What defines success for Patriots coach Jerod Mayo this season? Hope.
Imagine trying to get a few hours of sleep as Jerod Mayo Saturday night. It might be a tougher task than containing Ja’Marr Chase at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Bill Belichick’s successor will lead the New England Patriots into battle for the first time as an NFL head coach Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, and he sounds a far cry from the exhilarated new hire who dubbed his boss “Thunder Cat” last winter.
“I’m not a big, super rah-rah type of guy,” Mayo said Friday morning, when asked about preparing the team for Sunday. “I think you have to go out there and execute. You see these players, sometimes, they’re so hyped. And then all of the sudden, you’re going to play ten, and they’re breathing hard – now what are you going to do? That’s the adversity that we’ve tried to simulate in practice.”
It’s impossible to simulate the adversity Mayo is positioned to face this season as a rookie head coach. He’s attempting to fill the shoes of the greatest coach in NFL history – even if the soles of those shoes might have peeled off a little bit, and he’s been asked to manage both the present and future of a team at the start of a rebuild. His team has one of the hardest schedules in the league, and some of the lowest ranked offensive talent.
He’s biking the Tour de France with a 10-speed, hoping to get a reinforcement after a thousand miles.
What’s at stake for Mayo this season? What is the bar for a good coaching debut?
Every move the Patriots ownership and front office have made indicates patience in the team’s development, and that should include Mayo. A conservative approach to free agency, trading former All-Pro Matthew Judon, keeping rookie quarterback Drake Maye a backup, and fat remaining balance against the salary cap suggest this year is about getting out of the blocks, not winning the race.
“Our expectation for the game is to go out there, play good football, play with good fundamentals, and win,” Mayo said in regards to Sunday’s opener.
“Good fundamentals” is doing a lot of work in that statement. It tells you the Patriots know they’re at the very beginning, and if the Krafts have signed off on the wait-and-grow approach preached by Eliot Wolf, there is no universe in which is makes sense to expect Mayo to succeed to the level of say, Demeco Ryans in Houston.
Mayo’s success hinges on the eye test, the intangibles, and the promise of what could be in the future. The offense needs to have some excitement – not the death by a thousand screens, or as one former Patriots quarterback dubbed it – “the quick game F—ing sucks.” There needs to be an idea about who Drake Maye could be. So that means Maye should develop enough to play this year. A red shirt season is asking too much. There needs to be something to believe in, rather than just the potential of more money rolling over for cap space in 2025. Only losers cheer for cap space.
It boils down to this: if the Patriots find something akin to Justin Herbert in Drake Maye, Ja’Lynn Polk looks like a better version of Jacoby Meyers, and the defense continues to develop and prove themselves against the top quarterbacks in the league, nobody will really care if the Patriots only win five games. Building something that feels real is better than getting your teeth kicked in by Buffalo after a nice stretch in 2021.
“I feel like I’m walking in my calling,” Mayo said, relating his confidence to defensive coordinator Demarcus Covington’s assertion that’s he’s “built for” coaching.
If he can show New England good football again, Jerod Mayo should get the chance to walk beyond a rebuilding season.
