Breer: Jerod Mayo doing ‘a lot’ of work with Patriots’ offense originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Jerod Mayo is in a unique position with the New England Patriots right now, to say the least.
The former Patriots linebacker officially is the team’s linebackers coach, a position he’s held for five seasons. But after Mayo received interest as a head coaching candidate last offseason, New England announced plans to give him a contract extension, with team owner Robert Kraft even saying on the record in March that Mayo is a “strong candidate to be the heir apparent” to Bill Belichick as the Patriots’ next head coach.
That extension apparently has come with additional responsibilities. Speaking Sunday on NBC Sports Boston’s Patriots Pregame Live, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer noted that Mayo has spent significant time working with the Patriots’ offense, including the offensive line after offensive line coach Adrian Klemm began a leave of absence in early November.
“He’s actually doing a lot of his work right now on the offensive side of the ball. He’s worked a lot more with the offensive line since Adrian Klemm took leave,” Breer said of Mayo.
Mayo working on both sides of the ball has created an interesting dynamic inside Gillette Stadium — especially with Belichick taking a “business as usual” approach despite the increasingly likely possibility he won’t be coaching in New England next season.
“It’s a weird time in that organization right now,” Breer said. “The way it’s been described to me in the past few weeks is basically, you have one guy at the top of the masthead, and that’s Bill Belichick. He’s operating like nothing is wrong. He’s running his Friday draft meetings, he’s talking about which coaches are going to get extensions after the year — everything as if he’s going to be there in 2024.
“Meanwhile, you’ve got everyone underneath him who has no idea what’s going on, who has no idea where this thing is going. So, it has created a little awkwardness inside the walls of Gillette Stadium. And of course part of all of that is the assumption that Jerod Mayo is going to be the next head coach.
“And one thing that people have noticed is, they have these accountability meetings where they hold everybody accountable after the game. It’s something they’ve done for years and years and years, so this isn’t new. But one thing that people that I talk to have noticed is that (Mayo) has been every bit as hard on the defense as he has been on the offense.”
The Patriots’ defense has significantly outperformed the offense this season, however: The offense entered Week 15 averaging an NFL-worst 13 points per game, while the defense has allowed just 11 points per game over the past four weeks and is one of the top 15 units in the NFL. So, when the Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard reported recently that Mayo has “rubbed at least some people the wrong way in the building” this season, Breer noted some of that tension could flow from Mayo still being hard on the defense despite working on both sides of the ball.
“There are some people in the building who have taken that as, ‘Oh, well you’re taking shots at the defense, are those shots at Jerod?'” Breer added. “Just a weird time in general, but that is one thing that’s stuck out is, (Mayo has) been every bit as hard on the defense as he has been on the offense even though the defense has outplayed the offense on the field.”
It’s not surprising that tensions have run high amid the Patriots’ 3-10 season, but it is notable that Mayo continues to hold the entire team to a high standard, especially if there’s a chance he’s calling the shots as head coach in 2024.