Trouble in New England?

[Brian in Mesa]

A piece of trivia that may interest only me:

There was a time when I was confused with Steve Grogan. My name is similar to his and I would be introduced to others as Grogan. I finally gave up trying to correct people, it slowly faded away when he left the NFL. When we just started dating, my wife introduced me to her boss as Steve Grogan... lol

 

[Mitch]

A titanic clash of egos and disparate personalities. It's amazing that they have worked this well together for so long.

On January of 2000, Bob Kraft performed the biggest coaching heist of the modern era. At the time everyone thought he was crazy to trade a first round draft pick for Bill Belichick, the Jets' DC who was supposed to take the HC reins from Bill ParcelLs that year. It was, by every indication, a vengeful and highly strategic act on Kraft's part to pilfer BB away from Bill "let me shop for the groceries" Parcells---particularly when Kraft surrendered virtually full control of the football operations to Belichick, something Kraft had refused to do for Parcells.

And then comes the NFL Draft in 2000 and in Belichick's first draft with pick #200 (6th Round), he selects Tom Brady, QB, Michigan.

Honestly, at the time, Patriots fans thought Kraft had lost his mind. Belichick's HC record in Cleveland was 36-44. Then, in his first season as Pats' HC, when he went 5-11, the fans were indignant.

Little did the fans know that the 2001 season would bring a 11-5 total reversal...and that, from that point on, Belichick would never register a sub .500 season ever again on his way to winning 5 Super Bowls, 15 AFC East Championship in 17 years (9 in a row this year), 11 AFC Championship Games and 7 Super Bowls (a post-season record of 25-9 with Patriots).

In the age of the salary cap and the NFL Draft rules which were designed to create parity across the league, these accomplishments will likely never be matched, nor even rivaled. The level of BK/BB/TB's sustained success is so epic it is beyond fathomable.

Belichick is such his own man, it would not be a total surprise if he goes in the manner in which he came...traded for by another team for a 1st round draft pick (or two). Or---he could decide to retire. Or---he could kiss and make up with Bob and Tommy. One way or another, the saga plays on.

 

[DeAnna]

Makes sense to me. I had heard reports that the trade offer was rescinded, and then offered up again. Why would the Patriots have a 40yr old QB when their philosophy has always been to trade them while young and have value.

 

[cardpa]

Keim should be on the phone telling Belichick we have an office and a team ready here for you.

 

[oaken1]

lol...

A piece of trivia that may interest only me:

There was a time when I was confused with Steve Grogan. My name is similar to his and I would be introduced to others as Grogan. I finally gave up trying to correct people, it slowly faded away when he left the NFL. When we just started dating, my wife introduced me to her boss as Steve Grogan... lol

I had similar problems when working at University of Phoenix mostly... my buddy was from Detroit and he met several other dudes there that happened to be from up north...we all always got together on conference calls to talk football and gambling lines and such... these dudes,..four of them...were in awe of me for a year because of my name, lol... chuck long... when we finally met in person one of looks at me and says..."I thought you'd be taller" ,lol

 

[oaken1]

Makes sense to me. I had heard reports that the trade offer was rescinded, and then offered up again. Why would the Patriots have a 40yr old QB when their philosophy has always been to trade them while young and have value.

yep...it makes every kind of sense that BB would trade TB this off season and roll with JimmyG on day one next season... that has always been how they played it...
I think Tommy wants that single team legend type legacy

 

[Ronin]

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[CardsFan88]

Seems overblown. Seems like the media is trying to create a situation, rather then report on it.

For instance. NYG basically canned their head coach early because he benched Eli. That's a bigger story. But it's not a big story.

Seems almost like a witch hunt about how this is the biggest thing ever.



In the real world, people differ, and most people get over those differences for mutual benefit.

Jimmy G is gone, and yet the Pats have another draft or maybe 3-4 to get their next QB.

Is Belichick going to leave because a guy they knew was going to have to leave, did? As if Jimmy G's agent, the same as Brady, was going to allow him to be a backup for the next 2-3 years or more?



There's even a PFT article about how NY should be on Belichick's list. WTF?

The place with a QB that is old but crappy, cancerous players who mutiny, so on and so forth. He's going to leave NE for that? HA.

Having a new age trainer with Brady really gong to bring down the Pats?

