Also agreed - this is a near ideal situation. No cap hell.
Mayo is the New Coach
- Thread starter IdiotKicker
- Start date
I can only speak for myself, but the biggest problem with this team from a fan perspective was that they were boring as hell to watch. If the Pats get a new QB to watch develop, have a decent line and a young receiver, I will be much more engaged, regardless of record.
They are instantly more watchable for a ton of reasons. We are essentially getting a completely refurbished football team to root for come next fall, with brand new characters on the sidelines and hopefully lots of new skill players.
You are spot on imo - they may not win many more games, maybe for a few seasons - but they are far more interesting going forward.
One thing I didn't think of immediately, but may be a real advantage in Mayo moving up before anyone else can hire..... he's got a couple weeks to try and put together his staff while other guys can't.
Now that's not probably going to matter for his OC if they are moving on from BoB, but secondary coaches, linebacker coaches, ST coaches, etc.... there are a lot of those guys who are either in limbo because their coach got fired, or looking for a step up, and Mayo is going to be able to go to them with a sure thing job right now.
No worrying if the new coach in SEA or CAR wants to keep you on... no worrying about where Vrabel is going to land if you want to follow him. Can plan for where you're going to live, where your kids are gonna go to school, etc.... I bet it's a real benefit.
Now that's not probably going to matter for his OC if they are moving on from BoB, but secondary coaches, linebacker coaches, ST coaches, etc.... there are a lot of those guys who are either in limbo because their coach got fired, or looking for a step up, and Mayo is going to be able to go to them with a sure thing job right now.
No worrying if the new coach in SEA or CAR wants to keep you on... no worrying about where Vrabel is going to land if you want to follow him. Can plan for where you're going to live, where your kids are gonna go to school, etc.... I bet it's a real benefit.
What's interesting about the last-place finish is we get to play the Chargers and the Bengals because they were in last place in their respective divisions. Both teams have much better QBs than the Pats. We also get the NFC West next year, it will be fun to see the Niners and the Rams.
I’ll agree with you and @Cellar-Door and @BaseballJones — it’s a pretty good situation.
The 3rd pick is nice, you have tons of cap room, and 1 of their 3 units (defense) looks very good, with a budding star in Gonzalez back next season.
Still, I wouldn’t go so far as “ideal.” The other 2 units look dreadful. The QB room is arguably the worst in the league. You’re in a Division with 2 other very good teams. And you have a notoriously impatient fan base that just saw the most dominant 20 year stretch in NFL history.
I think the Falcons and Chargers have issues of their own, but the bar for success there is lower and easier to clear, in my view.
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Maybe ideal is a bridge too far, but as far as walking into a situation as a head coach, it doesn't get all that much better.
Totally, I mean inherently most HC jobs aren't available unless something went wrong, right? Occasionally there's a retirement (Vermeil in St. Louis, Cowher in Pittsburgh, etc.) but that's the exception.
Still, if I had the choice between the Chargers and Patriots, I think I would rather descend into cap hell with the Chargers if it meant I already had my franchise QB aging into his prime.
The Chargers have no fan base. Maybe that matters, maybe that doesn't. I'd also probably rather work for Kraft.
If you are looking at the roster and cap in a vacuum, maybe I agree. But the Pats will have a chance to get their franchise QB too. May work out, may not. But I think I'd rather take my shot at that knowing that I'd also have a ton of cap space vs. the Chargers situation. YMMV obviously.
Maybe in a few years we will say "Kraft knew what he was doing" ...but the choice sure seems rushed and Mayo's coaching resume' isn't much bigger than mine.
We're still acting as if the cap is any constraint in 2024, year of our lord? Even if it's a complete financial shit show you can basically designate one reset year and be good going forward.
