Advice for coach Hightower: Be a sponge
Mayo excited to have former teammate on his staff
FOXBORO >> It’s easy to draw parallels between new Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo and inside linebackers coach Dont’a Hightower.
Mayo, a Patriots firstround pick in 2008, retired after the 2015 season, spent three years out of football and then returned to the Patriots as inside linebackers coach in 2019. Hightower, a Patriots first-round pick in 2012, last played in 2021, spent two years out of football and now returns to the Patriots in that same inside linebackers role.
Both Mayo and Hightower were All-Pros, Pro Bowl selections and Super Bowl champions in New England.
“Hightower, he was my little brother when he got here and one of the smartest players that I’ve been around,” Mayo said Wednesday while introducing the Patriots’ new coordinators. “We’ve been talking about this for a while. I’ll be honest with you. We’ve been talking about it for a while. Hightower has always really wanted to coach. He was a coach on the field. Obviously, he took the torch and ran with it. As far as the championships and the leadership skills that he has, it was very important, but it wasn’t like yesterday, ‘hey man, you want to be my linebacker coach’? This was an extensive search.”
Mayo is busy with his head coaching role. But he learned some of the nuances on how to coach from new defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington, who rose up the ranks from coaching assistant to outside linebackers coach and defensive line coach.
Mayo’s advice to Hightower is to find someone like Covington to learn the intricacies of coaching rather than playing.
“Just to be a sponge, the same way he was when he came in as a player. Just try to learn from as many people as possible,” Mayo said.
“When I got here, I could talk about my journey. You have a guy like DeMarcus Covington, who really started off on offense, moved over to defense, quality control, then all of a sudden, he’s coaching the linebackers without the linebacker tag. He’s going to the front, but he had an extensive knowledge of different position groups. Also, I would say he really helped me with the behind-the-scenes stuff — the drawing of the cards and setting up practice and things like that. Steve (Belichick) helped me as well, but I spent a lot of time with DC and am confident in what he’s taught me. So, with Hightower, he should do the same thing.”
Covington raved about Hightower’s ability as a player to take on any role, line up at multiple positions across the defensive front and lead and communicate.
“What he did not only just on the field but in the classroom as a leader, it’s going to bring value to our team,” Covington said. “So you see guys like that all across the league that become — former players that played at a high level, that also was a leader in the classroom or leader out there with the players, and we’re hoping that same thing transitions similar to Jerod. Hopefully, that transitions for us as a linebacker coach.”
It took Mayo just five years to go from first-year position coach to head coach. Perhaps Hightower could see the same ascent.
Covington to call plays
The Patriots will have a new defensive play-caller in 2024 with Steve Belichick now serving as defensive coordinator at the University of Washington.
Covington said he, not Mayo, will serve that role.
“I do plan on calling plays,” Covington said Wednesday. “I would say you get those practice reps obviously on the practice field and in the classroom for me. So gaining those reps, going through different games, going through situations in the meeting room with the other coaches and then also putting myself in those situations on the practice field. That’s what we do, just like the players are out there preparing to play, and they’re going through reps, I should be doing the same thing as a play-caller during those reps. It just doesn’t happen overnight.
“This is something where I’ve been preparing. This is something I wanted to do. So, you already take the necessary steps to prepare yourself for when you get the opportunity to be ready.”
Fixable FG woes
Last offseason, the Patriots traded up to draft kicker Chad Ryland in the fourth round.
Ryland rewarded them with a 64% field goal percentage, one of the worst in the league. Still, new special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said he believes Ryland’s issues can be fixed.
“Of course,” Springer said. “It’s really early in the process right now, still figuring out a few things. … I’ve seen him. I was also a part of that process when he was being drafted, going to work the kid out in person. So I know the guy, I know his character, and I know the kind of work habits he has.”
Springer was hired last month after spending the past two seasons as a Rams special teams assistant. Los Angeles dealt with its own kicking woes last season, when they fielded the league’s worst special teams. However, Matt Gay posted the second-highest field goal percentage of his career and ranked fourth in the NFL among kickers with at least 10 attempts under Springer in 2022.
Extra points
Mayo confirmed Troy Brown will be back on staff in an unannounced capacity … Covington said his defensive philosophy includes being physical, good discipline and fundamentals, attacking the football and taking it away from the opponent. … Wide receiver DeMario “Pop” Douglas is among the offensive players who has met with new coordinator Alex Van Pelt. … Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf is scheduled to speak at the NFL Combine on Tuesday.