Bill Barnwell article on how we got here

[denverpatsfan]

He does a nice job of breaking down the terrible drafts from the past 8-seasons.
So the whiners here should still read it.

 

[TomPatriot]

Neither do I... Very disappointed when I read that line, especially after reading all of the examples he had just given about why Bill AND Al Groh's kid should be Fired.

Do we really know that any of this is Matt Groh’s fault, though?

 

[VectorPrime]

Madden auto draft would have done better than Bill

 

[ahmed]

It starts with letting the franchise walk at 2 years @ $25M each.

He will never live this down. He would have gotten away with it somewhat if he had an actual plan and succeeded. Even then he poisened the well a bit.

I laughed when Lakers were paying Kobe big money while he sucked and kept them down while all Lakers fans were ok with it.

I understood it once Brady left. But it makes it so much worse that Brady had a lot left in the tank while we tanked. On top of that he was still willing to take massive discounts.

 

[lancerman]

Bill pretty much nails what many of us have been saying for years.

As much I think BB's drafts from 2014 to now have been GM/HC killing bad overall, Malcolm Brown wasn't that bad. He started every year he was with the Patriots and I never saw him singled out in being a glaring weakness at DT. I'm also pretty sure he was mocked to the Pats so, the pick wasn't a surprise. I also remember the Colts taking heat for picking Dorsett over shoring up the defense with Brown.

Malcolm Brown is sort of a weird one though. Because it's sort of a scenario where the best we could do was get a guy that we thought was going to be a major stud on the defensive front for years to come and he was just sort of okay and faded out. And he wasn't good enough to get a second contract.

The sad thing is, Brown would arguably be a top 3 player in terms of results if you looked at all the Patriots first picks in each draft for the last 10 years.

 

[lancerman]

He will never live this down. He would have gotten away with it somewhat if he had an actual plan and succeeded. Even then he poised the well a bit.

I laughed when Lakers were paying Kobe big money while he sucked and kept them down while all Lakers fans were ok with it.

I understood it once Brady left. But it makes it so much worse that Brady had a lot left in the tank while we tanked. On top of that he was still willing to take massive discounts.

I said this when Brady left and used the Kobe comparison. Longterm Patriots fans were far more likely to forget a couple of struggle years if they got to enjoy a big send off season and finale with Brady like Lakers fans got with Kobe much more than whatever benefit the team could get out of letting him walk under some misguided attempt to be competitive.

Lakers fans don't really care anymore about the two ****ty years they had. They remember the farewell tour and Kobe having a memorable finale that they all got to celebrate. And players respected them doing that and it made them view the organization highly for being loyal to him.

Meanwhile here we are 4 years later with a worse team than the one Brady left with. It was always naive to assume that after losing him we were just going to have some quick turnaround.

 

[captain stone]

Do we really know that any of this is Matt Groh’s fault, though?

I'm not taking any chances... Any FO exec who has Never worked for another team besides the NEP Must Go. No exceptions.

 

[venecol]

I have been referring to this to the point that I have gotten the horse beat out of me. (get it?) To much emphasis on Bill getting Bill Type Guys and not enough emphasis on getting best athletes available.

They tried that going for athleticism & speed w/ BoneyT, Strong, MJones, Strange. Hasn't panned out.

 

[venecol]

His solution is to keep Bill. Not seeing how that works.

Well at least we know who paid for the article.

 

[TomPatriot]

Madden auto draft would have done better than Bill

Random walk drafting.

 

[PaulThePat]

Excellent piece.

 

[1960Pats]

“If another general manager had Belichick's past eight classes of drafts on his résumé, he would be out of a job”

And yet Barnwell says that Bill should stay. His reasoning was that the defense would fall off more than the offense would improve.

 

[1960Pats]

Do we really know that any of this is Matt Groh’s fault, though?

Bill controls what info gets out so it's very difficult to know what's going on with the coaches. The players are fair game though because we can see their mistakes. That's the beauty of the Belichick Way.

 

[1960Pats]

He will never live this down. He would have gotten away with it somewhat if he had an actual plan and succeeded. Even then he poised the well a bit.

I laughed when Lakers were paying Kobe big money while he sucked and kept them down while all Lakers fans were ok with it.

I understood it once Brady left. But it makes it so much worse that Brady had a lot left in the tank while we tanked. On top of that he was still willing to take massive discounts.

All true, but do we know why Bill started letting top-end offensive players walk? He chased away Brady and Gronk, didn't want to pay Thuney and had no replacements for any of them. Did Bill really think that Stidham would work out or was he just that confident that Brady would stay? I don't get it.

 

[PP2]

I know the usual suspects will complain about it but I think it is a pretty good in depth article. If anything I think Barnwell goes easy on a few of the bad picks like Cole Strange and Malcolm Brown.



The decisions that led to this Patriots catastrophe: Barnwell on how they could get back on track

One of the best articles I have read in a long time. Very, very sensible. Thanks for posting.

Two things stand out to me:

If Belichick opens up his staff to fresh voices, coaches should want to work underneath him.

Belichick......has exhibited no desire to hand over scouting or personnel duties to another person during his time with the team.

BB has to stop recycling coaches from his tree and go outside it, and he has to give up his FO power, including deciding the draft. I remember reading how all his scouts protested the K'Neal Harry pick, but he still went ahead and did it.

If he refuses to do either of these things, I am in favor of him being released from his position as HC/GM.

 

[TheRainMaker]

I laughed when Lakers were paying Kobe big money while he sucked and kept them down while all Lakers fans were ok with it.

It was actually pretty controversial, and many fans like myself weren’t okay with it. The Lakers did it because it was to appreciate all he did for the organization and to keep a name guy on the roster to push ticket sales. It was pretty rough the couple years after him before landing James.

Even if they had the money, I don’t think they would’ve used it wisely with Jim Buss running the show. The guy was terrible routinely not showing up to games, but seen at a nearby sports bar. They were dysfunctional for years following the passing of Jerry Buss and before Jeannie finally took control.

 

[203Pat]

One of the best articles I have read in a long time. Very, very sensible. Thanks for posting.

Two things stand out to me:






BB has to stop recycling coaches from his tree and go outside it, and he has to give up his FO power, including deciding the draft. I remember reading how all his scouts protested the K'Neal Harry pick, but he still went ahead and did it.

If he refuses to do either of these things, I am in favor of him being released from his position as HC/GM.

I like the article but disagree with his point on keeping Bill. Barnwell seemed to go over two dozen reasons why Bill has failed at the rebuild but then inexplicably thinks he should come back with some changes in place.

 

[Real fan 02]

“If another general manager had Belichick's past eight classes of drafts on his résumé, he would be out of a job”

For example look at the AJ brown trade. That got the Titans GM axed. Having 6 superbowls gives BB so much equity. BB is pretty much Going off reputation now more than anything.

 

[Fatmancryin]

“Belichick trading down throughout the draft repeatedly generated extra picks, giving the Patriots added capital even as they picked at the bottom of each round.”

Added Draft Capital just to miss on the majority of the picks they did make.

When you are already drafting late in rounds teams can’t afford to continually trade back and expect to hit.

Out of all the picks there has been what a handful of players that actually deserved a second contract. Seems like they had more success with UDFA than they did in the drafts.

 

[ahmed]

All true, but do we know why Bill started letting top-end offensive players walk? He chased away Brady and Gronk, didn't want to pay Thuney and had no replacements for any of them. Did Bill really think that Stidham would work out or was he just that confident that Brady would stay? I don't get it.

There was reporting saying that he thought Brady would just accept whatever he was offered and was surprised that he did not. That he assumed Brady would not want to start again at 42 somewhere else.