Jerod Mayo Addresses Patriots’ Rough NFLPA Report Card Grade

Jerod Mayo takes the helm of the New England Patriots with many problems to try to help fix. But those issues don’t just come on the field.

It hasn’t been close to a winning offseason so far for the Patriots. After parting ways with legendary head coach Bill Belichick and naming Mayo as his successor, the organization took a hit when the NFLPA released its annual “Player Team Report Cards” in late February.

The Patriots ranked 29th out of 32 teams in the survey that had 1,706 players from across the league take part in grading their respective franchises in 11 categories.

New England’s poor standing in a litany of areas was highlighted in the report, and it certainly caught Mayo’s attention.

“The report card, I think it’s very important,” Mayo told reporters Monday during the AFC coaches’ breakfast at the annual league meeting in Orlando, Fla., per team-provided video. “I think it just reminds staffs and owners of things that we need to improve on. Going forward, the Kraft family once again, when you see a grade that’s not favorable, it does bring attention to it. In saying that, we put together a group that’s really going to attack some of the problems, some of the things that we’ve seen on the report card. But once again, it’s going to take time. It’s going to take time to improve those things.”

The worst grades the Patriots received came in the treatment of families (F-) and weight room (F) categories. The report revealed the Patriots are just one of four teams in the NFL that do not provide a family room or daycare service while their weight room is seen as highly inadequate compared to what players are used to when they work out away from the facility.

“Those are definitely things that are on the table,” Mayo said. “I think the better we take care of families the more likely it is for our players to go out there and play free. Same thing with the coaches. So, it’s definitely important.”

The report card casts a dark cloud over the work environment the Patriots offer. Perhaps it’s one of the reasons why they haven’t landed a marquee free-agent this offseason.

While Mayo saw validity in the outcome of the report and believes some areas of the organization need to be addressed, he also wasn’t going to go overboard with the results.

“When those guys did the report card, it was pretty early in the season,” Mayo said. “It’s easy to overreact to some of those type of grades, depending on really how the season’s going. Like to me, the better way would be early in the season, middle of the season, end of the season to really put those scores together. But in saying that, it does bring attention to things that we’re trying to improve.”