Cool Link Ian article & Mayo Legacy

[Squish the Fish]

I supported the firing of Mayo and the hiring of Vrabel, but fans shouldn’t pretend that even the best coach in NFL history at the top of his game would’ve won more than five games with that pathetic roster. Mayo was clearly set up to struggle in the short term given the Patriots’ 2024 free agency class, unless they not only hit a home run on the Maye pick but also nailed a bunch of other non QB picks—which they didn’t.

Belichick went 4–13 the prior season. While Mayo obviously had a chance to work with Drake as a starter for most of last year, the Patriots had a bad draft outside of Maye and didn’t prioritize actually improving the team through free agency. Any coach fails with that roster. Veteran coaches who don’t want to get fired after one year don’t take jobs where expectations are totally out of whack with the state of the roster. The biggest reason it made sense to fire Mayo and replace him with Vrabel? Once the Patriots knew they had their guy in Drake Maye and that he was on a rookie deal, they had to go with the most proven coach possible that also knew talent to provide Wolf with some help.

This year’s Patriots team is basically a new roster and is obviously spending a lot more money on other teams’ free agents. There are 14 new starters on offense and defense, plus Barmore is back, which essentially means 15 new starters that Mayo never worked with.

But like it or not, injury luck and player acquisition luck matter a lot. Wolf and Vrabel made a lot of good decisions, but they also almost overspent on receivers who wouldn’t have worked out nearly as well as Diggs.

 

[rkarp1]

I agree that RK had an agreement with Mayo for post Bill breaking the record.
What I find a problem is that it appears that Bill was not told this.
Mayo was seemingly on a fast track coaching under Bill. We heard Mayo took on the game plans during the week and Steve called that games on Sundays. True co defensive coordinators.
We read Mayo interviewed for HC positions (Rooney rule??) and was impressive. the next year he was high up on the list for a HC position, but then turned down interview requests.
that year apparently Bill never spoke to him (I assume that's when RK told Bill)

RK totally dropped the ball on this hire.

 

[PancakeBlockPaul]

I feel bad for Jerod. He was elevated to a position for which he had neither the qualifications nor the experience. Ideally, he would have gained more experience as an assistant or coordinator before getting a HC job. It's going to be hard for him to start climbing the ladder again. The Krafts bear some responsibility for this.

Thing about this is when looking at job prospects you need to know what you can and can't do. The real question is this...did/does Jerod really think that the job is that easy, that he knows so much more than every aspiring HC out there knows, or that he thinks he is that much more or better yet, all of the above? Or was he just plain old excited about being able to be around a sport he played since he was a kid after his retirement? He really was put in a **** situation though....maybe if things were not so dire here he would have succeeded. Maybe not. If I was in his shoes, I probably would have done the same thing depending on how much of that cheddar from my career was spent and if I had not been smart with it...

 

[Thelonious]

Rest assured that pretender is laughing all the way to the bank where another monthly $200k auto-deposit magically appears, courtesy of his ol' pal Thundercat.

Perhaps, though that financial security came at the cost of very public and I would think painful humiliation. Maybe he doesn't care, but I think I would.

 

[Thelonious]

Two things.

First, he didn't go straight into coaching after playing, so it's likely that he went into a non-football job after coaching. That or he's just taking some family time on Kraft's dime.

Second, his intelligence was clear; his teammates called him Bill Jr. as a rookie. it didnt translate into HC ability, but I can at least understand why Kraft might have thought he could do it.

I was referring to his earlier time in business, not to what he might be doing these days, if I understand you right.

Not exactly a matter of "intelligence." I nailed the SAT's, but you wouldn't want me running your football team, unless you have a really deep commitment to proper punctuation. Not sure why they called him "Bill." Maybe he's a snorter?

I think he just doesn't have the temperament for coaching. He's a people pleaser. You need somebody who can motivate (some very tough) people, not charm them with your pleasing manner and fob them off with assurances of collaborative sweetness and light.

 

[Thelonious]

RKK wasn't sold on Mayo for his football smarts as much as a "gut feeling" about Jerod's leadership potential demonstrated during a visit to Israel.

I think that was a lot of it. If so, that's a shockingly irresponsible approach for Robert to take. Why give a **** that the guy makes a charming travel companion. Pretty pathetic.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I was referring to his earlier time in business, not to what he might be doing these days, if I understand you right.

Not exactly a matter of "intelligence." I nailed the SAT's, but you wouldn't want me running your football team, unless you have a really deep commitment to proper punctuation. Not sure why they called him "Bill." Maybe he's a snorter?

I think he just doesn't have the temperament for coaching. He's a people pleaser. You need somebody who can motivate (some very tough) people, not charm them with your pleasing manner and fob them off with assurances of collaborative sweetness and light.

I meant intelligence with respect to football. Vrabel could get away with a lot of stuff as a player because he had all the answers, so to speak, on defense. They called Mayo Bill Jr. because he too had an advanced grasp of the defense (e.g., not just what he was supposed to do, but what everyone was supposed to do).

 

[Hugepatsfan]

I supported the firing of Mayo and the hiring of Vrabel, but fans shouldn’t pretend that even the best coach in NFL history at the top of his game would’ve won more than five games with that pathetic roster. Mayo was clearly set up to struggle in the short term given the Patriots’ 2024 free agency class, unless they not only hit a home run on the Maye pick but also nailed a bunch of other non QB picks—which they didn’t.

