Andrew Callahan: Jerod Mayo's growing pains are coinciding with the Patriots'

ORLANDO, Fla. — Jerod Mayo opened with a joke.

He eased into the AFC coaches breakfast Monday, seated at a large round table inside a beige-colored hotel conference room at the NFL Annual Meeting. He placed a glass of orange juice on the table and eyed his audience of a dozen reporters and two cameras.

“Shout-out to orange juice,” he said, smiling.

Mayo’s crack gave reference to a viral photo of Bill Belichick taken at the 2015 league meetings, where Belichick held a cup of OJ to his lips and sipped through a now famous frown.

Ten minutes later Monday, after more smiles and cracks, Mayo knocked his glass over and spilled juice all over his shorts.

This has been the start of the Mayo era.

The affable Mayo charms his audience and delivers a memorable quote. It’s an instant PR win because every word he utters and every move he makes is contrast against Belichick’s cold, muted style. Then time passes, and Mayo sits in a minor mess of his own making.

Remember the wink-and-nod commitment to drafting a quarterback in an interview with WBZ after his introductory press conference? Now, Mayo insists, all options are available with the No. 3 pick.

Remember the “burn some cash” remark on WEEI in late January? Now, after an underwhelming free agency, the Patriots still rank bottom-10 in cash spending for three years, and the topic remains a sore spot among fans.

Then finally, the OJ joke and spill.

Mayo cannot soak up the sting of a disappointing free agency as easily as that juice. He alone said the team would spend big. He alone named quarterback, receiver and offensive tackle as major needs the day he was introduced as head coach, and then the Pats patched those positions with Jacoby Brissett, KJ Osborn and Chukwuma Okorafor.

That is the football definition of over-promising and under-delivering. That's an unforced error. That's on him.

Now, maybe there's no need to cry over spilled juice. Who doesn't speak out of turn now and then? Let's take a breath.

Here's the thing: This is about expectations. Mayo set poor expectations publicly for the draft and free agency during the franchise's most critical offseason in decades. That is a mistake in isolation, and a major problem if it becomes a habit.

Because in no universe were the Patriots ever, ever going to U-turn back into contention — except the one Mayo created with his comments over the last two months. Burning cash on top free agents. Drafting a top quarterback.

The vision materialized the moment it left his mouth, and we lived in that vision until the reality of the Patriots' situation and their inability to sign top-tier players burned it away. The next time Mayo proclaims the Pats will extend themselves or he lays out a grand vision, who won't pause before believing him?

The danger is not in deceiving or angering fans. No love is as conditional as the casual fan's: win and they're in, no matter what's been said, done or contradicted.

The danger lies in how Mayo's messaging reaches his players, assistants and front-office members, especially as a new head coach. How did they receive their new leader reversing course on burning some cash or committing to a quarterback? If he's already walking back comments to the media, during what he accurately described as a Honeymoon phase, how firm will the expectations be inside his building?

Can you build trust like that?

Mayo seems eager to win over outsiders; namely, fans and media. But lately, he's been throwing hurdles in the path of anyone trying to follow him via his public comments.

So on Monday, Mayo stopped in his tracks and reset with 30 minutes of forced reflection over breakfast.

Does he really believe, after whiffing in free agency, he can add difference-makers at quarterback, receiver and offensive tackle in the draft?

"I'm confident that, yeah, we can absolutely fill those roles. In saying that, though, it's going to take time," Mayo told reporters. "It's going to take time."

There it was: the hard, tough truth of an NFL rebuild setting him free. No PR win, but realistic expectations set for all to hear. Progress.

Mayo then stressed the core tenets of the Patriots' roster-building philosophy: draft and develop. The draft-and-develop mantra echoed comments Eliot Wolf made back at the combine. The two are aligned publicly now. More progress.

Did Mayo regret the burning cash comment?

"No, I don't regret it," he said. "Look, I'm a first-year head coach. I didn't mean, like, burn some cash. I know we have a lot of cash to utilize, but we are going to utilize it the right way."

Off the top, an NFL coach should always mean what he says publicly. Especially in a market like New England. Mayo should know better.

He knows this market. He played here, coached here and rooted as a fan here between the end of playing days and start of his coaching career. But the rest of his comments?

Fine.

Regret is a waste of time and energy. Learn the lesson, apply it forward and move on. Mayo did that to a degree Monday. He will take his lumps on radio and TV, as he should, and we'll move on because the draft is around the corner.

Until then, watch your OJ, Jerod. And less is more.

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