The New England Patriots fired head coach Jarrod Mayo on Sunday, the team announced. The team went 3-14 in his only season in charge.
Mayo was previously the inside linebackers coach with the Patriots from 2019 to 2023. Mayo was promoted to the head job in January of last year, replacing six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick.
“For me, personally, this was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made,” New England owner Robert Kraft said in a statement.
He later added: “Unfortunately, the pace of our team’s performances throughout the season has not been the way I had hoped.”
The Patriots opened the season with an upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals, but then lost 13 of their next 15 games. New England won its season finale against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, but the win came at a cost, dropping the Patriots from the first pick to the fourth overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.
Mayo made waves earlier in the season when, following the team’s sixth straight loss, he described his roster as “soft”.
“We’re a soft football team across the board,” Mayo said in October. “We talk about what makes a tough football team, and it’s being able to run the ball, being able to stop the run and being able to cover kicks. We didn’t have any of that. “What?”