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Grier had a lot more input than anyone else besides Belichick and Pioli because he had put the work in. If you believe BB gave complete control over anything to anyone, I have a bridge to sell you.
Random article from that draft...
Pats Pleased With Adrian's Landing - Hartford Courant
Rehbein was his quarterback coach. He went to Michigan to personally work out Brady. He wrote in his journal that Brady was going to be outstanding (below), called his wife after every round
USATODAY.com - Game too painful for coach's widow
Y! SPORTS
He started at Michigan. He was going to get a look.
Some comments on the comments:
1. Pete Carroll is always going to fail in comparison merely because he was sandwiched between a HOF HC, and a guy who is even better than the HOF HC. No one is going to be able to survive that kind of comparison and look good.
2. Pete Carroll has always been a good HC. He was good here, just not great. People forget he never had a losing season here. And in his worst season, the 8-8 fiasco, he was 2 Adam V short misses from being 10-6. in the playoffs, and likely still HC of the Pats.
3. Carroll was the victim of 3 poor drafts, which left the team dreadfully low on depth. Its been common to take what little success Carroll had away from him by saying he had a lot of talent on those teams, but much of that talent was one deep, and when he was hit with injuries, they had a lot more trouble surviving them.
He was also the victim of rabid media who were going to kill any new HC who wasn't their binky like Bill Parcells. The Borges example was particularly loathsome, but Toxic Ron wasn't alone in his distaste for anyone who wasn't Bill Parcells "Pumped and Jacked" was never going play well here.
I think we are spoiled by the success BB has in somehow surviving crippling injuries. Its perhaps one of his greatest skills and is just another reason he is the GOAT. Most other merely "good" HC's struggle. But not everyone can be Bill Bellichick.
4. Bobby Grier made some really puzzling draft picks during his tenure. He started well with the Terry Glenn pick, and then had very few successes after that. IIRC the Chris Canty CB pick was particularly bad.
Grier set the board for BB's first draft in 2000, but the credit for Tom Brady has to go solely to **** Rahbein. He was the guy who "banged the table" for Brady early and often during that draft season. The Pats only picked him with their comp pick in the 6th round because his draft rating was just too high above the spot they got him, that he was too big a value to pass up, even though they seemed to have 3 reasonable players ahead of him, including Drew, Bishop. and a good vet back up whose name I can't recall at the moment
Think about it. How often do teams keep 4 QB's on their rosters for a full season, like the Pats did in 2000. Can anyone think of another example?
5. Pete Carroll has always been under rated IMHO. His success in Seattle comes as no surprise to me. Every HC in the NFL is a great coach relative to the rest of the coaches in the game. Just to reach the NFL level you have to be a great coach. Then to rise to level of HC requires another level of obstacles to pass. Even the guys who fail, have been PROVEN leaders and men who know their X's and O's
If you want to know how small the margin of error is between success and failure, just think about Adam V making those 2 very makeable FG's. Just think about BB in Cleveland if the owner doesn't announce the move of the franchise in the middle of the season. Just think about Parcells after his 1-15 first season, losing a couple of more close games in his 2nd.
Being a HC in the NFL is a very tenuous position. Lots of time your success or failure isn't within your own control