The (scape)Goat

 

    On January 11th it was official, Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick had parted ways, after a crash course of a rebuild post Tom Brady, Belichick and the Patriots had made the playoffs in 2021, had an 8-9 season in 2022 followed by a dismal 4-13 season in 2023.

    What it comes down to is the "optics" surrounding Robert Kraft and the New England Patriots post departure of Tom Brady. This article is not here to absolve complete blame from Bill Belichick. There were mistakes he made over the years. Rather to take a hard look at the owner Robert Kraft and what happens with owners who meddle with the operation and attempt to make the entire sequence all about them. 

    There was serious controversy regarding Tom Brady and his contract situation in 2019. The Kraft's  through revisionist history in an article to the Boston Herald, stated that they removed the franchise tag from Tom Brady and the structure of his deal in order to keep him. If the Patriots wanted to keep Tom Brady they would have kept him under contract. The ego of Belichick knew he could win without Brady, the greed of Kraft knew Brady was looking for a new contract that would go for 3 years and would be lucrative to his worth. Brady had taken cuts on his contract in his entire career to provide space below the cap to create the best team around him. In 18 and 19 all of this money would go into boosting the defense and the greatest of all time still manage to win a Superbowl with nobody around him. 

    With the green light given Kraft was more than willing to let the goat walk out the door and the Patriots were never the same following it. Kraft had a new worry on his mind he let the greatest player of all time walk out the door rather than pay the price to keep him. Kraft was not selected into the NFL hall of fame and his team was in a terrible spot in 2020. He forced the issue it was time to change the optics the Patriots needed a new quarterback a new face to the franchise, enter Mac Jones...

    Jones was the most NFL ready prospect in the draft class beating out Cam Newton as a rookie making the pro-bowl and leading the Patriots to a playoff berth against the Buffalo Bills.  The Patriots would fall to the Bills and the following season offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels would be offered a new head coaching position with the Las Vegas Raiders. Belichick's answer was Matt Patricia. This was questionable the Patriots offense looked significantly worse then fans had ever seen. It looked like as Cam Newton was post Brady and Patricia post McDaniels that Coach Belichick had never had a plan for any change on the offensive side of the ball.  The Patriots would miss  the playoffs and Kraft would step in and force the hiring of Bill O'Brien as offensive coordinator.

    Yes Bill had made some questionable decisions, especially in the draft between, N'keal Harry, Tyquan Thornton, Cole Strange, Isiah Wynn, there were some definite brutal draft selections that had destroyed this team. He also was the man that drafted Rob Gronkowski, Donta' Hightower he knew what he had in Ty Law and gave him a contract, Vince Wilfork, Julien Edelman... and of course he picked the greatest player of all time. Yes Belichick had some serious struggles in the NFL draft as of late i think the development of these players is what needs to be looked at as opposed to strictly slapping the bust label on them.

    Christian Gonzales was a home run pick by the New England Patriots, Belichick traded  down to 17 overall and took the best defensive p[layer in the draft, if the kid didn't get hurt he would have gone down as the consensus best player in the draft. The Bill O'Brien hire was a downgrade from Patricia the offense looked even worse than last year. Belichick did limit O'Brien's staff mainly due to ego he couldn't win games through offense it would make his prior decision look worse. He had to win through defense and special teams hence why he doubled down on his philosophy to snub Kraft.

    Look Bill is not completely absent of blame do not take that away from this, he made massive mistakes on his approach to the game and developing talent and of course personnel but in no way does he not know offense, it just has to be his way. O'Brien SUCKED in Houston, and he was carried by Saban and Alabama's electric system in college. O'Brien was horrible again in New England and he definitely played a factor in this season.

    Once Kraft began to meddle and interfere due to his own personal agenda of making the NFL Hall of Fame Belichick had enough and by the end the relationship had soured to its demise... yes Belichick made lots of mistakes but he also made lots of amazing choices he was an integral part to the building of the Region and the dynasty of the New England Patriots.