On Monday, New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo provided a little glimpse into how the team currently views Mac Jones, and it sounds like the future for the former number-one pick remains in question heading into 2024.
Mayo joined WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show for an interview with the station on Monday, which will return to being a regular weekly appearance when the season kicks off next September.
During the interview, Mayo addressed a variety of topics, one of which had to do with the future of Jones and the offense.
However, one thing that stood out was when Mayo was asked who the biggest leader on the team was, and his response was interesting.
“We have a lot of guys. I would say, for a long time – I’m not sure what [Matthew] Slater’s going to do – but for a long time, he’s been a great leader in that locker room,” said Mayo. “We have leaders defensively. We have [Deatrich] Wise. We have [Ja’Whaun] Bentley.”
“You look at the offensive side of the ball. You know, how ever you want to slice it, look, whoever the quarterback is, and you know this too, being a coach (to Jermaine Wiggins), the quarterback has to have some type of leadership ability. And hopefully, we can get to that point where …,” said Mayo, his voice trailing off for a moment before he continued.
“David Andrews, great leader on the offensive side of the ball as well, Hunter Henry, great leader on the offensive side of the ball. But what I will say is, it’s hard to lead through tough times and that’s when you really start to see people change, you really start to see the attitudes change, people getting in small huddles and things like that. And that’s when people are looking for a leader. When everything is not going right, they’re looking for a leader. When you’re winning games, it’s easy. ‘Like, come on guys, family on three … 1 , 2, 3 family.’ Then when you go on a six-game losing streak, you’re like, ‘forget it.’”
Hill obviously noticed the pause and the segue, and asked Mayo if he believed Jones struggled in that leadership role.
“I’m not saying that,” said Mayo. “What I will say is, when I think about Mac, he obviously has talent, and once again, we’re in the evaluation phase. I will say, with that, the confidence of a player is very fragile, especially these players now – like I’m an old man or something like that – but confidence goes a long way, and honestly, as we continue to evaluate as a coaching staff, we’ll see.”
He was also asked if he felt like, from a coaching staff perspective, if they let Jones down in terms of building his confidence.
Mayo admitted there were mistakes made, but that there was enough blame to go around.
“The thing I would say is, if you were to ask Mac Jones, he made mistakes along the way as well,” said Mayo. “Coaching staff, we made mistakes along the way as well, and I’m not just talking about the offensive coaching staff. One thing about Mac, you know, everybody talks to Mac. Special teams, defensive players, offensive players, we were trying to help him with that confidence. But I think everyone has … there’s enough blame to go around.”
As for the rumors about where the locker room was at in terms of potentially being split, Mayo also provided some insight there as well. He noted that it was tough for the defense to operate when they’d come off the field, try and come up with adjustments, only to have to go right back out there.
At the same time, Mayo admitted, it was tough to place the blame on one player, but that there were people who had “different opinions” on their situation.
“I would say, offensively, I mean, everyone was frustrated,” said Mayo. “Coaches were frustrated, players were frustrated. I would say on the defensive side of the ball, those guys did a good job just continuing to go out there and play. It’s hard to do things like that, right? You feel like you’re trying to make an adjustment real quick, and then it’s like, ‘Punt team,’ and it’s like, ‘Oh, no, not again.’ But at the same time, look, all those guys love Bailey [Zappe], they love Mac, it’s just who’s going to give us the best chance to win the game? And that’s what it came down to.”
“And once again, it’s hard to get a whole locker room to say like, ‘this is the guy.’ We’re not talking about Tom Brady here, the greatest of all time. [That’s] easy, alright? 99-100% of the locker room is like, ‘Yeah, that’s the guy.’ And then you start losing games and we have two guys who are still trying to find out who they are. What kind of player are they? Look, I’m not going to confirm that the locker room was split, but there were people who had different opinions.”
For now, the Patriots head into this offseason with plenty of areas that will need to be addressed, with the situation at quarterback, offensive line, and receiver among several of the biggest. How they’ll proceed in the months ahead is clearly the key question everyone will be wondering as they begin making moves to improve their roster.
Mayo did say that the plan is absolutely to take advantage of whatever opportunities they get in free agency and that ownership supports whatever they’ll ultimately try to do.
“We’re bringing in talent, 1000% percent.” said Mayo. “[We] have a lot of cap space and cash. Ready to burn some cash.”
Coming off their 4-13 finish, the expectations are obviously going to be high heading into next season. However, Mayo certainly sounds confident. When asked if he felt his team would win more than four games in 2024, he responded, “I do feel that way.”
When asked whether or not he was on the record with that prediction, he didn’t back down.
“You’ve got me on record? That we’re going to win more than four games? I’m on record,” said Mayo. “Absolutely.”
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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.