I never expected everything to be rosy. Is there more?

 

[Arz101]

My theory:

Kraft would not damage his team's interest by trading Jimmy G and not start him nest year. I cannot fathom why Kraft would trade Jimmy G unless Bellichick told Kraft that Jimmy G is not the next great QB. Now that Jimmy G is proving to be the next great QB, Bellichick is trying to cover his tracks by pushing this off onto Kraft/Brady.

 

[oaken1]

My theory:

Kraft would not damage his team's interest by trading Jimmy G and not start him nest year. I cannot fathom why Kraft would trade Jimmy G unless Bellichick told Kraft that Jimmy G is not the next great QB. Now that Jimmy G is proving to be the next great QB, Bellichick is trying to cover his tracks by pushing this off onto Kraft/Brady.

Jimmy wants to start...apparently they offered him a longer term contract at $18mil per to remain and backup Brady and he and his agent just flat refused to sign a contract... their only option was to franchise him and have a disgruntled $26mil man or trade him...well, or release him in the off season and get nothing.

 

[Arz101]

Jimmy wants to start...apparently they offered him a longer term contract at $18mil per to remain and backup Brady and he and his agent just flat refused to sign a contract... their only option was to franchise him and have a disgruntled $26mil man or trade him...well, or release him in the off season and get nothing.

I agree that Jimmy G wants to start. At the end of season Patriots would have named him starter if they believed Jimmy G was the heir apparent. Look at how packers handled Favre/Rodgers. Why didn't the patriots do it? Belichick is not as high on Jimmy G as portrayed in media?

 

[Mitch]

My theory:

Kraft would not damage his team's interest by trading Jimmy G and not start him nest year. I cannot fathom why Kraft would trade Jimmy G unless Bellichick told Kraft that Jimmy G is not the next great QB. Now that Jimmy G is proving to be the next great QB, Bellichick is trying to cover his tracks by pushing this off onto Kraft/Brady.

It was BB who traded JG. He thought so highly of JG that he wanted to pick the right coach for him. He felt he had to get some comp for him at the trading deadline, seeing as it was looking as if JG was ready to hit FA this March.

 

[Arz101]

It was BB who traded JG. He thought so highly of JG that he wanted to pick the right coach for him. He felt he had to get some comp for him at the trading deadline, seeing as it was looking as if JG was ready to hit FA this March.

That's like saying "His girlfriend hooked him up with a new girlfriend so he stays happy when she ditched him"

 

[MigratingOsprey]

Seems overblown. Seems like the media is trying to create a situation, rather then report on it.

For instance. NYG basically canned their head coach early because he benched Eli. That's a bigger story. But it's not a big story.

Seems almost like a witch hunt about how this is the biggest thing ever.



In the real world, people differ, and most people get over those differences for mutual benefit.

Jimmy G is gone, and yet the Pats have another draft or maybe 3-4 to get their next QB.

Is Belichick going to leave because a guy they knew was going to have to leave, did? As if Jimmy G's agent, the same as Brady, was going to allow him to be a backup for the next 2-3 years or more?



There's even a PFT article about how NY should be on Belichick's list. WTF?

The place with a QB that is old but crappy, cancerous players who mutiny, so on and so forth. He's going to leave NE for that? HA.

Having a new age trainer with Brady really gong to bring down the Pats?

I never expected everything to be rosy. Is there more?

Pretty much. Patriot stories bring clicks, debate, strong opinions, etc. Basically stuff like this is fodder for what you may already believe.

Wickersham is basically a poorly sourced gossip columnist at this point, but ESPN will get a lot of news cycle out of a conjecture story. Hot take programs will debate, reporters will question and write stories about how the questions are handled, hot take programs will then debate what the non answers to those questions really mean. Then there will be a story about if the story is creating a distraction and if that distraction is creating chaos within the organization or lockeroom. The hot take programs will debate this as well. If they lose a game then it will be attributed to the distractions. If they win the Superbowl it can be framed as the last hurrah before a pivotal and drama filled off-season.

The whole thing is kind of pathetic, but it is what passes for reporting these days.

 

[Dan H]

A lot of theories that BB was an off-the-record source for a lot of this. Why else would ESPN legal sign off on the story? There are some pretty deep personal insights that could pretty much only have come from him. Does he want out of NE?

