Patriots fire HC Jerod Mayo after just one season

Mayo was the handpicked successor to Bill Belichick to take over as the team's head coach after serving as its defensive coordinator, but the Patriots managed to win just four games in his debut season and seemed to consistently get worse as the year progressed. 

The decision to fire Mayo makes Sunday a potentially franchise-altering day for the Patriots. Not only are they going to be set to have a third head coach in a three-year span, their win over the Buffalo Bills knocked them from the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft all the way down to the No. 4 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. 

With Mayo now gone the focus turns to who will replace him. 

The top candidates will almost certainly include former long-time Patriots linebacker (and Super Bowl champion) Mike Vrabel. He might even be considered the favorite for the spot.

If not him, Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson figures to be one of the hottest candidates in the league. 

It has been a rough stretch for the Patriots since Tom Brady left the team following the 2019 season. In the five years since they have gone 33-51, including 8-26 the past two seasons.

The good news is they do have a young quarterback in Drake Maye that showed promise this season as one of the team's few bright spots, a significant amount of salary cap space and a second consecutive top-five pick. 

The bad news is they have a lot of holes and issues to fix in one offseason. It will not be an easy fix for the new head coach.