Jerod Mayo got a raw deal in his rookie season as head coach of the New England Patriots. Appointing ex-Titans coach Mike Vrabel as the team’s head coach in 2025 might be a big step in moving the organization back to winning.
Both statements can be true, and that’s where Robert and Jonathan Kraft have painted themselves into a corner in the court of public opinion.
Reports this week from Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston and Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal both indicated there would at least be some interest from Vrabel, the former Patriots linebacker who now serves as a coaching and personnel assistant for the Cleveland Browns.
Mayo put himself in an unprecedentedly precarious position following Sunday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals when he shot back a retort of “You said it, not me” to a reporter on a statement that seemed to second guess – if not flat out disagree – with offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt’s play calling. It added insult to injury that, earlier in the game, the TV cameras caught both Krafts appearing to criticize the same thing from the owner’s box.
The Patriots are 3-11 and will almost certainly finish with a worse record than Bill Belichick’s final year of four wins. They face the Bills and Chargers in their last three weeks. Barring Buffalo sitting their starters in Week 18, getting a win looks like finding a pearl in a snowstorm. When regarding his team’s struggles this season, Mayo has continually said, “Winning fixes everything.”
So now it’s become a way of admitting there’s no fixing this year’s problems. Punt to 2025.
It appears ownership accepted this season would be rough before it even began. Rookie head coach, rookie quarterback, and the roster being what it was. Turns out the quarterback is really great, which makes everyone wonder, “how quickly can you right the ship?”
And what’s become more difficult to stomach are the repeated fundamental errors and penalties in games, the conservative offensive approach, and the finger pointing and podium gaffes that have characterized this team since the Spring. It’s a mess.
There will be no quick fix this offseason. There are only solutions to seek out, and responsible ownership would and should consider every level of the operation – including their handpicked head coach. If they don’t, they’re repeating the mistake they made last year of failing to interview anyone besides Mayo for the head coaching position.
It’s possible that outside candidates would have considered the head coaching job an undesirable vacancy, the way nearly a dozen coaches saw the offensive coordinator job. But there’s no way of knowing, because Mayo was always the guy in waiting.
And anyway, now, if reports are to be believed, Vrabel would be all ears. He’d be a nice fit back with Patriots, and a comfortable one for the Krafts. Robert and Jonathan know him well from his Hall of Fame playing days in Foxborough and even entertained him in their owner’s suite last year.
Vrabel left Tennessee with a 54-45 coaching record, winning records four out of six seasons, and never had a year with fewer than six wins.
He also never had a quarterback like Drake Maye, (unless Maye becomes the next Marcus Mariota, which would be sad). His dismissal from Tennessee was a shock.
The Krafts couldn’t have predicted he’d be available when he was, last year, and they were focused on kickstarting the Belichick succession plan a year early as the team fell apart in Germany.
Ownership would also have to live with the egg on their face of having coronated Mayo last January, only to boot him out of the palace a year later. Mayo is also a sympathetic character: a bright guy backed by his own locker room who was forced to learn on the job with very few resources.
So to be clear: I’m not saying Mayo has to go. But acting responsibly means ownership should at least consider the Vrabel option before the New York Jets snatch him up.
The Patriots’ problems are painfully obvious. The solutions might just be painful.