TRANSCRIPT: Jerod Mayo’s Press Conference 5/20
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Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo had to say on Monday, May 20th, 2024.
Opening Statement:
“I’m excited. First day of OTAs, guys seem ready to go. We were down in the meeting rooms, and we’ll see. Now it’s time to apply it to the field. So, [I’m] excited.”
On when it comes to quarterback, what he’s looking to see from them:
“Well, it depends what quarterback you’re talking about. I would say from a holistic standpoint, it’s just about progress. Look, today, it won’t be perfect, and I don’t expect it to be perfect, but you want to make sure you see these guys going in the right direction from an execution standpoint.”
On who this offense is for, whether it’s an offense for his two quarterbacks or if it’s an offense for Jacoby Brissett:
“Look, all these quarterbacks have a, let’s say, a similar skillset. It’s an AVP offense. And once again, sometimes I think we read too much into that stuff, especially when you’re talking about early downs, which is really the primary focus this week is early downs and not third down. Now, once you get the third down, it’s a little bit more exotic, and you could say, ‘Oh, this is a Alex Van Pelt offense,’ or whoever you want to use.”
On the fact he mentioned early down, and if that’s the focus here today:
“Once we get the team, it’s all early downs. And once again, look, we’re going to go out here and compete, but at the same time, be smart. Our number one goal has to be to get out of the spring healthy. Hopefully, we’ve built a sense of camaraderie amongst our teammates and coaches, and really getting a fundamental understanding of how we want to play.”
On the plan for splitting up the reps with four quarterbacks:
“You’ll see today. But honestly, look, all these guys will get an opportunity. It’s really not about how many reps here and there. It’s about the quality of those reps that you get. That’s what I preach.”
On the progress he’s seen from Drake Maye:
“Yeah, I thought Drake did a great job, not only progressing on the field, but also off the field. You can already tell he’s going to put in that extra work. You know, I walk by the quarterback meeting room, he’s just in there by himself watching film. Those are the things that you want to see, and excited to see his growth going forward.”
On how he views the competition in the wide receiver room:
“It’s a wide-open competition. We have some young bulls, we have some older players, we have guys who are really improving. So this is an opportunity for them to really get a leg up going forward, especially when you don’t have a guy like [Kendrick] Bourne out here during the spring.”
On what he’s seen from JuJu Smith-Schuster given that the wide receiver room is crowded:
“Yeah, the room is definitely crowded. He looks good. He’s moving around well. We’ll see today when they’re actually going against someone else, but it looks good, and it’s the question for the end of the spring, honestly.”
On Bailey Zappe and what he’s seen from him this offseason:
“Honestly, I think about Zapp as a true professional. We drafted two quarterbacks. Obviously, he’s going to be competing with those guys, but at the same time, he’s an open book. He is a resource. He has started games in this league, and that’s more than the other two quarterbacks can say.”
On Bourne and what the timeline is to have him on the field:
“Honestly, it’s a week-by-week type of thing. We hope to get him out here. Well, he won’t be out here during the spring. I can tell you that. So we’ll see going forward. That’s more information than you normally would get, right?”
On if there’s anyone else not expected to be seen during the spring because of injuries:
“There are a few guys. A few guys still working through some things. We had our off-season surgeries and things like that. So you’ll see out here in a second.”
On if he’s happy with the attendance:
“The attendance is great. The attendance is great. A handful of guys that aren’t here. At the same time, those guys that aren’t here are true professionals, and they know what they have to do to get back in being in shape and ready to go.”
On if Matthew Judon is expected to be here:
“He’s not here today. I’ll say he’s not here today. He has been in and out. At the same time, look, he’s one of those guys historically, he’s been in and out. So not really a big story there.”
On if they have a timeline with Cole Strange:
“Yeah, that’s an interesting one. He’s another guy. Normally, we say day by day. He’s more of a, let’s say, week by week, or we want to go month by month if you want to. But he’s working hard. He’s doing his rehab. He’s here every day. He’s in the meeting room, so I’m happy where he is.”
On the rep distribution with quarterbacks and if it will be something that will happen when the media isn’t there:
“No, that won’t be indicative of what we do. I think it’s a day by day thing. You try to keep all those guys around the same rep count, but at the same time, in any given day, this guy could get 30 reps, another guy could get five. But then as we work through the week, it’ll kind of flip.”
On Drake Maye’s development and if they look at it as an in phases situation, and how they structure the information to help him absorb it:
“There are definitely things … look, he’s learning a new playbook. He’s learning a new language. He’s learning his teammates. He’s learning fundamentals that we preach here. So it’s a lot for him. At the same time, I know he can handle it, and I just look forward to seeing him progress.”
