This is where I stand on it too. If you’re ready to move on, okay. But no succession plan and a pretty bizarre strategy in 2020 of not trading for draft picks and building for the future.
I think Belichick overestimated Stidham and, to be honest, is perhaps guilty of overestimating his own abilities to coach this roster and QB into contention. And that's understandable. You have to believe in yourself and take risks...I'm sure Brady has overestimated his own abilities many times. You don't get to the pinnacle of success by playing it safe.
But I think what bugs me the most about Belichick is there were quite a few reports that they could have traded Gilmore and perhaps McCourty midseason for some draft picks. Possibly Thuney as well, if they're not going to pay him long-term anyway. I really don't understand why you don't pull the trigger there and just take the best offer. They've now had some prime opportunities to cash in big-time for their assets; they could have traded Garoppolo in 2017 for at least a mid first round pick (rumored to be even more) but again were hedging their bets about Brady's longevity. And in 2020, with a team that's clearly not going to contend, holding on to some of these veteran players? I just don't think they're at a point where finding bargain free agents, flipping draft picks, and landing comp picks is enough to rebuild. They have the 15th overall pick but it seems they could have more than that and need more than that. Is there some stubbornness here in acknowledging it's time for an all-out rebuild? Is there some degree of outsmarting yourself when a strategy to exchange the present for the future is an obvious call?
For once, I'd like to see them get the same draft shopping spree that it seems almost every other franchise gets. As great as Belichick is, maybe he could use some checks and balances in the power structure. By nature, none of us can see our own blind spots, and there are some blind spots within the organization for the last few years...the problems with the 2020 club may be obvious now, but the issues that led to it go back pretty far, at least the mid-2010s...and it isn't solely because of bad luck with draft picks. The draft picks explain why they have a lot of holes in their roster; they don't explain why they're not well positioned to replenish them.