The New England Patriots fired Jerod Mayo from his head-coaching position immediately after the regular season, ending his tenure after just one year at the helm.
While most weren't shocked that the Patriots canned Mayo, some were surprised by the timing of it, as the announcement came abruptly after New England's Week 18 loss.
Pats cornerback Jonathan Jones spoke about the firing recently, and he provided a rather diplomatic take on the situation.
“Everybody kind of views it their own way,” Jones told Andrew Callahan of The Boston Herald. “And so you have a little bit of people who are shocked, some of them say, ‘Hey, I kind of expected that,’ you know? Just a little bit of everything in between.”
So, basically, there were some Patriots players who were not exactly bewildered by the fact that Mayo lost his job.
New England went just 4-13 this season and did not show any signs of real progress. Plus, Mayo made a plethora of bad decisions throughout the year, making countless questionable comments in postgame press conference as well as head-scratching in-game decisions.
Whether or not it was fair for the Pats to dismiss Mayo after one season is debatable, but apparently, the Patriots felt strongly enough about the job Mayo did to part ways with him.
New England ultimately hired Mike Vrabel — who played linebacker for the Pats for eight years — to replace him, and there were rumors swirling about Vrabel being interested in the potential Patriots opening weeks before Mayo was even fired.
Perhaps New England knew for quite some time that it was going to cut ties with Mayo due to the prospect of bringing in Vrabel.
Whatever the case may be, the Pats have missed the playoffs four of the last five seasons.
