Key Date: February 20, 2014: Mike Lombardi Joins Patriots Front Office

Joey007 said:

Was BB as successful on the Browns?

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Yes, the Browns won a superbowl shortly after the moved from the curse known as Cleveland

Triumph said:

Didn't NY Giants GM Ernie Acorsi assist BB with NEP drafts and FA after he left the Giants in 2007?

I know that I read Acorsi was with the Pats someplace.

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Accorsi has never been employed by the New England Patriots.

He may be one of the many that BB calls on the phone from time to time.

Over the years, BB has always mixed and matched the very bottom of his roster/practice squad throughout the season. The difference I see in the past couple of years is NE's success in executing "in season trades" to fill needs game day using minimal draft capital. BB may have final say on such moves but the Pats Pro Scouting Dept is doing the leg work, identifying willing/vulnerable trading partners, and closing. If Lombardi is involved here....then he deserves a chunk of credit.

borg said:

Over the years, BB has always mixed and matched the very bottom of his roster/practice squad throughout the season. The difference I see in the past couple of years is NE's success in executing "in season trades" to fill needs game day using minimal draft capital. BB may have final say on such moves but the Pats Pro Scouting Dept is doing the leg work, identifying willing/vulnerable trading partners, and closing. If Lombardi is involved here....then he deserves a chunk of credit.

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Good point about the in-season trades. It's been a MARKED difference the past couple of seasons. They've been sharks at yard sales.

I think I read somewhere that Jabaal Sheard and Dion Lewis were Lombardi recommendations. If true, that's pretty good.

I've also seen Albert Breer and Michael Silver denigrate Lombardi on Twitter. In my mind, that's a pretty clear indication Lombardi is a competent talent evaluator.

Zeus said:

I think I read somewhere that Jabaal Sheard and Dion Lewis were Lombardi recommendations. If true, that's pretty good.

I've also seen Albert Breer and Michael Silver denigrate Lombardi on Twitter. In my mind, that's a pretty clear indication Lombardi is a competent talent evaluator.

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Ayers and Casillas too, last year.

I think Lombardi helps Belichick be a good GM. Belichick has a former GM that he can bounce ideas of, strategize with and somebody who probably can tell Belichick that a certain move might be good or bad and give reasons for it. There is a saying that two heads are better then one and in this case it's probably true.

Oswlek said:

It was partly in jest, but it's not like his transactions in Cleveland are a collection of genius moves. Their draft that year is basically a washout, with the exception of Gordon who was a supplemental pick the year before. Feel free to scroll through their FAs and let me know if anyone jumps off the page for you.

And giving him credit for the Richardson deal is like saying an agent who accepts a $3,000,000 bid on a $250,000 home is a great negotiator.

I'm not saying the guy is worthless, I just think you might be overstating his impact.

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He picked two of my favorite draft prospects that year in Leon McFadden and Armonty Bryant. McFadden didn't workout but Bryant has shown flashes and still could end up as a really good player. I also liked Garrett Gilkey who put up one of the most fun highlight reels ever (pancake blocks galore). It want a great draft, but it wasn't a disaster either (one starter, albeit a bit of a flop, a key role player and two later picks).

zydecochris said:

I couldn't agree with you more.

To BB's credit, he is a good enough people manager to bring in other smart people into the decision making process. Who is responsible for the success of that smart team? BB of course, he put together that team, he oversees it, and deserves the lion's share of the credit.

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I am not so sure about that. I could not see him bringing in, say, Rex Ryan as defensive coordinator. There is room for only one rooster in the coop. Rex would be awesome with BB's personnel and awesome for sound bites, but BB does not want a huge personality in the clubhouse....

FredFromDartmouth said:

I am not so sure about that. I could not see him bringing in, say, Rex Ryan as defensive coordinator. There is room for only one rooster in the coop. Rex would be awesome with BB's personnel and awesome for sound bites, but BB does not want a huge personality in the clubhouse....

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We don't really know what BB thinks, but I agree that Rex doesn't sound like a great match. However, I would argue that is the whole point of why BB is such a great manager. What a great manager does is to identify people that he/she can affordably bring in that fit the system and the vision of the organization, teach or train them to do their job, and then manage them to optimize their performance and achieve their potential. That is what BB does with the players, no? He figures out which ones fit "the Patriot way" that he can bring in affordably (affordable both in $$ and draft picks, etc.), he teaches or "coaches them up" in how to play in the Patriot system, and then he manages them to maximize their performance.

Bringing in the right people is an absolutely one of the most important parts of being of a manager, perhaps the most important part (I've known managers that were mostly incompetent but they brought in such great people under them they still succeeded). BB has brought in people like Lombardi and Nick Caserio that are obviously working very productively under him.

As an aside, when it comes to personality, Lombardi is not an obvious match with BB. Before he got the Cleveland (and then NE) job he would appear weekly during the football season on the "B.S. Report" podcasts with Bill Simmons. Lombardi was fabulous in that venue, very entertaining and educational. He was a outgoing, gregarious, opinionated type, a real extravert. Kind of the opposite to BB. However, Lombardi obviously absolutely revered BB, he used to sound like BB's publicist on the B.S. Report.

Probably Lombardi is happier keeping a lower profile and working behind the scenes in NE after experiencing that nightmarish circus in Cleveland.