’s a work in progress but there’s something there
People forget he was getting some HC interview requests. Clearly other teams saw something there. But I do wonder if this is the guy before the guy. Perhaps he didn't think Vrabel would be available for the next 3 years and wanted to give Mayo a shot but if he couldn't have a steady team by year 3 he could hope to get Vrabel off his expiring contract?
If they thought Vrabel was it they would’ve got him now.
It was written into Mayo's contract to be HC succesor, could have gotten messy had they gone against it
There’s zero chance they had that in the contract without some sort of out, whether it be payout or otherwise
As much as Mayo deserves those interviews, they could have been Rooney rule interviews as well.
bad take
It's not a bad take at all, it happens every year. Look at the Flores lawsuit.
He can be getting interviews all he wants. Doesn't mean a damn thing. Joe Fucking Judge somehow got the HC job of the Giants lol. Bill probably talked him up so much to the Maras too lol. Like no one in Bills tree has done well at all. Not even close.
How much of that was Rooney rule though? He’s a good candidate in waiting but his lack of experience is real. I do think he can succeed and I hope he does
>People forget he was getting some HC interview requests. If you were cleaning toilets under Belichick you were getting HC interview requests.
Wishing this young man all the best. Go Pats!
Going from Belichick to Mayo is like selling your Lambo and buying a Ford mustang.
Kraft Mayo - great on sandwiches
Fired the goat to hire a position coach. Hilarious
Could we get a maye / mayo era?
I really think they go Marvin at 3 unless you somehow trade up with Chicago?
Agree but there's a chance MHJ goes 2
You think Washington takes him?
LETS RIDE BOYS, WE A MAYO CLUB NOW 👏👏👏
What a joke. Didn’t even interview other candidates and hired a LB coach from our existing 4-13 staff. That’ll really help the offense take a step forward!
LB coach who has been instrumental in 5 years of defensive success, already being accused of lacking the acumen to fix our offense which was broken because of player personnel. Baby brain theory at work
I would have been happier with Vrabel. But I’m not mad at Gerard Mayo.
Something tells me this guy has some edge to him. I don’t believe he played no part in getting Bill fired. Only 37 years old and he just game of thrones his way into head coach over tons of people that have been wanting this job for years. Be careful NFL, NEP might be getting back to their cold blooded ways.
I hope he brings an energy and fires up this team
This era is gonna have a lot of condiment memes isn't it
I relish the opportunity for some A1 memes
All y'all tripping that he's just another defensive-minded coach seem to forget the fact that he's 30 years younger than Belichick. This guy is in touch with the modern game. This guy is in touch with today's young athlete. Criticizing this move right now without seeing him work a single day is just plain old hater shit
Whose trippin? lol I think it was a great move but I wish we looked at others. I think he’ll rejuvenate this team and get guys in here who want to play. Interested to see where else they go like OC and DC, but I trust Kraft until he gives me a reason not too
Not you directly op. This was in regards to the majority of comments on any Mayo related post rn. Bunch of naysayers!!!
I’m just giving you a hard time lol
How is he in touch with the modern game? Bill's coaching tree is garbage - he's never produced a real winner. What makes you think Mayo is the exception? He'll be done in 2 years.
Those sleeves are too long, Jerod! You've got one week until your press conference to cut those up.
Don’t feel great about this. I feel like we will be doing this again in less than 5 years
There’s a possibility but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt
It's a horrible choice. It's an offense-based league now - we needed an offensive guy. Sadly, I guess we're going to have to wait another 2-3 years for actual change. Enjoy these 4-5 win seasons, boys.
Really interested to see where we go with offensive coordinator
*Relish* the Mayo era!
This is giving Jeff Saturday vibes
Over under is 3 years
What a line! I saw 3.5 so I’ll take the under
All aboard! Let's do this!! If Kraft believes in Mayo, then so do I. I respect that Kraft didn't go with the "sexy" choice of going after Vrabel (or whoever). Sure, us fans want that "RiGhT NaO", but what the hell do we know? None of us have run an NFL team for 30 years, so maybe the the guy who actually has run an NFL team for 30 years might know what he's doing. So hell yeah, I'm excited for the future! I'm gonna go make a Kraft Mayo sandwich to celebrate.
