Patriots Defender Lobbying Jerod Mayo for Surprise New Role

All 32 teams in the NFL are looking for creative ways to have successful special teams units with the league’s new kickoff rule going into effect in 2024. 

The new kickoff rules, which have elements from the XFL, allow for more returns on kickoffs but also put kickers in danger as they must be prepared to make a touchdown-saving tackle.

The New England Patriots are one of the teams, who haven’t experimented with the new rules yet, but one of their defenders is already throwing his hat into the ring to play a new position.

At Pats’ mandatory minicamp on Monday, head coach Jerod Mayo told reporters that linebacker Jahlani Tavai has been lobbying to kickoff, per Andrew Callahan of The Boston Herald. 

However, the first-year head coach rebuffed Tavai and said jokingly, “It’s like, just get healthy.”

You can’t blame the veteran linebacker for trying to add another duty to what he already does on defense, especially when you see Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid getting excited about the idea of him being used on kickoffs this season.

That said, the Patriots will likely cross that bridge after minicamp and the closer we get to training camp and preseason. As of right now, kickoff duties are the least of New England’s worries as they need to figure out their kicker situation and the offense.

It doesn’t matter what they do on kickoff returns, if Chad Ryland is struggling to make field goals or the offense is having issues scoring, which both were problems last season. Lastly, regarding Tavai, he’s coming off an excellent 2023 campaign, recording 110 combined tackles, five pass deflections, five tackles for loss, four quarterback hits, and two forced fumbles.

The Patriots would rather see the 27-year-old linebacker build off what he did last season and help the team have one of the better defenses in the league.

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