Jerod Mayo and the New England Patriots entered the offseason with some of the most cap space in football. The problem is, they didn’t actually spend much of it in free agency.

That went against Mayo’s comments back in January, where he told everyone that the Patriots were “ready to burn some cash” heading into the offseason.

Obviously, that didn’t happen, as New England was largely shut out during the free-agent period.

Now, Mayo—who is going into his first season as Pats head coach—regrets his statement, and he acknowledged it this week.

“That was a rookie mistake. That was a rookie mistake by me,” Mayo said Monday on WEEI, via Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe. “As soon as I got downstairs, [Patriots vice president of communications Stacey James] slapped me in the head, like, ‘What are you doing?'”

The Patriots hotly pursued wide receiver Calvin Ridley and were considered by many to be the favorites to sign him, but Ridley ultimately spurned New England for the Tennessee Titans.

The Pats were never really able to recover.

“You understand what I meant, though,” added Mayo. “What I really meant, though, is we’re going to be, obviously, smart with cash and smart with acquisitions. I was just very excited. At the same time, I feel like we’re building the roster the way we want to build it.”

Mayo’s comments were definitely innocuous and completely understandable. When you go into free agency with that much cap space, you expect to sign someone of significance. Unfortunately for Mayo and the Patriots, that did not happen.

We’ll see how Jerod Mayo fares in his debut campaign in 2024.

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