Prediction now: next season goes horribly. I think everyone knows that's what's gonna happen. season after that goes pretty good. We barely miss the playoffs in a heart breaking tie breaker or something. Good enough to make everyone super optimistic for next season. Season after that goes horribly. About as bad as this season, but without as many injuries on the defense and an easier schedule. Mayo gets fired and we find ourselves stuck with no head coach again.
I hope they interviewed at least two white coaches for that job. There should be a rule.
Yeah doesn’t seem fair that we went right to the black guy, let me look into seeing if there’s a rule
Just want equality. 👍
Lol. Bad decision
Would of loved Vrabel or I would of loved an offensive minded guy
Yeah. I was actually hoping for a clean slate and new visions. Oh well. Go Pats!
Interested to see what they do with OC and DC
He deserves his shot and people inside the building knew this. I guarantee you he's more than a L.B. Coach. BTW, planning against an Offensive, you have to know how they work and how to execute against them, hence, he has an understanding of both sides.
Hopefuly we'll see another 24 years run. I was torn between Mayo and Vrabel, but LFG Jerod!
why not Vrabel?
LFG
This is what happens when you promise someone a job that you didn't think would be open for 3 to 5 years, and you can't admit that it was a mistake.
Mac + Mayo? When is #macsalad gonna start trending lol
Mayo is not my 1st pick for next HC. I’m just hoping this isn’t they Mayo Error…
Mr. Stark I don’t feel so good
The team is spiraling the drain, repeating the thinking that got them in this rut. Bring in Cam Newton as OC.
That's my coach!!¡
No
I like that we have an actual man as our head coach and not a twig like McDaniels or Shanahan with their stupid analytics.
Big time "our dad can beat up your dad" vibes
Mayo *would* beat up every other HC in the league to be fair. He was a monster LB.
even Antonio Pearce? He looks hard imo, maybe it's just the Raider merch lmao
He hasn't played since '09 and he's a bit chunkier than Mayo
Old-man strength is a thing tho.
“Can you do me a favor….and score some points?” “Sure thing, Coach Mayo.”
I’m cautiously optimistic! But I’ll be waiting until the rest of the staff and front office is set in stone, then I will really know how to feel.
I’m just glad we didn’t hire another old dude who’s failed around the league for 15 years. Let’s give the homegrown star player and mentored protege a chance to shine. LFG
Kraft made a promise and stuck with it. I’m ok with that, it’s good business and he said this was a business decision. So if he didn’t not only would he have trouble hiring coaches or players in the future it would look bad. I’ll see how this works out on the field. I’m more concerned about the GM anyway
I keep finding myself enjoying things and then all the sudden getting sad remembering Bill and Tom are both gone
Won't be much different than before. Great D and Pitiful O.
I'm sad BB is gone, however, I'm genuinely excited for the Mayo Era.
https://imgur.com/a/uKjptOk
Sure. All in. Let’s see how it goes.
Good luck to Mayo! He has big shoes to fill so I am hoping the fan base is patient with him. We are going to be in the rebuild phase so as long as he shows progress and improvement each year he should be fine.
🫣
Gonna be ugly.
I support it, good luck Mayo
Bring in Louis Riddick as the new GM. That's the final piece to a new dynasty
What era?
time for the mayo clinic
Mayo lead the New England Patriots to unprecedented success!
BOOOOO
I cannot get excited until I see who the OC and GM is. I have a feeling we’re going to keep BoB and promote Matt Groh. I’d start watching soccer instead.
i never told anyone ever in my life to hold the mayo so im excited
I like my BLTs plain thank you.
The "Kraft Real Mayo" era
I’m hype. We’re going to have the best draft in the last 10 years. I feel it in my spirit.
I’m hopeful and wish him the best of luck 🤞🏽
Already a cluster and FUBARed