 

[MigratingOsprey]

A lot of theories are guesses with no backing..... But it just provides more areas that can be debated and content created

There is no liability in anything in the piece..... Only thing ESPN could lose its credibility and honestly neither the organization or Wickersham have any left

 

[Ohcrap75]

This is totally hypothetical because I think this whole story is at best very exaggerated, but what would you be willing to give up if Belichick was available for trade?

 

[RON_IN_OC]

Quit ragging on Keim for not getting Garopolo!!!


Two weeks before the Nov. 1 trading deadline, Belichick met with Kraft to discuss the quarterback situation. According to staffers, the meeting ran long, lasting half the day and pushing back Belichick's other meetings. The office was buzzing. The meeting ended with a clear mandate to Belichick: trade Garoppolo because he would not be in the team's long-term plans, and then, once again, find the best quarterback in the draft and develop him. Belichick was furious and demoralized, according to friends. But in the end, he did what he asks of his players and coaches: He did his job. One morning in late October, Belichick texted San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and asked him to call. Belichick had long admired Kyle's father, Mike, who not only had been one of the NFL's smartest tacticians but had also personally defended Belichick to commissioner Roger Goodell during the Spygate scandal. At the combine this past February, Kyle, weeks into the 49ers job after being the offensive coordinator for the Falcons, met with Belichick for hours to learn from his team's humiliating Super Bowl loss. Belichick believed that Garoppolo would excel under Shanahan, and when he and Shanahan connected on the phone, Belichick offered the quarterback for a second-rounder.

It was a steal, leaving Patriots staffers stunned and confused. Why would the game's shrewdest long-term strategist trade two backup quarterbacks in a two-month span when his starter was 40 years old and banged up? And why did Belichick practically give away a quarterback whom the coaches saw as a potential top-10 player for much less than he could have gotten last spring? It made no sense. Belichick handled the trade as he always does, by not explaining it to the coaches and by burying them so deep in work that they didn't have time to gossip. Most in the organization understood that it was an extreme case, with extreme personalities, but they felt that Belichick had earned the right to make football decisions. Belichick, having always subscribed to the philosophy that it's time to go once an owner gets involved in football decisions, left the impression with some friends that the current dynamic was unsustainable.

I've been mentioning this for weeks. It shouldn't come as a shock. Just listen to some of the national reporters...it wasn't exactly a secret.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[GuernseyCard]

I agree that Jimmy G wants to start. At the end of season Patriots would have named him starter if they believed Jimmy G was the heir apparent. Look at how packers handled Favre/Rodgers. Why didn't the patriots do it? Belichick is not as high on Jimmy G as portrayed in media?

That was not a happy ending.

 

[Krangodnzr]

NEM??

He is the reason I hate NE

 

[Arz101]

That was not a happy ending.

So If Jimmy is the next Brady, isn't parting ways with your legendary QB, who happens to be 40 year old, a small price to pay for next decade of success as a HC/team owner?

I am calling baloney on "Belichick really wanted to keep Jimmy G"

 

[GuernseyCard]

So If Jimmy is the next Brady, isn't parting ways with your legendary QB, who happens to be 40 year old, a small price to pay for next decade of success as a HC/team owner?

I am calling baloney on "Belichick really wanted to keep Jimmy G"

Well, YOU have no way of knowing.

And what comes into play is Kraft's devotion to his QB, IMO.

If BB moves on in the offseason, you'll then know you were wrong.

If Gruden is worth $10m a year, there's some good $$$ out there waiting for the "genius."

 

[Arz101]

Well, YOU have no way of knowing.

And what comes into play is Kraft's devotion to his QB, IMO.

If BB moves on in the offseason, you'll then know you were wrong.

If Gruden is worth $10m a year, there's some good $$$ out there waiting for the "genius."

What good is a forum if you cannot speculate?

 

[GatorAZ]

Belichick knows Brady is declining but Kraft and Brady are "boys" like John Elway and Pat Bowlen were during his playing days. Maybe Kraft isn't worried about the longterm state of the franchise but they potentially cost themselves a franchise QB from 2001-2030. Thirty straight years!

 

[sportznutt]

NY Daily Post says Brlichick might want to go to the Giants.

We need to do whatever we can to get him in Arizona if there’s any chance of that happening.