The New England Patriots will have new leadership this season as first-year head coach Jerod Mayo will be replacing the legendary Bill Belichick. But even though Mayo has not officially led a team as a head coach before, Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski thinks he already proved his coaching abilities as a player.
Before beginning his coaching career, Jerod Mayo spent eight seasons as a linebacker for the New England Patriots, where he was teammates with Rob Gronkowski. And during a recent interview, Gronkowski did not hold back his praise for Mayo as he made it clear that Mayo “showed his coaching abilities” during his time as a player.
“Jerod Mayo was just a phenomenon on the football field with lining every one up and then also in the meeting rooms as well,” Gronkowski said on a recent episode of the podcast Games With Names and Edelman. “He knew where every player needed to be during any situation that occurred on the defensive side of the ball. He knew how to read offenses. He knew when to call out plays and he was always correct when he was calling the play out or else he was just making the whole defense aware when that play was going to be called that they were looking out for or what type of run was going to be run at the offensive side of the ball. He was just always alert. You could always tell that was going to translate into the next phase of his life.”
We’ll have to see if Mayo’s abilities translate to being an actual coach.
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