The great decisions Robert Kraft and the Patriots' ownership have made this century have far outweighed the bad, although there have been some pretty odious ones. Letting Tom Brady walk out the door for Tampa Bay in 2020 certainly ranks up there, and many of us still wonder what might have been with the 2019 wide receiver group had Antonio Brown been on his best behavior.
But the hiring of Jerod Mayo as head coach before the 2024 season still has many Patriots' fans shaking their heads, especially given that Mike Vrabel, who blissfully is here now, was a head coaching free agent at the time. The Krafts certainly acknowledged that mistake in firing Mayo after a pitiful 4-13 record in his only season as head coach.
You could make an argument that it is one of the league's worst head coaching hires of this century, but according to CBS Sports' Cody Benjamin, Mayo didn't even crack the top 25. Should he?
Jerod Mayo is unfortunately one of the league's worst hires of this century
If you're a one-and-done head coach in the NFL, that's a dubious distinction, and Mayo isn't the only such head coach in Patriots' history, but was the first to be sacked after one season since Rod Rust's 1-15 disaster in 1990.
While Mayo certainly doesn't fall into the category of some guys on Benjamin's list, such as Urban Meyer, Bobby Petrino, Nick Saban, and Matt Patricia, he comes pretty close. Mayo had zero head coaching experience and was reportedly chosen as Bill Belichick's successor years before The Hoodie was fired. A national search wasn't even held after Kraft fired Belichick.
Mayo was set up to fail right from the get-go, but he certainly didn't do anything about it. Rookie quarterback Drake Maye put up solid numbers despite a bad roster and coaching staff around him. The Patriots' locker room at the time resembled a country club, and Mayo lost control of his team right from the get-go.
As bad as the 1990 team was under Rust, Mayo gets my vote for the worst head coaching hire in the history of the Patriots.
For what it's worth, Belichick earned the 1B spot - Meyer was the obvious No. 1 - on Benjamin's list, for his 24-hour stint with the Jets. We're all thankful for that resignation "letter" that Belichick wrote on a napkin.