Patriots’ Drake Maye Stands By Head Coach Jerod Mayo, Denies Job Security Concerns

In the midst of a 3-11 season with a rookie quarterback, first-year Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo is already facing job security questions. He declined to answer them when asked, but his quarterback, 22-year-old Drake Maye, wasn’t afraid to stand up for his coach.

“I think our players, we’re behind him. We’re backing him,” Maye said during a press conference. “We trust the plan he’s got for us, and we trust what he says in the team meeting rooms and all his little sayings that he has. We believe in it, and we’re bought into it. I think the results are coming. I think they’re coming. Everybody wishes they were now, and I think we’re kind of striving for that… the winning is coming in the near future.”

Replacing a decades-old system under Bill Belichick and adding a new quarterback, expectations for Mayo were always low in 2024. Unless there are serious flaws in his coaching style, questions about his job security feel premature as the team looks to discover a new identity.

Unlike many teams in the league’s cellar, the Patriots have plenty of excuses. Maye has steadily improved in his first season, but his receiving options are still profoundly limited. The running game isn’t much better, and the defense has been solid but hampered by injuries and lopsided possession times.  

With the exception of improving quarterback play, the Patriots’ situation in 2024 is identical to the situation the team has been in for years. These same problems festered in the final years of Belichick’s tenure and were never going to disappear overnight. If anyone on the team understands the challenges facing Mayo, it’s Maye.

“It’s a lot of responsibility being the quarterback, same thing as the head coach,” Maye said. “He’s figuring it out.”

If the Patriots continue down this path and Mayo manages to earn a second year at the helm, the team will have the chance to draft another elite player out of the draft. This can allow the team to continue building around Maye and, in the process, distance itself from the plaguing issues from previous regimes.

Article by Patrick Moquin