Sure, it’s arduous to image.
Bill Belichick pacing one other sideline in one other workforce’s colours, sneering and snorting at one other workforce’s press conferences after 24 years in New England.
Then once more, so was a 2-6 begin to this season.
And a sub.-500 document for Belichick over a three-and-a half-year span.
And a Belichick-coached workforce ever sitting final within the AFC, having dedicated the second-most penalties within the league with the NFL’s third-worst turnover margin.
Yet, right here we’re.
The Patriots are a foul soccer workforce. Their roster is starved for blue-chip expertise and a quarterback of the longer term. Belichick hand-picked each individual in his locker room, entrance workplace and training ranks. He is chargeable for every little thing.
If the Pats proceed charging towards a 4-13 or 5-12 end, it solely causes the door might swing open for Belichick to depart this January. Few NFL coaches or GMs survive a four-year run with a forty five% profitable share, not to mention when that individual is one and the identical. Robert Kraft cleansing home has crossed the minds of a number of of us working in soccer operations with greater than half a season left.
Whether Kraft turns the knob, Belichick kicks the door down himself or they comply with a mutual parting of the way, it’s believed Belichick won’t go mild into that good evening of retirement. Reports have lengthy indicated Belichick is dedicated to, maybe even hellbent on, breaking Don Shula’s document for many teaching wins all-time. He’s 17 wins away from leaping Shula.
Perhaps extra to the purpose, Belichick is somebody raised in a movie room who’s spent 49 of his 71 years on Earth teaching NFL soccer. Life, as Belichick is aware of it, wants soccer as a lot as water or oxygen.
The query is: might Belichick go away for the Patriots’ subsequent opponent?
The Commanders ought to supply a comfy touchdown spot, even when just for the 2 years Belichick could must seize his document. Washington is beneath a brand new possession group led by 76ers co-owner and managing companion Josh Harris. That group is flashing all the same old indicators of recent proprietor habits.
First, they make a public effort to ingratiate themselves with followers. Next comes spending unholy gobs of cash. Washington is scheduled to have the fourth-most cap house within the league this spring, after off-loading prime go rushers Chase Young and Montez Sweat earlier than Tuesday’s commerce deadline.
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Once the offseason hits, it is one other protected wager Harris and Co. will advance to step three: hiring their very own folks. Ron Rivera is seven video games beneath .500 in his three-plus years as Washington’s head coach. Third-year basic supervisor Martin Mayhew does not have a standout draft class on his resume.
Belichick might fill each jobs with one signature and immediately restore the Commanders to relevancy. No different coach or GM can supply that. Belichick would symbolize the last word large splash, and new house owners love nothing, nothing greater than stealing headlines and soaking the competitors. (See: the new-look Broncos signing Sean Payton.)
What about Belichick’s contract?
Since the NFL Network reported that Belichick signed a brand new deal this spring, insiders from ESPN to Sports Illustrated have thrown water on the concept it represents an ironclad dedication between coach and workforce. NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran reported the one recognized element concerning the contract, saying it runs by 2024. If true, Belichick’s future in that sense is not any extra assured than every other dropping head coach’s, given NFL groups not often, if ever, permit coaches to enter a contract yr.
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Even if Belichick’s deal turns into an impediment, financially or in any other case, the Patriots might at all times commerce him. Washington simply added two beneficial draft picks on the deadline. An possession group that dropped greater than $6 billion to purchase the workforce will not let cash stand in the way in which.
As a Maryland native, Belichick would additionally return house. He might rehire previous pal Josh McDaniels to run his offense and convey sons Steve and Brian to fill out his defensive workers. Belichick is effectively conscious of Washington’s storied historical past, having coached towards the then Redskins for greater than a decade when he was a Giants assistant within the Eighties.
Asked about that historical past Wednesday, Belichick spent a curious quantity of his time discussing possession.
“George Preston Marshall bought the team, moved it to Washington, had it a long time. Sold it to (Jack Kent) Cooke. Cooke won three Super Bowls with (Joe) Gibbs. (Daniel) Snyder bought it, and they’ve rebranded in the last couple years. It’s one of the older franchises in the league, I don’t know,” he stated.
Of course, the Commanders are amongst a number of groups that would entertain teaching adjustments this offseason, together with one which’s already pulled the set off. They are: the Jets, Raiders, Browns, Chargers, Buccaneers and Bears.
Belichick is not packing up for New York or Cleveland once more. He’s not following Brady’s shadow in Tampa or Brady to Las Vegas, the place his former prime lieutenant obtained canned after 25 video games. The Chargers’ possession is famously low cost and dysfunctional. Chicago might attraction, although the Bears’ are solely in Year 2 with their new head coach and GM.
That leaves solely the Commanders. Stretch your creativeness. Picture it once more.
Can’t you see it?
Source: www.bostonherald.com