Jerod Mayo

Schefter noted a shift in the organization over the past 30 or so days. Despite Mayo being Bill Belichick’s hand-picked successor and recently having buy-in from owner Robert Kraft, the Pats’ late-season collapse has turned the tides against Mayo. New England’s last win came in Week 10 against Chicago. Now the only thing they have to play for is the No. 1 overall pick, which they are currently in line to secure this weekend. With Drake Maye looking as good as promised and the first pick potentially in hand, starting over with a new head coach makes sense for the Pats as they look to find their footing in their post-Belichick, post-Brady era.

New England’s head coaching position technically isn’t open at the moment and Russini has reported multiple times in the past that Jerod Mayo is expected to get a second season with the Patriots. Still, the timing of this report ahead of New England’s last game is enough to raise some eyebrows. The advantages to the Patriots job are obvious with the team in position for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft while having the most cap space in the league this offseason and a young quarterback already in place. The only question that remains is if the job will actually become available in the next week.

Mayo managed to step in some hot water with the press by seeming to throw Alex Van Pelt under the bus on a goal-line play call this week — saying “you said it, I didn’t” about sneaking with Drake Maye — before referring to it as “a defensive response.” Mayo told WEEI that “Just like I tell the players, I’m still learning how those things work.” Never a bad time to learn, coach. The state of the Patriots roster is such that it’s hard to really hold Mayo’s feet to the fire for a terrible opening season, but he sure hasn’t gotten much from the roster and the defense has collapsed without Bill Belichick. It wouldn’t be unprecedented to fire a first-year head coach who struggled like this, but Kraft has had Mayo as the coach-in-waiting long enough that it would certainly be surprising.