Certainly a lot has been made about Jerod Mayo's response to a question from Steve Burton of Channel 4 about what the team will do with the third overall pick:
“We’re gonna draft the best player for a position that is very important. You put the pieces together," Mayo said, with his trademark smile and laugh.
(Full transparency: national and local broadcast entities received one-on-one breakout sessions with Mayo after his press conference. Print outlets did not.)
A lot of people have taken that and surmised the Patriots will be taking a quarterback third overall — maybe even trading up.
That could obviously happen. Do I think Mayo was really telegraphing, his first day on the job, that the Patriots were ride or die for a quarterback? No, and another interview gave a little bit more context in my opinion.
BEDARD'S ANALYSIS
Duke Castiglione at Channel 5 asked similar questions of Mayo and here are some of the more interesting responses:
"I'll be honest with you, I haven't watched a lot of these guys yet," Mayo said of players in this year's draft class. "I've really been focused on our coaching staff and our support staff here. But, it probably doesn't need to be said, just an impact player: quarterback, receiver, tackle."
Castiglione also asked if Mac Jones has a chance to be his starting quarterback next season.
"Everyone comes in with a clean slate. Everyone," Mayo said. "That's what I also meant as far as, like, even on a relationship standpoint, from that standpoint, let's erase everything and let's get back to neutral. And then, look, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work."
And if Bill O'Brien would be back and other coordinators.
"I'm still kind of going through it, still kind of going through it with the guys that are here," Mayo said. "There's a lot of work to be done."
Just to point this out, the Patriots have erased all assistant coaches from their webpage, saying, "The coaching staff for 2024 will be announced at a later time."
It's very possible the Patriots will draft a quarterback at No. 3. Mayo may stand on a table and tell whoever is in charge of personnel, "Go get me a new quarterback!" But it's way too soon for Mayo to have a definitive opinion, as he stated. Personnel has incomplete grades on most players, but all three of the top prospects, Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels, are underclassmen who just declared. NFL scouts have very limited access to underclassmen as far as interviews and face-to-face meetings. We all know that great intangibles are vital for a franchise quarterback, and those can't be determined, as much as they can, until they get in front of the player and, especially, in the building on top 30 visits. It's way, way too early.
And I took Mayo's initial comment as being open to any impact position — which he should be saying — and I'm glad he said that to Duke.