 We are probably in the final days of Bill Belichick's tenure as head coach of the Patriots. That is no small thing here in New England, given what he has meant to the region, to the football team, to the history of the Patriots over the last 20-plus years. So to me, that is a monumental story. I think that Felger would agree with that. That's what we're spending most of the time today. But the successor to Bill Belichick is obviously part of that story. Many people have suggested or theorized that Gerard Mayo is the heir apparent as Robert Kraft once referred to him in an off-the-air discussion, I believe, might have been on the air. Which I reported. Right, which you reported. So Greg, you recently have reported that not everybody in the building loves Mayo, that he has ruffled some feathers, he has rubbed some people the wrong way, and you've reported this on more than one occasion, and you wrote about it again at the end of last week. Today, Mayo was actually asked about it, and the audio on this exchange is not great, but you should be able to hear it well enough. I'm pretty sure the question here is asked by Karen Gerigian of MassLive, formerly the Boston Herald. But good for Karen for asking the question, and good for Mayo for answering it. So Greg, I assume you've heard the answer. Are you probably on the call anyway? No, I read the response. I haven't heard it. So are you going to get your thoughts on it? So let's play Mayo's exchange with Karen. Go ahead, Jimmy. There's a recent report that suggested that you've rubbed at least some people the wrong way in the building since getting your extension during the off-season. I'm just wondering if you'd like to respond to that report. No, I appreciate you asking that. Honestly, I try to stay out of reading a lot of the articles and things during the year. Obviously, there are ups and downs and seasonality that kind of play a part in life and also in football. And honestly, when that report came out, my brother sent it to me. It was more hurtful than anything. I found it to be, well, the timing is a little bit weird in my opinion. And if that was the case, I feel like this would have been leaked sometime earlier. At the same time, I try to treat everyone the same way. And I will say this, I thought about it for a while. When people talk about rubbing people the wrong way, obviously, like sometimes, I mean, that's part of the job of being a leader is to rub people the wrong way. And I always try to be, you know, constructive and respectful. And my feedback and some people appreciate that transparency and some don't. But at the end of the day, if we can't rub people the wrong way, how do you expect to be the best at you? And I would say anytime there's change or anything like that, like, it's going to be painful or someone's going to rub you the wrong way. At the end of the day, you have to look through all the words and really get to the substance and get to the meat and potatoes and what that person's trying to say. So it actually helped me kind of triggered a period of self-reflection. I know it's recent. It was, I think it's like a week over at this point, but it triggered an opportunity for self-reflection. And we all have blind spots. And maybe that's one of my blind spots, but at the end of the day, hopefully, whoever put that story out is man or woman enough to bring to my attention to have a conversation. Okay. So, Greg, go ahead. So, first of all, I thought his answer was tremendous and showed of a lot of, you know, reflection and maturity. Now, you know, let me just state that I have nothing against Rod Mayo. I have nothing but respect for him. I think he's an excellent football coach. I've never had a bad interaction with him. As far as the timing of the story, he knows why the timing is now. Okay. So this is the part I was going to ask you about because this is the part of the comment that struck me. So, so, you know, my, my job is, you know, my job is not to curry favor with anybody. My job is to give people the truth about their football team. And, you know, quite honestly, nobody really cared about your Rod Mayo until it became clear or there was the pen potential that he was going to be the head coach of the New England Patriots after the season. So it's, it's, I take it upon myself that I need to do the research. I mean, I certainly have my opinion on Mayo that I think he's, he, he was, he's highly intelligent. One of the smartest football players I think I've ever covered, a leader of men, certainly, but you know, that's just what I know. So I had to call and I, you know, hey, what's going on? What do people think about Mayo? He could be the next, and I'm asking about a lot of people, you know, Vrable, Flores, McDaniels, O'Brien, all these people and sort of, you know, we're going in sort of a pecking order. I've been, I've started a series where giving the case for and against people to be head coach, including Bill Belichick. Mayo was this weekend. You know, I had 14 pluses for Mayo, seven negatives. And this, you know, and this was one of them. But this is real. It's not, I certainly agree with this point about, as a leader, you have sometimes have to ruffle feathers. I totally believe that. This is not, I will say this isn't from players or player agents. This is more people in the building who interact with Gerrard. And maybe he just does have a blind spot. You know, nobody's perfect. I'm sure, you know, I rub plenty of people the wrong way, but no, but you know, this is, this is real. I don't think this is anything, certainly, and we talked about this last week, you weren't here. And I think the week before, but I don't think this is any, this doesn't rise to anything that would preclude him from being the head coach. It's more about, you know, if he was the head of football operations of the Patriots, you know, dealing with people in the