Sometimes, a team just knows who they want to hire. That appeared to be the case with Jerod Mayo and the New England Patriots this offseason.
At some point, team owner Robert Kraft realized he no longer wanted to move forward with Bill Belichick as the Patriots’ head coach. Usually, when a team moves on from a head coach, they embark on a series of interviews with other qualified candidates. Yet, that’s not what happened in New England.
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How New England Patriots avoided Rooney Rule with Jerod Mayo hiring
While the New England Patriots could have done what everyone else does and interviewed a large group of potential head coach candidates, that’s not what happened. The Patriots never had any interest in anyone else, not even Mike Vrabel, a member of the team’s Hall of Fame.
Instead, the Patriots were always locked in on Jerod Mayo.
The plan actually began back in January of 2023 when the Carolina Panthers expressed interest in bringing Mayo in for an interview. Mayo, who had long dreamed of becoming an NFL head coach, wanted to complete the interview process, but Robert Kraft wasn’t on board.
Instead, the Patriots altered the coach’s contract, putting their plan to name Mayo as Belichick’s eventual successor in writing. Because of this unique setup, the Patriots wouldn’t have to comply with the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which mandates that at least one minority candidate is interviewed for any head coaching vacancy.
This oddball procedure has only been used three times in the history of the NFL and just once in the past 15 years (Baltimore Ravens when they hired Eric DeCosta to replace Ozzie Newsome as GM).
Yet, Belichick was fully aware and on board with this plan, which included an adjustment of his contract too. Still, the goal was for Belichick to stick around through the 2024 season, buying the Patriots more time to make the tough transition to Mayo. But as The Athletic’s Chad Graff notes, Kraft changed his mind after a 4-13 season, and Mayo’s timeline was bumped up.
Ultimately, if the Patriots were going to move on from Belichick, they knew they wanted Mayo to be his replacement all along. Taking action, putting a specific clause in the contracts of both Belichick and Mayo allowed that transition to go much smoother than anticipated. Now, the Patriots hope it translates to immediate results, but boasting the No. 3 overall pick should help.
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