What Patriots are reportedly expected to do if they retain Mayo

It’s still unknown whether Jerod Mayo will be back as the Patriots’ head coach in 2025. If he is, there might be some changes around him. 

In the event the Patriots keep Mayo, he’s expected to add some more veteran coaches to his staff, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones reported Saturday. The Patriots are expected to keep Mayo, though New England’s recent skid has complicated things, according to Jones.

It had been previously reported throughout the season that the Patriots were expected to retain Mayo for the 2025 season, regardless of how 2024 went. But New England is in the midst of a six-game losing streak, suffering three losses by at least 13 points in that stretch. 

There have also been questions about the Patriots’ culture under Mayo. As fans chanted for the team to fire Mayo in the second half of their loss to the Chargers last week, three players have criticized the fans while backing their head coach. 

The Patriots haven’t publicly said yet whether Mayo will return for 2025. Mayo also has yet to talk with the team about whether he would have the final say on staffing decisions for next season, he shared Friday. 

“It’s the first time I’ve gotten to the end of a season,” Mayo told reporters when asked whether any staffing changes would be his alone. “So, as I said, I’ve been in constant communication with ownership, and I’m sure those conversations will be had.”

Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt has seemingly been the top name on the hot seat among the assistant coaches, in part because of comments Mayo made following their loss to the Cardinals. But if they are looking to add veteran coaches to the staff, some other coaches could be at risk of losing their jobs. DeMarcus Covington is in his first season as an NFL defensive coordinator. Three other coaches are also in their first season serving as the main coach of a positional group. 

Additionally, Bill Belichick is expected to hire members of the Patriots’ organization to join him at North Carolina, while there will likely be more staffing changes to New England’s player personnel department under Eliot Wolf, Jones reported. 

When Belichick was hired by UNC, Mayo said that he didn’t anticipate losing any coaches from his staff to the former Patriots head coach in Chapel Hill. Jones noted that the members of the Patriots Belichick could hire might be from the training, strength, or personnel staffs.

Wolf, meanwhile, is wrapping up his first season as the Patriots executive vice president of player personnel. While he was the Patriots’ de facto general manager for the important stages of last offseason, Wolf wasn’t promoted to that role until May. Alonzo Highsmith was the only notable hire for the Patriots’ personnel department last offseason, joining the team as a senior personnel executive. 

With the Patriots at 3-13, Wolf will certainly have his work cut out for him this offseason. He knows that, too.

“We’re 3-13, so not good enough. Let’s start there. We had a lot of needs. I would say that I guess personally, what I was expecting maybe a little bit more internal development, which is a good lesson certainly heading into next year, and that you can’t always rely on that,” Wolf told Fox Sports’ Henry McKenna on what went wrong in 2024. “The rookie receivers didn’t have it really that much for us. And, you know, [Ja’Lynn] Polk was sort of in our estimation a plug-and-play. … Ultimately, to answer to your question, our record speaks for itself. We didn’t do enough.”