The New England Patriots finished off their season by defeating the AFC East-best Buffalo Bills, but it still wasn’t enough to save Jerod Mayo’s job.
Mayo was fired as head coach of the Patriots immediately following New England’s 4-13 finish and the 38-year-old’s debut at the helm. It wasn’t pretty, didn’t improve on the franchise’s last-in-the-division standing from 2023 and brought the team back to square one; no head coach and plenty of room for roster improvement.
Team owner Robert Kraft accepted his share of the blame for Mayo’s one-and-done run, however, the locker room shared a much different sentiment after the firing.
“I don’t think anybody here feels (we didn’t perform),” Patriots captain Deatrich Wise Jr. told reporters Monday at Gillette Stadium. “We all put our best foot out there. We all gave it our all every single time, everything we wanted to do, we did it with the mind and goal set to win. And that’s kind of my mindset.”
Now, Kraft and executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf are tasked with getting the offseason done right this time. Mayo inherited a flawed roster with plenty of holes spawning from the team’s failed pursuits in free agency and the trade market, putting the franchise in a losing battle from the start of the year.
It was evident as the season progressed that Mayo would be the sacrificial lamb, making his first season as locker room leader his last in Foxboro.
New England walked off the field Sunday with an identical 4-13 record to last season. They won a meaningless Week 18 matchup with the Bills but lost a head coach, the No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL draft and trust amongst the fanbase.
It’s unlike the Patriots to hire and fire a head coach so quickly. It insinuates the higher powers — Kraft and Eliot — weren’t all that sure about Mayo from the jump and the pressure has only inflated largely heading into this offseason.
Wise did confirm the locker room’s overall reaction to watching Mayo depart.
“Nobody wanted to see him leave,” Wise said. “We didn’t know he was fired until after the game and then it was very shocking news. He meant everything. He was a great leader, a great coach, a great friend. He was pretty much consistent every single day. Brought great energy, motivated everybody, inspired everybody in the building to better. I felt like when he came into the room he brought a light and a good energy.”
The only sure thing, so far, is that New England will be selecting fourth in the draft.
