The Sunday football preview shows are typically chock full of fluff, with some bad forced-gambling segments mixed in.
But ahead of the New England’s Week 18 game against the Bills, ESPN’s Adam Schefter gave Patriots fans something to think about before their team hosts the No. 2 seed in the AFC.
During his “Safe or Not” segment on Sunday NFL Countdown, the longtime WEEI regular led off with what he’s hearing about the future of first-year head coach Jerod Mayo.
“We’ll start with Jerod Mayo, the New England Patriots head coach,” said Schefter. “Now all along, the Kraft family has wanted to stand by him and give him support. He was the hand-chosen successor to Bill Belichick. But over the last 30 days or so, the team has struggled. They’ve lost at home. Fans have been angered. They’ve been apathetic.
“It feels like within the organization, there’s been a shift. There’s nervous people inside the building right now, and we are gonna go ‘leaning out’ right now for Jerod Mayo.”
Before diving into his bit on Mayo, Schefter opened the segment with a preamble that made it clear that a lot of the information he was about to share could change based on the results across the league in Week 18.
“And let me start by saying this,” said Schefter. “Me and [Chris Mortensen] used to do this for years. And Mort always disliked this segment, because it involves people’s livelihoods and families. And it’s serious business here, and it’s tough. It’s also a fluid, moving target, where things change. Events today could alter the circumstances surrounding any one of these coaches in the days forward.
“And the other thing that’s different about is, the league has slowed down the hiring process, and pushed back in-person interviews until after the divisional round, which really removes some of the rush that teams used to have to get things done tonight or tomorrow. Now, we still will get activity. And there will be urgency. And there will be action.”
Here’s a full list of the coaches Schefter discussed during his segment, and the distinction he gave each of them:
- Doug Pederson, “Out”
- Jerod Mayo, “Leaning Out”
- Brian Callahan, “Leaning Safe”
- Mike McCarthy, “Leaning Safe”
- Antonio Pierce, “Leaning Safe”
- Shane Steichen, “Leaning Safe”
- Brian Daboll, “Safe”
- Kevin Stefanski, “Safe”
Stay locked in to WEEI and WEEI.com for all the latest on this developing situation.