BB knew this was a non playoff year from the start

[Toofy]

Jackson, Jones. Does it matter? The goal
is to field the best team and win, not argue about your draft choices.

The draft choices matter less when we had the goat qb. Now it matters a hell lot more. Need to hit on first and second rounders...

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

related take... probably discussed in the Tampa thread, but Fitzy makes a good case that the Patriots did Tom Brady a favor:

https://www.radio.com/weei/sports/patriots/fitzy-the-patriots-did-tom-brady-a-favor?fbclid=IwAR3S4KddyGWOuo69ovG72Jt-X1rMuo7K1CpwECsYDv8OX9CViHA3if4Eclg

 

[Kdo5]

He knew they needed to throw away a year in return for financial flexibility moving forward. After the opt outs he knew for sure.
If you consider all of the bizarre non moves on the roster for this year, there is no other conclusion other than...he knew no matter what they could not compete for a championship this year.
The "bill" finally came due for all of the salary deferrals and dead cap space. The price was sacrificing this year as a non competitive year.


1. No veteran TE's
2. Weak WR group
3. Cam was a "hail Mary" and I doubt he expected this would be a home run
4. No space occupying DT and no attempt to get one
5. No meaningful trades at deadline
6. No helpful waiver wire pick ups during the year

The bill has been paid now and once again BB can go shopping.

This wretched season was all part of the plan!

 

[Kdo5]

Yes this absolutely the correct take. They cleared cap and positioned themselves to rebuild this and next off season.

I'll believe it when I see it. He needs to go out there and make a few really significant signings and plenty of other solid veteran moves.

 

[captain stone]

BB knew this was a non playoff year from the start​

He oughta know...He was the one who ass-embled this roster.

 

[captain stone]

Jackson, Jones. Does it matter? The goal
is to field the best team and win, not argue about your draft choices.

Wrong.

 

[Ring 6]

Wrong.

You think arguing about how good your draft was is more important than winning?

 

[Turkamu]

Jackson, Jones.

Both undrafted free agents.

 

[Jimke]

Jackson, Jones. Does it matter? The goal
is to field the best team and win, not argue about your draft choices.

Except that, besides Dugger, non of the recent draft picks are part of that secondary.

The defensive backs on the roster consists of 6 unrestricted free agents, 3 undrafted players, and three draftees (Duggar, D. McCourty, and J. Williams). Based on his playing time, Williams may be the next
second round failure.

 

[slifersd]

If he knew this was a lost year, why did we keep around all those aging veterans? I get it, we were low on cap space, but then why do we insist on paying Chung, Cannon or Bolden their contract and not cut them for cap space? I am NOT saying those players are bad and have no value, but the idea that a rebuilding team is keeping around aging players when they have younger options at their positions doesn't make a lot of sense. Now, of course, those guys eventually opted out and decided not to play, but the question remains, we could have cut them before FA started for cap space but BB sat on his hands and decided to hand that money to them and risked the opt out. That was a conscious decision, not an accident.

 

[ohiopatsfan]

I believe most realistic Pats fans expected a down year, with a won-loss record hovering around 50/50. The tight cap space made that all but inevitable. Next year's cap room will help with acquiring vet FA's but the draft will still be critical. We can't afford any misses as have been seen over the past several drafts. Hopefully, the last two meaningless games of 2020 will be used to see which players are keepers.

 

[Thelonious]

If he had known the team would be this bad, he should have seen to it we ended up with a better draft pick. He could have done this by trying out younger/newer players whose worth he wanted to assess. He did start Cam, of course, which is an excellent way of building a lousy record, so there's that.

 

[Thelonious]

In Bill I trust - have to be honest - a little less.

 

[1960Pats]

related take... probably discussed in the Tampa thread, but Fitzy makes a good case that the Patriots did Tom Brady a favor:

https://www.radio.com/weei/sports/patriots/fitzy-the-patriots-did-tom-brady-a-favor?fbclid=IwAR3S4KddyGWOuo69ovG72Jt-X1rMuo7K1CpwECsYDv8OX9CViHA3if4Eclg

The story that the fans were booing the team is fake news. They were (rightfully) booing the decision to sit on the ball at the end of the half rather than go for points. Fitzy is a whiner looking for clicks and he found a taker.

 

[skinnydog]

The draft is a crapshoot. I don’t see an issue with spending a lot of resources on db when you end up with the best secondary in the league.
I still cannot fathom how people cite “evaluation” at a position the organization has consistently not used high picks on.
Yes there late round picks have not worked out great, just like every other teams.
For every gamble on a Garcia or cajuste there is a gronk.
In the last 7 years they have won 80 regular season games 12 playoff games 4 afc championships and 3 SBs.
Obviously they know what they are doing.

Well the reason for the dominant secondary is largely the result of Gilmore A FA signing. Fantastic the past couple of seasons. And no for every gamble on a Garcia or a Cajuste there is not a Gronk. Not even close. The drafts for the past 6 years overall have been far closer to the bottom of the league than the top. Their inability to draft decent WRs is beyond pathetic. Now it looks like we can add TEs to that list post the Gronk Hernandez draft.

 

[Brady6]

He knew they needed to throw away a year in return for financial flexibility moving forward. After the opt outs he knew for sure.
If you consider all of the bizarre non moves on the roster for this year, there is no other conclusion other than...he knew no matter what they could not compete for a championship this year.
The "bill" finally came due for all of the salary deferrals and dead cap space. The price was sacrificing this year as a non competitive year.


1. No veteran TE's
2. Weak WR group
3. Cam was a "hail Mary" and I doubt he expected this would be a home run
4. No space occupying DT and no attempt to get one
5. No meaningful trades at deadline
6. No helpful waiver wire pick ups during the year

The bill has been paid now and once again BB can go shopping.

If that’s the case he is even more foolish for playing himself into a mid round draft pick instead of just going all in for a top 5 pick and developing his young players along the way.

 

[Brewskies]

Who didn't realize this very early on, before the season started? Bill did believe that the season if started wouldn't finish, so it didn't matter what happened with the Pats this season. It was showmanship.

 

[Ring 6]

Delete

 

[crawhammer]

He knew they needed to throw away a year in return for financial flexibility moving forward. After the opt outs he knew for sure.
If you consider all of the bizarre non moves on the roster for this year, there is no other conclusion other than...he knew no matter what they could not compete for a championship this year.
The "bill" finally came due for all of the salary deferrals and dead cap space. The price was sacrificing this year as a non competitive year.


1. No veteran TE's
2. Weak WR group
3. Cam was a "hail Mary" and I doubt he expected this would be a home run
4. No space occupying DT and no attempt to get one
5. No meaningful trades at deadline
6. No helpful waiver wire pick ups during the year

The bill has been paid now and once again BB can go shopping.

This is great... Belichick sucks at his job on purpose. And I'm taking heat for my opinions?

There is no way Belichick's massive ego would ever permit him to cash in his chips. The team is thin at all of those positions due to mounting years of poor drafts. The debt he's paying now is the result of his own folly.

What is so difficult with simply admitting Belichick's failings? He's obviously made an enormous amount of personnel mistakes. The friggin team does not have a functional starting quarterback! That was not The Plan.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Our current predicament started when Kraft stepped in on behalf of Brady and made bb move jimmy along!

but at the end of the day, we are a qb, a number 1 wr and some quality defensive linemen away from being a playoff team!

if bb quits freelancing and starts drafts productive players, we can be relevant again sooner rather than later.