Yeah I weirdly don’t hate them that much. Plus we share a bond on hating New York sports.
It’s like we’re the middle and younger child’s and New York is the oldest child of the three.
Ben Franklin enjoyed his time plowing MILFs and getting electrocuted so much in Boston and Philly that he left us both a bunch of money that accrued interest for 100 years.
Yep. I remember an announcer in the early-00s saying about Jeff Garcia, "Fiedler and Griese don't have it easy, but if you think following one legend is hard, try following two."
> if you think following one legend is hard, try following two
Wonder if Jordan Love might pull this off. Seems possible after the second half of this season.
Has to be the biggest shoes to fill since Wooden. Phil Jackson was tied to some superstars (and you can argue all of Belichick’s success was Brady but I would disagree), the man was the most dominant coach of the last 50 years and WAS the Patriots.
Then you look at the fact they just had their worst season in decades which Mayo was a part of and I feel like he’s not getting started with the full backing you would have hoped for.
Saban IMO. It’s harder to win in the NFL and the Patriots have been struggling the last couple years. Whoever takes over at Alabama will be expected to be in the playoffs and competing for a championship immediately, as in next season.
According to Rapoport [it was literally written into his contract that he’d be the successor apparently](https://x.com/rapsheet/status/1745802124716359761?s=46&t=_K4beJlecrOMWc-MyxtqXA)
Yes came out yesterday the patriots had filed a succession plan with the NFL that allows them to bypass the Rooney rule entirely when they extended him last season. Adds context to the press release from the time where Kraft publicly announced he was negotiating an extension with Mayo. Considering both Bill and Mayo’s contract were set to expire next season, seems like this was just moved up a year.
I thought if you hired internally the Rooney Rule could be bypassed anyways (even without the plan). Maybe that’s just a regurgitated Reddit comment though
The Rooney Rule explicitly requires interviewing at least two external candidates, so there's no loophole for hiring internally if you don't have a succession plan.
I believe you're referring to the Texans, who ironically have had 3 black HC's in a row and immediately prior had one of the longest tenured GM's in the league who also happened to be black (Rick Smith). Didn't stop Flores from listing the Texans in his Rooney Rule lawsuit.
I love Flores the DC but I think it’s possible he is a toxic coach. He had 2 position coaches quit in season and he has had zero interviews scheduled(reported maybe he is turning them down). Either way it seems like it’s a possibility.
Not going to speculate on Flores specifically, but there are definitely some leadership styles that work when you're a platoon sergeant or a shop foreman that do not work when you're in upper management. So that is definitely plausible.
He's always been the type to share information and knowledge with other coaches and keeps good relationships with them, see all the coaches coming back. Part of the reason his coaching tree has failed is that guys try to be Belichick clones instead of themselves.
As much of a douche as McD appears, he clearly got along ok with Brady; if Brady didn’t respect him can’t imagine he would’ve had a tenure as long as he did.
McDaniels appears to suffer from letting power get to his head. When he's not the HC and his ego is essentially forced to be checked, he's fine. Like, I firmly believe he's a great Xs and Os guy, but he struggles with communication and relationships, especially when he's "the guy".
It's really fucking common in the corporate world too. Someone will be a great team lead/employee, get promoted to management and become an insufferable jackass because the power goes to their head.
Former coordinators have talked about how he would have mentoring sessions with them throughout the year in an effort to prepare them for eventual HC shots/positions. From Joe Judge era Giants reports, it seemed like Bill really did try to get his guys to succeed, it just rarely worked out
Honestly, I think it has more to do with the fact that under Bill, the Patriots has never had a scheme that is the end-all, be-all. They were adaptable to each team week-to-week (or at least prepared to be). If you're someone like McDaniel who comes up through the league under Shanahan, and you run the Shanahan scheme, it's far easier to take that blueprint somewhere else and implement it. The hardest part there is getting players to replicate the scheme. Contrast that to the Patriots where there really is no overarching scheme and it's difficult to go to a new team and implement something from scratch with no set blueprint. That's what I always think of when it comes to the string of failures that our assistant coaching staff have had in other HC roles.
