Patriots

With the Patriots currently sitting at the underside of the AFC East with a 3-10 record, each Jerod Mayo and Eliot Wolf are feeling the warmth.

The Patriots weren't expected to return near competing in 2024, but New England has regressed in several areas this season – including the defensive side of the ball, discipline and late-game execution.

Mayo, who’s within the midst of his first yr as an NFL head coach, declined a matter asked Monday about whether Robert Kraft had told him he could be back for a second season.

“My main focus was just really getting this team ready for the game this week… “I’m not going to get caught up in any of that stuff. … “Now I’m dancing a little bit again, but my focus is on the guys in this room, the coaches on this team and winning this game that’s in front of us.”

While Mayo has received a variety of criticism in recent months, New England's de facto GM in Wolf can also be chargeable for the Patriots' personnel.

Even though New England entered last offseason with a ton of cap space, the Patriots were hoping to land several free agents like Calvin Ridley, while signings like KJ Osborn and Chukwuma Okorafor were massive failures.

Add within the lackluster results of several 2024 draft picks like Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker, and New England still has a protracted method to go in its rebuild — even when Drake Maye looks like the true deal at quarterback.

But despite concerns about Mayo's growing pains and Wolf's offseason mistakes, the MMQB's Albert Breer is amongst those that don't expect Kraft to maneuver up from either after the top of the 2024 season.

“I don’t believe that CEOs are judged based on one-year snapshots” Breer said of Wolf during his recent appearance on NBC Sports Boston's Sports Sundayadded: “I just think there are too many ups and downs in recruiting. For example, in the draft there is a good year and a bad year – that applies to everyone in the NFL. It’s too hard to judge a guy based on one draft or one free agent period, and I think you need to give him more time.”

Beyond the necessity for more patience as New England rebuilds, Breer acknowledged that New England's clearinghouse with its coaching staff and front office would also reflect poorly on Kraft.

For Breer, it's the same situation to the Cowboys after owner Jerry Jones named Jason Garrett to guide Dallas as head coach.

“I also think there's this element, and I think this goes for Jerod Mayo as well: sometimes it's hard for owners to admit they were wrong,” Breer said. “The owners here have invested a lot in Jerod Mayo. They invested in him as a player, they invested in him as an assistant coach, they basically kicked out the greatest coach of all time to hand the job to Jerod Mayo.

“I saw this in Dallas with Jerry Jones: One of the reasons he was so reluctant to let go of Jason Garrett is because he viewed Jason Garrett as his creation. I think there's a similar dynamic here. I don't think Kraft wants to be wrong about Jerod Mayo. I don’t think they want to be wrong about Eliot Wolf either.”

The optics could be bad for Kraft if he fired Mayo after one season – especially after that named the previous linebacker as Bill Belichick's successor “five years ago.”

Still, the Patriots must grapple with the very best path forward in 2025 and beyond because the team looks to expand on a number of the promise Maye demonstrated this fall.