Jerod Mayo has a high-IQ football mind and put that on tape for eight seasons as a player with the New England Patriots.
He became a leader and a tackling machine that strengthened the unit on the field. He later combined with Steve Belichick to lead the defense as an assistant coach under Bill Belichick. Mayo’s contributions spread over nearly 15 total years and should be respected.
That notion may fall out of public mind after Mayo’s now-one-and-done season as the head coach of the Patriots produced a 4-13 season and question marks across the board. New England saw the results and made the decision to fire the former linebacker to save the timeline of the rebuild. The criticism around the performance is totally earned and totally valid. With that being said, his entire body of work, both as a player and as a coach, needs to be considered when assessing his New England legacy.
It’s completely justified to argue that Mayo is a linebacker who contributed to a Super Bowl-winning season while amplifying his shortcomings as a head coach. However, recency bias and the frustrations of a disastrous season that prolonged a rebuild shouldn’t override Mayo’s successes.
Mayo will have another job in the NFL eventually, even if it’s not immediately back as a head coach. Nonetheless, the brutal 2024 season Mayo’s Patriots team put together should not disqualify collective positive contributions to the organization nor restrict him from future coaching opportunities, whether back in Foxboro or elsewhere.
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Featured image via David Butler II/Imagn Images
