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Jerod Mayo admits to ‘rookie mistake’ from first radio interview
"I was just very excited. At the same time, I feel like we’re building the roster the way we want to build it.”
Jerod Mayo had Patriots fans buzzing just days into his tenure as New England’s head coach.
In his first WEEI interview after succeeding Bill Belichick, Mayo pledged that his team was going to be aggressive during the offseason when it came to adding talent.
“We’re bringing in talent, 1,000%,” Mayo said back on Jan. 22. “Have a lot of cap space and cash. Ready to burn some cash.”
It was a comment that loomed over a Patriots offseason where the team has retained plenty of key cogs like Mike Onwenu, Hunter Henry, Kyle Dugger, and Kendrick Bourne — but have come up short when it comes to attracting marquee free agents to Foxborough.
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Despite entering free agency with over $100 million in cap space, New England still has $54.1 million in space as of Monday evening, per Over The Cap.
Some of that will be allocated to Christian Barmore’s hefty contract extension and other deals for 2025 and beyond. But Mayo’s comments haven’t aged very well, especially with New England whiffing on top targets on the market like Calvin Ridley.
Speaking on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday morning, Mayo admitted that his cash-burning comments were not the right tone to set before the start of free agency.
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“That was a rookie mistake. That was a rookie mistake by me,” Mayo said. “As soon as I got downstairs, (Patriots vice president of communications Stacey James) slapped me in the head, like, ‘What are you doing?’
“You understand what I meant, though. What I really meant, though, is we’re going to be, obviously, smart with cash and smart with acquisitions. I was just very excited. At the same time, I feel like we’re building the roster the way we want to build it.”
Even though most of the free-agency frenzy has quieted down at this point on the NFL offseason calendar, additional fiscal flexibility should come in handy for a Patriots roster looking at a lengthy rebuild.
“We have to be smart,” Mayo added. “Once again, the burning of cash was a mistake. In saying that, we do have cash and we’ll spend it on guys that we think will make this team better.”
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