TRANSCRIPT: Jerod Mayo Patriots Rookie Minicamp Press Conference

Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo had to say on Saturday as he spoke to reporters during Patriots rookie minicamp.

On if he’s a shorts and t-shirt ‘all-weather’ type of guy:

“Honestly, I thought it was going to be a little warmer out here. I like hoodies. At the same time, I’m trying to do my own thing without the hoodie. So now I’m just going to freeze my butt off.”

On what he accomplished yesterday and what he’s hoping to accomplish today:

“I think, first and foremost, yesterday was more of an evaluation day to see how these guys are physically and also mentally. Today, we’ll have a little bit more as far as competitive drills, still following the rules, but it will be good to see those guys actually going out there and playing football.”

On if there was anyone who stood out:

“Honestly, we have 20 try-out guys here as well. So, there are a lot of guys that came out here and looked good in shorts and T-shirts. But I think the thing we have to remember is, it’s football. There have been a lot of shorts and T-shirt All-stars that never really touched the field, and we’ll have to wait and see until we get the pads on.”

On his early impressions of Drake Maye:

“Early impressions of Drake? Look, he has a lot to work on. He has a lot to work on, but I have no doubt that he’ll put the time in. I know you guys saw him out, well, you didn’t see him out here yesterday, but he was here all night trying to get on the same page as everyone else.”

On the type of work they’re doing off the field to get Maye up to speed:

“It just comes down to time. I mean, that’s the biggest hurdle. Then you work under some of these phase two, phase three rules where you don’t have as much time as you want to, so you can’t have those conversations. But look, it’s all about… I mean, hard work works. We talk about it all the time, and he’s working hard. So day one, it’s hard. It’s hard to really say, this guy did X, Y, and Z.”

On who the primary person will be in Drake’s ear and Joe Milton’s ear, whether it’s T.C. McCartney or Alex Van Pelt:

“No, that’s a great question. I would say across the league, most offensive coordinators, they interact with the quarterback, the starting quarterback for the most part. We do have a group of coaches that have quarterback backgrounds, but I would say overall, it’ll be AVP [Alex Van Pelt] as far as that.”

With Drake, and …

“With Drake, with Jacoby, and …”

You don’t know how the starter is:

“That’s right. We don’t know who the starter is. So AVP would be in all of those.”

On how he’d describe the division of labor with the coaching staff:

“No, it’s a great question. There has to be balance there. You don’t want with Drake, hearing too many voices. And once again, that’s why I’m saying AVP will be the lead guy as far as that communication with Drake.”

On what they can work on in minicamp, and how much of that will be learning the playbook:

“Yeah, I mean, they’re studying the plays that we’re going to run during the season. You want to see if these guys can take what they pick up in the classroom and see if they can apply it on the field.”

On what he’s learned about multiple voices in a QB’s ear and having one voice vs hearing from different people:

“Honestly, that’s my own life. So you hear all these voices. You have to have a small circle that you really can talk to and trust. I think AVP is in that circle. I know AVP is in that circle with Drake and the rest of these quarterbacks.”

On if he’s seen a change in terms of how he attacks a practice having formerly been a linebackers coach:

“Honestly, I’ve been over with the offense more than I have with the defense, and that just goes back to continuing to grow and continue to learn. I sit in those offensive meetings as well, and I’m learning right alongside those guys. As far as practice is concerned, I’m going to bounce around. Offense, defense, special teams, I mean, they all play a huge part in winning football games, but that’s the benefit of having a bigger staff or a larger staff. I’m able to do that.”

On Ben McAdoo’s role:

“Ben has tremendous experience. He’s coached every position on the offensive side of the ball. So, he was one of those catch-off players just in case as we started to build out the coaching staff. He has a great history, great background. He also helps me with some of the scheduling stuff, almost like an assistant head coach type of role there. But I do have a small circle of people I lean on as far as that’s concerned.”

On if the quarterbacks each have the same developmental schedule, or if he has to separate them out:

“No, you have to do it together. You want it to be a fair competition, especially when we start doing offense versus defense. Look, once again, we have a lot of coaches here that know the position. And so those guys, after the allotted time, they have to take it on their own to go out there and get better. So that’s where you really start to see separation of those guys that do a little bit extra.”

On if he’s seen Joe Milton throw the ball yet:

“I have. I’ve seen Joe throw the ball.”

On Javon Baker expressing a high level of self-confidence and if there’s a point where he says something:

“Honestly, for me, I want these guys to have a personality. I want them to feel free to talk about certain things. Look, we’ll have rules of what to talk about. But now, once he puts it out there, he has to show it every day out here on the football field. If not, he’s just a talker. And then you start to lose the respect of the locker room and things like that. So, look, he said it, he put it out there, now you got to show us.”

On the fact the team has been interviewing for executive VP of player personnel and if it ties into his role and how important it is:

“For me, it’s really just been about rookie mini-camp. And I hate to give you that answer, but we have guys here that are going to be on our team. And so I’ve just really been focusing on that.”

On Matthew Slater joining the staff and what his role is going to be:

“Yeah, Slate is on the staff, and I’m happy about that. We came in together in 2008. Whoever would have thought, and I always joke with them, when we were in that room, rookie minicamp, that he would have a gold jacket one day? Hopefully, he does get that gold jacket. But he’s an advisor for me. All things football and honestly, the things off in the field. He’s a very smart individual, and I would say we see most things the same way. At the same time, I know he’s a guy that would be honest with me. You know, once you put the head coach hat on, it’s hard to find people who are honest with you.”

On if they could do Double Dutch together:

“We could Double Dutch together, no doubt.”

On if there’s a player development role that’s part of it:

“Yeah, that’s part of it. But once again, I would say he’s just one of my advisors.”

On the feeling of getting to work:

“Yeah, it feels great. It feels great to get on the field. The first day I was out on the field with the guys, that was like that aha moment. Everyone was asking me, ‘How does it feel?’ It felt regular to me to be inside, but as soon as I came out here and was able to talk to different positions, that was like that ‘aha’ moment.”

On if he watched the Tom Brady Roast:

“No. You know what? That’s a fib, okay? So I started off watching it. I will be honest. We want to have transparency and honesty. I started off watching it, and then I was like, I’m going to change the channel.”

Too much?

“It was too much for me, but it is what it is.”

On the fact he needs to go back and watch Bill Belichick:

“No, I’m not watching it. I haven’t watched The Dynasty. I haven’t watched the whole roast. I’m just focused on what I have to do. I think you guys would be nice to me if we win games, not watching Netflix.”

On if any tryout guys have impressed him:

“There are a few. And look, once again, this is another day to add into it. You can’t just take one day and say, this guy showed out. I know that’s the hot thing to do. At the same time, we’ll do a lot here today, and you guys will get a chance to see these guys as well. Ask me that next time we talk.”

On what he looks for in tryout guys:

“Honestly, it’s about movement skills. It’s an evaluation. So it’s about movement skills. It’s about what they can pick up in the classroom, how these guys learn, and how they can help our team going forward.”

“Thanks, guys.”

(Editor’s Note: This transcript is done via the available footage and is subject to typos. If you spot something, please take a moment to let me know in the comments below.)

About Ian Logue

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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