The New England Patriots officially ended an era last week when they announced that they had decided to mutually part ways with legendary head coach Bill Belichick. Tasked with replacing Belichick is Jerod Mayo, who has gradually risen up the ranks of New England's coaching staff since joining the team back in 2019.
Mayo has a lot on his plate when it comes to his first ever head coaching gig. Not only does he have to deal with the extremely high expectations that come from New England fans, but he's also replacing the greatest coach in NFL history. Considering how bad the Patriots were in 2023, Mayo has his work cut out for him.
While he is likely thrilled to have landed his first head coaching job, Mayo needs to immediately turn his focus towards finding a way to make the Pats better than they were this past season. So with that being said, let's take a look at three big moves Mayo is going to have to make this offseason now that he is New England's head coach.
Jerod Mayo needs to fill out the rest of his coaching staff
Mayo needs to make the Patriots his own after taking over for Belichick, and the first way he will accomplish that is by filling out his coaching staff. There will obviously be some turnover here, as Mayo is going to want to work with his own guys, rather than keeping some of Belichick's holdovers.
In a sense, we have already seen Mayo get to work on this. He's offered both of Belichick sons, Steve and Brian, opportunities to stay on the Patriots coaching staff if they would like, and he recently put in interview requests for Carolina Panthers outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu and Atlanta Falcons special teams coach Marquice Williams as he looks to fill New England's vacant defensive coordinator role.
The biggest decision Mayo is going to have to make is at offensive coordinator, where Bill O'Brien is currently holding down the fort. There have been some rumors suggesting that there is tension between these two guys, which could push Mayo to replace him now that he's in charge. Either way, shoring up a barren coaching staff is a big need for Mayo, and it's encouraging to see that he's already gotten started on this task.
Jerod Mayo needs to seriously upgrade the playmaking talent on offense
For the time being, the Patriots don't have a general manager, but initial reports make it seem like Mayo is going to have some sort of say in the roster building process of this team. In recent seasons, New England has gotten it completely wrong when constructing their team, and nobody knows this more than Mayo, who has spent most of his time working with a defense that had to go to great lengths to keep the offense in games.
How involved Mayo is when it comes to making roster moves remains to be seen, but if he has some sort of input, he needs to find a way to improve the Patriots crop of playmakers. New England had one of the worst wide receiver corps in the league last season, and they desperately need to find a way to bring in some more guys who can rip off big plays on offense.
There will be quite a few options in this department, as New England could pursue potential big name free agents such as Tee Higgins, Michael Pittman Jr., and Mike Evans. And of course, they are armed with the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, which could give them Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. if that's the way they want to go. Either way, the Patriots cannot run it back with the same crop of playmakers they had last season, and Mayo is going to have to find a way to address this need over the next few months.
Jerod Mayo needs to find the Patriots quarterback of the future
The biggest development from the 2023 campaign for the Patriots was that they found out that Mac Jones is not their quarterback of the future. Jones regressed so drastically that he was benched for Bailey Zappe down the stretch of the season, and while Zappe was better than Jones, he's not a guy that New England should be seriously running out as their starting quarterback in Week 1 of the 2024 campaign.
The Patriots desperately need to find their quarterback of the future this offseason, and again, being armed with the third overall pick in the draft should help them out in this department. It would be nice to have an opportunity to nab USC's Caleb Williams or North Carolina's Drake Maye with one of the first two picks, but they could conceivably select LSU's Jayden Daniels at three.
While they don't necessarily have to, it feels like the Patriots need to use their first round pick on a quarterback. Maybe they trade up with the Bears to get the first pick and select Williams, but that's going to cost a pretty substantial price, and if they like Daniels, that wouldn't be a worthwhile investment. This is the biggest decision that will likely shape Mayo's tenure as head coach, so it's important that he gets it right with whatever sort of say he has in the matter.
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