A team wins and its fans are disappointed. Does this ever happen? Well, it did on Sunday. The New England Patriots defeated the Buffalo Bills in the final game of the season and their fans were not at all happy. This was because the Patriots finally broke their 6 game-winning streak only to lose out on the No.1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft. The Patriots did not have a great season, but the one thing they would have been looking forward to was getting the No.1 pick. Alas!

Ever since Robert Kraft fired Jerod Mayo as HC of the Patriots, there have been tons of conversations and speculations about the team. With discussions about the next coach and questions about the timing of the firing, Kraft and the removal of Mayo have certainly been the talk of the town. And it’s the perfect time for a conspiracy. NFL reporter Mike Florio was discussing Mayo’s firing and believes that the former HC gave a “parting gift” to the Patriots boss.

The discussion around the same began after Kraft took the podium at Gillette stadium a day after Mayo’s firing and talked about the whole saga. The Patriots boss revealed that before the final game on Sunday, Mayo wasn’t aware that he would be fired. Well, not everyone is convinced of this. Florio discussed the same with Devin McCourty and believes that maybe, just maybe, Mayo got a hint of his firing and decided to take the No. 1 pick away from Kraft and the Patriots.

McCourty even talked about how Mayo’s body language gave the impression that he knew it was the end of his road with the Patriots. “I do think it felt like he knew when he did the press conference after the game.” He further expanded on that, stating: “His energy even in the press conference had the feeling of man, this doesn’t feel like this has a good ending story for that staff, because of just the way he was answering the, you could just feel it, that it didn’t seem like, he thought he would be back next year.”

The discussion revolved around how Mayo knew he was getting fired, decided to say a final F-You to Kraft, went out there defeated the Bills, and took away the last hope of happiness from the Pats. Interesting isn’t it? But from what we heard from Kraft, the timeline might just fit with Mayo’s theory.

Robert Kraft opens up on the Jerod Mayo situation!

As soon as the Patriots boss took the podium yesterday, everyone knew he would discuss the Jerod Mayo situation. Kraft discussed how the situation escalated and when exactly they started to think of moving on from Mayo. “The high point of everything for me was winning in the Cincinnati game. Mid-season, I think we started to regress,” said Kraft. “I don’t like losing. I don’t like losing the way we lost. Things were not developing the way we would have liked and it was time to move on.”

That is exactly what the Patriots did as they moved on and before the week 18 game Kraft had made the decision of firing Mayo. They made it public just an hour after the final game against the Bills ended.

Mayo’s time with the Patriots was not a great one. The HC was called out several times for not taking responsibility for their losses and not standing up for anything that happened inside or outside the stadium. Does this mean he would go out of his way to ensure the Pats lose out on the No.1 pick? Who knows, one can wait for Mayo to respond and share his side of the story.