Jerod Mayo

The Athletic’s Diana Russini reports Patriots owner Robert Kraft has told associates that Jerod Mayo “will be back for another season.”

Mayo managed to step in some hot water with the press by seeming to throw Alex Van Pelt under the bus on a goal-line play call this week — saying “you said it, I didn’t” about sneaking with Drake Maye — before referring to it as “a defensive response.” Mayo told WEEI that “Just like I tell the players, I’m still learning how those things work.” Never a bad time to learn, coach. The state of the Patriots roster is such that it’s hard to really hold Mayo’s feet to the fire for a terrible opening season, but he sure hasn’t gotten much from the roster and the defense has collapsed without Bill Belichick. It wouldn’t be unprecedented to fire a first-year head coach who struggled like this, but Kraft has had Mayo as the coach-in-waiting long enough that it would certainly be surprising.