The most successful GM in NFL history

[Beethree]

Yeah, yeah, the cupboards are bare. The shooting stars have been few and far between. It seems like there is always a talent deficit....

The most successful GM in the history of the NFL is Bill Belichick. Full stop. He has predicated his roster building philosophy, as a good GM does, around the philosophies and approach of the Head Coach.
He ALWAYS has the best bottom quarter of the roster in the NFL. He sees the value in not being top heavy, with exceptions. But also, he knows his coach. He wants players that can be coached up, who can fill multiple or specialized roles. That provides him with an advantage that money cannot buy, but an advantage he knows he has as a GM because his coach is so good.

Writing this season off as Brady vs. Belichick is absurd. Bill is hobbled by the restrictions on this season. Brady has skill players around him and is still Brady. Damn right I am rooting for him in the NFC.

2-3 years from now, assuming some semblance of normality, does anyone want to bet that the Pats won't be better under Bill? Tom May sniff a SB this year or next. I would put some good money down that Bill will win another with the Pats.

I will watch both with interest, but this SEEMS like a lost year for your New England Patriots. There is no way they will be cellar dwellers other than this weird, personnel robbing, coach inhibiting year. And it is not because Bill cannot draft the WR position, although an acknowledged repeated strikeout. It is because Bill was unable to be Bill this year. Although in saying "We'll do what's best for our football team." for the 1000th time, but this time meaning he is closing the facility to protect his players, he is in some very real sense Bill being oft understood and underestimated Bill.

Oh, and the answer is "both". John AND Paul.

 

[TheRainMaker]

I'll make this short and sweet. Let's see BB win without Tom Brady. So far, he's not off to a good start and this could be the 2nd year out of 3 BB would have a losing season without TB. And in 18 of those games, he had a newly signed $100M QB going 5-13.

BB will now feel the pain/stress/pressure that 31 other teams have to go through on when you don't have the GOAT at QB.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

He Hasn’t drafted well in 7 years...7 years.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

The number of undrafted guys who became elite players is incredible.

.

 

[holyredeemer]

Bill is a roster builder. Best in the business and best of all time. Doesn’t matter where he acquires those players from, just that he acquires them. Does everyone wishes he hit more in the draft? Sure, every teams fan base does.

This Bill vs Brady **** is beyond stupid. Brady went to a team loaded with talent. Loaded! People need to stop acting like he took over a **** team and made it gold. Bill is exactly where many thought he would be. Struggling. He is rebuilding a team. It happens...a lot. For most teams, at least every 3 yrs or so. This is just this teams first big one in over 20 years. Let’s ignore all of the FA losses, Covid losses, injury losses, all piled on to what this team was already working with. Brady is going one direction, Bill the other.

I know, it sucks that the team did so well in September, it really gave many of us a false confidence, now everyone is shaking their fists, screaming for sacrifices. Enjoy the rebuild. It’ll be fun, but for the love of the football gods, get over Brady. He’s gone.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

Bill is a roster builder. Best in the business and best of all time. Doesn’t matter where he acquires those players from, just that he acquires them. Does everyone wishes he hit more in the draft? Sure, every teams fan base does.

This Bill vs Brady **** is beyond stupid. Brady went to a team loaded with talent. Loaded! People need to stop acting like he took over a **** team and made it gold. Bill is exactly where many thought he would be. Struggling. He is rebuilding a team. It happens...a lot. For most teams, at least every 3 yrs or so. This is just this teams first big one in over 20 years. Let’s ignore all of the FA losses, Covid losses, injury losses, all piled on to what this team was already working with. Brady is going one direction, Bill the other.

I know, it sucks that the team did so well in September, it really gave many of us a false confidence, now everyone is shaking their fists, screaming for sacrifices. Enjoy the rebuild. It’ll be fun, but for the love of the football gods, get over Brady. He’s gone.

the point of many here and mine, Bill has build good teams but it is Brady that made Bill look like a genius. It is Brady that covered for the mistakes Bill did over the years. It is Brady that allowed Bill to get rid of guys one year early instead of one year to late.

I think in the end Brady decided to leave one year early.

I even think that the culture was more Brady than Bill. This year I don’t recognize these Patriots. They make mistakes than an ordinary Bill coached team doesn’t make. While when I watched Tampa, game after game the team looks more and more like the Patriots under Brady.

 

[StanleyGrogan]

I'd be interested to see how well Brady would do in this years team.

 

[Triumph]

I'd be interested to see how well Brady would do in this years team.

