The New England Patriots wasted almost no time after the end of their 2024 season to turn the page toward the future. Head coach Jerod Mayo, who had taken over the team last January, was fired shortly after leaving the post-game podium for what turned out to be a final time.
Mayo getting handed his walking papers put an end to what was a disappointing one-year tenure as head coach. Even considering the circumstances of the Patriots’ rebuild and lack of talent, his leadership of the team left plenty to be desired in a 4-13 year. As a result, he has now become just the second coach in franchise history not to make it to Year 2.
The Patriots firing Mayo also puts them back at the starting point at head coach, and in an unfamiliar position: for the first time in a quarter century, the Kraft family will need to conduct a serious coaching search.
Along the way, they will need to abide by the NFL’s rules and, depending on their targets, the timeline laid out by the league in regards to coaches in the playoffs.
What are the NFL head coach hiring rules?
The Patriots are free to hire whoever they see fit to serve as their 16th head coach, but before doing so they need to satisfy the NFL’s Rooney Rule. Originally introduced in 2003 to increase diversity, it has been amended several times through the years. The latest version, adopted in 2022, states that any team looking for a new head coach will have to do in-person interviews with at least two minority or female candidates.
In addition to the Rooney rule, there are guidelines for virtual and in-person interviews as well. Virtual interviews with coaching candidates still in the playoffs cannot exceed three hours, for example. In-person interviews must be conducted in the candidate’s home-team city or a location green-lit by their current team.
Those rules set a framework within which the Patriots need to operate. They also have to follow the timeline as laid out by the league (and broken down in detail by our friends at Windy City Gridiron):
January 6: The Patriots can start requesting interviews with other teams’ coaches, regardless of whether their teams are in the playoffs or not.
January 7/8: Three days after the conclusion of their season, coaches from non-playoff teams can start interviewing for open positions. For the Patriots, this means they can bring in potential candidates from Cleveland and Cincinnati starting January 7, and from all the other non-postseason teams beginning January 8.
January 8-January 13: The Patriots can begin the virtual interview process with coaches from Kansas City and Detroit — the two teams earning first-round playoff byes — on January 8, three days after their own regular season finale. Those interviews can be conducted through wild card weekend.
January 14-January 19: The Patriots can hold virtual interviews with candidates from teams that have played on wild card weekend, win or loss. The window will close after the conclusion of the divisional round.
January 20: The Patriots can do in-person interviews with coaches whose teams are no longer in playoff contention.
January 27-February 2: If the Patriots already did an initial interview with a coach on a Super Bowl team, they would be allowed to hold a second during this time.
February 10: The Patriots can start doing in-person interviews with candidates from the Super Bowl teams, on top of every other coach employed by an NFL team.
As an add-on to that timeline, no contracts can be agreed upon or announced until after their team’s season has ended.
The timeline as presented here only governs coaches currently under contract with one of the NFL’s 32 teams. When it comes to candidates from college or the open market, no such limitations exist: the Patriots can bring those in at any point in time.
What is the Patriots timeline after firing Jerod Mayo?
After parting ways with Bill Belichick last January, the Patriots quickly announced Jerod Mayo as his replacement. They were able to do so because of a stipulation in a contract extension Mayo had signed the previous offseason; he was contractually agreed-upon to become New England’s next head coach even without a proper search meeting the requirements of the Rooney Rule.
This offseason, no such agreement is in place. As a consequence, the Patriots will have to do a traditional search for the 16th head coach in franchise history.
The expectation is that they will get to work quickly; why else would they have relieved Mayo off his duties right after Sunday’s game? Seeing them request and set up interviews as early as Monday would not come as a surprise, even though the eventual process will likely run deep into January.
If we take a look at last year’s cycle, which included seven head coaching changes outside of New England’s, we can see that all vacancies were filled between January 19 and February 1. While the Patriots might feel comfortable waiting for a Super Bowl coach to become available, it would also not be a surprise if they hired their next coach in that window.
Acting swiftly and decisively might be key with currently five open spots. Besides the Patriots, the Chicago Bears, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints and Jacksonville Jaguars are also looking for new head coaches.
Of course, the head coaching decision is just one that will need to be made over the coming weeks. The Patriots — either through ownership or the new HC — will also make calls on the rest of Mayo’s former staff; only he was fired on Sunday, with the rest of his team remaining under contract for now.
Nonetheless, sweeping changes are expected, with some assistants potentially teaming up with Belichick at the University of North Carolina. However, who will really leave or be retained remains unclear for now.
