Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal dropped somewhat of a bombshell when he said earlier this week that first-year New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo is not “assured of a second season,” especially if the organization is seen as “a complete dumpster fire” by early January.
For a mailbag published on Wednesday, Patriots/NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated suggested “how locked in” New England players remain through Week 18 could determine if Patriots owner Robert Kraft makes another offseason coaching change.
“That, to me, will boil down to the sort of chance the coaches give the players to win,” Breer said. “As a former player, Mayo crossed the respect bridge with the locker room the minute he took the job in that he didn’t have to earn that respect the same way a lifetime assistant coach might when becoming a head coach. But that only goes so far. Eventually, you have to show the guys you’ll make them better, as individuals and a team, which, in time, sets them all up to be richer.”
Rumors about Mayo facing a potential locker-room “mutiny” emerged before the Patriots fell to 1-6 and before he controversially called his team “soft” following its latest defeat. Multiple New England players have since voiced their support for Mayo and Patriots beat writer Chris Mason of MassLive insisted on Thursday that he doesn’t think Kraft “would make Mayo a one-and-done coach” even if the club finishes the campaign at 1-16.
“Even if (rookie quarterback) Drake Maye regresses down the stretch — which would obviously be cause for alarm — I think (offensive coordinator) Alex Van Pelt would be the fall guy, not Mayo,” Mason continued. “Kraft chose Mayo without even conducting a coaching search. He trusted his gut. Now I think he’s going to stick with it even if his stomach starts rumbling.”
As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Patriots as seven-point underdogs for this coming Sunday’s home game against the 2-5 New York Jets. For a piece published Thursday, Karen Guregian of MassLive wrote that the upcoming divisional showdown “will serve to further define Mayo and his team” and could show New England players “have completely tuned out their head coach.”
It’s easy to say before Halloween that an NFL owner will stick to his plan. History shows a coach usually doesn’t hold onto his job for long after he loses a locker room during a “dumpster fire” of a season.
