Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo had a front-row seat to the demise of former New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones. Wolf didn’t have the loudest voice in the personnel department and Mayo wasn’t leading the group in the locker room, but they saw Jones’ journey from development to downfall.
It certainly seemed like the Jones situation caused trepidation when it came to playing New England’s first-round rookie quarterback Drake Maye. The third overall pick, hindered by similar offensive woes as Jones before him, operated with training wheels during the preseason. He received just six snaps during a preseason game and started his first game after fellow first-round rookies Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix. Fifth-round rookie Spencer Rattler made his debut in Week 6 like Maye did.
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo, however, said the stench of Jones didn’t linger in the nostrils of Wolf or Mayo when they split up Bill Belichick’s responsibilities this offseason.
“I didn’t really think about it that way,” Mayo told reporters at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, per a team-provided video. “I think every situation with a first-year quarterback is it’s own unique situation,”
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The question was asked since Maye’s Patriots will take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on Sunday. New England traded Jones to Jacksonville this offseason, and the 2021 first-rounder remains the backup to Trevor Lawrence.
It’s difficult to take Mayo’s comments at face value.
The Patriots obviously cannot stunt Maye’s development the same way they did with Jones. Everyone knows that. Wolf and Mayo know it, too. Comparing Maye to Jones on the field isn’t fair — Maye far exceeds Jones’ physical tools — but there’s no denying the Patriots could and should learn from their halted development of Jones. There’s nothing wrong with that.
New England took steps toward doing that with a coaching staff of offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, special offensive assistant Ben McAdoo and quarterbacks coach TC McCartney. That trio, while under fire from a population of Patriots fans, is much-improved from the tandem of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. They helped punt Jones’ development into the sun, not to say Jones is absent of his own critiques.
Another reason Mayo’s comments are hard to believe is the trend of backtracking from the first-year head coach. Mayo previously said the offensive line would not play a role in when Maye entered the fold. He went against his own notion this week and said the offensive line did, in fact, play a role. Understandable, right? Absolutely. But the backpedaling on past topics impacts how his messaging comes across on future ones.