Patriots coach walks back comments on how much team will spend this offseason

The New England Patriots have more than $77 million in salary cap space to work with this offseason, and that prompted first-year head coach Jerod Mayo to talk about how the team was going to "burn some cash" to make necessary upgrades to the roster. It seems that perhaps somebody in ownership got in his ear about how much cash will actually be set on fire, because he quickly walked back those expectations this week.

In speaking with Karen Guregian of Masslive.com this week, Mayo said he may have "misspoke" when he referenced burning some cash, and that building the team is going to be a process and not all of the money has to be spent in one offseason.

"I was excited when you see those numbers,” Mayo told Guregian. “But when you reflect on those numbers, you don’t have to spend all of it in one year. This is going to be a process. So I don’t want people to think, ‘you got 60 million dollars, 70 million, whatever, so let’s get this guy, that guy, that guy. It may work for a couple games, or maybe a season, but it won’t work long-term.”

The Patriots have faced criticism in recent years for their lack of spending, and according to one study have spent less money over the past decade than every other team in the NFL. Owner Robert Kraft has pushed back on that narrative, and said earlier this offseason that he has actually wanted to spend more in recent years even if it would not have been the best long-term investment. 

That seemingly pushed the blame onto former head coach Bill Belichick and his philosophies on building a roster through value and cheaper players.

But now that Belichick is gone and the Patriots have the fourth-most salary cap space in the NFL it seemed to be a good chance for Kraft to prove he is willing to spend. Mayo came into the offseason talking a big game about how they were going to do that. Now all of a sudden his message has changed to mirror what has been said about the Patriots for a few years now -- they might not spend everything they have.

As bad as the 2023 season was for the Patriots, it is not a hopeless situation. The defense ranked seventh in the NFL in yards against, while the team lost four games where they allowed 17 points or less. That includes three losses where they allowed 10 points or less. Even an average offense might have resulted in an additional four or five wins and put them right back in playoff contention. 

With the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft the Patriots have an opportunity to land a franchise quarterback in April, and with all of that salary cap space there is no reason they could not build up the offensive line and skill positions around that potential rookie quarterback. All it might take is some spending. Something the Patriots have not been eager to do in recent years.