Rob Gronkowski believes the Patriots would not have been successful this season — no matter who the coach was.

But that doesn’t mean the legendary tight end thinks New England should have fired Jerod Mayo.

“I believe that it was kind of unfair to him because he took on a depleted roster,” Gronkowski said on the “Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams” on Wednesday. “… It was kind of unfair to him because expectations taking over that roster, taking over that organization at that time, were very, very low. I don’t care what coach you would have had there this year, they would have only won four, five, six games maximum potentially. So, that’s why I’m saying Jerod should have gotten a second chance going into the second year, and that’s why I was surprised by the firing.”

While many thought Robert Kraft’s decision to let Mayo go was the right and only move for the Patriots to make following the 4-13 season, Gronkowski explained why the first-year coach should have been given an opportunity to lead New England for another season.

“They were going to need time to develop to get back to the winning ways and build that culture,” Gronkowski said.

“You can’t really judge coach Mayo on just one year as well, especially where the organization was when he took it over.

That’s why it was a tough situation for him and you got to at least give him one more year to see how he develops as a coach as well over just his first season to learn from his mistakes and all that.”

Gronkowski added that Kraft probably realized Mayo was not the ideal coach to lead the Patriots into the future earlier in the season after New England had won two of three games.

“Mr. Kraft must have seen that he wasn’t the guy to build that culture around to get back to the winning ways, and I would say this is where it tanked,” he said. “… After they beat the Chicago Bears, they went on a (seven-game) losing streak, and then they started getting blown out, losing by three touchdowns, not even competing in the games and that’s when I feel like it gave that bad taste in Mr. Kraft’s mouth that coach Jerod wasn’t the guy.“… Kraft doesn’t want to see that. He wanted to see the team competing. He wanted to see them in the fourth quarter at the end, possibly there to win the game, but instead, they were getting blown out. … He had to see that coach Mayo wasn’t the guy to build the culture. … They were declining as a program, and Mr. Kraft wants to see the program on an incline, not a decline.”