Belichick builds AFC East control
MIAMI — It’s not enough that New England won another Super Bowl title in February. Now the Patriots already have won the offseason title in March, too. It’s not enough for Bill Belichick to be crowned the greatest NFL coach of all time. Now he’s proving why he’s the greatest general manager of any time, too.
It’s not enough for Miami Dolphins fans to have the kind of good offseason that makes you nod along in understanding as each move is announced. Because now the Patriots have an offseason that makes you wonder how they engineered each move as it’s announced. In other words, these past couple of weeks simply have reinforced what every Dolphins fan has known in watching the Patriots drub all comers in taking the AFC East 14 of the past 16 years: This is a brutal sports era you’ve been born into. It’s cursed. It has a ceiling of second place as long as Belichick and Tom Brady keep going.
It’s all good and inspiring for the Dolphins to have put someone with fresh ideas and smart planning like Adam Gase in control. The Dolphins have a future. They certainly aren’t the laughingstock franchise anymore. That’s the New York Jets. The Dolphins aren’t the stuck-in-mud franchise anymore. That’s Buffalo.
But the Patriots still have the dark lord who remains three steps ahead of everyone in football. Belichick is on the verge of throwing more defensive talent overboard recently — Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins, maybe even Malcolm Butler — than any AFC East rival has on its roster.
Belichick is adding more in-its-prime time talent in one offseason — Brandin Cooks, Dwayne Allen, Stephon Gilmore — than any team in football.
And here’s the thing: the Dolphins are having a nice offseason. They’re following Gase’s No. 1 idea of paying their own players and buying loyalty.
So the Dolphins ambitiously signed third receiver Kenny Stills, 24, for $20 million guaranteed? The Patriots more-ambitiously traded the 32nd pick overall for No. 1 receiver Cooks, 23. He’ll make $781,000 next year.
The Dolphins overpaid for a role-playing defensive end Andre Branch (three years, $24 million). The Patriots underpaid for a roleplaying defensive end Kony Ealy at $900,000.
The Dolphins confidently extended star safety Reshad Jones, 29, despite one year remaining on his current deal, to a five-year $60-million deal with $35 million guaranteed.
The Patriots more confidently let linebacker Dont’a Hightower, 27, test free agency. Then re-signed him to a four-year, $35-million deal.
For years, the Patriots have smartly taken big and small talent from AFC East rivals. Wes Welker. Larry Izzo. Darrelle Revis. This year they grabbed Gilmore, a shutdown cornerback, from Buffalo for the kind of big-money deal (four years, $60 million) Belichick rarely does.
“We’re five weeks behind 30 teams in the league preparing for the 2017 season,” Belichick said after winning the Super Bowl in February.
The Pats always are weeks behind in February. And light years ahead by September.