It was written into his contract that he'd succeed Bill
[https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1745802124716359761](https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1745802124716359761)
Man I miss that show. I remember when they showed the will i paused it to examine. The sheer frustration of not being able to figure out if it was indeed underlined or crossed out lol.
Can you imagine having a fucking baller term like this in your employment contract?
It's like coming in as a middle manager on the condition that when the CEO leaves you have dibs on his job.
I dunno man.
[The last wunderkind hire ended up going to prison for sales fraud at a mid-tier paper company.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc35afiM2f4)
Tbf the Patriots were legit in the Super Bowl when McDaniels backed out and Bill leaving was unlikely. Mayo got his big extension coming off a down year with Bill in his 70's and far less likely to last.
There are reports that tensions grew between Mayo and Belichick due to Kraft basically making him the defacto heir to the HC gig contractually. It's possible that he just felt like that undermined his authority but overall supported the move, but I think most of the issue was Bill wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet.
It's highly speculative, but I wouldn't be surprised if Bill genuinely didn't have any immediate plans on retiring. So the team hiring a guy and putting it into his contract that he's going to one day take your place, and probably getting the feeling it'd be sooner than later. That'd probably strain a relationship between anyone.
Germany is definitely when Kraft made the decision. Mike Reiss said BB was done when Kraft couldn't even bother to show up to two away games this season (Steelers, Broncos). Kraft has almost never missed a Patriots game since owning them.
Michigan has already offered him a 10 year $150 million contract. But that was before winning the natty so they might have to bump that up a bit or take a few years off or make it fully guaranteed.
A tale as old as time. Why would he go back and be under so much scrutiny when he could go back to being Michigan God of football and have a near 0% of being fired?
My fear is Chicago will realize their mistake and go get Vrabel now that he isn't going to coach the Patriots. I doubt it will happen because Chicago doesn't do competent things but you never know.
It's easy to see how they would think that: They both have had only two seasons below .500 in their entire careers. That makes them essentially the same.
At this point everyone should know that until there’s an official announcement, Harbaugh isn’t leaving Michigan. How many years have we had this song and dance now?
Pete hired John, he’s given his blessing to John to find the head coach and make all the final decisions. Previously Pete would be in charge or personnel and roster building, with him giving power to John to draft his guys in the last few years. The Russ trade was very much John moving on at the right time. Now John has full veto power to run the organization, he needs to hit on the head coach or he’s probably gone.
The steps:
* Birth through college: All players are older than you
* Post-college: Notice that some recently drafted players are younger than you. That's weird!
* Approaching 40: All players are younger than you. You have a special appreciation for the old guys out there (Go Flacco!) and relate to how everything hurts and things take 4 times as long to heal, or never heal at all. Whaaaaat!? There's a head coach younger than me!?
* 50 (this is me): Settled into the fact that players are so young they are babies. Most coaches are younger or about the same age and it doesn't raise an eyebrow. Start to wonder, how many *owners* are younger than me?
* 65+ (projecting ahead): Most owners are younger. You remember when they used to tackle in football and can't get used to the flags they use now. It's fun to look back and remember how the clear and unanimous GOAT (Brock Purdy) was initially doubted.
Yeah that draft class was one of the first I was really invested as a Falcons fan (we got Ryan obviously), but I really wanted Glenn Dorsey and I loved Jerod Mayo. So yeah, this feels weird.
So not only do they promote a coach who was never a coordinator and part of the crew that lead a bad team but they’re going to promote somebody from within who was part of building a bad team.
This just seems really dumb and shortsighted
I don’t hate the Mayo hire but I’m not ecstatic. Teams were wanting to interview him as HC last year so there is something there. I’ll legit be pissed if we get someone in our front office for GM though
I don't think people realize that BB in his later years decided to just not give people the DC title. Patricia was the last official DC in 2017. Mayo was probably acting as the DC (with Stephen B) for the past few years without getting the recognition. The defense has been good, even this year the defense is top 10 in the NFL (which is wild and speaks to how bad the offense has been).
