Jerod Mayo shares Patriots’ approach to No. 3 pick in NFL Draft

The NFL Draft is more than three months away.

Jerod Mayo has been the Patriots’ head coach for less than two weeks.

Yet Mayo and the Patriots already seem to know which positions they’ll be targeting with their first pick at No. 3 overall.

“We’re going to take the best available player for the biggest need on the team,” Mayo said Monday on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”

As for those needs, Mayo listed “offensive line, receiver and quarterback.” The Patriots will have blue-chip prospects available to them at each position, per draft experts.

USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels are viewed as the consensus top three quarterbacks in the draft. If the Patriots prefer to address receiver first, Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. is considered by some to be a generational prospect. Along the offensive line, Notre Dame product Joe Alt and Penn State’s Olu Fashanu are projected top-10 picks and elite left tackle prospects.

Last Wednesday, Mayo made comments to WBZ after his introductory press conference that some interpreted as a hint that the team would draft a quarterback.

“What I will say is this: we are going to draft the best player for a position that is very important. You put the pieces together,” Mayo said with a laugh. “But in all seriousness, we have a good opportunity in the draft. And I think our scouting department is pretty good.”

Mayo made those comments in a series of interviews that also included a sitdown with WCVB – Channel 5. During that interview, Mayo first raised quarterback, receiver and offensive line as the team’s top needs.

“I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t watched a lot of these guys yet,” Mayo said. “I’ve really been focused on our coaching staff and our support staff here. But, it probably doesn’t need to be said, just an impact player: quarterback, receiver (offensive) tackle.”

Patriots director of player personnel Matt Groh and director of scouting Eliot Wolf remain the highest-ranking officials in the team’s front office. Owner Robert Kraft has yet to announce who will have final say on personnel decisions. Mayo has repeatedly mentioned themes of collaboration and inclusion in his decision-making process, and cited Wolf and Groh when discussing his hiring process for new coaches.

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Mayo’s first order of business is to rebuild the coaching staff, which has vacancies at all three coordinator positions and multiple assistants in contract years. Once that’s settled, it appears he will be more involved on the personnel side, from free agency in March to the draft in April.

“I don’t think you can get the entire organization to see it the same. They may see the position we need as ‘we need a quarterback,’ or ‘we need a running back,’ or ‘we need a receiver,’” Mayo said. “At the same time, there’s a lot that goes into those picks. We’ll evaluate those players but we also have a scouting department that’s paid to do a lot of that stuff as well.

“At the end of the day, we have to make a decision and we’re responsible for it.”

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