FOXBOROUGH – Less than one calendar year.
That’s how long it took to go from Bill Belichick, to Jerod Mayo, to 4-13 twice, to another search for a head coach.
After the unnecessary win and then stunningly abrupt firing of Mayo on Sunday night, it was a strange feeling inside Gillette Stadium on a bitterly cold and blustery Monday.
The finality of the 4-13 season had set in a few weeks ago, but the news that broke after the majority of players had left the locker room following the win made things much more unsettling on this particular clean out day. As players cleared out their lockers for the final time, they also had no idea who would be coaching them during OTA’s this spring.
Robert Kraft spoke following the final 45 minutes of locker room availability for the season, closing the book on two of the more memorable days in Patriots history. He was quick and to the point with his opening remarks.
“I’m going to be very brief here and say this whole situation is on me,” he said. “I feel terrible for Jerod [Mayo] because I put him in an untenable situation. I know that he has all the tools as a head coach to be successful in this league. He just needed more time before taking the job. In the end, I’m a fan of this team first. Now, I have to go out and find a coach who can get us back to the playoffs and hopefully championships.”
A few players including Christian Gonzalez, Deatrich Wise and Davon Godchaux also spoke to a large media scrum. Pop Douglas lugged a giant trash bag of other opponents’ jerseys around, getting in some early season workouts. Jahlani Tavai and Wise shared a laugh and hugged. Joe Milton – wearing the same smile he usually is – said goodbye to everyone in his path a day after suddenly becoming a hot commodity for teams that need quarterback depth.
It was truly a day that felt like the end of one era and the start of another.
For Wise – who may have played his final game as a Patriot – the news about Mayo stung.
“It was a sad day, nobody wanted to see him leave,” he said. “Didn’t know he was fired until right after the game. Very shocking news…he was a great leader, great coach, a greta friend. He pretty much was consistent every single day. Brought great energy, motivated everybody, inspired everybody in the building to do better.
“I felt like every time he came into the room, he brought a light and a good energy. I feel like he held us together throughout the whole season.”
David Andrews – the last true leader from the glory days – also spoke at his locker. Andrews said he wanted to return next year, as long as the next head coach wants him.
Seemingly, that should be a no brainer.
“I know this is a tough business. The organization might come to me and tell me it’s time to move on. I might get into OTAs and training camp and know I can’t do it. If the organization decides to go in a different way, that’s their choice. I hope that’s not the case,” said Andrews. “I want to play football. I’ve done this for a long 26 years. I’d like to make it to 27 and see where it goes from there. I’m just taking it day-by-day. That’s all I can do. I’ve got a long road. Been through it before so I know what it’s going to take, and I’m going to try to do it.
“A lot of people grow up wanting to be certain things and they don’t get to do it. They’ve gotta go get a real job. I grew up wanting to be a football player and I’ve done it for 10 years. That’s special. I hope guys don’t take that for granted. Because you don’t know how long it’ll last. It’s such a blessing, man. To get to be in an NFL locker room — whatever role you’re in – so, it was a frustrating year for me because I do know that and I know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for me. Hopefully I can make the tunnel a little longer and we’ll go from there.”
Whatever is next for this organization both as a whole and for individual players, it appears the Krafts are committed to righting the wrongs of the last two (or five) years as quickly as humanly possible, even if it meant a startling turn of events over the last 24 hours.
“From my point of view, I just thought we had a rough year last year. Not ’24; ’23. Going through two years like that and then seeing where we were this year, especially the second half of the year, just made me feel we weren’t going in the right direction,” RKK added.
“I don’t want to go through this next year. We’re going to do what we’ve got to do to fix it.”