Brady had had enough.

Cam got sold a bum steer.

 

[Doctor DDS]

He Hasn’t drafted well in 7 years...7 years.

This offseason was about cleaning up the cap situation. They let numerous good players leave and did almost nothing to replace them. Outcome so far has been disappointing but they have positioned themselves well for a rebuild with plenty of cap space at a time when

BB has certainly not nailed the draft but am not sure this recent stretch has been all that much different than prior ones. When did he ever nail draft after draft? His typical draft since 2000 has been to add 2 very good players a year plus some filler and when you throw in some of the undrafted FA this stretch is not atypical. 2019 and 2020 are still too early to tell but the 2013 - 2018 stretch while not great was not a disaster.

2013 - 2018
Jamie Collins
Logan Ryan
Duran Harman
Jimmy G
James White
Malcolm Brown
Trey Flowers
Shaq Mason
Joe Thuney
Isaiah Wynn

Undrafted Free Agents
Malcom Butler
Jonathan Jones
JC Jackson
Adam Butler
David Andrews

Some of the current talent issues are related to having to trade or let good players leave mainly due to money and not hitting on as many second chance type free agents as he has in the past. Players like Hogan, Lafell, Branch and Van Noy were key players in recent Super Bowls and finding them at a time when the Pats will have more resources than most teams could expedite a quick turnaround this offseason.

 

[Tony2046]

People have been asking who was more responsible for the Pat's success over the last twenty years for the last five or ten years so we knew the comparisons were coming as soon as Brady left but I agree that judging Bill this year without a preseason, with star players opting out and missing multiple practices makes little sense.

I will say that the couple of resident trolls who dismissed Brady's value to this team's success over the years as nothing more than a fortunate Jag have been proven undeniably wrong. "Der der 80 QBR..."

But yeah, judging BB during this pandemic makes little sense. I also think that a lot that has been said over the last few weeks has been overreactions to a couple of bad losses.

 

[TomPatriot]

This can’t be right. I’ve been told by the Madden and fantasy specialists here that Belichick is a terrible GM. Worst ever. It was ALL Brady, the man, the legend, the God. It is written. It is the Word.

 

[signbabybrady]

I'll make this short and sweet. Let's see BB win without Tom Brady. So far, he's not off to a good start and this could be the 2nd year out of 3 BB would have a losing season without TB. And in 18 of those games, he had a newly signed $100M QB going 5-13.

BB will now feel the pain/stress/pressure that 31 other teams have to go through on when you don't have the GOAT at QB.

Do you think Gibbs is the best coach of all time?

 

[Triumph]

This can’t be right. I’ve been told by the Madden and fantasy specialists here that Belichick is a terrible GM. Worst ever. It was ALL Brady, the man, the legend, the God. It is written. It is the Word.

Brady rode BBs coat tails for 20 years.

Kraft wanted Brady to stay because Brady made Kraft a pile of money from the Proshop. Sales are way down on Cam jerseys and Stdham orders are non existent.

 

[sb1]

I'd be interested to see how well Brady would do in this years team.

We got a taste of it last season and that was enough.

 

[sb1]

I'll make this short and sweet. Let's see BB win without Tom Brady. So far, he's not off to a good start and this could be the 2nd year out of 3 BB would have a losing season without TB. And in 18 of those games, he had a newly signed $100M QB going 5-13.

BB will now feel the pain/stress/pressure that 31 other teams have to go through on when you don't have the GOAT at QB.

11-5 with Cassel
3-1 with Brissett and Garoppolo
Probably better than 2-4 if the QB could throw a football.

 

[amfootball]

Bill is a roster builder. Best in the business and best of all time. Doesn’t matter where he acquires those players from, just that he acquires them. Does everyone wishes he hit more in the draft? Sure, every teams fan base does.

This Bill vs Brady **** is beyond stupid. Brady went to a team loaded with talent. Loaded! People need to stop acting like he took over a **** team and made it gold. Bill is exactly where many thought he would be. Struggling. He is rebuilding a team. It happens...a lot. For most teams, at least every 3 yrs or so. This is just this teams first big one in over 20 years. Let’s ignore all of the FA losses, Covid losses, injury losses, all piled on to what this team was already working with. Brady is going one direction, Bill the other.

I know, it sucks that the team did so well in September, it really gave many of us a false confidence, now everyone is shaking their fists, screaming for sacrifices. Enjoy the rebuild. It’ll be fun, but for the love of the football gods, get over Brady. He’s gone.

