Welcome to the Friday Five!

Each week during the NFL regular season, I will drop five Patriots-related thoughts on Friday to recap the week that was in Foxboro and look ahead to kickoff.

Ready, set, football.

1. Calling all coaches

Whether or not Jerod Mayo keeps his job – which feels increasingly likely to the point that discussion feels moot – change is almost guaranteed to sweep through his staff.

Young players have not developed. The defense has regressed. Offensively, the Patriots are fielding the NFL’s worst pass-protecting offensive line and one of its worst receiving corps. Not to mention, the myriad of questionable game plans this season.

If Mayo is safe, that means the most significant change starts at the coordinator level: Alex Van Pelt and DeMarcus Covington.

Van Pelt, to his credit, has checked the biggest box in developing Drake Maye. But even he acknowledges ownership-level frustrations with his play-calling, and glaring mistakes he’s made along the way during his first season with the Patriots. Heading into Sunday’s game, his offense ranks bottom 10 by EPA, DVOA and points scored.

Yet, considering the talent available to him and Covington, the defense has disappointed.

That defense ranks 30th by DVOA and EPA, and has declined throughout the year. Say what you will about the back end of Bill Belichick’s tenure, the Patriots defense always stood tall. Now, it’s wilting; undone by poor fundamentals and bad game plans.

New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels shouts out instructions during practice at Gillette Stadium on Sept. 16, 2021 in Foxboro. (Staff Photo/Nancy Lane/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)

If the organization was to replace Van Pelt, a few obvious names spring to mind: ex-Patriots assistants Josh McDaniels, who is local in the New England area, and Brian Daboll, assuming Daboll is fired by the Giants. Don’t forget Patriots senior advisor Ben McAdoo, a former head coach and offensive coordinator, or ex-Jaguars and Bills head coach Doug Marrone, currently a senior analyst at Boston College.

Any other names become a thornier proposition because the Patriots struggled to fill the position last year, and Mayo has since only made waves nationally with his missteps in the media. If he’s on the hot seat in 2025, who wants to join that (potentially) sinking ship?

As for Covington, that’s another limited pool of replacements, given that challenge and assuming Mayo wants to maintain the Patriots’ current system. Current Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, a former New England assistant, could be let go in Las Vegas, where head coach Antonio Pierce is likely out. The Raiders finished ninth in scoring defense last year.

Other names include ex-Dolphins defensive coordinator and Patriots cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer, Saints linebackers coach Michael Hodges and Eagles defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator Christian Parker. Hodges and Parker both reportedly interviewed for the Patriots’ defensive coordinator job last season.

2. He said what?

For all of Mayo’s head-scratching quotes this year, Covington delivered an All-Pro doozy on Thursday.

New England Patriots defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington faces reporters before an NFL practice on Thursday, Sept. 5 in Foxboro. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

“We work those fundamentals every day, and we’ll continue to work on (them). And I’m proud of the way the guys show up to work every day. And you (the media) should be proud of those guys the way they show up to work every day,” he said. “They’re trying to play out there, and play hard and improve and finish.”

Come again?

Look, setting aside the fact reporters are not cheering for or against the team, or personally attached to the players or coaches or outcomes of games, playing hard is what the money’s for. Millions and millions of dollars. Playing hard is the job. The bare minimum.

Not to mention, this defense stinks. Under Covington’s watch, the Patriots have suffered difficult injuries, but the self-inflicted ones have hurt worse on field. Miscommunication. Missed tackles. Poor fundamentals.

Routinely, teams march up and down the field on them, especially in the first and fourth quarters. What’s to be proud of about that?

3. Will Maye’s voice matter?

As Maye continues to ascend, as a player and leader in the organization, his value will grow, and so will his power. Will he use it?

Tom Brady never wielded his true power under Bill Belichick until their relationship began to fracture at the end of the dynastic run, and even then, Brady often abided by Belichick’s iron-fisted rule. But this is not that regime, and not that era.

Maye, like most franchise quarterbacks, are seen as something closer to partners with the head coaches; a la Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City. If the Patriots seek his input on their next steps, it appears he would support retaining Van Pelt, following comments he made this Wednesday.

“Just what he’s done for my development and just a quarterback-friendly offensive coordinator, I think you want that in that room,” Maye said. “He (isn’t) easy on anybody. He’ll coach you up, he’ll coach you hard. He’ll let you know when my part of the job or my part of the play is not done right. He’ll let you know. He’ll be the first one to let me know, but the first one to pump me up. So, he’s been awesome and huge for me.”

4. One eye on Belichick

New North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick smiles during an NCAA college football press conference, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in Chapel Hill, N.C.. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown)

Last week, I wrote about the terms of Bill Belichick’s contract at UNC, which included several interesting clauses.

Among them was a $10 million buyout required of Belichick, should he terminate the deal before June 1, 2025. Ostensibly, the buyout was included to discourage him from jumping to the NFL, assuming teams called Belichick next month to interview for head-coaching jobs.

At least one NFL insider is pooh-poohing that idea.

“To (the buyout) NFL teams are looking at (it) and laughing,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter said this week.

Here’s why, again, via Schefter: “If I reach into my wallet and take out a 20 dollar bill, that’s the equivalent of an NFL owner parting with 10 million dollars. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Belichick has a well-documented relationship with Schefter, which makes this all the more notable. Still, Belichick’s decision to seize on a college job indicates he had little to no interest in the NFL. But if that changes, there may be one tell: where is Berj Najarian?

If Najarian, Belichick’s right-hand man of almost three decades, leaves his post as the chief of staff at Boston College for North Carolina in the next month, it appears Belichick is there to stay.

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If not, as Schefter also said …

“There’s nothing holding him back (from leaving).”

5. Media good guy

Saving the least for last, one final media-related note.

Veteran cornerback Jonathan Jones won this year’s Rob Hobson Media Good Guy award, an annual honor bestowed Patriots reporters to a player who “respectfully fulfills his media obligations with professionalism and class. Past winners include ex-Patriots captains Matthew Slater, Devin McCourty and David Andrews. Jones was more than deserving.

The 31-year-old corner is one of the steadiest personalities and players in the locker room. But at a low point of the season, Jones called out his teammates in the locker room following their 32-16 loss to the Jaguars. The next week, the Patriots rebounded, and Jones has been available front and center ever since, taking accountability after wins and losses.

Media obligations aside, having known him now for close to seven years, Jones is truly one of the good guys.