FOXBORO — It’s easy to draw parallels between new Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo and inside linebackers coach Dont’a Hightower.
Mayo, a Patriots first-round 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 a 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 of 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.
