Patriots working on trade to send Mac Jones to Jaguars

Mac Jones is headed to Jacksonville and the AFC South

The New England Patriots’ search for their next franchise quarterback will continue sans Mac Jones.

Multiple reports on Sunday said the AFC East cellar-dweller is working on a deal that would send their first-round pick in 2021 — 15th overall — to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a sixth-rounder.

The deal can not be completed until the NFL’s new year starts on Wednesday.

In Jacksonville, Jones would back up Trevor Lawrence.

It was a turbulent tenure for Jones in New England.

He was 10-7 as a starter in 2021 as a rookie. However, things fell apart, and he went 8-17 after that, frequently being benched and reinserted in the lineup.

Bill Belichick could be the perfect fit for 49ers’ defensive coordinator opening

With an opening at the defensive coordinator spot, could the 49ers target one of the greatest coaches of all time?

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It was a little surprising that the San Francisco moved on from well-respected and consistently good defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. It’s easy to point the finger at Wilks for the frustrations of the Super Bowl and make him a scapegoat when really there was so much more that went into the loss, but that’s another discussion. The 49ers now find themselves with a pretty big hole in their defensive coaching staff, one that is latent with potential to field the best defensive unit in 2024. Could the greatest coach of all time perhaps fill the role and set himself up for one heck of a rebound?

Former New England Patriots head coach and future hall of famer Bill Belichick might just be the coach that can help put this Super Bowl-losing team on the other side of the aisle, the one that comes with rings and a fancy trophy. Given the enormous amount of talent that San Francisco boasts on the defensive side of the ball with stars littered across every position, and Bill Belichicks history as a defensive mastermind, this might be a match made in heaven.

One position Belichick has always been enamored with is versatile linebackers. From the likes of Jerod Mayo (his replacement in New England ironically enough), Dont’a Hightower, Tedy Bruschi, Jamie Collins, etc etc. it’s clear that he gets the most out of versatile linebackers. The 49ers boast the best linebacking duo in the league behind the force that is Fred Warner and Drew Greenlaw, who could be the rock of a Belichick lead defense. On the defensive line it’s easy to see Belichick getting the most of the likes of Nick Bosa, Chase Young, and Arik Armstead. It’s almost scary to think of the amount of weapons you would be handing to the best defensive coach of a generation should he land in San Francisco.

The big question might be could Belichick slow down the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and the other super elite quarterbacks in the league. Though realistically there aren’t many defensive coaches who have been able to accomplish that outside of the defensive coordinator on the same team as Patrick Mahomes.

Nothing is certain when it comes to hirings but this seems like such a slam dunk hire and one that has to have crossed the minds of Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch. The only remaining question mark would be if Belichick himself would want to take the demotion and return to his roots as a defensive coordinator.

Why Bill Belichick will likely be without a head coaching job in 2024

It looks as if Bill Belichick might not be an NFL head coach in 2024. How on earth did this happen?

If you had told anyone that future Hall of Famer Bill Belichick would be jobless and garnering little interest in the open market back just a few years ago, they would have laughed you out of the room. That does seem to be the case as the coaching carousel starts to come to a stop with just two teams with open spots, neither of which seem to be interested in his services. What could have led to one of the greatest coaches of all time being left on the couch going into a new season?

One of the most prevalent themes in the recent history of the league has been the “What have you done for me lately?” policy seemingly every team goes by. So while there is no denying that Belichick has one of the best track records in the history of the league, the Patriots’ last four seasons have been a cruel reminder that developing a quarterback is necessary in today’s game. Even though Belichick has consistently fielded top-tier defenses year after year given his genius on that side of the ball, his inability to draft and develop a quarterback, as well as his general failures in drafting, sent him to the unemployment line.

Teams looking for a potential head coach certainly noticed his recent trends, and if there was a power struggle with the 71-year-old Belichick over roster decisions, teams understandably would be hesitant to turn over their program to him. With these teams having set decision-makers and general managers, it could have clashed with Belichick’s desire to have plenty of roster influence.

