It seems that during his final weeks in New England, Bill Belichick was not seen as a dead man by the Patriots players.
Not everyone who watches the Patriots was completely shocked by Belichick’s departure from Foxboro, Massachusetts. Following Tom Brady’s departure in 2020, New England struggled, and this season they had their worst season in decades. To put it plainly, it was time for everyone to part ways.
Belichick’s departure did, however, stun a few Patriots players, notably Mack Wilson, the linebacker.
As players, to be honest, we had no idea,” Wilson said to Sophie Weller of AtoZ Sports. We seemed to be attempting to put forth our best effort while just taking each day as it came. And to be quite honest, we had no idea if Bill would remain the head coach, whether they would fire Bill, or whether (Jerod) Mayo would take over as head coach. Of course, that was before we learned that Bill and RKK (Robert Kraft) were going to get together and talk about the future and all that. I didn’t even experience that emotion. It certainly didn’t look like that when it was happening. To be honest, we didn’t anticipate that happening.
Wilson, 25, admitted that while he and the other “backers” were “pumped” and “excited” to see Mayo get a promotion, he still appreciated playing with Belichick. Wilson acknowledged a week before to the coaching change that Mayo’s status as a member of the Patriots coaching staff would influence his choice to sign a free agent contract.
Wilson’s status for the upcoming season with New England is still unknown, but the Alabama product is “assured” that Mayo can lead Foxboro to success.
