Robert Kraft says he knew in 2019 that Jerod Mayo would be the Patriots’ next coach
Kraft told ESPN the thought came when Mayo was a part of his trip to Israel in 2019, recognizing the way he communicated with former and current Patriots players.
When the Patriots extended Jerod Mayo during the 2023 offseason, it was included in his contract that he would succeed Bill Belichick as the coach of the team. However, Robert Kraft knew he wanted to make Mayo the next Patriots coach years before that.
The Patriots owner revealed that he knew he wanted Mayo to be Belichick’s successor in 2019 during an interview with Amazon’s Taylor Rooks on Thursday.
“I’ve gotten to know Jerod over the last 12, 15 years and I picked him five years ago to be our next head coach,” Kraft said. “He’s very special and it’s great that he had the ability to train under Bill.”
In a separate interview with ESPN’s Mike Reiss, Kraft disclosed that the idea Mayo would succeed Belichick came during a trip to Israel in 2019. Kraft liked the way Mayo communicated with notable Patriots icons and standouts (Drew Bledsoe, Ty Law, Kevin Faulk, Vince Wilfork, Stephon Gilmore, Joe Thuney, David Andrews) when their return flight was delayed, according to Reiss.
“What especially got my attention was how he organized some meetings, a dialogue. … It was with veterans and current Patriots. He had been out of the organization, but that showed me a skill of being able to get along,” Kraft told Reiss.
“A bell went off, and I said, ‘That’s my next head coach.'”
While Mayo had etched his name as a franchise legend before Kraft had the thought that he should be the next head coach of the Patriots, the former linebacker had just started his coaching career at the time of that trip. Belichick hired Mayo as an inside linebackers coach during the 2019 offseason. Following his retirement in the 2016 offseason, Mayo worked for Optum, a healthcare company, and as an analyst for NBC Sports Boston.
Mayo quickly became a coaching commodity. He interviewed for the Eagles’ head coach vacancy in the 2021 offseason and had other head coach interviews in the following offseasons. When Mayo was set to interview for the Panthers’ vacancy in 2023, the Patriots gave him an extension that reportedly included the coach-in-waiting clause. That clause allowed the Patriots to hire Mayo a day after they parted ways with Belichick, skipping the interview process.
When Mayo was introduced as the Patriots’ next head coach in January, Kraft placed value in the fact that he was developed in the organization.
“I’ve been running businesses for more than 50 years, and in my experience, the most successful leadership transitions happen when we’re privileged to develop talent from within,” Kraft said at Mayo’s introductory press conference. “That allows us to create a succession plan that allows the candidate to better prepare for the opportunity when he arrives.”
The start of the Mayo era got off to a bang, with the Patriots upsetting the Bengals in Week 1. But the last two weeks haven’t been as pleasant, with New England losing to the Seahawks in overtime before getting blown out by the Jets in Week 3.
Kraft recognized that the Patriots might not have an ideal record at the end of Mayo’s first season. However, he placed confidence in Mayo, reiterating that he thinks he’s the right coach to get them through the rebuilding process.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. We will probably be in for some rough times. But this is how you build. Our first year with Bill, we went 5-11,” Kraft told Reiss. “Jerod exudes a certain confidence and has created an atmosphere of positivity.
“I don’t know what our record is going to be, but … there is a certain connectivity and mutual respect yet pushing back on one another.”
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