Patriots' HC Jerod Mayo says the quiet part out loud about Bill Belichick's hires

When the Mac Jones trade to the Jaguars was announced early in free agency, there wasn't much shock or disappointment regarding the Patriots' decision to move on from the young quarterback. For the most part, fans and reporters felt it was the best thing to do for the team and the player, allowing both to have a fresh start away from each other.

However, the lingering belief that Jones wasn't given the proper coaching or tools during his three years in New England continues to be a topic of discussion, which is difficult to shake, considering how he looked during his rookie season.

It is so apparent that even new head coach Jerod Mayo spoke about it almost immediately upon being promoted, and he shared more of his thoughts on the matter while meeting with reporters at the Annual League Meeting on Monday morning.

Jerod Mayo says the quiet part out loud about Bill Belichick's hires contributing to Mac Jones' downfall

No matter how you evaluate Jones as a quarterback, it's impossible not to mention the lack of sufficient weapons he had to work with on offense from the moment he was drafted. This was one of the reasons Tom Brady was allegedly frustrated during the latter part of his Patriots career, and it didn't improve much when they brought in a rookie quarterback.

The idea that you can expect a young signal caller to thrive without a better-than-mediocre team around him is incomprehensible, especially when the coach making the decisions is of Bill Belichick's caliber.

Because he was there to see it all unfold, Mayo knows the ins and outs of how the downfall of Jones occurred and isn't shy about placing blame, even if it's not completely outright, on the legendary coach's shoulders.

He went on to say that he feels the current roster and their plans with the draft are constructed to support a rookie quarterback, seemingly another hit on the previous regime regarding their lack of proper roster building for Jones to be successful.

Some might not like Mayo placing any blame on Belichick or his hiring of Matt Patricia since that is presumably who he was referring to. But the important thing to remember is he's not wrong in his assessment. In fact, he's more correct than anyone else because he was on the staff throughout the entire thing.

Not to mention, even the most loyal, supportive Belichick supporters can't ignore his questionable personnel decisions in recent years, especially when we're talking about Patricia and Joe Judge.

Thankfully, both coaches are no longer with the team, and Mayo witnessed firsthand what not to do when trying to develop your next franchise quarterback. That should (hopefully) be invaluable as they try to do that again this year, and they'll be able to avoid the mistakes made with Jones with the rookie player they draft.

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