Patriots fire Jerod Mayo, owner Robert Kraft confirms in statement

Patriots fire Jerod Mayo, owner Robert Kraft confirms in statement originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jerod Mayo won his first game and his last game of his debut season coaching the New England Patriots. The only problem? He lost 13 of the 15 games in between.

The Patriots have fired Mayo as their head coach, with team owner Robert Kraft making a statement just over an hour after New England’s Week 18 win over the Buffalo Bills.

The Patriots went 4-13 in Mayo’s lone season and had a minus-128 point differential, third-worst in the NFL. While Mayo appeared to be on steady ground for most of the season — with the Krafts understanding that a rebuild in New England would take time thanks to a roster devoid of elite talent — our Patriots Insider Phil Perry reported Sunday that there was an “air of uncertainty” on the coaching staff in the wake of the team’s 40-7 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 17.

Now, Mayo is out as head coach in New England despite Kraft hand-picking the former Patriots linebacker as the successor to Bill Belichick.

The swiftness of the Patriots’ decision to fire Mayo is surprising — New England didn’t part with Belichick until the Thursday after its season finale last January — but it could signal their desire to pursue Mike Vrabel, who already has interviewed for the New York Jets’ head coach vacancy and is expected to be one of the top coaching candidates on the market.

Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls in New England as a player from 2001 to 2004, has interest in coaching the Patriots, Perry and Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran have reported.

This article will be updated.