The Bucs were 2-5 last year at this time. It was always Brady who accounted for the winning.

That being said, I do think it is early to judge Bill. We need to see him pick his next QB and see if he can have success again.

 

[Thelonious]

Yeah, yeah, the cupboards are bare. The shooting stars have been few and far between. It seems like there is always a talent deficit....

The most successful GM in the history of the NFL is Bill Belichick. Full stop. He has predicated his roster building philosophy, as a good GM does, around the philosophies and approach of the Head Coach.
He ALWAYS has the best bottom quarter of the roster in the NFL. He sees the value in not being top heavy, with exceptions. But also, he knows his coach. He wants players that can be coached up, who can fill multiple or specialized roles. That provides him with an advantage that money cannot buy, but an advantage he knows he has as a GM because his coach is so good.

Writing this season off as Brady vs. Belichick is absurd. Bill is hobbled by the restrictions on this season. Brady has skill players around him and is still Brady. Damn right I am rooting for him in the NFC.

2-3 years from now, assuming some semblance of normality, does anyone want to bet that the Pats won't be better under Bill? Tom May sniff a SB this year or next. I would put some good money down that Bill will win another with the Pats.

I will watch both with interest, but this SEEMS like a lost year for your New England Patriots. There is no way they will be cellar dwellers other than this weird, personnel robbing, coach inhibiting year. And it is not because Bill cannot draft the WR position, although an acknowledged repeated strikeout. It is because Bill was unable to be Bill this year. Although in saying "We'll do what's best for our football team." for the 1000th time, but this time meaning he is closing the facility to protect his players, he is in some very real sense Bill being oft understood and underestimated Bill.

Oh, and the answer is "both". John AND Paul.

I hope it's not too blatantly contradictory to say that I both agree and disagree. Bill (or his pencilneck, eyeshade henchmen) does a terrific job of drafting the lowball, oddball picks lower in the draft and in free agency. His record on vet trades is distinctly mixed but net positive. Both the inconsistency and the occasional masterstrokes here are attributable to his surprising willingness to take a flyer on vets seen by others as in some way high risk. You get the Mosses, but you get the Haynesworths as well. His record high in the draft is pretty dismal, and it seems to be getting worse. Bill needs to get honest with himself about some blatantly bad habits in this area. His record drafting outside receivers is the worst. It stinks to high heaven and beyond. Let's be honest: it's awful to the point of surreality.

I think his boss, Bob Kraft, needs to demand improvement. He's entitled to hear a clear plan which offers the prospect of solving a genuine problem of long standing. The fanboys herebout and the longtime regulars given entirely over to macho pissing contests will of course claim or feign noisy indignation at any assertion of Pats-related imperfection and will object to these observations, but who cares?

It's for the good of the team, don't ya know.

 

[p8ryts]

He Hasn’t drafted well in 7 years...7 years.

How many Super Bowls? Who devised the defense that stopped the Rams? Who coached the player on a specific play that made the historic interception? Bill isn't perfect, nobody is. I refuse to bad mouth him. I hope next year this team is back on top and everyone jumps back on his bandwagon. It just bothers me that people are so quick to jump on him.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

I'd be interested to see how well Brady would do in this years team.

It would’ve been similar to how we finished last season.

 

[holyredeemer]

the point of many here and mine, Bill has build good teams but it is Brady that made Bill look like a genius. It is Brady that covered for the mistakes Bill did over the years. It is Brady that allowed Bill to get rid of guys one year early instead of one year to late.

I think in the end Brady decided to leave one year early.

I even think that the culture was more Brady than Bill. This year I don’t recognize these Patriots. They make mistakes than an ordinary Bill coached team doesn’t make. While when I watched Tampa, game after game the team looks more and more like the Patriots under Brady.

We’re gonna have to disagree on some points here. I will agree at some time that I didn’t recognize these Patriots, but fact is that many of them are back ups and/or injured.

Tom being the main driver of the culture in NE is BS. Bet ya’ll weren’t saying that the first 3 games of this year. What changed, did Brady’s aura finally wear off in Foxboro?

No denying that Brady was an incredible player, the GOAT. Yeah, you’re gonna lose a few qualities when a player like that leaves the building, but Brady wasn’t the sole reason for winning. He wasn’t the sole reason for the culture. It’s impossible. That’s not how culture spreading a team building work in the real world. Managing a highly successful team, re-tooling it year after year, that **** is incredibly hard. In any line of business. What BB has done is incredible.

Keep being a sensationalist if it makes you feel better though.