Did Bill Belichick play a role in Jerod Mayo's failure as Patriots HC?

Long before New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft parted ways with legendary head coach Bill Belichick in January 2024, Kraft set up a succession plan that involved then-linebackers coach Jerod Mayo eventually serving as Belichick's replacement. 

Kraft dismissed Mayo earlier this week after a 4-13 season. For a piece published Thursday, Chad Graff of The Athletic detailed how Kraft's original strategy first fell apart during the 2023 campaign that the Patriots also finished at 4-13. 

"The Patriots started the season 1-5 and 2-10," Graff explained. "Belichick, always an insular coach, further withdrew during that season amid his team’s struggles, according to team sources with knowledge of the situation. He stopped talking altogether to multiple members of his already small coaching staff, cutting off communication with anyone perceived to be less than entirely loyal to him. His relationship with Kraft was already tense as the pressure grew on the owner to make a change after another bad season following the departure of Tom Brady (as a free agent in 2020). Belichick’s tight circle shrunk even more. Along the way, the mentorship that was supposed to occur between Belichick and Mayo never happened." 

Mayo, 38, played for the Patriots from 2008-15 and joined Belichick's staff in 2019. Belichick seemingly offered Mayo no real help from last winter through Week 18 of this season regarding how to be a head coach at the highest level, and the two even got into somewhat of a war of words after Mayo said New England was "a soft football team" following a loss. 

"When Mayo needed mentorship because he wasn’t fully prepared for the gig," Graff noted, "he didn’t have anyone to lean on because his network of other coaches was so small after only ever playing and working for Belichick and the Patriots." 

Of course, it also didn't help that Mayo was asked to coach one of the league's worst overall rosters. 

Even before Kraft showed Mayo the door, numerous articles and stories produced throughout the second half of the 2024 season named Patriots Hall of Famer and one-time AP Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel as a top candidate for the New England job. Graff wrote that Vrabel's obvious interest in potentially returning to the Patriots was "the elephant in the room," and some think Kraft could hire Vrabel as soon as Thursday or Friday. 

"Honestly, Jerod is a good guy. I just don’t think he was ready for all the big decisions and discipline and focus the job takes," a Patriots source told Graff about Mayo's one season in charge.