5 Patriots On Thin Ice With Jerod Mayo as Head Coach
By Thomas Erbe
4. Davon Godchaux's Contract Could Be Too Much to Stomach
While Mayo isn't going to have the control over personnel that Belichick did in his head coach-GM combo role, this promotion will obviously give him a lot more say in who is on the roster than he had before. And you better believe he's not going to ignore the front seven.
That's probably the biggest area of strength of area on this roster already, but one surprise disappointment last season was Davon Godchaux.
With an overall grade of 50.2, Pro Football Focus had Godchaux ranked just 101st among 131 qualifying defensive tackles in 2023. He didn't grade out well against the run (51.6) or as a pass-rusher (50.0).
There wasn't much help behind him (Lawrence Guy was one of the few DTs who was even worse), but now with some time to shape this roster, Mayo could decide to bring in reinforcements.
This becomes especially likely when you look at Godchaux's contract. He was essentially un-cuttable last year (a cap hit of $10.5 million but a $13 million dead money hit if he was cut), but the final year of his contract is very different.
His cap hit jumps to $11.65 million in 2014, but the Patriots would only take on $3.5 million in dead money for trading or releasing him, opening up $8.15 million in cap savings.
That's a big number, and it's one that would give Mayo some more wiggle room to start crafting his ideal roster.