Getty Bill Belichick could be replaced as Patriots coach by Jerod Mayo
As has long been predicted, an early favorite has emerged to replace Bill Belichick, the legendary New England Patriots coach who mutually agreed to part ways with the team on Thursday. The Patriots have subtly indicated that former star linebacker Jerod Mayo would eventually take over for Belichick and, according to a report, Mayo is still the favorite.
As Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston wrote on Twitter/X: “As we discussed on this week’s Next Pats, indications are that Jerod Mayo remains the favorite to succeed Bill Belichick.”
Mayo, who is only 37, was considered a fast-rising head-coaching target around the NFL last season, but was given a hefty long-term extension a year ago. It did not take much reading in between the lines to figure out that the Patriots wanted to keep Mayo in place because they wanted him to be around when Belichick departed.
Mayo, though, is the linebackers coach and is relatively inexperienced when it comes to potentially being a head coach. The expectation was that Belichick would stick around through 2024 and perhaps then the Patriots would be ready to name Mayo the coach.
Did Jerod Mayo Rub People ‘the Wrong Way’?
There did appear to be a fly in the ointment for the Jerod Mayo-Bill Belichick succession plan. Longtime NFL reporter Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal indicated that Mayo might have gotten too inflated an ego after the contract extension he was given last year.
“Jerod Mayo has rubbed at least some people the wrong way in the building since his extension and when he, perhaps, received a strong indication he would be the successor (the idea was more for 2025 or ’26),” BSJ’s Bedard wrote.
Speaking about that report after the fact, Mayo was suspicious about its origins. Perhaps there was some legitimacy to it. Or, perhaps, it came out because another would-be candidate for the Patrtios job wanted to sully Mayo’s name a bit. That bothered him.
“It was more hurtful than anything,” Mayo said this week, per the Associated Press. “I found it to be, well, the timing is a little bit weird in my opinion. If that was the case, I feel like this would have been leaked sometime earlier.”
Patriots Have Plenty of Candidates to Replace Bill Belichick
If not Mayo, there will likely be other top candidates tied to the Patriots emerging in the coming days. Another former Patriots linebacker, Mike Vrabel, was fired by the Titans this week and is available. There is also former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who flopped in head coaching stints with the Broncos and Raiders but has always been welcomed back to the Patriots.
Expect Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who cut his coaching teeth in New England, to be in the mix, too. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh might have better offers to leap back into the NFL waters, but the Patriots could pursue him, too.
Any way you look at it, there will be enormous shoes to fill for whomever the team turns to next. Belichick is one of the best coaches in NFL history, with six Super Bowl wins to his credit. He has 333 career NFL wins, just 14 behind legendary coach Don Shula.
But Belichick is also leaving behind a mess of a roster, a team coming off a 4-13 record, their worst in 31 years. The Patriots have gone just 29-38 since the departure of Tom Brady, an indication that Brady had a lot more to do with Belichick’s success than vice versa.
The next coach will inherit a very good Patriots defense, but an offense that needs a complete overhaul in all units. The Patriots averaged 13.9 points, worst in the NFL, and are lacking a quarterback, a No. 1 receiver and a reliable offensive line.