Deron Mayo, 36, has been with New England since 2018, serving as an assistant strength coach under Moses Cabrera until he was elevated into the head role last season. Before that he was playing the game as a linebacker, spending the summer of 2011 with the Broncos before heading to the CFL from 2012-17.

A Patriots roster that lacked talent on both sides of the ball finished Week 18 with a record of 4-13 before owner Robert Kraft showed Mayo the door.

Good mailbag this week, with questions about coaching staffs, roster hypotheticals, and much more. Let’s get to it. I’m curious, who has the final say on hiring assistant coaches? Vrabel has an “all-star” staff of coaches, while Mayo was allowed to hire a lot of first-timers. Was he set up to fail?