FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots are changing their head coach, parting ways with Jerod Mayo one year after replacing Bill Belichick. Now, a franchise that was once uniquely stable and successful in the NFL is about to get its third coach in just three seasons.
New England fired Mayo less than 90 minutes after the season ended on Sunday, a disastrous 4-13 season that cost the team the No. 1 pick in the draft after a win in Week 18 ), Mayo often seemed to be in trouble. While Mayo’s roster is one of the worst in the NFL and is overseen by executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, early indications are that Wolf will be Stay with the Patriots.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft called the decision to fire Mayo “one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made.”
“Unfortunately, our team’s performance throughout the season did not rise as I had hoped,” 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’s a shocking fall from 12 months ago, when Mayo, 37, was revealed to be Kraft’s handpicked successor to Belichick after 24 years at the helm. Kraft has quietly put a succession plan in writing, meaning the Patriots won’t have to interview any candidates before handing the reins to Mayo.
This time, that won’t be the case. The Patriots are expected to begin their search for a new head coach immediately, and according to league sources, there are early signs that a search is underway. Kraft and company are expected to pursue Mike Vrabel, the 49-year-old former Patriots linebacker who performed for Belichick during the franchise’s first dynasty from 2001 to 2008. Excellent, but the team must conduct additional interviews for the position under the league’s Rooney Rule.
Vrabel served as head coach of the Tennessee Titans for six years, leading the team to two division titles and appearances in the AFC Championship Game while compiling a 54-45 record. But trust in Vrabel began to erode last year as team brass watched him spend his farewell weekend in Foxboro while soaking up all that New England had to offer and being inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame. During halftime remarks, Vrabel, who remains the Titans’ head coach, even said of the Patriots, “We’re going to win a game.” Vrabel was fired less than three months later without finding another head coaching job.
“There has to be clear communication with management so that we as coaches know what the expectations are,” Vrabel told us CompetitorZack Rosenblatt talks about what he’s looking for in his next job. “What I’m saying is, there’s a quarterback that you feel like you can win with – or there’s a path to finding a quarterback that you can win with.”
For Vrabel, the Patriots could tick both boxes. People familiar with the situation believe Vrabel has shown interest in the Patriots’ potential vacancy in recent weeks. He was also interested in the Patriots job after the Patriots parted ways with Belichick a year ago before learning Mayo had been earmarked for the job.
At that point, the Patriots believed Mayo would be their coach for the next decade. Kraft and his decision-makers believe Mayo is the right person to follow Belichick because he is a bridge to the team’s past success while providing a new path forward.
At the press conference announcing Mayo’s hiring last January, Kraft said he knew in 2019 that Mayo would be the Patriots’ next coach.
“I believe Jarrod is the right guy to lead the Patriots back to championship contention and long-term success,” Kraft said at the time.
Instead, Mayo led the Patriots through one of their worst seasons since Kraft acquired the team in 1994.
Mayo’s tenure began with a win, a surprise victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. After losing four straight games, Mayo turned to Drake Maye, the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL draft, as the starting quarterback and turned to veteran Jacoby Brissett. Sitting on the bench. Midway through the season, the Patriots defeated the archrival New York Jets and defeated the Chicago Bears in a last-second victory. Things are looking up.
Kraft and the Patriots know this season won’t bring many wins. This is the first year of the rebuild after Belichick. The list is terrible. But they hope Mayo can build a culture that brings excitement and improvement by the end of the season.
Instead, the Patriots became the punching bag. After a bye in Week 14, they were eliminated by the Arizona Cardinals, blew a 14-point lead over the Buffalo Bills, and lost 40-7 at home to the Los Angeles Chargers. A loss to the Bills on Sunday would have locked up the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, but rookie backup quarterback Joe Milton led the Patriots to a surprise 23-16 victory.
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To be fair, many of the Patriots’ problems preceded him. The team has a 10-31 record in its past 41 games. The Patriots have gone 45 straight games without scoring more than 30 points. Their home record in the past four seasons is 11 wins and 22 losses. (Tom Brady has lost fewer games at Gillette Stadium throughout his career with the Patriots, going 115-19 at home.) They finished with a winning percentage below .300 in consecutive years. Something they haven’t done since they were the AFL’s Boston Patriots in 1969 and 1970.
