Tag: Tough

Robert Kraft has often trusted his instinct to make key decisions as the Patriots owner. The most famous of course, is him giving up a first-round pick to the New York Jets to land Bill Belichick as head coach in 2000. Eyebrows were raised over the decision to let go of draft capital for an unproven coach. Six Super Bowls later, Kraft was more than vindicated in his choice.

When Belichick and the Pats parted ways in January this year, Kraft was swift to appoint former linebacker Jerod Mayo as his replacement. Despite his inexperience, the appointment made sense. Kraft had signed Jerod Mayo to the Patriots in 2008. There, he trained under Bill Belichick, played alongside Tom Brady, and won a Super Bowl (XLIX) with them during an eight-year career. After his retirement, he worked as a linebacker coach and ran the team’s defense in the last two seasons. Kraft also explained why he went with Mayo and it was again based on his trusted instinct.

“What I’ve learned in my businesses, and my career, I go with my instinct. I try to see things that other people don’t see and have the courage to live up to my convictions. I’m always thinking what’s the right thing for the long term,” Kraft said. The task to replace Belichick was always going to be hard and so it proved with the Pats sitting with a 3-12 record after Week 15. So, is Kraft’s faith in Mayo wavering?

According to The Athletic’s Diana Russini that might be the case. Mayo’s position has come under scrutiny and with reports of former Titans coach Mike Vrabel eyeing the role, uncertainty looms over the current HC’s predicament. Speaking on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Boxing Day Russinisuggested that confidence in Mayo may not be that high.

“I can tell you that the Kraft family they were ready for the bumps and bruises here. They knew that a first-time head coach is going to go through it, they are learning on the job in a really tough market. But you have to wonder if this has been good enough and I can tell you the tone in that building went from ‘yeah we’re going to probably be safe’ whereas I can tell you people in that building do not feel that strongly about it anymore,” she said.

Coming from a 4-13 record in Belichick’s final season, very few expected Mayo to perform miracles. But nobody would have expected things to look this bad after 15 games. They haven’t won a game in over a month, since their November 10 victory over the Chicago Bears and are on a five-game losing run. This season was always going to be transitional, but whether Kraft believes Mayo is the man to rebuild the Patriots for the future is what will decide his fate. Russini thinks the Pats owner might have a rethink once the season is over.

“I believe going to come down to the last games here with (Robert) Kraft really making a decision, ‘Do I pull the band-aid and just own it,’ and say, ‘we believed in him, we thought maybe he had the pieces of what a great coach would be, but it’s not going to be able to work. We don’t have the time and patience for it, we don’t want to waste the years of a great young quarterback,’ and then find someone that can come in.”

The focus and priority have been to develop rookie quarterback Drake Maye this season, whom the team picked third overall in the draft this year. The QB has impressed in New England and has been one of the rare bright spots for the team with 2,159 yards and 14 TDs. Maye’s success on the gridiron invariably ties to the Patriots’ hopes and Mayo’s future. While he has looked good, is there a chance that the team feels Mayo isn’t getting the best out of the QB?

Notably, in November it was reported by NFL insider Albert Breer that the Patriots were seeking outside help on how to handle Maye. “They have done some research over the last few weeks on how to handle a young quarterback,” Breer reported. This signifies that the Patriots are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure Maye’s development at the highest level. They are also keen to avoid the situation they experienced with Mac Jones from 2021 through 2023 after a good rookie season. Mayo will sit uneasily until the end of the season.

Early in the season, the Pats suffered some blowout losses. In their week 3 matchup against the NY Jets, they got thrashed by 3-24. Against the Texans in week 6, they lost 21-41. Still, there is a belief that Mayo should be given time to oversee the development of the team and that he retains the confidence of Kraft.

When Kraft appointed him in January, he said he had the vision of Mayo taking over Belichick five years ago. “Look, Jerod learned a lot from Bill,” Kraft said during an interview with Taylor Rooks on Amazon’s pregame show. “They are each special individuals. I’ve gotten to know Jerod over the last 12, 15 years. You know, I picked him five years ago to be our next head coach.” 

Mayo has had a lot to deal with in his first season in New England, but he hasn’t done much to help his chances. He has been under fire for the questionable decisions in crunch situations, such as the one seen in the narrow loss to the Bills recently. The Pats were down two scores and had their offense near midfield with a little more than eight minutes remaining. Surprisingly or perhaps unsurprisingly, Mayo made the call to punt.

His side needed two scores to pull off a stunning comeback against the Bills. But they didn’t even get two possessions thanks to Mayo’s to punt on fourth-and-5. The Pats lost 21-24.

Diana Russini also touched on whether Mayo will be given at least one more year by Kraft adding, “Maybe we just give them one more year, yeah. But as we know Colin, how many times do we see owners do this? Usually, if you’re playing with it, if you’re toying with it, you should make the move. Because you always come back the next year and you’ll end up firing the guy, anyway. If Robert Kraft is having doubts, then this could be another opening we see available.”

Amid all these rumors, another Patriots legend is gearing up to come back to the franchise. But that would only happen if Jerod Mayo gets fired.

Will Mike Vrabel replace Jerod Mayo at the Patriots?

The Bill Belichick era at the Patriots gave many superstars in the league. Mike Vrabel was another linebacker who won 3 Super Bowls, but he moved to the Chiefs the year Mayo arrived there. However, the rumor is that he wants to become the Patriots head coach. On the December 27 episode of The Pat McAfee Show, Connor Campbell said, “Word on the street is that Vrabel wants to coach at one place. That is very real. Allegedly, Vrabel is very interested in being the head coach of the New England Patriots.”

He also quoted Dan Orlovsky, who had claimed one week ago that Vrabel had already spoken to some but did not want to disclose. That’s big news. Mike Vrabel is a much more experienced coach than Mayo and has seen success as well.

After a stint as a defensive coordinator with the Houston Texans, he took over as the HC at the Titans. Under his tutelage, the Titans had four winning seasons, many AFC South crowns, and an AFC Championship game appearance during his six seasons there. He is one of the hottest free agents on the market and may tempt Kraft into making a move.

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