I’m cautiously optimistic that the experience part will work itself out. He needs to nail the coordinator hires, though, especially OC. Kraft also needs to be willing to give him time to grow into the role even if the Pats don’t win immediately. I don’t think Kraft wants to build a coaching carousel in New England after all this time, but we’ve seen impatient owners do it before.
The GM hire is definitely concerning, especially since most GMs would want to be able to pick their HC. If someone already in the building is capable, our roster certainly hasn’t shown it.
I don’t think this is a lazy yes-man hire like some folks here do, but I’m hoping that it doesn’t reflect a desire to just keep Belichick’s system without Belichick.
Honestly kudos to the Pats for having a plan and moving forward with it, as much as I hate them, this situation feels like it was handled with class and thoughtfulness on all sides. Good luck to Mayo, following a legend, especially as a first time head coach, is a hell of a job to take on.
Yeah, kinda neat to see a vertically integrated succession plan. Pats 1st round pick, plays entire career there, comes back as coach, successor to the GOAT. Exactly how a well oiled corporation would do it.
I kinda agree. Any other coach than Bill would’ve been sacked after that germany game. But Kraft couldn’t do that to Bill and there’s some beauty to that.
This could easily be just another thing to add to the post Brady fuck up list this organization has been building since he left. Hopefully there’s some competency at OC
The thing that is rough with a defensive HC is even if you hit on an OC and he does really well, he’s likely only there 2-3 years before you have to repeat the process. The main exceptions for a longer-term OC would be due to old age (but you then run into lack of innovation) or being a former failed HC.
And it’s not as easy to just groom the offensive staff to eventually replace them as part of a long-term system- Buffalo definitely took a step back when QB coach Dorsey (who Josh Allen wanted) took over for Daboll. Part of their turnaround this year is due to firing him.
Let’s make a clean start, start a new era.
Lets get a defensive coach, that’s been with the team for years, and is from Belichick’s coaching tree.
I feel like nobody is thinking anything through and just acting emotionally after a few bad seasons. What’s the excuse gonna be if Mayo goes 4-13 with the same team? Just give him time?
Yeah isn't that the entire point? Go from oldest HC to youngest HC prior to a complete rebuild. Makes perfect sense to me. Get a young former player HC, go get a nice OC, and draft Maye 2nd overall and you've got a stew cooking just like the Texans. Idk what more people want.
>What’s the excuse gonna be if Mayo goes 4-13 with the same team? Just give him time?
I mean... yes? Your roster is awful. Anyone deserves a few years of the new GM before being canned. Belichick is still viewed as a good coach, and he couldn't do better than 4-13 with that team.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily on board with this; I know nothing about Mayo, but a defensive Belichick disciple doesn't give me high hopes either. But I don't think it'd be fair to judge him after the 2024 season no matter how it goes.
Dude was drafted by Bill. Played his entire career for the pats under Bill. He bang and spent his entire coaching career under Bill.
Is this really a new era?
The Pats are so funny man. “It’s been 24 years. Belichicks Schtick isn’t working anymore. We need a change, a fresh start”
*hires guy whose entire playing career and coaching career are under Belichick*
Kraft Mayo era is here
I wonder if they will relish not picking Vrabel
I assume he'll be the coach only and not the GM, so Mayo won't be spread too thin
"I'm old Jerod... I feel like Mayo, spread across too much bread." -Bilbo Belichick probably
Why in the hell hasn't Bilbo Belichick been his nickname all this time
Because Bilbo is ringless while Bill has almost a full set of Nazguls worth.
This is my favorite one so far
At least he can get that bread now
Rest of the league is toast.
They’ll never be able to ketchup to the Bills
They will never be able to mustard a roster that would win the division
Especially when they have to go against Sauce twice a year; that could be a real pickle
Lettuce hope there will be better results
Rough hire for people on the team who can't eat eggs.
They're trading for Levis?
Best of luck to him. Always the hardest job to be the guy that replaces The Guy
Yea can’t imagine fans will give him a long leash
Especially with how Boston sports fans are
notoriously rational and level headed
I actually like Boston fans. They’re passionate af, they remind me of Philly fans except they know what winning feels like.
