Jerod Mayo might have just exposed Robert Kraft in another offseason lie

During the Bill Belichick era in New England, he was the head coach and the unofficial general manager for almost the entirety of his tenure. It was something owner Robert Kraft had decided would be the way things were in Foxboro not long after hiring Belichick, which brought up concerns about how the team would run without him calling the shots this season.

The head coach search didn't take long, as Jerod Mayo was introduced as the successor just one day after Belichick was fired, and not too long after that, Eliot Wolf was given the unofficial title of being the general manager.

But given their collective inexperience in their roles, there was a strong belief that Kraft would be more involved in football operations than he ever had, especially since he seemingly had forfeited most of his power when Belichick was in the building.

Most of the chatter regarding Kraft's involvement in what is going on directly with the Patriots subsided until Mayo's interview earlier this week. The head coach revealed a lot to NBC Sports Boston's Tom E. Curran, and Patriots fans probably won't love just how involved Kraft appears to be.

Robert and Jonathan Kraft are seemingly more involved with day-to-day operations than we thought

The repeated assertion that Robert and his son Jonathan would not make football decisions and would lean on those in the front office to handle such matters appears to not exactly be the case, as Mayo seemed to imply the opposite in this interview.

He talked about the consistent communication he has with the Krafts, and based on what Mayo said, it would seem as though they are far more involved in the day-to-day operations than they have previously led.

“We speak all the time. Even outside of football, they have other businesses. All this stuff is about relationships. Coaching is about relationships, business is about relationships. And they’ve been an open book as far as, if I have a question on managing processes or leading people, they have been very open and honest with me on some of those things, and it’s going to make me a better coach going forward."

This wasn't the alarming part of the conversation, as the availability to answer questions for Mayo is far from a problem. It was Mayo revealing that he speaks with the Krafts about every single game and explains what they did, why they did it and answer questions they might have.

That's far more involved than we previously knew about.

"We always debrief the games. They’re very — they just want to know at least my thought process, and they absolutely, just like the fans, sometimes don’t agree with the way that the game is going. Obviously when you lose games, the questions are plentiful (and) very pointed.

Again, though, as the head coach, I have to be able to answer those questions. And my job is not only to protect the coaches, but also protect the players. And that’s why I try to take one hundred percent accountability.”

It's not necessarily a significant issue per se; it's more about the transparency from the top to the bottom. The fans should know just how involved the owners are, and while it's not unheard of for any team owner to be checking in with what's going on with the team, it's the repeated notion that they're not doing that from Kraft himself that is the problem for most fans.

It's even more of a problem considering the inexperience of the coaching staff and the seemingly laid-back disposition of Kraft despite all the issues the team has faced and will continue for the rest of the season.

If they're so involved with what's going on, why haven't they tried to make some much-needed changes to improve the team's chances this year? Maybe they really are embracing the 2024 season as a wash.

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