FOXBORO — All signs and reports indicated that Jerod Mayo’s job as Patriots head coach was safe entering Week 15.
But after a blowout loss to the Cardinals and more press conference comments that Mayo was forced to walk back, the head coach’s job security has become a hot topic this week.
Mayo was asked Wednesday if Robert and Jonathan Kraft have told him he’ll return for the 2025 season.
“Look, I have multiple conversations on a daily basis with ownership, and they’ve always been supportive,” Mayo said, evading the question.
Mayo has said multiple times now that he expects to improve in his second year as head coach. He was asked a follow-up on whether that second year has been assured to him by ownership.
“No, again, for me this week, my focus is on this game, the Bills here, today,” Mayo said. “Things that happen at the end of the season, I can’t control those things, so it’s all about the Bills.”
It was pointed out to Mayo that those answers don’t necessarily squash rumors about his job security.
“Well, I’m not trying to squash anything,” Mayo said. “I’m trying to let you know where my focus is, and it’s on the Bills. I understand the question.”
Multiple Patriots players were asked about the hovering questions of Mayo’s job security and his leadership style as a coach.
Defensive end and captain Deatrich Wise had the most glowing review of Mayo, saying “his leadership, in my opinion, is one of the best I’ve seen because of the situations that we’re in now, he still has the ability to raise his leadership even higher.”
Wise also believes that Mayo’s first year as a head coach might not be indicative of his future.
“I feel like there’s a lot of coaches whose first year isn’t that good. And they go on to do great, great, great things,” Wise said, citing Lions head coach Dan Campbell as an example.
Rookie quarterback Drake Maye called Mayo’s coaching style, “player-friendly.” He also backed the first-year head coach.
“He’s figuring it out, and I think our players, we’re behind him. We’re backing him,” Maye said. “We trust the plan he’s got for us, and we trust what he says in the team meeting rooms and all those little sayings that he has. We believe in it, and we’re bought into it. I just think the results are coming.”
The Patriots play the Bills in Buffalo on Sunday, followed by home games against the Chargers and Bills (again). These are three of the toughest tests the Patriots have faced all season, and if things don’t improve from Sunday’s performance against the Cardinals, questions about Mayo’s future won’t be going away anytime soon.