Mac Jones was a controversial player on the New England Patriots roster this year, with the quarterback showing a steady decline throughout the season. 

And on Monday, Jerod Mayo was asked about Jones, and the new Patriots head coach didn't hold back. 

"When I think about Mac, he obviously had talent," Mayo said on WEEI's The Greg Hill Show. "And once again, we're in the evaluation phase. I will say that the confidence of a player is very fragile."

"If you were to ask Mac Jones, he made mistakes along the way as well. Coaching staff, we made mistakes along the way as well," Mayo added. "And I'm not just talking about the offensive coaching staff. One thing about Mac, everybody talks to Mac – special teams, defensive players, offensive players. And we were trying to help him with that confidence. 

So simply put, "there's enough blame to go around."

Jones had a strong rookie season under the direction of Josh McDaniels, finishing with 3,801 passing yards and 22 passing touchdowns along with 129 rushing yards. He was named to the Pro Bowl in his first season, also being named to the Pro Football Writers Association's All-Rookie team.

However, in his second year he took a serious decline after McDaniels left to take the head coaching job with the Las Vegas Raiders and it was Matt Patricia and Joe Judge who took over the offense. He finished his second season with 2,997 passing yards and 14 passing touchdowns along with 102 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.

And despite ownership making the official decision to bring in Bill O'Brien as the offensive coordinator, things continued to get worse for Jones. He had his worst season in 2023, finishing with 2,120 passing yards and 10 passing touchdowns along with 96 rushing touchdowns. He was even benched for Bailey Zappe midseason, and got demoted to the emergency quarterback rather than just the backup in the season finale. 

As this was all going on, there were numerous reports throughout the season, explaining how the locker room was split between Jones and Zappe.

But to Mayo, that was nothing out of the ordinary. 

"All those guys love Bailey and they love Mac," he said. "It's just who's gonna give us the best chance to win the game and that's what it came down to."

"Look I'm not going to confirm that the locker room was split, but there are people who had differing opinions," Mayo added. "Offensively everyone was frustrated. Coaches were frustrated, players were frustrated."

The head coach went on to explain that for so many years in New England, the fans and even the players were spoiled. They had Tom Brady who always had unwavering support in the locker room. 

But that's not normal, with there typically be differing opinions among the players. 

"I don't think you could get the entire organization to see it the same, Mayo explained. "They may see the position that we need as we need a quarterback or we need to running back or we need a receiving, but at the same time, there's a lot that goes into those picks."

Report: Patriots players questioned Bill Belichick’s controversial Mac Jones decision

This was very telling.