Uche spent the last four years playing under the Patriots’ new head coach.
Whether or not Josh Uche will be part of the New England Patriots in 2024 remains to be seen. Heading toward unrestricted free agency, there is no guarantee the edge linebacker will be back with the team that drafted him in the second round four years ago.
If he does return, however, he will be able to see first-hand what his former position coach will look like running the entire organization: Jerod Mayo, who spent the last five years coaching linebackers in New England, was promoted to head coach in light of Bill Belichick’s departure earlier this month.
For Uche, there is no question the Patriots made the right move picking Mayo to take over for Belichick.
“In my opinion, Jerod Mayo is a great hire,” he said during a recent appearance on the Patriots Talk podcast.
“When I first got here, Jerod was my position coach. I was very young, had a lot of maturing to do. He had a lot of patience with me and just the lens he sees the game through is just a very creative lens and gives the players a lot of flexibility to maximize their talents. So, I think Coach Mayo is a great hire.”
When Uche joined the Patriots in 2020, Mayo was in his second year as an NFL assistant coach. Four years later, without ever officially holding a more prominent role within the organizational structure, he was moved from position coach to head coach — an unusual, if not entirely uncommon, route.
Despite his relative lack of experience, Uche is convinced Mayo has what it takes to succeed as New England’s HC. Part of the reason why is his history as an ex-player.
A first-round draft pick by the Patriots in 2008, Mayo appeared in a combined 111 regular season and playoff games over his eight seasons. This, in turn, gives him a unique perspective when it comes to leading and developing players, thinks Uche.
“He’s a great teacher,” the young defender said. “He gives us a canvas to paint on, and as long as we paint within the framework of the canvas it’s whatever picture we want to paint in. There are different things that you may not be seeing from a player’s perspective; him being a former player, he’s able to give us a lot more insight and little tidbits that might make the game slow down more for us.”
For Uche, Mayo’s ability to teach and provide information is not the only thing that stands out. He also brings an infectious energy to the operation.
“The way Mayo coaches, he played the game with that love and that passion and that joy.” Uche explained. “Sometimes things can be difficult, even as we saw last year. But just coming into the building with that energy that permeated throughout the building even when things were difficult when things were hard, the energy of just getting guys going and not falling into that trap of feeling sorry for yourself or anything. Just always keeping guys going and upbeat.”
Mayo was introduced as the Patriots’ 15th head coach last week, and pointed out that he and the team were still in an evaluation phase. Uche’s future also seems to fall under that umbrella.