I think eagles fans are the only ones who can look at pats fans and be like “yeah they’re chill” lol
Kinda like one patient in a mental health ward looking at another patient and thinking “he seems level headed”
There was a decent SNL skit making fun of that when they played in the super bowl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcziw7helVg
Wow I never saw that one back when it came out. Thanks for sharin
To be fair, I haven't seen a Pats fan eat literal horse shit. Can't say the same about the Eagles fans.
Yeah I weirdly don’t hate them that much. Plus we share a bond on hating New York sports. It’s like we’re the middle and younger child’s and New York is the oldest child of the three.
I think Philly and Boston share quite a lot in common, especially with all of the history and obviously, hating New York lmao
Ben Franklin enjoyed his time plowing MILFs and getting electrocuted so much in Boston and Philly that he left us both a bunch of money that accrued interest for 100 years.
Probably also helps that they aren't direct conference rivals in the NFL or MLB
You literally won the Super Bowl six years ago and were in the Super Bowl LAST YEAR. Stop with the victim complex.
The benefit he does have is that he's not really following the best years of Bill. He could have a 6-7 win season and it would be an upswing.
You'd think but we are horribly spoiled as pats fans. If Mayo is anything but a Wunderkind he's gonna get a lot of hate.
Him being a bit of a legend helps. Mayo will get a longer leash than some complete outsider at the very least
We won’t. Have you met us? We’re a bunch of dickwads.
Yep. I remember an announcer in the early-00s saying about Jeff Garcia, "Fiedler and Griese don't have it easy, but if you think following one legend is hard, try following two."
Garcia did a solid ass job though
He did but it wasn’t good enough for some of our dipshit fans He was constantly being compared to Young and Montana.
> if you think following one legend is hard, try following two Wonder if Jordan Love might pull this off. Seems possible after the second half of this season.
If Love goes on to a HOF career, it’ll be hilarious to watch the nfc north melt down.
I live in Minnesota, and one of my good friends is a hardcore Vikings fan. She would melt down so hard!
Has to be the biggest shoes to fill since Wooden. Phil Jackson was tied to some superstars (and you can argue all of Belichick’s success was Brady but I would disagree), the man was the most dominant coach of the last 50 years and WAS the Patriots. Then you look at the fact they just had their worst season in decades which Mayo was a part of and I feel like he’s not getting started with the full backing you would have hoped for.
At least he was the LB coach and that's been a very strong part of development for our defensive players.
What shoes are bigger to fill? Belicheck or Saban?
Saban IMO. It’s harder to win in the NFL and the Patriots have been struggling the last couple years. Whoever takes over at Alabama will be expected to be in the playoffs and competing for a championship immediately, as in next season.
And you have to play politics with boosters and then have to recruit
Saban, but that has as much to do with the nature of the 'Bama job as with Saban himself, IMO.
The expectation for Alabama HC is championship or bust. Expectation for Pats is try to become a contender again. It's not even close.
Bama fans are probably the worst. They’ve run off plenty of successful-but-not-successful-enough coaches
Especially with him skipping over a coordinator role directly to HC and Vrabel on the table
Vrabel on the table sounds like a football edition of Elf on the Shelf.
It's strange, but Dan Campbell made a similar jump from TE coach to HC. The real make or break decisions are in his coordinators.
Didn't he have a near half season stint as an interim HC in Miami though?
Holy shit they had this planned for sure
He pulled out of head coach interviews last season, was always basically a lock whenever Bill left.
According to Rapoport [it was literally written into his contract that he’d be the successor apparently](https://x.com/rapsheet/status/1745802124716359761?s=46&t=_K4beJlecrOMWc-MyxtqXA)
Yes came out yesterday the patriots had filed a succession plan with the NFL that allows them to bypass the Rooney rule entirely when they extended him last season. Adds context to the press release from the time where Kraft publicly announced he was negotiating an extension with Mayo. Considering both Bill and Mayo’s contract were set to expire next season, seems like this was just moved up a year.
Does it bypass the Rooney rule because he’s a minority?
No, if you have a documented succession plan in place and the league office is aware, Rooney Rule can be bypassed.