A good situation is one with the QB in place, they have a lot of money to play with but that's mostly because they have a shit ton of holes to fill, an overall talent deficit and an offense that will have to be remade from scratch. They don't have the quarterback, they don't have any tackles under contract, they don't have a number 1 (or 2, or maybe 3) receiver under contract. It's a good situation due to the ownership and the fanbase, but in terms of "how easy is it to project this team contending in the medium term?" it's pretty bad. They'll have to hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs with personnel and coaching in a lot of fronts.
A good situation is one with the QB in place, they have a lot of money to play with but that's mostly because they have a shit ton of holes to fill, an overall talent deficit and an offense that will have to be remade from scratch. They don't have the quarterback, they don't have any tackles under contract, they don't have a number 1 (or 2, or maybe 3) receiver under contract. It's a good situation due to the ownership and the fanbase, but in terms of "how easy is it to project this team contending in the medium term?" it's pretty bad. They'll have to hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs with personnel and coaching in a lot of fronts.
This is true, but I think it gets overplayed - it’s only because of the 17th game that worse teams get an easier schedule. Otherwise every team is playing a 1st place team from the previous season 4 times, a 2nd place team 4 times, a 3rd place team 4 times, and a last place team 4 times.
Sure. But the 2020 Patriots had no talent, no QB and a low draft pick, so it was kind of in a uniquely awful spot. In contrast to that it looks good, in contrast to most other situations not so much.
I completely disagree. It is the upper 5-10% of coaching situations to enter.
I mean if Andy Reid retired sure the Chiefs would be better. But the vast majority of coaching situations suck.
I think the only current opening that's a slam dunk worse situation is Carolina.
As long as the rookie QB isn’t a bust, wouldn’t mind if they were as bad next year. A couple down seasons before meteoric rise is fine with me as long as they are more entertaining.
Patriots: Now with Extra Mayo
Mayo My Goodness Gracious
May-O Come and Bill Wanna Go Home
Biggest annoyances: Buffalo, the traffic on Route (A)1, Sriracha Goodell. Sauce Gardner is not a big deal tho.
This can go a thousand different ways, but if Coach Mayo somehow gets his mitts on even one Lombardi, the answer to "Brady or Belichick" will be "Kraft."
This is it. If they were losing 33-27, I could get myself into the games. The only thing worse than being bad and okay to watch is being bad and terrible to watch. This was the worst Pats team we've had to watch since... what, the 1-15 season? Just a miserable and boring team starting in week 4. The first three weeks were at least interesting games.
Given how Bill feels about Mayo, I don't think for a second he would have left him in a shitty situation. If you're going to replace the GOAT, with all the pressure that comes with, there literally could not be a better situation.
High draft pick, tons of cap money, great owner, low expectations...It's all going to cone down to hiring the right GM, hitting on a QB, but even if they don't, Mayo will be given more than a year to build it up, barring an Ime Udoka type situation.
I don’t think there’s low expectations at all. Kraft seemed to be very upset by missing the playoffs 3 times. Mayo isn’t going to have too long before people start calling for him to be fired if he can’t turn around things on the field.
It's all going to depend on who the GM is and who is responsible for the draft. I believe if they draft a QB who looks like a legit player, they play hard, week in and week out, and they improve to say, 8-9, fans will be patient.
I can only speak for myself as a long time season ticket holder, I'm not running him out of town in one year either way, because unlike BB, not everything will be in his control.
Of course, I have only owned two Pats jerseys in my life, one is Ty Law, and the other is Mayo. So I'm a bit biased. Abd the Mayo one still fits, even in 10 degree weather with 4 layers underneath.
You said you've got a resume that isn't "much bigger than mine".
He's coached an NFL defense and apparently the guys love him. And it was the only good unit the NEP had last year.
On top of that, he's also been an All-Pro, a Pro Bowler, and the DROY (almost unanimous, 49-1!). He's got the professional chops in football that you couldn't fucking dream of. You haven't anything close to that kind of resume.
