Patriots Daily: ESPN Glowingly Ranks New England Staff 30 of 32

ESPN’s Ben Solak ranked the head coach and coordinators, offensive and defensive, for all 32 NFL franchises. The New England Patriots trio of Jerod Mayo, Alex Van Pelt, and DeMarcus Covington placed 30 of 32 teams. However, despite the low standing on the coaching pecking order, Solak was mostly complimentary about the new head coach and his coordinators in New England.

A few of the precursors laid out in the article made it clear why the Patriots staff would struggle to rank highly.

1 – “Past performance is a helpful guide.” Since Jerod Mayo is a rookie head coach, Alex Van Pelt is a recently let-go offensive coordinator, and DeMarcus Covington is a first-time defensive coordinator, placing weight here does not bode well for the Patriots’ trio.

2 – “If your head coach is an elite offensive playcaller, it really helps.” Again, this qualifier does not benefit New England. Their head coach is a defensive player turned defensive coach.

3 – “In-game decision making matters.” There is no track record of in-game decision making for the Patriots’ crew. They shouldn’t be downgraded for this, but score no points either.

Here is how he assessed the New England Patriots threesome:

Jerod Mayo, Head Coach

Mayo is referred to as being the biggest wild card of all the first-year head coaches, having spent his entire NFL career as a player and assistant coach under the tutelage of only one head coach, Bill Belichick. That said, Solak’s impression of Mayo is a favorable one. He wrote:

“I’m betting on Mayo. I don’t think it’s an accident the Patriots kept him in the building as Belichick’s presumed successor — they likely know they have a great defensive mind who provides a fresh breath of personality at the helm.”

Alex Van Pelt, Offensive Coordinator

New England’s new offensive coordinator received the least admirable review. Solak’s biggest concern about Jerod Mayo was “his capacity to hire” which felt like a jab at Alex Van Pelt based on his write up. While Van Pelt’s experience was noted (“He’s as established as it gets”) it did not seem that was necessarily a compliment for the OC.

“Van Pelt has a quarterback-friendly offense, which serves both Jacoby Brissett (who played for Van Pelt in Cleveland) and rookie QB Drake Maye — but it isn’t good, either. New offensive coordinators such as Ryan Grubb, Brad Idzik or Klint Kubiak are much more likely than Van Pelt to bring inventive ideas to the table.”

DeMarcus Covington, Defensive Coordinator

The comments about Covington, who was promoted from defensive line coach, were limited to one line, but complimentary.

“This defensive coaching staff, which retained both Mayo and DeMarcus Covington from last year’s group, will put another great defense out on the field.”

But despite being complimentary of two-thirds of the group being evaluated, ESPN ranked the Patriots head of only the Washington Commanders (No. 31) and Las Vegas Raiders (No. 32). Beginning next weekend, all 32 coaching staffs will have an opportunity to prove these preseason rankings right, or wrong. New England is clearly hoping for the latter.

Also in Saturday’s Patriots Daily:

Patriots Fact of the Day

Jerod Mayo has a long way to catch Bill Belichick as the New England Patriots’ all-time leader in wins. Belichick won 266 games with the Patriots, plus another 30 in the postseason. But can climb out of his current tie for fifteenth pretty quickly. There are the Patriots coaches Mayo has a chance to pass in his first year:

9 – John Mazur (1970-1972)
8 – Dick MacPherson (1991-1992)
7 – Lou Saban (1960-1961)
5 – Clive Rush (1969-1970)
1 – Phil Bengtson (1971)
1 – Rod Rust (1990)
0 – Hank Bullough (1978)

Post of the Day

Today’s post is courtesy of NFL Films, with an introduction to the new Inside the NFL crew, including Bill Belichick:

Coach, welcome to @InsideTheNFL 🗣

Former Patriots @ochocinco and @JOEL9ONE getting nostalgic with it right off the bat.

LIVE on @TheCW pic.twitter.com/WBG3MxxdX5

— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) August 31, 2024

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