Jerod Mayo is now coaching the Patriots, the team he played for less than a decade ago
Sean McVay was hired as the youngest head coach in NFL history in 2017, when the L.A. Rams gave him the opportunity at 30, soon to be 31. Ever since then, McVay has continued to be the NFL’s youngest head coach, if not at times its best, but he will no longer be the one who was born most recent. That title now belongs to Jerod Mayo, but it’s very close.
The New England Patriots hired Mayo to replace Bill Belichick, who had been the league’s second-oldest head coach (oldest for the day that Pete Carroll was fired and Belichick still had a job).
It’s a new era in New England: the Patriots have hired Jerod Mayo as their next head coach and he will be formally introduced at a press conference next week, a source tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/SeHKoAonrP
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 12, 2024
Mayo was born almost exactly one month after McVay in 1986. He also nearly played in the league at the time that McVay had been hired.
McVay noted on Friday that he still can’t believe the team hired him at age 30.
McVay on being hired at age 30: “I was certainly really young, 30 was young. That’s crazy when you think back. Sometimes I look at Mr. Kroenke, I say ‘’What the hell were you thinking?’”
— Gary Klein (@LATimesklein) January 12, 2024
The Patriots drafted Mayo with the 10th overall pick in 2008 and he was named as the Defensive Rookie of the Year. Though he had an All-Pro nod in 2010, Mayo’s playing career was maybe a little shorter and less recognized than you might have expected; he did miss 20 games between 2013-2014 and retired at the age of 30. Nine years later, he’s now coaching the team that he played for and won a Super Bowl with.
The Rams travel to New England to face Mayo’s Patriots next season.