For the last five years, Jerod Mayo and Steve Belichick were jointly responsible for running the New England Patriots defense. While neither carried the official coordinator title under Steve’s father, long-time Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, they were entrusted with a wide autonomy to lead the unit as they wanted.

Earlier this offseason, that partnership ended. In the aftermath of the Patriots and Bill Belichick mutually parting ways, Mayo was promoted to head coach — as was previously agreed upon contractually.

Mayo did offer Steve Belichick to stay with the team, but he eventually decided to take his talents elsewhere: he will serve as defensive coordinator at the University of Washington. Even though he departed the organization, Belichick believes the Patriots are in good hands moving forward.

“I’m super excited for Jerod,” Belichick said during a recent appearance on ex-Patriot defender Chris Long’s Green Light podcast. “I think he’s ready for this. It was his time, and he’s a great motivator and a great teacher. Those are two good qualities for a head coach.”

A first-round draft pick by the Patriots in 2008, Mayo appeared in a combined 111 regular season and playoff games for the organization over an eight-year period. Following his retirement and working in business outside of pro football, he returned as an assistant coach in 2019.

The foundation for his pivot into coaching was actually laid much earlier, as Belichick explained.

“Me and Jerod go way back,” he said. “When he was on IR a couple of years, he was interested in seeing what I would do as a [quality control coach]. Then he took a couple of years off, went to corporate, then he came back in 2019. I was coaching the safeties that year, but the following year we started coaching linebackers together. We just had a really close relationship in New England.”

Despite the two men working closely together and developing a friendship outside of coaching the Patriots’ linebackers, Belichick decided not to stay in New England under its new head coach. And while he did not get into any details, he did talk about his departure after 12 years with the team.

“There were a couple of things going on, whether it was stay in New England or bounce around a little bit,” he said. “But I worked with Jedd Fisch, the head coach here. He was there in 2020, coaching the quarterbacks, and we kind of got to know each other. Then he left and went to Arizona. We kept in touch and he gave me the opportunity.”