New England Patriots - NESN.com
Patriots players went to bat for Jerod Mayo mere minutes before he was fired — a sign that many in New England’s locker room expected the ex-linebacker to return for the 2025 season.
However, not all Patriots players were surprised when Mayo was shown the door after the team’s season finale.
Veteran defensive back Jonathan Jones, who’s played in New England since 2016, recently appeared on the “Pats Interference Football Podcast” and shed light on how his teammates received Mayo’s firing.
“Everybody kind of views it their own way,” Jones told the Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan, as transcribed by USA Today. “And so you have a little bit of people who are shocked, some of them say, ‘Hey, I kind of expected that,’ you know? Just a little bit of everything in between.”
The writing certainly was on the wall for Mayo, whose slew of self-inflicted wounds made the Patriots’ nightmarish season all the more challenging. But there also was reason to believe Mayo would survive the offseason, as Robert Kraft had been dead-set on Mayo as Bill Belichick’s successor for years.
New England players can’t afford to dwell on the Mayo decision, though. Jones and company will need to do everything they can under new head coach Mike Vrabel to spark a turnaround in 2025.
