New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft on January 11 fired the head coach who brought him a record six Super Bowl victories in nine trips to the NFL’s biggest game. Then just one day after cutting ties with Bill Belichick, who ruled the Patriots for 24 years while building the greatest dynasty the NFL had ever seen, Kraft announced that he had already hired the Patriots new coach, 37-year-old Jerod Mayo.
On Wednesday, a detailed new report by Chad Graff of The Athletic reveals just how poorly thought out and ultimately disastrous Kraft’s decision really was.
Patriots fans certainly do not need to be told that the hiring of Mayo turned out terribly. On Sunday, with a defeat of the Buffalo Bills â a win that cost the Patriots the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, relegating them to No. 4 â the Patriots mercifully wrapped up a second straight, dismal 4-13 season.
Mayo Had ‘Issues’ From ‘Day One’ as Patriots Coach
Just two hours after the the game ended, Kraft announced that he had fired Mayo, along with offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. As the Athletic report details, the problems that led to Mayo’s sudden dismissal extended far beyond the team’s uninspiring, to say the least, performance on the field.
“From day one, Mayo ran into issues,” Graff wrote. “It started while trying to build out his coaching staff.” Because Mayo played his entire eight-year career with the Patriots and his only NFL coaching experience came as an assistant on Belichick’s New England staff from 2019 to 2023, he had relatively few contacts or connections around the NFL. When he tried to hire an offensive coordinator he ran through “more than a dozen” interviews before Van Pelt, then the Cleveland Browns OC, consented to take the job.
But according to Graff and the sources he cites, one incident more than any other appeared to sum up the problems with Mayo’s approach. Coming out of their bye week, a late one in Week 14, the three-win Patriots took on a 6-7 Arizona Cardinals team in Arizona. Though the Patriots were expected to at least put on a competitive, spirited performance against Arizona, they did the opposite, falling behind 16-3 after three quarters before the offense finally showed some life and scored two touchdowns, one on a pass by rookie quarterback Drake Maye, the other by Maye on the ground.
Unfortunately, the Patriots defense also allowed 14 points in the fourth quarter, and the game ended in a 30-17 Patriots defeat.
Rather Than Watch Film, Mayo Played Cards With Players
“Plane rides in the NFL are typically quiet after losses. Coaches and execs sit up front, players toward the back,” Graff wrote. “But in a move that surprised some at the front of the plane after such a lopsided loss, according to a team source, Mayo… left his spot near the front and went back to where some players had gathered to play cards, choosing to hang out there while his assistants watched film.”
According to Graff, some members of the Patriots organization believed the incident encapsulated Mayo’s attempt to be a “player’s coach,” after what head of player personnel Eliot Wolf called the “hard-ass vibe” of the team under Belichick.
The Atheltic report also recounts several other incidents, such as Mayo’s attempt to demote Steve Belichick, son of the former coach, from his defensive play-caller role. The younger Belichick did not accept the lesser role and instead took a job as defensive coordinator with the Washington Huskies college football program.
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