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The New England Patriots made the decision to fire rookie head coach Jerod Mayo after just one season on the job. Mayo, a former linebacker for the Pats, had been handpicked by ownership to take over the role from legendary head coach Bill Belichick after he left the team at the end of the 2023 season.
Despite the belief that Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who reportedly handpicked Jerod Mayo, seemed to have at the start of his tenure, the events of the 2024 season clearly changed his mind, as the Patriots finished last in the AFC East with a record of 4-13. That fourth win also came on the final day of the season, costing the team the #1 overall pick in next year’s draft.
According to reports, Mayo also displayed some atypical behavior for a head coach, such as the time he reportedly joined the players to play cards on the plane following the Patriots’ 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on December 15.
“On the long plane ride back, most of Mayo’s assistants grabbed their laptops and studied cut-ups from the loss, the customary move for NFL coaches during the return flight after games. Plane rides in the NFL are typically quiet after losses. Coaches and execs sit up front, players toward the back.”
“In a move that surprised some at the front of the plane after such a lopsided loss, according to a team source, Mayo, left his spot near the front and went back to where some players had gathered to play cards, choosing to hang out there while his assistants watched film.”
Beyond using the time to unwind rather than prepare for the next game, reports of Mayo heading to the back of the plane with his players likely suggests a bigger issue.
“Look, there are a lot of ways to do the job. It’s not that Jerod’s was definitely wrong. But I can’t say I’ve seen that before,” a team source who was on the plane told The Athletic.
While I’ve never been on a professional team’s airplane, every documentary or behind-the-scenes feature I’ve watched suggest that there’s a very clear hierarchy when it comes to seating on those planes, coaches/execs, media/journalists, and players are quite segregated, which would certainly make Mayo’s move perhaps unbecoming of a head coach.
With the firing of Mayo, the Patriots are now expected to be the favorites to land former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, who won three Super Bowl teams as a linebacker in the early 2000s.