On Saturday, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini wrote in her weekly “What I’m Hearing” column that Patriots first-year head coach Jerod Mayo has been told by the Krafts that they stand behind him heading into next season.
“While there hasn’t been a public vote of confidence for the head coach from the Kraft family, Patriots leadership is standing by Mayo,” wrote the veteran NFL reporter. “Just as discussions about the next NFL hiring cycles heat up, team owner Robert Kraft has privately assured those close to him that he’s committed to giving his first-year head coach the time and resources he needs to grow into the role.
She went on to write that the organization knew from the jump that the transition from two-and-a-half decades of Bill Belichick to a rookie head coach in Mayo would not be seamless, and would come with a “steep learning curve.” She said Patriots ownership want to give Mayo the opportunity to “develop into the leader they believe he can be,” while finding his voice and establishing his footing along the way.
To close out her blurb on the Patriots, she wrote, “The franchise knows they have their quarterback in Drake Maye, and his coach will be given a runway.”
This, of course, was published before the Patriots went to Arizona and lost 30-17 on Sunday, looking lost coming out of their Week 14 bye week. To make matters worse, both Robert and Jonathan Kraft were caught by CBS cameras looking visibly frustrated by their team’s performance.
So as the heat on Mayo’s seat has cranked up in the last 72 hours or so, questions about his future were inevitable for his Wednesday morning press conference before practice.
When asked by Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi about Russini’s report from the weekend, Mayo said, “I’m not sure where that story came from. Look, I have multiple conversations on a daily basis with ownership, and they’ve always been supportive.”
“You’ve often talked about getting better in year two,” Giardi followed up. “Has that been assured to you that you have a [year two]?”
Mayo, cutting off the end of Giardi’s question, said, “No, again - again, from me, this week, my focus is on this game, the Bills, here today. But things that happen at the end of the season - like, I can’t control those things, so it’s all about the Bills.”
“I understand where you’re coming from, and I appreciate the answer, but there’s obviously been a lot of speculation recently about your future.” Giardi followed up again. “By that answer, you don’t necessarily squash the -”
“Well, I’m not trying to squash anything,” Mayo interrupted. “I’m trying to let you know, like, where my focus is, and it’s on the Bills. I understand the question.”
Whether or not Russini’s reporting holds true during the final three weeks of the season and beyond is yet to be seen, as the Patriots finish the year with two games against the 11-3 Buffalo Bills and an 8-6 Chargers team that’s currently in the playoffs as the seventh seed heading into Week 16.
One thing that’s for certain, as of Wednesday, is the Patriots’ leaders in the locker room publicly supporting their 38-year-old head coach.
“His first year coaching - being a head coach, that’s a tough challenge,” said rookie QB Drake Maye. “Like I’ve said, there’s a lot of responsibility being the quarterback - same as head coach, lot of responsibility, and he’s figuring it out.
“You know, our players - we’re behind him, we’re backing him. We trust the plan he’s got for us, and we trust what he says in the team meeting room, and all his little sayings that he has. We believe in it, and we’re bought into it. I just think the results are coming. I think they’re coming. Everybody wishes they were now, and I think we’re kind of striving for that, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. But we’re coming, and the winning is coming in the near future.”
It wasn’t just Mayo’s fellow rookie throwing out public support on Wednesday, as eight-year veteran Deatrich Wise Jr. spoke glowingly of his head coach, using the trajectory of Lions head coach Dan Campbell’s career as a comparison for where Mayo is now in year one.
“It’s his first year,” said Wise. “I feel like there’s a lot of coaches’ first year [that aren’t] that good, and they go on and do great things. Just to give you an example - the guy from the Lions [Dan Campbell]. His first year wasn’t that good, and look where he is now. So, it’s his first year, you know? We have those type of things.
“We need to see how he improves year after year. He’s doing a great job - always brings high energy, always does a good job of coaching guys while also critiquing them and motivating them at the same time. So he always does a wonderful job with players, and I think he’s doing a solid job. Yes, we want to have more wins, that’s obvious. But at the same time, what he is doing, I think, will work out in the future.”
If Mayo is to follow a Campbell-like trajectory, he’s already got the same amount of wins at 3-11 as Campbell did in his first year with the Lions - posting a 3-13-1 record in 2021.
Campbell went on to go 9-8 in 2022, 12-5 with an NFC Championship Game loss in 2023, and currently has his Lions at 12-2 as the NFC’s No. 1 seed heading into Week 16.
Whether or not Mayo has the ability to bite kneecaps at an elite level in the coming years is yet to be seen.