Jerod Mayo Has A Message To Fans After Returning To New England Patriots

Jerod Mayo spent some time away from the world of football, but decided to come back. The former linebacker retired from the New England Patriots in 2016, and focused on his new role: working as an NFL analyst on NBC Sports Boston. Well, he is coming back now – as a coach.

The Patriots hired Mayo as their new inside linebackers coach. He is really familiar with this role, and will definitely do well as a coach.

“Man, it feels great,” Mayo told media members Friday at Gillette Stadium of rejoining the Patriots. “I left for a couple of years, took a little break, went to corporate America, now I’m back here. It feels like home. It feels like home.

“I feel good where I am. My family, they were very supportive of the decision to come back. That was the main thing — my kids were good with it and my wife’s good with it. That was pretty much it.” 

Mayo spent his professional NFL career with the Patriots after they selected him in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft with the No. 10 overall pick out of the University of Tennessee. He carried the torch of great Patriots linebackers and played with the Super Bowl XLIX team in 2014. During his NFL career, Mayo totaled 808 tackles along with 11 sacks, eight forced fumbles and three interceptions. In the playoffs, Mayo had 57 tackles along with two quarterback hits and two forced fumbles.

The linebacker was one of the main leader on the Patriots teams, and he will keep doing that now as a coach.

“I always had the itch to get back into it — get back into coaching, get back into teaching — and any time you get an opportunity to learn from the greatest head coach of all time, you’ve got to kind of jump on that opportunity.”

Mayo will get the opportunity to work with Dont’a Hightower, Kyle Van Noy and Elandon Roberts. Ja’Whayn Bentley and Christian Sam are also part of the group.

“I see guys who are hungry,” Mayo said. “Guys who are hungry to learn. We’ll see when we get on the field.”