Patriots insider believes it's not just coordinators and players put on notice

The most predictable part of the Patriots' 2024 season was that they would not be a team ready to compete, as they were undergoing a significant rebuild from top to bottom. It's never easy when a new head coach and staff come in, especially following in the footsteps of a guy like Bill Belichick.

So, seeing that they have more losses than wins and aren't playing up to the typical New England standard isn't all that surprising.

However, the seemingly rapid decline over the past month has been the focus of concern, and the fear of harming rookie quarterback Drake Maye's proper development continues to be at the forefront of analysts' and fans' minds, as we saw with Mac Jones.

This has prompted many to call for the jobs of several coordinators and players, especially after a horrific performance like last week's loss to the Dolphins. However, the likelihood of any major changes to the staff has been brushed aside as something that Robert Kraft won't consider until this latest rumor.

Robert Kraft has a lot of considering to do over the final five games of the 2024 season

During an appearance on NBC Sports Boston's Quick Slants earlier this week, longtime Patriots insider Tom E. Curran shared the brutal reality of where the Patriots are heading into Week 13 this Sunday.

While most of what he spoke about has been discussed a lot this season, it was his belief that the loss to Miami last week might have been what puts everyone on notice, even Jerod Mayo.

"It's only been 11 months since the Patriots said goodbye to the greatest coach of all time, Bill Belichick. But in that 11 months, what they've been doing is basically taking a beat. They wanted to see how things looked without Bill. They wanted to keep one foot in the past and one foot in the present, and they would look toward the future. What are they seeing in the future? They're seeing a team that's gonna need a lot of work.

This is a Patriots team that has to figure out, as Jerod Mayo has said, who's going to stay, what can maintain. And really everybody has to be on notice as a result of that, whether it's the players, whether it's the personnel people, whether it's the coaches, whether it's Mayo himself."

Whether Mayo will actually be in the hot seat by season's end is debatable, with most believing that won't be the case given that this is his first year as a head coach and his close relationship with Kraft, who claimed to have decided he would be the Patriots next head coach five years ago.

While that's fair, to an extent, Kraft will really need to take a close look at how the team functioned this year and consider if the right people were hired to help elevate the team moving forward, even more so now that they seem to have their quarterback of the future. Nobody should necessarily be safe from being cut, especially the staff, as they are directly responsible for the day-to-day functions and getting the team ready for game day.

The roster is probably the least concerning part since their jobs are almost never secure. Free agency allows them to move on from players, whether via trade or release, and they fortunately have a lot of cap space to spend next year. Hopefully, that's exactly what they'll do, and have a better game plan than they did this past offseason.

Kraft will need to emphasize that as well since it is a significant factor in the team's current situation heading into December. And because of that, if Kraft is serious about wanting his team to be playoff contenders sooner rather than later, none of the staff should be out of the conversation regarding replacement.

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