A successful Patriots season starts with Jerod Mayo

The New England Patriots head into the 2024 NFL season with a new head coach, new quarterbacks and a lot of questions marks surrounding the coaching staff and roster. Jerod Mayo and Drake Maye find themselves in very different situations becoming the new faces of the Patriots. Mayo is taking over for an NFL legend and the greatest coach of all time in Bill Belichick, while Maye is replacing former first round pick Mac Jones who struggled mightily for most of his time in New England.

For the Patriots to be successful in the 2024 season it all starts with Mayo showing us that he can be a good NFL head coach. While Maye is much further down the list, there's a chance Maye won't even play in his first year and if he does many think it won't be until halfway through the season. For Mayo there are no days off, every move he makes will be scrutinized and combed over. It's already begun long before the regular season starts. Mayo finds himself in the unfavorable position of replacing a legend and taking over a team with high expectations and a roster that leaves a lot to be desired.

When asking Patriots fans what a successful season for this team would be you get a mixture of answers. Perspectives vary from the teams win loss record, to progressing Drake Maye, to finding out if Jerod Mayo is a good head coach. For me anything that resembles a good season for the Patriots starts and ends with Jerod Mayo, he's the new head coach and his decisions will be on display starting in week 1 taking over a team who's defense is supposed to be dominant. While fans will just be hoping the offense looks somewhat compotent with veteran Jacoby Brissett at the helm.

So yes while long term the growth and development of Drake Maye could be more pivotal to the team's success for the 2024 season Jerod Mayo is the focal point of what a successful season looks like for New England. If Mayo struggles the team and consequently Maye will struggle if he even gets into the games. In order of importance for the 2024 season I'd have Mayo first, Jacoby second and the offensive line third for how the team will perform and show us what a successful season could look like.

Many believe the Patriots defense to be the strength of the team but it can't be overlooked that while the talent remains from last year the brain behind that defense Bill Belichick is no more. If the defense does take a step back it's going to fall on Jerod Mayo putting his team in an even tougher spot if they can't rely on what many believe to be the strength of the roster. Taking all this into account I believe that finding out if Mayo can be a good NFL head coach is the most important piece to determining what a successful season is for the Patriots.

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