The Bill Belichick era in New England came to a little more than 24 hours ago, but the team wasted no time moving on to the future. The Patriots have hired Jerod Mayo to replace Belichick as head coach. At 37 years old, he'll be the youngest coach in the NFL and the first African American head coach in franchise history.
According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Mayo's contract stipulated that he would be the successor to Belichick whenever the legendary coach decided to move on from the team.
Mayo was drafted by the Patriots in 2008 and played his entire career in New England. He served as the linebackers coach since 2019 and the Pats ranked top 10 in points allowed his each of his first three seasons with the team.
Based on the latest odds, Belichick is expected to either refrain from coaching this upcoming season, land in Los Angeles, or end up in Atlanta.
Mayo has massive shoes to fill replacing Belichick on the Patriots. Belichick was 266-121 in regular season as head coach of the Patriots and 30-12 in the playoffs. However the past few seasons without Brady have been a struggle. The Patriots were +750 to win the AFC East entering the season — their longest odds to win the division since 2001 — and their win total was set at 7.5 also their lowest since 2001.
The Patriots have the No. 3 pick in this year's draft. Oddsmakers have only released odds for the No. 1 pick, but behind heavy favorite Caleb Williams is quarterback Drake Maye and wide receiver Marvin Harrison jr.
