Bill Belichick says he shared his vision with the Patriots until the “last four years.”

Patriots

When Bill Belichick was asked in regards to the firing of Jerod Mayo on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday, he stuck to his usual milquetoast script and emphasized that these questions were for the Patriots' top brass, consisting of Robert Kraft, Jonathan Kraft and Robyn Glazier, ought to be directed.

But the previous Patriots head coach went just a little deeper into the connection between himself and Kraft in his most up-to-date appearance on the “Let’s Go!” Podcast with Jim Gray page.

Similar to his appearance with McAfee, Belichick emphasized that the one technique to construct a cohesive and stable football program is to have a shared vision between a head coach, a general manager and the ownership group.

“That’s (Robert Kraft’s) decision,” Belichick said. “People who own the team have the choice to do whatever they want. The other people that were there…it affects the rest of the organization as well, not just the head coach.

“So, you know, Robyn Glaser, Jonathan Kraft, whoever the other people are that are involved in these decisions and the structure of the organization. But you need that shared vision between ownership and coaching and scouting. And then you can be successful.”

While Belichick noted that each he and Kraft achieved great success in New England by staying on the identical page, he told Gray that that cohesion waned during his final season in Foxborough.

“I had that until about four years ago in New England. And if you have this shared vision and everyone pulls together, you have a chance and can achieve a lot. And even if you don’t win at all, you’re still very competitive,” Belichick noted. “But when you go in different directions, it's really difficult to keep up with everyone else. So I think if you look at the organizations, you can see which ones exist and which ones don't.

“But look, it’s no surprise. There are so many coaches now who are fired after a year, a year and a half, or two years on the job, and you just don't see the Tom Landry situations anymore. That’s just not the case in the NFL or, frankly, any other professional sport.”

The Patriots' overhaul of their coaching staff in successive offseasons could be a primary example of Belichick's case for teams undermining any stability of their personnel.

Instead, Belichick selected to concentrate on the Cleveland Browns — who stumbled to a 3-14 record this season after deciding to fireplace Alex Van Pelt and other offensive line coaches from Kevin Stefanski's staff.

“I think when there’s no continuity, it’s really hard to build,” Belichick said. “It's difficult to scout players because there are new coaches every year. It's difficult to retain and attract players and maintain a consistent scheme when there is so much change. And this also includes the coordinators. I mean, look at Cleveland.

“Last year Cleveland went (11-6), they laid off their offensive staff, got rid of the offensive coaches and the quarterback in (Joe) Flacco. This year, [they] They hired new employees and now they are laying them off again. So it's not always the head coach. Sometimes it's other employees. Without continuity it’s hard, it really is.”