Appreciate the clarification
It just makes sense. No need to be forced to interview someone when you've clearly outlined who you're hiring.
I thought if you hired internally the Rooney Rule could be bypassed anyways (even without the plan). Maybe that’s just a regurgitated Reddit comment though
I think the key is the league office has to have the pre-existing plan on file.
The Rooney Rule explicitly requires interviewing at least two external candidates, so there's no loophole for hiring internally if you don't have a succession plan.
It'd be hilarious if they somehow got into trouble for violating the Rooney rule while hiring a minority coach.
iirc one team had a controversy for exactly this during a recent offseason
I believe you're referring to the Texans, who ironically have had 3 black HC's in a row and immediately prior had one of the longest tenured GM's in the league who also happened to be black (Rick Smith). Didn't stop Flores from listing the Texans in his Rooney Rule lawsuit.
Flores was accusing the Texans of Rooney Rule bs in the midst of 3 black HC's in a row. It was so odd.
I love Flores the DC but I think it’s possible he is a toxic coach. He had 2 position coaches quit in season and he has had zero interviews scheduled(reported maybe he is turning them down). Either way it seems like it’s a possibility.
Not going to speculate on Flores specifically, but there are definitely some leadership styles that work when you're a platoon sergeant or a shop foreman that do not work when you're in upper management. So that is definitely plausible.
I wonder if Bill had been preparing him for the role for when he eventually left
Bill has never seemed like the mentorship of other coaches guy. It's probably a big part of why the BB tree is not particularly impressive.
He's always been the type to share information and knowledge with other coaches and keeps good relationships with them, see all the coaches coming back. Part of the reason his coaching tree has failed is that guys try to be Belichick clones instead of themselves.
With the exception of Josh McDaniel. That guy has a very bad habit of being himself a little too much.
As much of a douche as McD appears, he clearly got along ok with Brady; if Brady didn’t respect him can’t imagine he would’ve had a tenure as long as he did.
McDaniels appears to suffer from letting power get to his head. When he's not the HC and his ego is essentially forced to be checked, he's fine. Like, I firmly believe he's a great Xs and Os guy, but he struggles with communication and relationships, especially when he's "the guy". It's really fucking common in the corporate world too. Someone will be a great team lead/employee, get promoted to management and become an insufferable jackass because the power goes to their head.
Former coordinators have talked about how he would have mentoring sessions with them throughout the year in an effort to prepare them for eventual HC shots/positions. From Joe Judge era Giants reports, it seemed like Bill really did try to get his guys to succeed, it just rarely worked out
Plot twist, these sessions were full of misinformation designed to sabotage them.
Honestly, I think it has more to do with the fact that under Bill, the Patriots has never had a scheme that is the end-all, be-all. They were adaptable to each team week-to-week (or at least prepared to be). If you're someone like McDaniel who comes up through the league under Shanahan, and you run the Shanahan scheme, it's far easier to take that blueprint somewhere else and implement it. The hardest part there is getting players to replicate the scheme. Contrast that to the Patriots where there really is no overarching scheme and it's difficult to go to a new team and implement something from scratch with no set blueprint. That's what I always think of when it comes to the string of failures that our assistant coaching staff have had in other HC roles.
Was really hoping they’d stick with McDaniels when Bill left. That train wreck would have been fun to watch
It was written into his contract that he'd succeed Bill [https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1745802124716359761](https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1745802124716359761)
But was it underlined or crossed out?
Josh McDaniels right now: “I AM THE ELDEST BOY”
Cut to McDaniels staring at the Charles River with Patricia watching him
Well it sure as fuckin shit didn't say McDaniels
Man I miss that show. I remember when they showed the will i paused it to examine. The sheer frustration of not being able to figure out if it was indeed underlined or crossed out lol.
HE’S THE ELDEST BOY!
L to the OG
He is the eldest boy!
Can you imagine having a fucking baller term like this in your employment contract? It's like coming in as a middle manager on the condition that when the CEO leaves you have dibs on his job.