Those factors — a serious lack of success on the offensive side of the ball and a coaching style that may not align with the modern NFL — have left Belichick on the outside looking in. Though a team looking for a defensive coordinator may be intrigued if Belichick were open to the idea.

Patriots hire Jerod Mayo to replace Bill Belichick as head coach

Jerod Mayo will replace Bill Belichick as the Patriots’ head coach, and he’s been with the team his entire professional football life.

The decision to replace perhaps the most irreplaceable head coach in pro football history didn’t take long. One day after the press conference in which New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and former head coach Bill Belichick made public and official their decision to part ways, the Patriots tabbed Jerod Mayo to be their next head man.

It’s certainly an organizational hire. The Patriots selected Mayo in the first round of the 2008 draft out of Tennessee, and Mayo played linebacker for Belichick’s defenses through the 2015 season. The 2008 Defensive Rookie of the Year, Mayo went to two Pro Bowls and was a First-Team All-Pro in 2010.

Once his playing career was over, Mayo became the team’s inside linebackers coach in 2019. He had become a mainstay under Belichick, and there were agreements in place for Mayo to replace Belichick when the time had come.

Mayo, who is 37 years old, takes the title of youngest NFL head coach from Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams, who is a month older.

Per Mark Daniels of Masslive.com, the players were already publicly endorsing Mayo for the job over more high-profile candidates.

He’d be a coach I want to play for. I’d run through a wall for him,” edge rusher Josh Uche said. “I love players’ coaches. Guys that take it deeper than the X’s and O’s. It’s more personal. You want to go out and do a good job because you know you have someone behind you who’s backing and supporting you. I’m all in on Mayo.”

“Man, he’d be a really great head coach,” defensive tackle Christian Barmore added. “He’d be a funny guy. He understands players. He teaches players. He’s everything a player would want.”

The Patriots are in heavy transition now, but they’re in good shape to take that on. They have the third overall pick in a quarterback-heavy draft, and $56,010,399 in Estimated Cap Space for the 2024 league year.

 

The perfect head coaching candidates for each vacancy

The perfect head coaching candidate for every current vacancy around the NFL.

There have been a plethora of teams around the NFL that decided to move on from their now former head coaches. From the totally expected to the outright shocking, there are currently eight head coaching vacancies around the NFL- each one with a candidate that could help turn their tides.

Side note: I don’t think Bill Belichick or Mike Vrabel take any current vacancy.

Bill Belichick, New England Patriots part ways after 24 seasons

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots have agreed to part ways. The greatest coach in football history is on the open market.

After nearly a quarter of a century, the greatest coach in pro football history is looking for a new home. Per multiple reports, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots have agreed to part ways.

The writing was on the wall after a 4-13 season in 2003 in which the Patriots had no offensive firepower, but still put a quality defense on the field. That was Belichick’s legacy — the quality defense part — but in Belichick’s four-year run without Tom Brady, the Patriots were never able to find a quarterback who could do anywhere near what Brady could do. The Patriots had just one winning season post-Brady, and that was not enough for owner Robert Kraft.

But in the end, it was Belichick’s all-encompassing genius that took the Patriots to a 302-165 regular-season record, a 31-13 postseason record, and six Super Bowls — the first at the end of the 2001 season, and the last at the end of the 2018 season. To do all that in an era of parity and free agency and constant schematic change is where Belichick has earned the right to call himself the greatest football coach ever.

“I’m going to do everything I can every day to do the best I can to help our football team,”  Belichick said on Monday in his final press conference as the team’s head coach. “That’s what I’ve always done. It’s never been any different for me in my career. I learned that lesson from my dad growing up. You work for the team that you’re working for and do the best you can for it, until somebody tells you different. So, that’s not going to change.”

Through all the wins, and all the controversies, Belichick has always been that day-after-day coach in the truest sense.

Belichick ends his New England tenure with 333 wins, placing him 14 behind Don Shula for the most by any coach in NFL history. We’ll have to see where that goal drives the 71-year-old Belichick from here.

2024 NFL Mock Draft: End-of-season quarterback decisions lead to surprising picks

How many NFL teams will stick with their current quarterbacks? A high number could make for an interesting first round of the 2024 draft.