You can bitch about his resume -- and laughably compare yours to his -- but Kraft reportedly thought enough of him before this season started to make him the succession plan to BB when the time came.
What I'm trying to say is: kick rocks, bud.
Annointing a successor, who has only coached professionally underneath the guy you just fired, reeks of "we know better b/c we've been so successful" from the Krafts. Rooting for him, but besides getting one interview request from the worst owner in football last year, what exactly qualifies Jerod Mayo so much so that the team shouldn't even make him interview against other candidates for the position, especially before the team names a general manager?
Always good to know what Terry in Charlestown thinks. Thanks.
I agree with this and also want to compliment you on a world-class humblebrag.
This guy gets it.
Mayo has the leader of men thing, he knows defenses, he knows THIS defense, and he knows basically everyone in the building up to ownership. He understands the culture stuff. And he's a bad man. All of this is more than enough to get this job.
Can he fail, of course. There are still questions around who picks the groceries, what those groceries will be, who runs the offense, etc. But Mayo isn't just some guy who got bumped. He's a fucking football expert. There are reasons for optimism.
It wasn’t even 3 times in a row. It was 3 times over 4 seasons (although 6 of the last 24). I think Mayo gets a little bit more time as a first time HC. At least, I hope so. As others have said, they hit on a QB and that can cover for a lot.
And in the grand scheme of things, with six other NFL head coaches 40 or under, Mayo's not even that inexperienced, considering his playing resume.
One thing I didn't now about Mayo: His brother Deron is the Pats' strength and conditioning coach and his other brother Derek won and FCS title with Richmond. Real "football in his blood" stuff there.
Mayo gives me some Tomlin vibes - and I say that in a complimentary way. A voice the team will like, respect, and play hard for. I think Mayo probably has a more Xs and Os chops than Tomlim as well, based on his playing career as MLB and his performance as a defensive coach. I am optimistic about his ability to perform as CEO. The BB model is not likely to ever work again in the NFL. The non-coaching side is too big, too complex. And I don’t think that having a master tactician in all things football is necessary for long term success. Getting everyone to row in sync and in the right direction is more important. I think Mayo checks all of those boxes. It will come down to which QB they select, how they develop that QB, how they protect that QB (OL personnel), and what weapons they arm him with.
Volin goes nuclear on Krafts today. I guess Volin's treatment of BB wasnt about BB at all. Maybe he was a fan of Siam Orchid back in his Miami days and he's pissed at Kraft for getting it shut down.
He covers all the bases, starting with telling us "how we should feel."
He covers all the bases, starting with telling us "how we should feel."
I've gotten more than plenty of that around here this week.
I saw this and almost lost my breakfast:
View: https://twitter.com/BenVolin/status/1745913070323405104?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Just pathetic.
I don't get the harping on the Rooney Rule loophole. I mean, they hired a black head coach. Would he have been happier if they had interviewed 5 black candidates but then hired Jim Harbaugh instead? Is that a better outcome for the black coaching community?
Even those here who hate the hire can conjure up reasons why it *might* be good, even if they don't agree with those reasons. It's entirely unfathomable to Ben, except for power and cheapness.
I think this might be the highlight of my day and it's still early...
Kinda sorta related sidenote: I coached youth football for nearly a decade and the best part of practices was the initial warm-up and stretching where you walk around and actually talk to the kids. Water breaks as well.
Nah, make Moss GM to hand out that first round money!
As for the idea that the Mayo hiring was “secretive” or “rushed,” the money line in retrospect in that Kraft press conference was when he said that he “instantly regretted” letting Belichick go after 1996. Clearly, Kraft has been impressed with Mayo for some time and didn’t want to miss the chance to get the guy he came to believe over multiple years was the right guy to lead and coach his team.
Whether or not he’s right about Mayo who knows, but Kraft knows how things work better than anyone inside of Gillette and probably saw this more as a multi-year interview than some end around. And, it’s hard to argue with his track record.
