The New England Patriots addressed their locker room not too long after the decision was made to fire head coach Jerod Mayo.

Team owner Robert Kraft held a press conference Monday at Gillette Stadium, speaking publicly less than 24 hours after Mayo’s departure.

Kraft expressed empathy for Mayo’s lone season as head coach of the franchise and offered some transparency to the fanbase while the players were met behind closed doors.

“There was a meeting today and the front office talked to us,” Patriots captain Deatrich Wise Jr. told reporters Monday. “(The message was) pretty much to move on to 2025.”

New England’s Week 18 victory over the Buffalo Bills ended its regular season with an identical 4-13 record to 2023 and another dead-last finish in the AFC East.

The Patriots were rarely competitive, demonstrated a plethora of issues holding them back from competing with the league’s Super Bowl hunters and failed to convince the fan base of the team’s rebuild.

Mayo felt the brunt of everything that went wrong more than anyone.

The 38-year-old was showered with “Fire Mayo” chants during the team’s Week 17 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Fans at Gillette Stadium sent a loud and clear message both to Mayo and team ownership throughout the lopsided 40-7 defeat.

While some fans across New England were thrilled with Mayo’s firing, the Patriots themselves shared an opposing feeling.

Wise, eight seasons into his stint with New England, revealed just how the locker room felt after the news broke and what Mayo meant to them all, beyond just a coach.

“I told the guys before, I told them all that it was a sad day,” Wise said. “Nobody wanted to see him leave. We didn’t know he was fired until after the game and then it was very shocking news. He meant everything. He was a great leader, a great coach, a great friend. He was pretty much consistent every single day. Brought great energy, motivated everybody, inspired everybody in the building to better. I felt like when he came into the room he brought a light and a good energy.”

The Patriots, moving forward, have plenty on their plate even though the team won’t be appearing in the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

New England’s win over Buffalo secured the team’s No. 4 overall selection in April’s NFL draft, Kraft and Wolf need to find Mayo’s replacement and the team still has a handful of areas to improve on before next season. Similar to last offseason, the Patriots, if anything, set themselves back amid what’s been a slow and painful rebuild.