Bill Belichick’s successful long-term legacy and recent, post-Tom Brady struggles are inarguable.
He led New England to six Super Bowl titles, the last of which came still aligned with Brady way (?) back in 2018.
He’s also led the Patriots to three losing seasons since Brady departed, including most recently when New England bottomed out to the tune of just four wins and some of the most embarrassing losses in franchise history this fall.
So here we are. Black Monday. The ugly 17-3 loss in the season finale to the hated Jets in front of a half-empty Gillette Stadium barely 12 hours old. Belichick deflecting questions about his future, his job security and hypotheticals regarding where he’ll be and what he’ll be doing for the 2024 season.
One thing Belichick made quite clear in his Monday morning WebEx (it’s like a Zoom, just less popular!) with reporters – he’s under contract with the Patriots.
And that, is a key factor in whatever is going to transpire in the coming hours, days and weeks regarding Belichick’s future and the possibility that he will or will not make it to a 25th season running Robert Kraft’s football team.
Kraft has a big decision on his hands, though reports have indicated that decision was made long before he was set to meet with Belichick to discuss the coach and the team’s future. NBC Sports Boston previously reported that Kraft made his decision after New England’s “critical” loss to the Colts in front of an international crowd on Nov. 12 in Frankfurt. Fox Sports reported on Sunday that Belichick was “Gone” from New England, the details of his departure all that was left to be figured out.
And, indeed, that’s where the devil lies these days in Patriot Nation.
An under-contract Belichick is an asset to the team, even if not in a continued role as the head coach and all-hats-wearing leader of the franchise.
Even given his recent failures and embarrassing losses, despite dismal draft picks and dysfunctional management of his coaching staff, Belichick is still a big name with a bigger legacy and reputation for success.
He could be a big draw and option for franchises in Washington, Atlanta, Los Angeles or elsewhere across the NFL.
And respectful, honorable kid gloves aside, he must be treated as such. New England got nothing but regret in return when Brady took his talents and his Super Bowl-winning ways to Tampa Bay. The same mistake can’t be made again.
Belichick arrived in New England in a trade with the Jets back in 2000, he himself lamenting the first-round pick his new team had to give up to acquire him. Kraft got endless and glorious return on that investment in a man most in the football world saw as toxic at the time. But he can and should indeed squeeze one more return out of Belichick by trading him to his next employer if his time in Foxborough is actually up.
Calling him the “ultimate winner” who he has the “greatest amount of respect for,” former Patriots Hall of Fame linebacker and current ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi declared on Sunday that Belichick should depart New England the same way he arrived a quarter century ago. And he’s right.
“I think the Krafts should do the same in terms of, as strongly as you feel about it, this is still business,” Bruschi declared. “And what you do in terms of still continuing to win as the New England Patriots and within that organization. So, I am everything for it being clean. Do what you got to do…Do it right. Do it respectful. But also remember it’s business and still try to get a pick for him.”
So, Belichick is probably done running the Patriots, his historic run coming to a less than glorious finish line. As Kraft tip-toes through the divorce and exit strategy to hopefully catapult his team into the future with the dynasty days now officially in the history books, he must do so in the best interest of the Patriots. That means treating Belichick not as a franchise legend coach who somehow deserves his freedom, but an asset that can be traded to potentially help the Patriots jumpstart the next great era of the team’s history.
Belichick may be depressed these days in many senses of the word. He’s probably not the guy to lead the Patriots into 2024 and beyond.
But he can still be an asset to the future of the franchise if Kraft plays his cards right.
It’s not personal. It’s just business as Bruschi noted. It is what it is and even Belichick should understand that.
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