But by the end of the season, Mayo did not put the team on track to solve the problem. No roster position has improved under his guidance except quarterback. While this is a notable exception, Meyer’s success as a rookie also highlights the importance of ensuring that year two is in the right hands.
“We have a huge base of fans who expect and deserve a better product than what we have delivered in recent years,” Kraft said Sunday. “I apologize for that. I am very concerned about what actions can be taken to expedite our return to championship contention.” A lot of thought and consideration went into it and it was determined that this move was the best option at the moment.
Mayo becomes the sixth one-and-done NFL coach in the past four seasons and the first one-and-done Patriots coach since Rod Rust led the team to a 1-15 record in 1990.
As it turns out, it all happened too quickly for Mayo. The original plan, as Kraft envisioned it, was for Belichick to remain as Patriots head coach in 2024, break Don Shula’s all-time wins record and coach Mayo. But after the succession plan was put into effect, the relationship between Belichick and Mayo deteriorated, and Belichick, who was already closed, retreated even more. The idea of having Belichick coach Mayo was quickly shelved.
At that point, Kraft decided to part ways with Belichick and hand the reins to Mayo — albeit a year earlier than planned and without the guidance of his original plan. Of course, Mayo would struggle early on. But we hope he learns on the job and grows throughout the year.
That didn’t happen. In many ways, Mayo is trying to be what Belichick is not. As a former player, he tried to be a player-friendly coach, but after the Week 7 loss, he blasted the entire team as “soft.” In interviews with the media, he tried to sound more affable than his mentor, but then had to walk back some of his remarks. He said the team would “burn some cash” in free agency, only to reverse course days later and the Patriots didn’t sign any big-name free agents.
Asked after the Week 15 loss if offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt should have called a quarterback sneak on an important short-yardage play, he responded: “You said, I didn’t . The next day, he retracted those remarks as a “defensive response.” Before the Week 17 loss, he told radio and TV broadcasters that Ramond Stevenson wouldn’t start the game to send him a message about his recent missteps. Then Stevenson started the game.
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What’s more, the live product regresses in embarrassing ways. As a former guard who learned under Belichick, defense should be Mayo’s specialty. But the Patriots’ defense ranks seventh in yards allowed per game in 2023 (301.6 yards per game) and drops to 23rd in 2024 (348.7 yards per game). , falling to 25th place in 2024. The defense has also allowed more than 30 points six times this season.
Offensively, the Patriots have not scored more than 25 points in a game all season. While Meyer’s improvement is a bright spot, the team lacks a playmaker in the passing game and the offensive line ranks fifth in the league in sacks. Only the Bears and Carolina Panthers are averaging fewer yards per game this season, and only the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants are averaging fewer points.
Part of the problem is that Mayo is inexperienced and unfamiliar with other players in the NFL. In 2008, he was drafted by the Patriots with the 10th overall pick. Rookie of the Year Award and was named to the All-Pro first team in 2010. He spent five years as a position coach with the Patriots and worked for just one coach: Belichick. So when it comes time to beef up his staff, Mayo doesn’t have a league-wide rolodex of contacts like most head coaches.
He interviewed more than a dozen offensive coordinator candidates as several rejected his offer. Ultimately, Mayo began his tenure surrounded by first-time front-office leaders (Wolf), first-time offensive play-callers (Van Pelt), first-time defensive coordinators (Demar Coos Covington), first-time special teams coordinator (Jeremy Springer), first-time linebackers coach (Donte Hightower), first-time offensive line coach (Scott Peters) and first-time wide receivers coach (Tyler Hughes).
Lack of experience shows.
Sources within the Patriots’ previous regime expressed doubts about Mayo’s readiness to serve as head coach. Several leaders felt he needed more experience in game planning, game calling and handling big situational decisions. How is the season going? “About our thoughts,” one said.
Whether it’s Vrabel or someone else, the new coach will inherit quarterback Meyer, running back Stevenson, cornerback Christian Gonzalez and a team led by Keon White and Christian Barmore A solid defensive line. New England will have the fourth overall pick in the 2025 draft. The team will also have plenty of cap space to address a variety of needs on the roster — particularly wide receiver, offensive line, defensive backs and pass rushers.
—Sports NewsJeff Howe contributed to this report.
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(Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
