Three-time Super Bowl champion executive Scott Pioli recalls drafting now-New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo as he prepares to lead his team out against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in London this weekend
Thursday 17 October 2024 11:48, UK
Scott Pioli was partly responsible for the defining moment in New England Patriots' history when he drafted a skinny Michigan quarterback by the name of Tom Brady with the 199th pick at the 2000 NFL Draft.
That skinny quarterback would go on to win six Super Bowls with the Patriots alongside Bill Belichick as the faces of one of the league's greatest ever dynasty teams.
But Pioli could yet have delivered another defining moment for the Boston franchise, having drafted linebacker Jerod Mayo with the 10th overall pick in 2008.
Some 16 years later, Mayo arrives in London as Patriots head coach and tasked with steering the team towards a new era of contention.
"That was my last draft with the Patriots in 2008," three-time Super Bowl champion executive Pioli told Sky Sports. "First round, we drafted Jerod Mayo, third round we drafted Kevin O'Connell, now the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, and then in the fifth round drafted Matthew Slater, who is going to end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"When we drafted Jerod, here's what we knew about Jerod, which is still true now. He loves the game. He's passionate about the game. He's smart about the game.
"He's a tremendous leader, an outstanding communicator and he believes in a standard of excellence. He demands a standard of excellence. But he also demands it of himself."
Mayo was promoted from inside linebackers coach to head coach of the Patriots earlier this year as the franchise turned to him as their successor to Belichick, who departed after 24 seasons in charge.
He had long been touted as one of the league's brightest young footballing minds, something recognised internally as New England elected him the man to lead a new chapter for the organisation.
"This is his first year now," Pioli continued. "People need to remember he hasn't been coaching that long. So he got done playing and he was in private business and then he got into coaching.
"So there's going to be some lumps along the way yet. If you look at Bill Belichick's first stop in Cleveland, I was with him there, there were some lumps there, there's a lot of learning and a lot of experiences that you need that you don't get until you do the job.
"Even though Jerod was a Patriot under the old way that we did things, he's his own man and his own personality. He has his own values and culture and how he wants things."
His Patriots currently sit 1-5 as they prepare to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium this Sunday, early teething problems to be expected for a team in the middle of a rebuild on the back of a 4-13 finish in 2023.
"You can't just turn the page overnight and have everything be the be the same, but there's also people within the organisation that have to get on board and be onboard," said Pioli. "So even though there's a perceived degree of continuity, there's also a lot that's different."
Pioli admits Mayo's head coaching credentials had not always been obvious in his playing career, during which he won Defensive Rookie of the Year as well as becoming a Super Bowl champion.
"I want to be clear, I didn't think he was going to be that guy, but I'm not surprised now that he is," said Pioli. "But here's what I remember about Jerod, he knew his place and had a degree of confidence and humility.
"At that time there were other leaders ahead of him, Teddy Bruschi was the captain and a guy playing his position, they played together and eventually Jerod was going to be the guy.
"One of the things I liked was the way he respected the people before him and having that degree of confidence, toughness. His hopefulness that he was going to be the guy while also respecting the process and transition was tremendous, and the ability to communicate and show respect was really important."
Week Seven begins on Thursday night when the New Orleans Saints (2-4) meet the Denver Broncos (3-3), live on Sky Sports NFL from 1.15am in the early hours of Friday.
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