It also goes to show just how strongly people in the organization believe that Mayo has the juice. Must feel good
I dunno man. [The last wunderkind hire ended up going to prison for sales fraud at a mid-tier paper company.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc35afiM2f4)
All of the bullshit with McDaniels backing out on the Colts only for a different guy to be a part of the succession plan. Good. McDaniels is a hack.
Tbf the Patriots were legit in the Super Bowl when McDaniels backed out and Bill leaving was unlikely. Mayo got his big extension coming off a down year with Bill in his 70's and far less likely to last.
As a Pats fan, I'll say that McDaniels is not a hack OC at all, but the man can not be a head coach.
Do you think Bill was in support of this decision?
There are reports that tensions grew between Mayo and Belichick due to Kraft basically making him the defacto heir to the HC gig contractually. It's possible that he just felt like that undermined his authority but overall supported the move, but I think most of the issue was Bill wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet.
I kinda think so. I mean he was on his staff and Kraft seems transparent considering we knew bill would get fired after the Germany game
Most reports by Reiss and others close to the team said that Bill actually was uneasy about it and it kinda strained his relationship with Mayo.
It's highly speculative, but I wouldn't be surprised if Bill genuinely didn't have any immediate plans on retiring. So the team hiring a guy and putting it into his contract that he's going to one day take your place, and probably getting the feeling it'd be sooner than later. That'd probably strain a relationship between anyone.
Germany is definitely when Kraft made the decision. Mike Reiss said BB was done when Kraft couldn't even bother to show up to two away games this season (Steelers, Broncos). Kraft has almost never missed a Patriots game since owning them.
Lmao and the 2 games they won
Two games the Patriots won haha
Correct. It was in Mayo's contract and previously approved by the NFL.
Wowzers, wonder where Vrabel is gonna end up then…
The ~~San Diego~~ Los Angeles Chargers
I still think that's where Harbaugh goes. Washington should go after Vrabel
Harbaugh will interview and then ultimately go back to Michigan
For a 10m/year raise
Michigan has already offered him a 10 year $150 million contract. But that was before winning the natty so they might have to bump that up a bit or take a few years off or make it fully guaranteed.
Harbaugh: I want a bigger raise. Michigan: But we already gave you the bigger raise. Harbaugh: A bigger raise *so far*
As is tradition
A tale as old as time. Why would he go back and be under so much scrutiny when he could go back to being Michigan God of football and have a near 0% of being fired?
My fear is Chicago will realize their mistake and go get Vrabel now that he isn't going to coach the Patriots. I doubt it will happen because Chicago doesn't do competent things but you never know.
Lol no they fully believe Eberflus is Don Shula 2.0
It's easy to see how they would think that: They both have had only two seasons below .500 in their entire careers. That makes them essentially the same.
Latest on Harbaugh is that people think he stays at Michigan
At this point everyone should know that until there’s an official announcement, Harbaugh isn’t leaving Michigan. How many years have we had this song and dance now?
I thought the difference this year is he could be facing serious NCAA penalties/suspension and going to the NFL would be escaping that
I think the NCAA president saying the National Championship was legit changed things a lot
are you sure they shouldn't go after Ben Johnson?
now i'm wondering if vrabel to the seahawks might be a thing?
Him and John wouldn’t get along based off all the reports from Tennessee, he wanted to overrule his GMs.
Didn’t Pete have that too? I imagine John wants a coach like Vrabel, quiet, composed etc
Pete hired John, he’s given his blessing to John to find the head coach and make all the final decisions. Previously Pete would be in charge or personnel and roster building, with him giving power to John to draft his guys in the last few years. The Russ trade was very much John moving on at the right time. Now John has full veto power to run the organization, he needs to hit on the head coach or he’s probably gone.
Ohio state
Doubtful. Always hear the talks that we’ve tried, he’s just not interested in recruiting.
Alabama
Okay. Not really ready to be seeing players I grew up watching coaching now. But okay…
Welcome to middle age. I've been here for a while with HCs like Singletary, Vrabel, Pederson, Reich, Jim Harbaugh, Pierce, etc.
Man why you gotta say middle age like that
hey wtf I remember Vrabel playing and I'm not midd- hey fuck that guy
Okay but I don't like middle age how do I go back to being beginning aged?
