FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — When Robert Kraft hired Jerod Mayo a year ago, he felt he’d identified the right person to follow the championship legacy left by Bill Belichick.
In hindsight, Kraft now believes Mayo wasn’t quite ready to be an NFL head coach.
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New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo on the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo departs after answering questions following an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. Mayo was fired shortly after the news conference. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft answers a question during a media availability, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, right, talks with his son Jonathan prior to an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft answers a question during a media availability, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft answers a question during a media availability, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft listens to a reporter's question during a media availability, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft answers a question during a media availability, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The Patriots team owner said Monday that his abrupt firing of Mayo just minutes after he completed his first season in the job is an effort to correct that mistake.
“This whole situation is on me. I feel terrible for Jerod. Because I put him in an untenable situation,” Kraft said a day after relieving the 38-year-old Mayo of the coaching reins following a 4-13 finish. “I know he has all the tools as a head coach to be successful in this league. He just needed more time before taking the job.”
Kraft said that the team’s win over Buffalo on Sunday which cost the Patriots the No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL draft didn’t play into the dismissal.
Instead, he said Mayo went from his “high point” winning Patriots’ season opener at Cincinnati to regressing midway through the schedule. He then didn’t show enough signs of improvement the rest of the way.
And after watching back-to-back dismals seasons for a franchise that won six Lombardi trophies over the past two-plus decades, the 83-year-old owner who referred to himself as “a fan of this team first” vowed to do what he can to see it return to a championship level.
“I don’t want to go through this next year. And we’re going to do what we’ve got to do to fix it,” Kraft said.
That will begin with moving quickly to interview candidates for a job that is one of the most attractive in the league for several reasons: New England’s futility this season still earned it the No. 4 pick in the draft, rookie Drake Maye established himself as a potential franchise quarterback, and the Patriots enter the offseason with more than $130 million in salary cap space — the most in the league.
What this course correction won’t include — for now at least — are major changes in the front office, with Kraft confirming that executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith both are returning next season.
Wolf and Highsmith will also both be involved in the coaching search, along with Kraft’s son and Patriots team president Jonathan Kraft.
One of the names that almost immediately circulated as a possible coaching candidate following Mayo’s exit was former Patriots player and Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel.
A fan favorite during his eight seasons as a player in New England, Vrabel was a member of each of the Patriots’ first three Super Bowl-winning teams.
Following retirement, he went on to lead the Titans to three playoff appearances before being fired following the 2023 season.
But Kraft wouldn’t say whether Vrabel was at or near the top of his list of candidates.
“I don’t know all the people involved. There are some wonderful people we’ve heard about, Kraft said. “I’d rather respond to that after I’ve seen everyone.”
As they cleaned out their lockers Monday before departing for the offseason, multiple current Patriots players expressed surprise at Mayo’s firing.
“Everybody is upset about his departure,” defensive tackle Deatrich Wise said. “We all respected Jerod Mayo. Held him in high regard. He did a lot for us this year. He was a great leader. Fantastic person and a coach. So, we’re all sad to see him go. Wish we all could have had a chance to say goodbye. Didn’t really see him. It happened so fast.”
Fellow defensive tackle Davon Godchaux said it’s a reality of the NFL. But he said it will take more than just a new coach to turn the team around.
“I feel like everybody being accountable. Everybody. Players. Coaches — everybody,” Godchaux said. “If we can do that, things will start moving forward. Until then, we’ve got a long journey.”
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New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo on the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo departs after answering questions following an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. Mayo was fired shortly after the news conference. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft answers a question during a media availability, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, right, talks with his son Jonathan prior to an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft answers a question during a media availability, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft answers a question during a media availability, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft listens to a reporter's question during a media availability, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft answers a question during a media availability, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty on Friday called on members of the public to send any video or other evidence in the fatal shooting of Renee Good directly to her office, challenging the Trump administration's decision to leave the investigation solely to the FBI.
Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration's decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Wednesday's killing of Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.
She also said that despite the Trump administration’s insistence that the officer who shot Good has complete legal immunity, that isn’t the case.
“We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” she said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”
Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn't sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.
The prosecutor's announcement came on a third day of Minneapolis protests over Good's killing and a day after federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon.
Good's wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.”
"On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns," Becca Good said.
“I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote. “That the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way.”
The reaction to the Good's shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution.
On Thursday night, hundreds marched in freezing rain down one of Minneapolis’ major thoroughfares, chanting “ICE out now!” and holding signs saying, “Killer ice off our streets." And on Friday, protesters were out again demonstrating outside of a federal facility that is serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Authorities erected barricades outside the facility Friday.
City workers, meanwhile, removed makeshift barricades made of old Christmas trees and other debris that had been blocking the streets near the scene of Good's shooting. Officials said they would leave up a shrine to the 37-year-old mother of three.
The Portland shootings happened outside a hospital Thursday afternoon. Federal immigration officers shot and wounded a man and woman, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, who were inside a vehicle, and their conditions weren't immediately known. The FBI and the Oregon Department of Justice were investigating.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and the city council called on ICE to end all operations in the city until a full investigation is completed. Hundreds protested Thursday night at a local ICE building. Early Friday, Portland police reported that officers had arrested several protesters after asking the to get out of a street to allow traffic to flow.
Just as it did following Good's shooting, DHS defended the actions of the officers in Portland, saying it occurred after a Venezuelan man with alleged gang ties and who was involved in a recent shooting tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit the officers. It wasn't immediately clear if the shootings were captured on video, as Good's was.
The Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.
The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.
Good's death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, as protests happening in other places, including Texas, California, Detroit and Missouri.
In Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a woman held a sign that said, “Stop Trump’s Gestapo,” as hundreds of people marched to the White House. Protesters in Pflugerville, Texas, north of Austin, banged on the walls of an ICE facility. And a man in Los Angeles burned an American flag in front of federal detention center.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly characterized the Minneapolis shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.
But state and local officials and protesters rejected that characterization, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying videos show the self-defense argument is “garbage.”
Several bystanders captured footage of Good's killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown.
The recordings show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.
It is not clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with agents earlier. After the shooting, the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.
The federal agent who fatally shot Good is an Iraq War veteran who has served for nearly two decades in the Border Patrol and ICE, according to records obtained by AP.
Noem has not publicly named him, but a Homeland Security spokesperson said her description of his injuries last summer refers to an incident in Bloomington, Minnesota, in which court documents identify him as Jonathan Ross.
Ross got his arm stuck in the window of a vehicle whose driver was fleeing arrest on an immigration violation. Ross was dragged and fired his Taser. A jury found the driver guilty of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.
Attempts to reach Ross, 43, at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful.
Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis; Ed White in Detroit; Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas; Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian and Safiyah Riddle in New York; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.
Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters' shadows are cast on the street near law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
An American flag burns outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Two protesters are lit by a police light as they walk outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Protesters are arrested by federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters sit on a barrier that is being assembled outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as protesters gather in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters stand off against law enforcement outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Protesters chant and march during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, after she was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters confront federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino arrives as protesters gather outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
A protester pours water in their eye after confronting law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
