The New England Patriots are interviewing former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich as a head coaching candidate, The Athletic's

The New England Patriots are interviewing Byron Leftwich for their head coaching vacancy on Tuesday, The Athletic reported.

The Patriots are scheduled to interview Mike Vrabel on Thursday and are also expected to virtually interview Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson later this week.

The former QB has viewed his sabbatical as an exercise in patience. Bruce Arians says it's "total bullsh-- that he's not a head coach."

This comes two days after New England's owner Robert Kraft announced that head coach Jerod Mayo was fired , following the team's disappointing 4-13 season. Rivkah Reyes, who played bassist Katie in the 2003 Jack Black film,

The original Bill Belichick succession plan going up in smoke, forced the New England Patriots to conduct a proper coaching search for the first time in over a quarter century. That process is still in its early stages — Jerod Mayo was fired only three days ago — but there are already questions about the organization’s approach.