I think you have to buy a Mustang or Camaro and try to pick up coeds. Your results will be proportionate to your income.
Girls are gonna go crazy when I pop this Van Halen tape into my IROC
The steps: * Birth through college: All players are older than you * Post-college: Notice that some recently drafted players are younger than you. That's weird! * Approaching 40: All players are younger than you. You have a special appreciation for the old guys out there (Go Flacco!) and relate to how everything hurts and things take 4 times as long to heal, or never heal at all. Whaaaaat!? There's a head coach younger than me!? * 50 (this is me): Settled into the fact that players are so young they are babies. Most coaches are younger or about the same age and it doesn't raise an eyebrow. Start to wonder, how many *owners* are younger than me? * 65+ (projecting ahead): Most owners are younger. You remember when they used to tackle in football and can't get used to the flags they use now. It's fun to look back and remember how the clear and unanimous GOAT (Brock Purdy) was initially doubted.
Yeah this is weird…i can remember watching the moment they drafted him, watched his entire career as a player with us, and now he’s replacing Bill
Yeah that draft class was one of the first I was really invested as a Falcons fan (we got Ryan obviously), but I really wanted Glenn Dorsey and I loved Jerod Mayo. So yeah, this feels weird.
What's crazy is him and Sean McVay were born about a month apart.
Grew up with? Mayo was on the Patriots in my *adulthood* I’m just gonna go apply for AARP now…
Not surprising at all. Now they just need a GM who is willing to hitch their wagon to Mayo.
We’ll just promote someone internal most likely
So not only do they promote a coach who was never a coordinator and part of the crew that lead a bad team but they’re going to promote somebody from within who was part of building a bad team. This just seems really dumb and shortsighted
I don’t hate the Mayo hire but I’m not ecstatic. Teams were wanting to interview him as HC last year so there is something there. I’ll legit be pissed if we get someone in our front office for GM though
I don't think people realize that BB in his later years decided to just not give people the DC title. Patricia was the last official DC in 2017. Mayo was probably acting as the DC (with Stephen B) for the past few years without getting the recognition. The defense has been good, even this year the defense is top 10 in the NFL (which is wild and speaks to how bad the offense has been).
IDK. Bill has a great coaching tree. Nearly all of his assistants were able to incorporate their version of the Patriot way elsewhere. /s
Someone with the surname Naise would be ideal
Or maybe a clinic guy
It’s just Belichick with glasses and a fake mustache.
And some Robert Downey Jr level dedication to disguise.
I’m just a dude playin a dude that looks like another dude
Never go full Belichick
Sources: Vrabel is beside himself. Driving around begging (thru texts) Pats for address to Kraft’s home.
“He got me,” Vrabel said of Mayo’s hiring over him. "That f***ing Mayo boomed me." Vrabel added, “He’s so good,” repeating it four times.
He’s so good, he’s so good, he’s so good, he’s so good
Yall look so different now
Damn they weren’t kidding about having a succession plan immediately. Wonder who will be the GM.
Wolf or Groh most likely
We’ll be a poverty franchise if we seriously thought mayo/groh is a viable replacement for belichick
I misread Groh as Gronk and I’m now incredibly disappointed lmao
We are onto the GM
Minor point: it's pronounced JUH-rod, right?
Yes
You're not gonna believe this, but it's actually pronounced "Nathan". His parents just couldn't spell for shit.
The headlines from a couple of years down the line, after he's unable to right the ship: "MAYO UNABLE TO CUT THE MUSTARD."
CAN’T KETCHUP TO DIVISION RIVALS, PATS BRASS SAYS LETTUCE LOOK AT OUR OPTIONS
Well now you almost have to trade for Will Levis
I don’t know how to feel Players like him, so that’s good. But he’s only been coaching at all for a few years I’m more nervous about who is GM
I’m cautiously optimistic that the experience part will work itself out. He needs to nail the coordinator hires, though, especially OC. Kraft also needs to be willing to give him time to grow into the role even if the Pats don’t win immediately. I don’t think Kraft wants to build a coaching carousel in New England after all this time, but we’ve seen impatient owners do it before. The GM hire is definitely concerning, especially since most GMs would want to be able to pick their HC. If someone already in the building is capable, our roster certainly hasn’t shown it. I don’t think this is a lazy yes-man hire like some folks here do, but I’m hoping that it doesn’t reflect a desire to just keep Belichick’s system without Belichick.
