Jerod Mayo lasted only one season as the chosen successor to coaching legend Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots.
The Patriots fired Mayo on Sunday after they went 4-13 in his rookie season as an NFL head coach, with their win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 18 costing them a chance at the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 draft.
They had utilized a succession plan written into the contract of Mayo, then their linebackers coach, to promote him last January to head coach on the day after they parted ways with Belichick following 24 seasons and six Super Bowl victories, without conducting a search or being subject to the NFL’s usual minority interviewing requirements.
Mayo was the first Black head coach in franchise history. He was, at 37, the NFL’s youngest head coach when he was hired. He commanded respect as a successful former player who’d been a first-round draft choice out of Tennessee and a two-time Pro Bowl selection as a linebacker for the Patriots between the 2008 and 2015 seasons. He’d won a Super Bowl as a player and he’d joined Belichick’s coaching staff in 2019.
But the Patriots struggled all season, first when Mayo opened the season with veteran Jacoby Brissett as the starter at quarterback and then after he made the move to prized rookie Drake Maye.
Maye, the third overall selection in the 2024 draft in April, showed great promise at times during his rookie season. But it became increasingly clear as the season progressed that the Patriots had a long way to go to put a capable team on the field around their young quarterback.
Entering the final weekend of the season, they appeared set to have the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, giving them an opportunity to select the best available non-quarterback – perhaps Travis Hunter, the Heisman Trophy-winning wide receiver and cornerback for Colorado – or to seek to trade the choice to a quarterback-needy team. But Sunday’s win pushed them down to the No. 4 slot.
The Patriots will conduct a coaching search this time, unlike last offseason. Their candidates could include Mike Vrabel, the one-time Patriots linebacker who is a former NFL coach of the year for the Tennessee Titans. He served as a consultant to the Cleveland Browns this season after being fired by the Titans last offseason.