Patriots

What Devin McCourty said about Jerod Mayo’s candidacy as Patriots head coach

"Him and Steve [Belichick] are rolling with the defense."

New England Patriots Safety Devin McCourty, former New England Patriots Linebacker and BMC Trustee Jerod Mayo and Reverend Liz Walker.
Devin McCourty and Jerod Mayo were teammates for six seasons in New England. Handout

By Conor Ryan

It remains to be seen if Robert Kraft and the Patriots will opt to move on from Bill Belichick once a miserable 2023 season comes to a close.

But if New England does opt to part ways with their legendary head coach, the Patriots could have a viable in-house candidate in Jerod Mayo.

An All-Pro linebacker in New England who played his entire eight-year NFL career with the Patriots, Mayo put himself on the national radar as a head-coaching candidate last year while serving as New England’s linebackers coach. 

Back in January, New England issued a team statement noting the franchise’s plans to keep Mayo “with the team long-term” by way of a contract extension — a move that potentially mapped out Mayo’s future as Belichick’s heir apparent as head coach. 

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But with just three games left on the 2023 schedule, several reports have cast doubt on Mayo’s validity as New England’s next leader from the sidelines.

 According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, an “off the rails” season in 2023 has Kraft rethinking a potential succession plan involving Bill Belichick, with former New England linebacker and current Titans head coach Mike Vrabel viewed as a potential target. 

“Multiple sources in and around the building say Mayo taking over next year is the most likely outcome,” Graziano wrote. “Though others are no longer certain that’s the way Kraft will go. Mayo would have to sell Kraft on who will be in charge of the offense, the quarterback’s development, and personnel. That could all happen and work out in Mayo’s favor, but it doesn’t sound like it’s a 100% sure thing.”

Earlier this week, Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard reported that Mayo had “rubbed at least some people the wrong way in the building since his extension,” with another source telling Bedard that it was a “longshot” that Mayo would take over for Belichick. 

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On Wednesday, former Patriots safety Devin McCourty took umbrage with Bedard’s report about Mayo’s perception within the organization. 

“I saw that,” McCourty said of Bedard’s report on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show”. “I thought that was very awkward, simply because when I hear things like that I first think about like, ‘alright, who does this benefit?’… I used to always think it was always players, and then I realized it’s always somebody with a bigger agenda.

“For one, I don’t understand what he could irritate people [with]. His role’s still the same. It was kind of awkward and weird to me because it would have to be somebody, like, deep inside to have any thought of that. Because from a player standpoint, it seems like it’s still working there. Him and Steve [Belichick] are rolling with the defense and they’ve been running the defense.”

Even with Mayo’s clear ties to the Patriots organization, McCourty did wonder aloud about whether or not Mayo would be better served coaching with another organization in the years ahead in order to gain more experience and show that he can hold his own outside of some familiar surroundings.

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“That’s something that I’ve actually thought about,” McCourty said. “I’m like, you know you played here, then you came back and you coached here. Simply from the thought process of like, ‘Hey, let’s learn something new. Let’s see how somebody else operates. Let’s see, like, one of these other offenses up close and personal,’ just to kind of get a different perspective. I remember even talking to him about that a couple of years ago.

“And I think the hard thing is, I had to put myself in his shoes, if you get a head coaching job, especially in the NFL as a black coach, you really can’t turn that down. Like every year we’re always talking about these crazy stats for black coaches and black GMs, how rare it is, that like if you get an opportunity to advance in the NFL, it’s hard to turn down because you don’t know when your next opportunity is going to com… So I just think — yes, I think it would be awesome for him to just learn something new.

“To compile that with all the things he’s learned from Coach Belichick, learned from the Krafts. But I think it would be really hard if they offer him any type of job, whether it’s D coordinator, if it’s head coach in the future. It would be hard for him to say no to that and just hope something better happens.”