New England Patriots fire coach Jerod Mayo after 4-13 mark in lone season
The New England Patriots fired coach Jerod Mayo after one season on Sunday and began a new reboot for the franchise just a year after it parted ways with longtime coach Bill Belichick.
Owner Robert Kraft announced the firing in a statement shortly after New England capped its 4-13 season with a 23-16 win over the Buffalo Bills.
“After the game, I informed Jerod Mayo that he will not return as head coach of the New England Patriots in 2025. For me personally, it was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made,” Kraft said. “Unfortunately, the trajectory of our team’s performance throughout the season did not go as I had hoped.”
Mayo, a former Patriots linebacker who worked as an assistant under Belichick, entered the season with strong support from Kraft. But alongside a coaching staff that included offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and rookie defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington, he struggled to get the most out of a young roster that included starting quarterback Drake Maye.
The Patriots opened the season with a win at Cincinnati before losing their next six games. They won two of their next three, but ended the season losing six of seven, missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season. Belichick was 4-13 in his final season in 2023, capping a 24-year run in New England that included six Super Bowl titles.
Mayo played eight seasons with New England and won a Super Bowl in the 2014 season. He took a post-retirement job in corporate America in 2015 and returned to football in 2019 to work for Belichick. He served primarily as the Patriots’ linebackers coach while developing a strong reputation among players.
It made him a rising star in the coaching ranks and he turned down several interviews for head coaching jobs after the 2022 season, instead signing an extension to remain in New England.
A week after letting Belichick go, the Patriots hired Mayo as the franchise’s first Black head coach. At 37, he entered the season as the NFL’s second-youngest coach, behind Seattle’s Mike Macdonald.
From the start of his tenure, Mayo sought to establish a culture distinct from Belichick’s often robotic devotion to football — a move that drew praise from players.
Still, it didn’t translate into wins for a team that ranked near the bottom of the NFL offensively and defensively, going 3-6 in one-score games.
It’s a stunningly short tenure for a coach picked by Kraft.
Kraft first noticed Mayo’s confidence shortly after the Patriots drafted him 10th overall out of Tennessee in 2008.
“I remember him immediately coming up to me and saying, ‘Kraft and Mayo, they go pretty well together,’” Kraft said during Mayo’s introductory press conference last January. “Sixteen years later, here we are.”
When Mayo first returned to Patriots in 2019, Kraft noted how he saw an even more skilled leader who had not lost his ability to connect with players.
That same year, Mayo accompanied Kraft on a trip to Israel and the men grew closer. Kraft then made an internal prediction.
“Watching him in Israel, I knew he was the right person to be the next head coach of the New England Patriots,” Kraft said. “I felt the same way when I hired Bill Belichick, a decision that was questioned by many at the time and told me I was making a big mistake.”
But those instincts didn’t pay off, and the 83-year-old Kraft will now begin the process again to find a coach who can get the franchise back on track.