Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski wasn't a fan of New England firing Jerod Mayo

With all due respect to whatever John Mara is doing right now, the biggest shocker of the NFL coaching carousel so far has to be the New England Patriots, who didn't even wait until Black Monday to fire Jerod Mayo — who'd spent the better part of the past two decades with the organization — after just one season as head coach.

Sure, New England went 4-13, and missing out on the No. 1 overall pick was just one final lowlight in a year full of them. But the Pats knew they weren't surrounding Mayo with the talent necessary to win; is he really all that different from the guy you thought deserved the job 12 months ago? Doesn't he deserve the chance to learn and grow?

According to Robert Kraft, the answer to those questions was "yes" and "no," respectively. But plenty of people around the franchise appear to have disagreed — including one franchise legend (and former teammate of Mayo) in particular.

Rob Gronkowski calls Patriots firing of Jerod Mayo 'unfair'

Former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski appeared on the Stacking the Box podcast alongside fellow future Hall of Famer Drew Brees on Tuesday. The two touched on a wide variety of topics, but Gronk couldn't be allowed to leave until we got his take on how Mayo was treated. And the five-time Pro Bowler was pretty frank in his assessment.

"I was surprised to hear about Jerod getting fired," Gronkowski said. "I felt like it was kind of unfair to him, because he took on a team that was going to need time to build and develop to get back to their winning ways."

Gronk went on to say that, while Mayo certainly made his fair share of mistakes in 2024, firing him without giving him any sort of leeway felt a bit harsh.

"The roster was depleted, Jerod was a rookie head coach and I felt like he needed another year to be able to really judge him based on how Jerod was developing as a coach and how he was growing after his first season."

Granted, it's no surprise that Gronkowski would go to bat for a guy he shared a locker room with (and won a Super Bowl with) from 2010 to 2015. But the fact that one of the most decorated Patriots in franchise history would be comfortable enough to criticize his former owner in public just goes to show how far out on a limb Kraft went with this decision. If he felt like this was a one-time opportunity to land a franchise-altering coach like Mike Vrabel, so be it; Kraft's ultimate responsibility is to put his team on the best possible path to winning, and it's hard to argue that Vrabel doesn't have the more impressive track record as a head coach.

But that doesn't make the treatment of Mayo any more fair, and Kraft should own up to that. He called it the hardest decision he's ever had to make for a reason, and if it doesn't prove to be the right one, he'll come in for some more criticism.

Drew Brees is heading to New Orleans for the Super Bowl to be Gronk's wingman for the Bounty wingman campaign.