No. 10 overall in the 2008 NFL draft returned to the organization that picked him last week.
Jerod Mayo did so as the New England Patriots’ new linebackers coach.
That title remains unofficial. But Mayo, now 33, unofficially served as one during his nine seasons on the depth chart. The defensive rookie of the year was a team captain by 2009. He was a first-team All-Pro by 2010 and the league’s leader with 175 tackles. And while Mayo’s final three seasons ended on injured reserve with pectoral and patellar tears, the green dot of communication proved instrumental in the growth of eventual Pro Bowl linebackers Dont’a Hightower and Jamie Collins.