Patriots Head Coach After being hired, Jerod Mayo acknowledges that he made a “rookie mistake.”
The Hero HC Jerod Mayo confessed that he made a grave error with grave repercussions in… View details
After taking over a team that had roughly $66 million in cap room before free agency began, first-year head coach Jerod Mayo of the New England Patriots might have been a little too ambitious in his roster-building plans.
In January, Mayo said in a radio broadcast that the Patriots had a lot of money to burn. He has since expressed regret for that statement.
“I made a rookie error there,” Mayo admitted on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday. “What are you doing? Patriots vice president of communications Stacey James smacked me over the head as soon as I stepped downstairs. But you get what I was trying to say. Really, what I meant to say was that we will, without a doubt, be prudent with our money and acquisitions. I was simply giddy with excitement.
Though it did have a significant amount of cap room, New England had very few splashes of free agents. Of that cap space, the team utilized $31.247 million to sign free agents, and the remaining amount was used to keep important internal free agents.
In addition to keeping defensive tackle Christian Barmore on staff for a massive four-year, $92 million extension on Monday, New England also kept offensive tackle Mike Onwenu (three years, $57 million), safety Kyle Dugger (four years, $58 million), tight end Hunter Henry (three years, $27 million), receiver Kendrick Bourne (three years, $19.5 million), linebacker Anfernee Jennings (three years, $12 million), and edge rusher Josh Uche (one year, $3 million).
The three-year, $11.25 million deal that running back Antonio Gibson signed with the Patriots was the biggest deal ever offered to a player who wasn’t on their team the previous season.
The Patriots selected quarterback Drake Maye (No. 3 overall), receivers Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker (second and fourth rounds), offensive tackle Caedan Wallace (third round), and guard Layden Robinson (fourth round) in the draft, which accounted for the most of Mayo’s major offseason additions.