With Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft agreeing to part ways on Thursday, Kraft later said that the plan would be to move quickly as the team begins assembling its new staff ahead of the offseason.
On Friday, they made the most important one.
According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the New England Patriots officially hired former linebacker Jerod Mayo as its new head coach, which begins the start of a new era here in New England.
Mayo, who is a former first-round pick for the club in 2008 and played linebacker for Belichick and the Patriots until he retired after the 2015 season, has certainly risen quickly on the Patriots coaching staff. He joined the staff in 2019 as a linebackers coach and has rapidly ascended, with Mayo even drawing interest from around the league as a potential head coach.
Kraft made the move last offseason to keep him in-house, with Mayo turning down head coaching interviews as the plan seemingly became to groom him for an opportunity to become New England’s future head coach.
It appears that future is now.
While Belichick had been under contract through next season, what transpired over the course of this 4-13 season certainly changed things. Now, Mayo’s opportunity has arrived and now they’ll likely turn their attention to making changes in the front office as player evaluations and lack of talent are ultimately what sunk them in 2023.
The Patriots still have serious questions on the offensive side of the ball. With the number three overall pick in April’s draft, they still have some critical needs both at quarterback and the offensive line, as well as a receiving corps that is lacking any serious talent and in dire need of improvement.
They also face some significant free agent questions, with Michael Onwenu and Hunter Henry among several names of guys they’ll likely try to keep in-house as they continue revamping the football team.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
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