With all the NFL’s top power brokers gathered at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix for the league’s spring meetings, the Patriots will once again be at the top of the football world, and not simply because they won another Super Bowl.
They’ll be in the catbird seat because at least one quarterback-starved team will be bowing at their feet, offering up its first born and every first- and second-round pick it can muster up to try and move Bill Belichick off the stance he won’t be trading Jimmy Garoppolo. And that’s just for starters.
Then there’s Malcolm Butler. How will the endgame with the restricted free agent cornerback play out? Are the Saints, or some other team in the sweepstakes, going to be willing to hand over a first-round pick — or some other trade alternative — if Butler ever signs his tender, just to make it work with the Patriots?
Whatever the angle, Belichick holds most of the leverage. Every possible move is influenced by him.
You can also add Darrelle Revis into the mix. His status will certainly be a talker at the meetings. Will the veteran free agent figure out he needs the Patriots more than they need him?
As is usually the case, the Patriots pretty much control all the cards as far as what they want to do. At the meetings, even heading into the NFL draft, people have to come to them. Belichick’s kind of like the Godfather, sitting back, scratching his chin, letting it play out.
He’s already reloaded and restocked for another run in 2017, having signed free agent corner Stephon Gilmore; traded for wide receiver Brandin Cooks and tight end Dwayne Allen; re-signed linebacker Dont’a Hightower, defensive lineman Alan Branch and safety Duron Harmon; and added pass rusher Kony Ealy. Belichick’s team is already a prohibitive favorite to repeat and grab championship No. 6. He doesn’t have to pick up the phone or outfox another general manager unless he feels like it.
The only thing the Patriots are lacking is a coveted first-round pick, or even a second-round pick. At the moment, their first selection will be No. 72, the latest the Patriots have waited to make a selection in the draft during Belichick’s tenure.
Will they do something to move up? That remains to be seen. But if they do, it’s not outlandish to assume the talks start the next few days in Phoenix.
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