It has been an eventful first training camp for Patriots Head Coach Jerod Mayo. After a busy off-season focused on hiring his staff, free agency and the draft, Mayo has gotten a taste of the turbulent world of an NFL head coach.

From navigating injuries to the contract issues involving Davon Godchaux and Matthew Judon, Mayo has gotten a first hand look at just how unpredictable the life of an NFL head coach can be. Despite all that has happened, Mayo knows it comes with the territory when you are the head guy.

“These things happen on every single team, and it’s good to get that experience dealing with frustrations, contract negotiations, frustrations on playing time, and things like that. It’s part of the job. Like my mom said, “You want to be a head coach, huh?” I do. But once again, look, it’s a learning experience for me and I will continue to evolve and just try to be a better coach every day, just how I expect our players to be better players every day.”

Now Mayo can shift his focus to the best part of the job, coaching the games. Tonight will be a great experience for him as he puts on the headsets for the first time. It will also be a learning experience. He is not excited for himself but for the players as well.

“I’m excited. I’m excited to be on the sideline, and honestly, I’m excited for the players to go out there and perform well. So, that’s the main thing. Alright, thanks guys. I appreciate it.”

Mayo will also focus on managing the logistics of a game. The different situations that come up. When you are a head coach, you focus on the entire operation not just one side of the ball like he has the past two seasons.

“We’ll get the coaches up in the box, and we’ll just have a mock game, substitutions, all those things so we’re clean. It’s a test for us, but also it’s something that we can probably improve, and we’ll see how it plays out.”

Preseason games are not just for the players, they are for the coaching staffs as well. Mayo and his staff will plenty of evaluate tomorrow about how they managed personnel, the game and what plays they called. 

It is all part of being a head coach. Something Mayo has always wanted and now that he has that opportunity, he will make the most of every day and get better at his job. 

It can now be his primary focus as training camp starts to wind down.