The entire Patriots organization had a lot on their mind heading into the season finale game against the Bills on Sunday, and it didn't take long after their surprising win for the Krafts to create more chaos by immediately firing head coach Jerod Mayo. Although it wasn't entirely unexpected, it was shocking to see the decision not to wait until Monday, like many teams tend to do in that situation, especially since Mayo was hand-picked by Robert to succeed Bill Belichick.
It seemed clear that Mayo was not aware of what was coming when he spoke with reporters after the win, as he shared he would be having the annual end-of-the-season meeting with the Krafts this week.
But it wasn't just Mayo that would be blindsided with the firing.
Players met with reporters on Monday afternoon, and they made it apparent that they had no idea what was coming for their head coach after the win. Defensive end Deatrich Wise was the first to state they were caught off guard and even shared they weren't able to speak to Mayo before he left the building.
Deatrich Wise’s reaction to Jerod Mayo’s firing:
— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) January 6, 2025
“Very disappointed. It was a sad day. I didn’t want to see him leave. We didn’t know he was fired until right after the game, and it was very shocking news.” pic.twitter.com/3J2JhbEKRD
While the rumor implies Kraft knew he was letting Mayo go for a while, and his decision might not be a total surprise for most, it doesn't seem right that the players were left in the dark until the moment it happened, especially considering how the season transpired and their consistent support of their head coach throughout the year.
Jerod Mayo deserved a better sendoff than what the Patriots gave him
Players don't necessarily need to be kept in the know 100% of the time, but it was apparent they liked and respected Mayo and would have preferred more of a heads up about the significant decision that had been made about his future.
It's another questionable move by Kraft, who has been under fire over the past year for how he handled the Belichick situation, and now this latest move. He's under even more pressure regarding how he will go about finding a new head coach, with the hope he will conduct a proper search and not just immediately hire Mike Vrabel the way he did with Mayo.
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He was not put into an ideal situation, desirable to no one, and although he didn't help his case much during his rookie coaching year, the Patriots were never going to be a successful team this year, whether Mayo was the head coach or not. Given how much respect Kraft seemed to have for him, he should have given him a better sendoff than firing him immediately after the game with no warning to the players.