On the player’s response to having Matthew Slater and what he’s noticed:
“The thing about Slate, he can wear so many different hats. He can help as far as technique and coaching is concerned on special teams. He’s always been a spiritual leader in our locker room as well. And then once again, just a confidante, not only to me, but also to the players. And he knows 100% I will never put him in a position where he’s losing the trust of the players. I want the players to be able to talk to him knowing that it won’t get back to me. He understands that as well.”
On a story by Albert Breer where the plan would be to have four QBs down to three and what that fourth QB would be doing:
“We’ll see. Once we get to training camp, that’s real football. So out here in the spring, we’ll rock with four. But as soon as we get to training camp, now you have to start paring down the rosters.”
On what he likes about the way the two rookie quarterbacks work together:
“You know, they’ve had a history before. Those guys have made the quarterback trek together. And I would also say, Drake, he knew Jacoby before he even got here. Those guys are working well together, and the rookies have that extra hour as well. So they’re accountability partners, both on and off the field.”
On what he saw from [Special Teams Assistant] Coby Tippett and [Defensive Assistant] Vinny DePalma and why he wanted them on his staff:
“They’re hard workers. I think that, first and foremost, has to be something that we focus on, is having guys – grinders – is what we call them. Guys that really, they’re here at 6:00 in the morning, and they leave when the work is done. They’ve done a great job for us.”
On having so many coaches on the staff and what went into that:
“Yeah, the thing about it, that’s an interesting dynamic or interesting conversation. So many coaches on the staff. What I will say, historically, we’ve always had a small staff, and so now it feels like a lot more coaches out here, but really that brings us back up to par, realistically.”
On when he was a rookie, he came into a leadership role pretty quickly and how he strikes the balance of helping Maye fit in as a young player with veterans around him while also trying to eventually become a leader:
“Honestly, that narrative of me coming in as a leader in my first year is kind of off, in my opinion. My big thing was, ‘be a sponge.’ Learn from the Mike Vrabels, the Tom Bradys, the Randy Mosses of the world. And really, my leadership happened by those guys throwing me in the room with Bill [Belichick] asking for no pads. So they knew I really cared about the team more than I cared about myself because I said, ‘Coach, the guys are tired. They don’t want to be in pads.’ 80 % of the time, Coach is like, Get back in the locker room. But the two times that he would say, ‘You’re right, you’re probably right.’ I was a hero in there. And that’s where my leadership development really took off my first year.”
On if he’s looking for those leadership qualities out there or if he’s looking for those sponge qualities:
“I think you hit it on the head. You want to have a quarterback that has those leadership traits if you want to become the team that you want to be. It’s a guy who touches the ball every single play. And I will say this, you can develop leadership. Some people have that natural leadership, but I do think it’s a muscle that you could develop.”
On the jumps he’d like to see from second and third year players:
“Yeah, I mean, there’s no other point in their careers where they can make a massive jump like they can, going from year one to year two. You look at the linemen that we have going into year two, we’re leaning on those guys to really make those jumps, and they have to really understand that and put in the extra work. And once again, they have to really… Don’t worry about last year. Now you understand what we’re trying to do from a scheduling standpoint, from what you got to do to go out there and play. And so we’re looking for those guys to make a huge jump.”
On his thoughts on the Week 14 bye:
“Yeah, it seems like a long way out. It is what it is. At the same time, I think it’ll be a welcome break for our guys. We’ll be grinding through, and I think our guys will be up for the challenge.”
On Brian Belichick being retained and his value, along with how he’s handled everything:
“A true professional. Anytime you see your dad and your brother go somewhere else, the natural thing would be to go with them. Look, he’s a New Englander. He’s a Patriot. I’m happy to have him. I know DeMarcus [Covington] is happy to have him as well. I think he’s a great coach, and I still think he has room to grow, and he’s really taken it by the horns and worked on his development. So excited to have him.”
On Kayshon Boutte and his status with the team:
“Yeah. I mean, right now, he’s out here. We’ll wait to hear from the league going forward, but he’s out here. He’s doing a good job for us.”
On his thoughts on Eliot Wolf’s promotion:
“Yeah. Look, I’m very excited to work with Eliot. We’ve been working behind the scenes for a while now. One of those guys where we both believe in collaboration and working together. Now look, once again, we’re 0-0. There will be a time where we probably don’t see things the same, but at the same time, I think we can work through it. So excited to work with him.”
On whether or not they could have asked for an earlier bye week:
“Look, that whole process, I think they always give teams the option to have it right after an international game. Now look, would I have wanted it a little bit earlier, maybe like week 10? Who knew it would be week 14? But it is what it is.”
(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.)
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