"The world gonna see. That's all I'm gonna say."
That was Patriots linebacker Mack Wilson's response to me this morning asking why Jerod Mayo is the right man to lead the Patriots in the post-Bill Belichick era. He isn't the only one who views this as a slam-dunk hire.
"Leader of men," was the first thing Devin McCourty told me Friday morning. "He gets to bring the great things he's learned from Bill. He's always been the Bill (Belichick) on the field when he was a player, so he knows ball. I think the building structure will be different now, too. They have to do a good job drafting and in free agency and (with) the offensive staff.
"As soon as he came back to coach, I knew it was a matter of time. He has a unique ability to make every and any person feel like they're his friend. I've seen him crush it in any room you put him in—football, business, old, young, black, white. Dude is so impressive. I've always looked up to him."
Another former teammate, James White, views Mayo through a similar prism.
"Very good people person, knowledgeable of the game, brings good energy," he told me. "Has gotten to learn from the best but I'm sure he'll have his own twist to it."
That ability to connect with various people and backgrounds is something that Mayo has prided himself on. In fact, in his last media session before the close of the regular season, he expounded on that philosophy.
"Just being able to talk to different people," Mayo said. "I think I've talked about this before as far as diversity is concerned. Most people think of diversity just black and white. But there is generational diversity. There is diversity of thought. And all those are welcome, at least to me. I want to build an environment like that where there is a sense of psychological safety that people don't feel handcuffed to give their opinions. At the end of the day, when you think about just a great culture… I would say that's a longer conversation as to what culture actually is. Because sometimes…culture could be a retrospective way of validating or invalidating success. You know, this team won a bunch of games so the culture must be great. Or this team lost a bunch of games; the culture must be bad. And that's not necessarily true.
"I feel like I am ready. I feel like I can talk to men, women, old, young, white, black it doesn't matter. And hopefully develop those people into upstanding citizens and help them evolve. That's kind of how I think about it. I feel like my calling is to develop. And I would also say the role of a head coach is way different than the role of a coordinator. The role of a coordinator is way different than the role of a position coach. So I look forward to the opportunity wherever that may be."
It turns out that Mayo knew the opportunity would be here and probably knew when he spoke to us that there was a good chance that it was coming a year sooner than initially expected- because of the mess Belichick had created.
"From a coach's perspective, our job is to put a mirror in front of your face and really show what you are doing on the field, and hopefully, you can take that out of love," Mayo said. "That's the way I coach. That's the way a lot of us here coach; we coach out of love. So once you build that relationship with a guy, you can be tough on the players. But if you don't have that…I always talk about warmth before competence. Like at this stage, it was a little different back when I played. Whatever the coach told you to do, you just go out and do it. This generation is a little bit different where they really want to have accountability, they really want to understand the why."
It indeed was different from the beginning of Mayo's career, back as a first-rounder (and the last time the Pats held a top-10 pick) in 2008. Back then, the players fell in line when Belichick or the staff addressed them. It was the classic "my way or the highway" approach, and it worked. But even now, that line still has to exist. A coach can't let the players run roughshod over him. Mayo has shown an ability to navigate that, at least as a defensive assistant, but also the one who led the defensive meetings despite Steven Belichick being the chief play-caller.
"The way he connects with players," was Deatrich Wise's response to my question about why Mayo would be suitable for the job. "That's what will make him a good head coach. He's able to manage emotions, connect with people on the team, and lead."
Mayo has the people part of this equation covered. But as for his ability to play chess when others are playing checkers, we won't know that for months and, to be fair, probably years. But for now, it's a new day in Foxborough, and those who foresaw this coming believe Mayo is as equipped to step in for a legend like Belichick as anyone.