Now that the 2023 NFL regular season is over, every team turns its attention to the draft — even those teams that are part of the postseason. Area scouts will start to move to the home facility to interact with scouting directors and general managers, and with the scouting combine less than two months away, it’s time to start putting your big boards together.

This applies especially to those teams with crucial quarterback decisions to make. For the purposes of this mock draft, we’ll assume that the Chicago Bears are sticking with Justin Fields, the Arizona Cardinals are committed to Kyler Murray, the Tennessee Titans think they have a future franchise quarterback in Will Levis, and the New York Jets think that eventually, Aaron Rodgers will stop shooting his mouth off long enough to play quarterback in 2024.

Conversely, the Washington Commanders, New England Patriots, New York Giants, and Atlanta Falcons will avail themselves of the best draftable quarterbacks possible in the interest of turning things around.

So, four quarterbacks go in the first round here, with more teams looking to build around the guys they’ve already got. That makes for one notable omission (Oregon’s Bo Nix), and a whole bunch of talented prospects at other positions pushing themselves up the boards.

Five NFL head coaches who could be fired on Black Monday

These are the five head coaches to keep a close eye on as they could be fired by their respective teams on Black Monday.

On the day in which the NFL regular season concludes, today also marks the eve of several head coaching jobs becoming vacant.” Black Monday” as it’s known, will see several NFL head coaches be relieved of their duties, and these are the names to keep a close eye on being fired by their respective teams.

Browns join ’87 Patriots to start 5 different QBs in a season

When Jeff Driskel starts in Week 18 for the Browns, he will be their fifth different starting QB this season

Jeff Driskel gets the call to start at quarterback on Sunday when the Cleveland Browns play the Cincinnati Bengals.

With the Browns safely locked into the fifth playoff spot, Kevin Stefanski is not going to risk injury to 38-year-old Joe Flacco.

Driskel becomes the fifth different player to start at quarterback for the Browns in the 2023 regular season.

The others are Flacco, PJ Walker, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Deshaun Watson.

Another team that started 5 quarterbacks was the 1987 New England Patriots, possibly the only one.

Those starters were: Steve Grogan, Tom Ramsey, Tony Eason, Bob Bleier, and Doug Flutie.

For those of you who don’t remember Bleier, who split two starts in the strike-disrupted season:

Bob Bleier was one of the most prolific passers in Richmond football history, finishing his career first on the Spiders’ career lists with 1,169 career attempts, 672 completions, 8,057 passing yards and 54 passing touchdowns from 1983-86. Bleier owned three of the top five passing seasons in school history. He was Second Team All-Yankee Conference in 1986 and played in the Blue-Gray Game following that season. Bleier played for the New England Patriots of the National Football League in 1987.

Browns join ’87 Patriots to start 5 different QBs in a season

When Jeff Driskel starts in Week 18 for the Browns, he will be their fifth different starting QB this season

Jeff Driskel gets the call to start at quarterback on Sunday when the Cleveland Browns play the Cincinnati Bengals.

With the Browns safely locked into the fifth playoff spot, Kevin Stefanski is not going to risk injury to 38-year-old Joe Flacco.

Driskel becomes the fifth different player to start at quarterback for the Browns in the 2023 regular season.

The others are Flacco, PJ Walker, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Deshaun Watson.

Another team that started 5 quarterbacks was the 1987 New England Patriots, possibly the only one.

Those starters were: Steve Grogan, Tom Ramsey, Tony Eason, Bob Bleier, and Doug Flutie.

For those of you who don’t remember Bleier, who split two starts in the strike-disrupted season:

Bob Bleier was one of the most prolific passers in Richmond football history, finishing his career first on the Spiders’ career lists with 1,169 career attempts, 672 completions, 8,057 passing yards and 54 passing touchdowns from 1983-86. Bleier owned three of the top five passing seasons in school history. He was Second Team All-Yankee Conference in 1986 and played in the Blue-Gray Game following that season. Bleier played for the New England Patriots of the National Football League in 1987.