The New England Patriots were clearly an absolute mess on the offensive side of the ball last season. It seemed fairly obvious that both quarterbacks Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe were dramatically outmatched and will not be the long term solutions in New England but there is also a major concern at the wide receiver position and a lack of consistency at the offensive line. Even for a well established coach, this is not an easy task for an NFL Head Coach to accomplish.
Is Jerod Mayo in Over His Head for the New England Patriots?
Now lets introduce the new face of Foxboro as New England selected Jerod Mayo to be the new head coach following Bill Belichick. Let us start with the obvious: Mayo wasn’t necessarily selected as the best candidate. During Belichicks recent contract negotiations, Mayo was actually written in as his successor following the departure of the legendary coach. That means that, to be frank, Mayo is just another extension of Belichicks greatest flaw.
As was seen with his constant hiring of coaches that were misfits at other positions around the NFL like offensive coordinators Josh McDaniels, Bill O’Brien and former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, Belichick frequently put far more emphasis on loyalty than talent. That extends to Mayo who started as a linebackers coach after he played at the linebacker position for Belichick for his entire career from 2008 to 2015. Following his playing career, he took a brief stint as a finance banker before joining the New England Coaching staff again in 2019. Clearly, Mayo was a Belichick insider and was ultimately treated as such.
Is Mayo qualified to be an NFL Head Coach?
Now for a point that has become highly controversial over the past few seasons: While hiring an extremely young coach may be popular in the NFL today, I would still argue that teams who hire established and successful coaches who have experience as offensive or defensive coordinators are far more successful. Coaches like the Rams Sean McVey and the Bengals Zac Taylor may have found success but 99% of that success is based on tremendous jobs by the personnel departments on those teams building the rosters.
While this strategy has worked for some teams, it certainly isn’t a consistent recipe for success as many young first time head coaches crash and burn. While Mayo is certainly not experienced as an NFL Coach at the age of 37, he has also only experienced one NFL head coach during his entire playing and coaching career. Belichick may have been a successful coach, but I have argued before that his coaching style was far outdated in the NFL and was doomed to fail without the great Tom Brady at quarterback.
On top of that, Mayo was an edge rusher and did not play a classic strategic position on the defense. While inside linebackers like Mike Vrabel had experience audibling and calling plays on the defensive side of the ball, edge rushers are typically only responsible for rushing the passer. While that may be a valuable skillset on the field, it doesn’t provide a deep understanding of the game that is essential to become a head coach.
Does Mayo have the Talent Around Him to Succeed with New England?
Another major issue is that New England has had a significant issue in terms of their long term success over the past few seasons.
On the offensive side, New England has struggled to put together many successful draft picks and therefore is completely void of talent except for Rhamandre Stevenson. While Stevenson may be a talented running back, it has become clear that the back is clearly the least valuable position on the offense. Stevenson is certainly a talented player but will likely only be relevant for another few seasons based on the precedent set by other running backs over the past few seasons.
On the defensive side, Belichick has essentially relied completely on free agent signings to build a successful defense. While that may have provided the team a solid defense over the last few seasons, it is unlikely to be able to improve on its current form and will likely regress over the next few seasons without the influx of elite defensive talent. With the desperate needs on the offensive side of the ball, there is unlikely to be enough draft collateral to spend on the defensive side.
While linebacker Matthew Judon (age 30) has been the leader over the past few seasons and the team has added young talents like defensive tackle Christian Barmore and cornerback Christian Gonzalez, the defense will likely be in decline in the next few seasons as the team is forced to focus the majority of its offensive firepower on the offensive side.
Will Mayo’s Leadership Qualities be Enough to Turn this Team Around?
After all of that, Mayo has expressed that he loves the actually leadership component of being a head coach. While I have spelled out that he has landed himself an incredibly tough situation with New England, incredible coaches all become head coaches for the first time once and were questioned for their experience. Mayo has also been credited with being a tremendous worker in the film room both as a coach and player which gives him a lot of credit as a coach. While I think he has an uphill battle, I will certainly be rooting for this former player to make an impact on his team and lead New England back to winning form.
For More Football News:
Follow me on Twitter at @Super_Squatch76. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in college and NFL news, click here! If there is a topic you’d like me to cover or a question you’d like to ask, feel free to contact me at my email timothy.mcbride76@gmail.com.