Belichick went 4–13 the prior season. While Mayo obviously had a chance to work with Drake as a starter for most of last year, the Patriots had a bad draft outside of Maye and didn’t prioritize actually improving the team through free agency. Any coach fails with that roster. Veteran coaches who don’t want to get fired after one year don’t take jobs where expectations are totally out of whack with the state of the roster. The biggest reason it made sense to fire Mayo and replace him with Vrabel? Once the Patriots knew they had their guy in Drake Maye and that he was on a rookie deal, they had to go with the most proven coach possible that also knew talent to provide Wolf with some help.

This year’s Patriots team is basically a new roster and is obviously spending a lot more money on other teams’ free agents. There are 14 new starters on offense and defense, plus Barmore is back, which essentially means 15 new starters that Mayo never worked with.

But like it or not, injury luck and player acquisition luck matter a lot. Wolf and Vrabel made a lot of good decisions, but they also almost overspent on receivers who wouldn’t have worked out nearly as well as Diggs.

Mayo was obviously set up to fail record wise. No one is disputing that. But there can be signs of good coaching even on a bad team. That didn't show up last year with him. They got less competitive as the year went on, not more. Players did not seem to be individually improving over the course of the year. His public messaging consistently required backtracking which showed a lack of poise for the role. He gave no reason to believe that he was the right guy to move forward with and every reason to believe he wasn't. Roster issues aside, he just flat out didn't pass the test as an NFL coach.

 

[Tunescribe]

Perhaps, though that financial security came at the cost of very public and I would think painful humiliation. Maybe he doesn't care, but I think I would.

What's telltale, at least for me, is Mayo's complete absence from the game. He was the primary source of his own supposed humiliation. So assuming he learned from that, one might think he'd want to redeem himself and prove why Kraft (initially) showed faith in him.

Perhaps we'll see him resurface somewhere next season but to this point, it appears he doesn't care.

 

[Gumby]

Weird revisionist history to recruit sympathies for Jerod Mayo. He sped up BB's demise by being a mouthpiece to the media to poison the locker room (granted BB was doing a decent job of this on his own) because he knew the HC job would be his. Mayo strikes me as a sociopath and I doubt anyone in the NFL will ever touch him. Do not shed a tear for Jerod Mayo.

Well, that was far from my intent…..( posting a stray thought about how good two guys on TODAYS ROSTER MIGHT be ) ……..strange paths that some threads take.

 

[rkarp1]

What's telltale, at least for me, is Mayo's complete absence from the game. He was the primary source of his own supposed humiliation. So assuming he learned from that, one might think he'd want to redeem himself and prove why Kraft (initially) showed faith in him.

Perhaps we'll see him resurface somewhere next season but to this point, it appears he doesn't care.

where and how?
where Mayo fell most short imo is his lack of connections in the league, and his ability to get a staff here. his entire career revolved around Bill, and at the end, it appears Bill shunned him, as a traitor. Mayo's only relationships and connections in the league have been friends of Bill. and at the moment, friends of Bill are not really thriving in the league, other than McD.
maybe if a guy like Matt P remains at OSE as the DC, he hires a LB coach like Mayo, to allow Mayo back into coaching?

 

[Thelonious]

What's telltale, at least for me, is Mayo's complete absence from the game. He was the primary source of his own supposed humiliation. So assuming he learned from that, one might think he'd want to redeem himself and prove why Kraft (initially) showed faith in him.

Perhaps we'll see him resurface somewhere next season but to this point, it appears he doesn't care.

Yep. I know it sounds a little "Oprah," but I keep thinking if he were a relative or friend of mine, I'd worry about him. He doesn't seem like the sort hard-boiled cynic who would say, "**** it; I've got my money. I'm out." I mean, in the context of his profession, it was a pretty humiliating thing, I would think. Maybe he'd be embarrassed to "step down" to DC, or to take some front office job, but I kind of think work is good for you, whereas lolling around the house is not. Maybe I'm just an old Puritan or something.

 

[Tunescribe]

Yep. I know it sounds a little "Oprah," but I keep thinking if he were a relative or friend of mine, I'd worry about him. He doesn't seem like the sort hard-boiled cynic who would say, "**** it; I've got my money. I'm out." I mean, in the context of his profession, it was a pretty humiliating thing, I would think. Maybe he'd be embarrassed to "step down" to DC, or to take some front office job, but I kind of think work is good for you, whereas lolling around the house is not. Maybe I'm just an old Puritan or something.

Your sensitivity to his plight would seem appropriate involving any normally forthright person. Suffice to say that Karma (with a capital K) had Mayo in its crosshairs and pulled the trigger.

 

[Thelonious]

Your sensitivity to his plight would seem appropriate involving any normally forthright person. Suffice to say that Karma (with a capital K) had Mayo in its crosshairs and pulled the trigger.

Karma, one hears, is a *****.

 

[NFL Mystique]

I feel bad for Jerod. He was elevated to a position for which he had neither the qualifications nor the experience. Ideally, he would have gained more experience as an assistant or coordinator before getting a HC job. It's going to be hard for him to start climbing the ladder again. The Krafts bear some responsibility for this.

Exactly.

Kraft even admitted that he put Mayo in a terrible spot. It's too bad because he was a good player and well respected. All of that is now overshadowed due to his coaching tenure.

 

[Lavictoire]

I remember looking at college highlights of Boutte after we drafted him and he just looked like a talented keeper.I even posted such at the time.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Exactly.

Kraft even admitted that he put Mayo in a terrible spot. It's too bad because he was a good player and well respected. All of that is now overshadowed due to his coaching tenure.

Mayo did make $10M.