Jerod Mayo Just Made His First Big Mistake as Coach of Patriots

Well, that didn't take long. Only a month after after vowing to "burn some cash" in free agency, New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo has already begun to backpedal on that course of action.

Appearing on Boston sports radio WEEI on Jan. 22, Jerod Mayo addressed the upcoming offseason and the team's substantial cap space that they will have to work with. His words at the time were music to the ears of Patriots fans:

"We're bringing in talent, 1,000 percent. We have a lot of cap space and cash. We're ready to burn some cash."

- Jerod Mayo Jan. 22 on WEEI

Mayo's comments, combined with the recent announcement of a league-wide increase in cap space, gave many New England fan's optimism that the team could be "backing up the Brinks truck" to bring in premier talent in an effort to bounce back from a 4-13 season.

Now, though, he's changed his tune, saying he "misspoke" when making the comment on New England's planned aggressive spending.

Perhaps Kraft also got to Mayo after the NFLPA report card in which the Patriots were torched. Kraft ranked 27th among NFL owners in "willingness to invest in facilities," creating an additional expense for the Pats' owner. It's unlikely that's how this played out, but the timing isn't ideal from an optics standpoint and it is fun to speculate about.

This offseason, Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner's vow to go "full throttle" was eventually amended to the less profound "pressing all levers", much to the chagrin and mockering of Red Sox fans. Hopefully, Mayo's "burn some cash" isn't on its way to suffering a similar fate.

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