Bill Belichick is without a doubt the best head coach the NFL has ever seen, and many wonder just how much longer the 70-year-old will stick around before he finally retires and enjoys his success.
However, maybe the writing is on the wall, and this could be his last ever season in the NFL.
When Tom Brady left, there were growing concerns among Patriot fans about just how long it’ll be before Belichick himself decides to hang up the clipboard and whistle. One thing has always been for certain: Belichick, much like other league executives and coaches, does not have his contract details publicly accessible as the players do, making it much harder to understand when he would be legally forced out of New England.
He was last extended in 2017 and has even previously stated that he would not want to coach past 70, which just so happens that his 70-year-old season is this year.
With that being said, Belichick has also always mentioned his distain for how Bill Parcells left the franchise when he retired and stated that he would want to leave it in a good place for whoever is next. But does all this mean he would be calling it quits now? There are a few reasons that point towards this being Belichick’s last season.
The first is that an uncharacteristic free agent spending occurred last offseason, perhaps indicating the lack of talent on the roster. But it allowed whoever is next to have a solid base of veteran talent, aka leaders, who are adept players. So any would-be rookie head coach, if that ended up being the case, wouldn’t have to stress about drafting extremely well right away. They could instead focus on building relationships and coaching trees without worrying about overhauling a rebuilding roster.
Another sign is that the Patriots have brought in Matt Patricia and Joe Judge to install a new-age offense that is different than anything New England has done before. Mac Jones’ presence as a building block not only lays the foundation for talent, but it sures up the most important position on the field—a void left by none other than Tom Brady.
It also just so happens to be the first time Belichick has ever taken a quarterback that high, at pick No. 15, which had been an unnecessary move up until that point with him having the greatest of all time under center.
But there is something even more interesting in the past few drafts. In 2022 in particular, there was an emphasis on collaboration and seeing director of player personnel Matt Groh take on a much larger hand with the Patriots’ front office staffers. It seemed less likely that Belichick was making the final input on the selections, and thus far, the class has looked solid with day one contributors, which is a considerable change from the typical Patriots’ draft and develop project players in years past.
So why exactly would Belichick hand over the keys to the draft, spend more than he has ever spent in free agency to skill positions, and not name an offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator? Because I believe there is a succession plan in place, and the Patriots have been extremely tight lipped on that taking place.
The plan is simply laid out where Jerod Mayo, one of the best young coaching candidates in the league, and a former Patriot, will take over as the head coach of the Patriots. Ok good, got it. But why have they not named an offensive coordinator? Well, that’s because it will be a tandem between Patricia and Judge to install the offense.
But come next year, Patricia, who has been calling the plays, will step into the official offensive coordinator role, with Joe Judge returning to coach the quarterbacks.
It is important that Judge has input and that Matt Patricia overlaps the offensive line because this new scheme is very reliant on having agile, intelligent lineman and quarterbacks, which would allow for skill positions to be more reactive and less cerebral. That’s something very opposite of the old Patriots’ offenses, which were deemed one of the hardest in the game to pick up.
So streamlining the process to make it more modern and easier for talent to pick up is the way to go. There’s also the importance of having your quarterbacks coach on the same page.
But what about the defense? Without Belichick, there is concern there may be lack of a defensive genius in the building to help keep the Patriots’ opponents at bay. Well, the answer may not be everyone’s favorite, but I think the defensive coordinator will be Steve Belichick. He has seen more and more reps as a play-caller on defense, and Mayo will certainly be more hands on with the defense, much like Belichick was in his prime.
So after all things shake free, Patricia is the offensive coordinator, Steve Belichick the defensive coordinator, Joe Judge the quarterbacks coach, Jerrod Mayo the head coach and Matt Groh the general manager/ director of player personnel.
As a Patriots fan, I have faith in the new regime, if this is how it all plays out, as New England will get a talented coach in Mayo, who also happens to be a former player. That would sit well with current players right off the bat. They’d also be getting the son of a legendary defensive mind that has been groomed for his role for almost 10 years now in Steve Belichick.
At offensive coordinator, they’d have someone who is a former head coach with experience in playoff games as a defensive coordinator. All of this, with a new drafting strategy and franchise quarterback, could help transition the Patriots’ franchise into the new age.
And it would give the one man everyone expects to be the head of it all, Jonathan Kraft, an organization ready to thrive and carry on the legacy, rather than trying to build one from the ground up and potentially ruining what his father, Robert Kraft, built before him.
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