Patriots Fire Head Coach Jerod Mayo After One Season

The rookie head coach is out after finishing 4-13.
Jerod Mayo
Jerod Mayo / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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The New England Patriots won their final game of the 2024 season on Sunday, beating the Buffalo Bills, 23-16. It wasn't enough for rookie head coach Jerod Mayo to earn another year at the helm.

Shortly after the Pats took down the Bills, and lost out on the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft in the process, multiple reports emerged that New England planned to fire Mayo. He finishes his first and only season at the helm with a 4-13 record.

Mayo was selected by team owner Robert Kraft to be the heir apparent to Bill Belichick's throne. But after a frustrating year filled with embarrassing losses it seems ownership was more than ready to cut ties, even if Mayo wasn't working with much talent on the roster.

Kraft released a statement once the news broke thanking Mayo for his tenure and calling the decision to fire him one of the hardest he's had to make.

New England will now be one of the top coaching jobs available with Drake Maye on the roster and the No. 4 pick in the 2025 NFL draft. It seems likely the franchise will heavily pursue Mike Vrabel, the top free agent coach on the market who starred for the Patriots in the 2000s and was recently inducted into the team's hall of fame.


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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.