Patriots Rumors: Jerod Mayo’s Contract Had Huge Buyout Clause

The Patriots have a pair of new leaders, with head coach Jerod Mayo and director of scouting Eliot Wolf essentially splitting the duties left behind by Bill Belichick when the sides parted ways in January.

It could be that New England had been planning for this transition all along, if rumors are to be believed.

Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal made an appearance on "Felger & Mazz" from Super Bowl LVIII Radio Row in Las Vegas, essentially floating the idea New England locked itself into having Mayo and Wolf take over.

"The rumor down in Mobile, Alabama is that the buyout for Jerod Mayo was $10 million," Bedard claimed, per 98.5 The Sports Hub. "That's just a rumor, I don't have anything fact based, but that was the rumor among NFL people that the reason that they went with Mayo and they didn't open up anything, head coach or general manager."

Bedard attempted to provide context to his claim, which would lead many to believe the Patriots' decision to give Mayo such a large buyout forced their hand when actually making a head coaching hire -- or that New England was planning on moving before bottoming out this season.

"You have Jerod Mayo, who didn't interview any place else. You have Eliot Wolf, who didn't interview any place else," Bedard continued. "I don’t know, maybe Eliot Wolf has fallen off the map for other teams and he wasn't requested by anybody, but normally when you have a transition period, you look for other jobs. You see what's out there and that both of those guys didn't talk to anybody else, to our knowledge, it makes you wonder, did both of them have contracts that stipulated they would be the next guy with buyouts?"

It was made very clear by Bedard that these were just rumors, but if they happen to be true it certainly doesn't make the Patriots look good.