building, what do you think he meant by timing, like getting the more specifics on that? Cause I have my theory as to what, but I'm curious as to whether we're thinking the same way. I think he thinks that, you know, he might be the heir apparent and all of a sudden this is coming, coming out now to knock him down to go against his candidacy. But you know, for me, the timing is natural because it just started about with like a month left in the season, when the dye was cast that, you know, mostly that Bill Balachek was going to be done as head coach, who was going to succeed him? These are huge questions that all the candidates deserve to be vetted all over the place. That to me is the timing is like, I didn't really care about Gerard Mayo in September or August or the off season. I care in November and December because in a matter of weeks, one or two weeks, he could be the head coach in the New England Patriots. So it, me as a reporter, it's incumbent on me to be as well informed about that possible head coach as anybody. Ted, I'm putting you on the spot here a little bit because he obviously wrote the story. Yeah. Okay. But your, your read on listening to Mayo. Yeah. Look, I think it's, I think it's fascinating. I said this from the very beginning. I never thought it was a good, it was a good idea for Robert Kraft to, to say who his successor is or, or just even put it out there who he would like to, you know, succeed after Bill Lee's left, because I just think of the awkwardness, you know, the dynamic behind the scenes. And, you know, Gerard, if you listen to, I mean, the first thing he says is, Oh, I don't read articles. I try and tune that out, but it was brought to my attention and it was hurtful and I've been thinking about it for a while. And, you know, sometimes you need to rub people the wrong way just to be a good leader. Clearly this is, this, this article and this information has had a big impact on him. And he's, and he's, he's been thinking about it. He really has, but he also said, you know, it's, maybe it's triggered some, a period of self-reflection. Maybe I got to change. So he's, he was kind of all over the place. It was, it was a thoughtful answer, but I'm not sure exactly which is he, is he, is he believing it's okay to rub people the wrong way? Or maybe I need to reflect on and change what I do. But I will say this. I just never thought it was a good idea to, to put that out there. If you're Robert Kraft, because clearly when things go bad, it's got to create tension behind the scenes. I mean, lines will be drawn. I could just see the backdoor politicking going on. And, but I will say this, it doesn't feel like when you hear Gerard is in his answers is if he has a worry in the world, right? I mean, most assistant coaches would not feel comfortable at all talking about that subject. And I don't get that sense from Gerard Mayo. I get it the sense that he's very confident in his position here with the Patriots and about what his future is here with the Patriots. He doesn't seem like a guy that's worried about his job. So look, Greg, we have similar backgrounds, okay? So I'm not here to blow sunshine up your ass. But I don't think he's mad at you. And if he is, he shouldn't be. No. The store, what he's really agitated by is who would have said it, right? And, you know, so I would say if he really believes that, you know, people are going to get their feathers ruffled, if that's what he believes, fine, no problem. He's right. I mean, I agree with him 100%. So the timing of it to me was exactly what you said that now people looking at him as being the heir apparent and he goes on to the microscope now. Yes, he does. And so people say, well, I don't know if I love that idea, because maybe it's someone who wants the job or someone who knows someone who wants the job or who the hell knows. And I'm not asking you to divulge any of that. That's none of my business. But I do think that if any of it's directed at the reporter, what does he think it was made up? Was it made up? I don't know. I mean, I mean, I don't want to tell you that the media has a 100% credibility because the media doesn't, we all know the stories. But I would say consider who's reporting it and consider what the reputation is and it's coming from somewhere. So to me, that would be the one thing that I would emphasize to Mayo go to the source. Don't shoot the messenger. That's what it sounded like he was doing. Like, you know, when I read it, I thought, you know, it was targeted at me, but like, you know, listening to it and talking to other people, you know, he was talking about the people who are talking. Yeah. The people in the building who are talking about him and somewhat negatively. Now, you know, I'm not going to say it's universal or anything like that, or even a majority. There are certainly people in the building, influential people that he has rubbed the wrong way. Now it could just be perception, you know, like, you know, Burb Rear talked about in Germany, Robert Kraft is on the practice field talking to Rod Mayo. How do you think that goes over with some of Bill's people? It's so funny. I mean, that kind of stuff, you know, it's and I, and I made the analogy, you know, last week, it's like Game of Thrones right now back there. There are a lot of things at stake. People who have lived here for decades with kids in schools and jobs. What happens? Who gets the next job? You know, who succeeds bill? There's a lot on the line for a lot of people. And I am certainly cognizant of that. It's not like I'm getting this from one person or two people. These are multiple people. I would not report it if I didn't know it to be true. And so, and I have all the respect for Jarod in the world. I think I will say this universally, everybody thinks he's going to be an excellent head coach. I will say that most think this is too soon for him.