VJCPatriot
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2006
- Messages
- 16,663
- Reaction score
- 5,241
The excuse making for BB has to STOP.
We know that from the reports, right after the Superbowl that Gronk was seriously worn down mentally. That's why he said in the first place that he had to take time to think it over before deciding to keep playing. That did not sound at all like a guy who was 100% coming back!
Any GM worth his salt, and we all have given BB the label 'genius' would immediately move for a backup plan.
Reports are that BB did pursue Cooks but ultimately failed to land him for whatever reason.
This still does not excuse the fact that for YEARS BB also had the opportunity to draft and develop a replacement but failed to do so.
Every year for years we mentioned how Tight End was a need and Gronk wasn't the healthiest guy and BB NEVER drafted a suitable replacement until it was too late.
When BB finally double dipped at Tight End in the draft with Asiasi and Keene, his picks FLOPPED so mightily they couldn't even make the field last year, in a year when the Patriots TEs produced the WORST numbers in the entire NFL.
BB finally admitted failure and signed Hunter Henry and Johnnu Smith to big time free agent contracts in 2021.
The terrible Patriot situation at TE had a lot MORE to do with BB's failure to anticipate and address the issue as a GM than with the timing of Gronk's decision to retire from football.
We know that from the reports, right after the Superbowl that Gronk was seriously worn down mentally. That's why he said in the first place that he had to take time to think it over before deciding to keep playing. That did not sound at all like a guy who was 100% coming back!
Any GM worth his salt, and we all have given BB the label 'genius' would immediately move for a backup plan.
Reports are that BB did pursue Cooks but ultimately failed to land him for whatever reason.
This still does not excuse the fact that for YEARS BB also had the opportunity to draft and develop a replacement but failed to do so.
Every year for years we mentioned how Tight End was a need and Gronk wasn't the healthiest guy and BB NEVER drafted a suitable replacement until it was too late.
When BB finally double dipped at Tight End in the draft with Asiasi and Keene, his picks FLOPPED so mightily they couldn't even make the field last year, in a year when the Patriots TEs produced the WORST numbers in the entire NFL.
BB finally admitted failure and signed Hunter Henry and Johnnu Smith to big time free agent contracts in 2021.
The terrible Patriot situation at TE had a lot MORE to do with BB's failure to anticipate and address the issue as a GM than with the timing of Gronk's decision to retire from football.