Things are going absolutely splendidly in Foxborough right now. The New England Patriots are coming off their worst season this century, so bad in fact that former head coach Bill Belichick agreed to part ways with the franchise. It took about a day for the Patriots to promote one of his former players from within. It is Jerod Mayo's show now. While we wish him all the best, it is not going well...
The Patriots may have the No. 3 pick in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft, but the Chicago Bears and the Washington Commanders sit ahead of them in one of the best quarterback drafts in ages. They will probably be in a great position to take either Drake Maye out of North Carolina or Jayden Daniels out of LSU, but Caleb Williams will already be off the board out of USC before they are even on the clock.
All it may take is one player to turn the fallen ashes of the Evil Empire into something great again, but in the meantime, Mayo has to do a better job of landing coordinators. He may end up being more of the CEO-type in the end, but these types of head coaches do not go anywhere without a great staff backing them up. All three coordinator posts have been met with mixed reviews to say the very least.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler says they are looking at Luke Getsy as a potential offensive coordinator fit.
Mayo is expected to promote defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington from within to coordinator.
Even a top special teams coordinator in Marquise Williams was offered the job and turned it down.
It was later revealed Williams was going to stay in Atlanta to work for Raheem Morris, but come on!
We still have a full offseason ahead of us, but my money is on the Patriots have the No. 1 pick in 2025.
NFL rumors: Things aren't going well with Jerod Mayo hiring coordinators
Although it wasn't a complete facade, there is a reason why The Patriot Way was the way until it wasn't... The first brutal blow the franchise suffered was Belichick not believing in Tom Brady anymore. He drafted Jimmy Garoppolo as his replacement prematurely in 2014 and had to trade the poor guy long before Brady was ready to hang it up in 2017. Garoppolo is now on his third NFL team.
The next had everything to do with his vendetta with Brady's personal trainer of sorts, Alex Guerrero. TB12 became a divisive issue on all things concerning The Patriot Way. While Brady wanted to keep playing, he left the team in free agency for three years of semi-retired ball in Gulf Coast Florida with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He got three playoff berths, two division titles and a Super Bowl out of it.
In the wake of Brady leaving New England in 2020, the Patriots quickly turned into a pumpkin. Cam Newton was washed by the time he arrived. Outside of a strong rookie season out of Mac Jones in 2021, there was nothing to be proud about with this dying franchise. Eventually, the bill came due and Belichick had to go. All that was left were his guys who only knew how to coach sub-.500 football.
Overall, I really do hope Mayo can carve out his own niche of success in New England. It is going to be tough as hell, but a complete and utter rebuild is totally necessary. Right now, the Patriots have made the worst hire of any of the teams who filled their vacancies the last few weeks. There are reasons why I am excited about seeing what the other five hires across the league can be, just not this one.
Ultimately, this could all be a moot point if Getsy can take his Chicago dismissal to heart and coach with a vengeance. I don't hate the idea of pairing him with a top-three pick at quarterback. My problem with the Patriots is that they have not drafted well for the better part of a decade now. Belichick didn't seem to care about that. It led to his empire completely collapsing on and around him.
Mayo can earn a lot of respect in how he goes about addressing the rebuild, recognizing that it is one.