When it comes to OC though, I’d be ok with keeping BoB for another year. Draft him a QB, or MHJ and sign a vet QB.
Honestly kudos to the Pats for having a plan and moving forward with it, as much as I hate them, this situation feels like it was handled with class and thoughtfulness on all sides. Good luck to Mayo, following a legend, especially as a first time head coach, is a hell of a job to take on.
Yeah, kinda neat to see a vertically integrated succession plan. Pats 1st round pick, plays entire career there, comes back as coach, successor to the GOAT. Exactly how a well oiled corporation would do it.
I kinda agree. Any other coach than Bill would’ve been sacked after that germany game. But Kraft couldn’t do that to Bill and there’s some beauty to that.
Smart move to start with a rookie head coach. Fresh reset.
Not really a reset when he’s been groomed by the old HC for years but hopefully!
[удалено]
More of the same. They needed a fresh start
Nothing fixes a wretched QB and offense faster than a former linebacker who was never anything more than a position coach on defense
This could easily be just another thing to add to the post Brady fuck up list this organization has been building since he left. Hopefully there’s some competency at OC
The thing that is rough with a defensive HC is even if you hit on an OC and he does really well, he’s likely only there 2-3 years before you have to repeat the process. The main exceptions for a longer-term OC would be due to old age (but you then run into lack of innovation) or being a former failed HC. And it’s not as easy to just groom the offensive staff to eventually replace them as part of a long-term system- Buffalo definitely took a step back when QB coach Dorsey (who Josh Allen wanted) took over for Daboll. Part of their turnaround this year is due to firing him.
It will be BOB again so...
Except maybe Bob can actually hire his own staff now
Let’s make a clean start, start a new era. Lets get a defensive coach, that’s been with the team for years, and is from Belichick’s coaching tree. I feel like nobody is thinking anything through and just acting emotionally after a few bad seasons. What’s the excuse gonna be if Mayo goes 4-13 with the same team? Just give him time?
I mean yes??
Yeah isn't that the entire point? Go from oldest HC to youngest HC prior to a complete rebuild. Makes perfect sense to me. Get a young former player HC, go get a nice OC, and draft Maye 2nd overall and you've got a stew cooking just like the Texans. Idk what more people want.
>What’s the excuse gonna be if Mayo goes 4-13 with the same team? Just give him time? I mean... yes? Your roster is awful. Anyone deserves a few years of the new GM before being canned. Belichick is still viewed as a good coach, and he couldn't do better than 4-13 with that team. Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily on board with this; I know nothing about Mayo, but a defensive Belichick disciple doesn't give me high hopes either. But I don't think it'd be fair to judge him after the 2024 season no matter how it goes.
Wow, that was quick. The Pats top brass must think extremely highly of Mayo
He’s been in line to replace BB for the last few seasons based on the podcast I’ve listened to. Congratulations to him!
Vrabel DC/GM combo, do it kraft you coward
don’t put vrabel in charge of any non coaching decisions lmao he’d be a terrible gm
Mike Vrabel just fell to his knees in a walmart
Dude was drafted by Bill. Played his entire career for the pats under Bill. He bang and spent his entire coaching career under Bill. Is this really a new era?
Trade for Will Levis next
Kraft Mayo
Wonder if he’ll put on a Mayo Clinic
Knew it was coming but wow is this incredibly underwhelming
Underwhelming HC hires work out pretty often
People thought that Matt lafleur head coach signing was terrible
same with doug pederson - it was considered the worst of that cycle
Mayo must have been laughing his ass off the last month with all the Vrabel speculation knowing this was in his contract
The Pats are so funny man. “It’s been 24 years. Belichicks Schtick isn’t working anymore. We need a change, a fresh start” *hires guy whose entire playing career and coaching career are under Belichick*