ALL EYES ON BELICHICK TO SEE
Must do better with all their draft picks
There’s no doubting Bill Belichick’s brilliance as a head coach. His six Super Bowl rings with the Patriots, nine championship appearances, 17 AFC East division titles and 310 overall victories attest to that.
But at age 68, does he still have the fire and drive to get the Patriots back to their usual role as contenders?
And can he pull it off sooner rather than later?
NBC analyst Rodney Harrison, a Patriots Hall of Famer, doesn’t have much doubt Belichick will pull out all the stops to make the team relevant again.
“Bill’s a competitive guy. He’s not doing this to lose,” Harrison said when reached last week. “He’s not doing this to come in second or third place.”
There’s no doubting his competitiveness. Belichick has always been in it to win it. While in New England, he’s put together an unrivaled resume of sustained success.
But with the team’s fall in 2020, with the team no longer having Tom Brady at quarterback, can he successfully dig the Patriots out of their current hole?
With a checkered draft history, especially during the latter part of the most recent decade, and an unwillingness to spend on certain skill positions, it’s not out of line to question if Belichick can make the necessary turnaround.
Because right now, there are plenty of holes to fill: quarterback, wide receiver, tight end, defensive line and linebacker.
Harrison pointed to 2002 as one reference point. After the Patriots won their first Super Bowl in 2001, stunning the St. Louis Rams, they quickly fell back to earth, going 9-7 the following year and missing the playoffs.
After the disappointing 2002 season, Belichick released safety Lawyer Milloy
right before the start of the 2003 season, which was an unpopular move. But he had already brought in Harrison, signing the two-time Pro Bowl safety to a free agent deal. Belichick also brought in former Bears linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, a noted pass rusher, signing him to a lucrative contract at the time.
Even though Colvin didn’t factor in, suffering a major hip injury, the Patriots went on to win back-to-back Super Bowls in 2003 and 2004. Between 2003 and 2004, Belichick also kept the ball rolling, sending a second-round pick to the Bengals in exchange for perennial 1,000-yard rusher Corey Dillon.
Then after a 2006 season with an offense that was hugely lacking at receiver ( Reche Caldwell, Doug Gabriel), Belichick retooled the position, making trades for Randy Moss and Wes Welker,
while also signing Donte Stallworth to give Brady a top-notch receiver group.
Even though times have changed, Harrison still sees a determined Belichick making the necessary moves.
“This puts a fire up under him, all this embarrassment,” said Harrison. “It’s not just players. It’s the coaches, too. They don’t like having people laugh at you. Plus, Bill knew he was going to take it under the chin this year, but he’s going to have some leverage next year to go out and get some better players.”
He knew with Brady leaving, and not having the best succession plan at quarterback, along with all the other players lost in free agency, it was going to be a tough year.
And it’s certainly come home to roost.
Does he have the desire to go through a complete overhaul, or does he think he can just patch up some of the
holes after fixing the quarterback situation?
That’s all part of the fascination this off-season. How will Belichick go about tackling the problem?
He might have $60 million in cap space to spend in free agency. He also will mostly likely have a top-15 pick in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft.
“I think he has the desire. One thing I won’t question with Belichick, is his appetite to do the work that’s required,” said SiriusXM NFL analyst Solomon Wilcots. “The long hours, the meticulous nature of the sport … I think it was Vince Lombardi who said, ‘we’re mad men’ when talking about coaching. And Bill Belichick is a card-carrying dude when it comes to that fraternity of
coaches. This is natural for him.”
There’s also the chase of Don Shula in the record books. Belichick certainly won’t acknowledge this as being motivation, but he’s long been a historian of the game, and having the chance to pass Shula for most all-time wins among NFL head coaches, has to be somewhere on his radar.
Shula sits on top with 347. George Halas has 324, and with six more wins from this season, Belichick sits at 310.
Five and six-win seasons aren’t going to get the job done in the next three or four seasons.
Belichick is going to have to find a quarterback, either through free agency, the draft, or trade; upgrade the weapons; patch the defense; and
get back into the 10-, 11-win category.
One area he can’t fail is the draft. He’s going to have to draft better, and pay at least market value in free agency.
“The biggest hurdle, the biggest impediment for Bill, is will he pay market value?” said Wilcots, speaking about free agency. “He doesn’t want to pay for an edge-rusher, he doesn’t want to pay for a receiver, and he barely wants to pay for a quarterback. You can’t win in this league without a quarterback. But that’s his toughest challenge, because you gotta pay for players now in this league.”
Wilcots envisions the usual scenario, with Belichick spending the money on a bunch of players, instead of making a big splash.
“I suspect he won’t spend any differently than he has in the past,” said Wilcots. “I’m not saying he won’t spend it, but he might spend that $60 million among 10 guys.”
This is arguably going to be one of the most challenging rebuilds Belichick has faced whether in Cleveland, or in New England at the start.
While he has money to spend, he also has to deal with a number of prominent in-house free agents, most notably offensive linemen David Andrews and Joe Thuney, defensive tackle
Lawrence Guy, cornerback
J.C. Jackson and running back
James White. It’ll be interesting who he decides to keep.
And once again, he’s going to have to hit a home run in the draft. While it’s early to