Right now, the New England Patriots history feels like a tale of two eras—pre-Tom Brady and, well, everything that came after. And the difference? Let’s just say they went from soaring like champions to barely staying on their feet. And this season is the prime example of their failure. I mean, finishing 4th in the AFC East? That’s nothing short of a horrible nightmare. And the former wide receiver, Julian Edelman, knows it very well.

The three-time Super Bowl champion recently stopped by 98.5 The Sports Hub and talked about the ex-head coach, Jerod Mayo, and newly appointed head coach, Mike Vrabel. When asked about his thoughts on whether the Patriots should have kept Mayo for another year, Edelman took a dig at the former head coach. “I don’t know. You know, I am not going to get into that,” he said. “I think that he really wasn’t prepared for success. You know, in the whole process of they didn’t spend any money last year and a lot of I mean, you know, it was a tough road to climb.”

Ouch! But seriously, why wasn’t he ready for the success? I mean, stepping into the head coaching role for a six-time Super Bowl champion isn’t exactly a walk in the park. The thing is, Mayo needed some mentorship because he wasn’t fully prepped for the HC role from the get-go. But here’s the catch—his circle of coaching connections was super small, so he didn’t have anyone to lean on.

And why’s that? Well, the guy spent eight years playing under Bill Belichick. Oh wait, there’s more to this story! After retiring from professional football, Mayo then stuck around with the Patriots. This time, as a coach. Kind of like that hometown kid who never left, right? On top of that, the owner, Robert Kraft, even admitted that he kind of set him up to fail, at least in some ways.

And the result? The New England team fired him just one year after appointing him for this role. Fast forward to now and after weeks of a new head coach search, Robert Kraft’s Patriots welcomed Mike Vrabel as their next head coach.

Julian Edelman hopes for toughness in the Patriots

Sure, with Mike Vrabel coming to lead them, things are looking fresh for the New England team. And it should be. Because the truth is, the rookie QB, Drake Maye, needs a mentor to lead the six-time Super Bowl champion team which coach Mayo failed to do. Or should we say, the Patriots need that toughness that they used to have during Brady and Edelman’s era.

Speaking of which, Edelman believes that Vrabel is the right man to do this job. “I am, you know, I am happy for Vrabel I love Vrabel, great friend,” he continued. “I think he’s got experience and I think he’s gonna bring, you know, some toughness to this team that they need to have. It was a little weird last year, just you know, they felt just too much. There’s too much talk about toughness, you know, let’s just go be tough.”

His head coaching experience? Oh, it’s pretty impressive. The Titans brought him in as their head coach in 2018, and in his very first year, he helped turn around their defense—taking it from 13th in 2017 to 8th in 2018. And that’s not all. In the next season, he ended the Titans’ 17-year drought of making it to the AFC Championship round. Talk about making an impact right away.

Sure, he hasn’t won a Super Bowl as a head coach yet, but one thing’s clear—Mike Vrabel is all about improving the teams he leads. And it looks like the Patriots are really counting on him to bring home that seventh title next season.