Patriots’ Jerod Mayo insists he does ‘see color’ after becoming the first black coach in New England history: ‘If you don’t, you can’t see racism’

Jerod Mayo has revealed he does ‘see color’ after taking over from Bill Belichick to become the first black coach in Patriots history. 

The 37-year-old was unveiled on Wednesday, giving his first press conference after replacing the legendary Belichick.

Mayo insisted ‘being the first black coach here in New England means a lot to me’ and the former linebacker did not shy away from addressing the issue of race.

Team owner Robert Kraft said he was ‘colorblind’ when picking his head coach, claiming: ‘He happens to be a man of color, but I chose him because I believe he’s best to do the job.’

But Mayo then insisted: ‘I do see color.’ 

Team owner Robert Kraft said he was ‘colorblind’ when picking Bill Belichick’s replacement

The coach explained: ‘I believe if you don’t see color, you can’t see racism. And, whatever happens — black, white … even someone with disabilities — for the most part, people are like: “Don’t.” When they’re young, they kinda make the spot hot.’

‘But, what I would say is: No, I want you to be able to go up to those people and really understand those people.’

He added: ‘It does matter, so we can try to fix a problem that we all know we have.’

It comes after Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said ‘we don’t look at color’.

In October 2022, Bowles was asked about the prospect of facing off against the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin in a matchup between two black coaches.

‘We don’t look at what color we are when we coach against each other; we just know each other,’ he said.

‘I have a lot of very good white friends that coach in this league as well, and I don’t think it’s a big deal as far as us coaching against each other, I think it’s normal… we coach ball, we don’t look at color.’