Former Pro Bowler asks whether Bill Belichick is worth his salary amid ‘downhill spiral’
"You created the dynasty in New England and you deserved to be the highest-paid back then. But, now. We're talking about now."
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick makes $20 million per year and is the highest-paid coach in the NFL, according to Sportico.
It’s pretty obvious that paying Belichick was worth it while the Patriots won six Super Bowls with Tom Brady as quarterback. Belichick is the NFL’s all-time leader in playoff wins, and he’s closing in on Don Shula’s record for most wins overall by a coach.
But, is Belichick worth his massive reported salary now that the Patriots have gone a so-so 25-25 over the past three seasons without Tom Brady under center? Former Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel posed the question on Twitter on Friday.
“Is Bill Belichick worth $20 million per year right now?” Samuel asked. “Because it’s been three years without Tom Brady and we know his success-rate is not good at all.”
Belichick is 329-165 over 28 seasons as an NFL head coach. However, he is 79-88 in games where someone other than Tom Brady has been the starting quarterback.
“And he’s making $20 million and you can’t even look up the contract to see when it expires. These are the types of situations we are dealing with when we’re dealing with Belichick. He can keep all his secrets and he can do all these good things for him, but when it’s time for other people to get good things done for them … he doesn’t like to answer a lot of questions, now you see why. He’s got a lot of secrets people don’t know about.”
Samuel said the topic came up after a back-and-forth with Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon. The Patriots recently restructured Judon’s deal to give him more guaranteed money after he over performed his initial contract.
“One year 4 mill raise … not a new contract,” Samuel said “We have the same problem again next year. That is definitely a Bill Belichick-friendly contract.”
“It’s the best problem to have,” Judon replied.
After their conversation, Samuel said he looked up how much Belichick gets paid because he wanted to compare how much the Patriots coaches make compared to the players. Judon’s total cap hit of $16,440,555 is the biggest on New England’s roster, and less than the reported $20 million that Belichick makes.
“So, we’re going back and forth talking about contracts,” Samuel said. “I’m talking about the Patriots and I’m trying to express my feelings and let it be known my feelings about the Patriots players aren’t getting paid, and stuff like that.”
Even Samuel admits that Belichick deserved the money at the height of the Patriots’ dynasty. But, it’s not nearly as clear cut of a situation as it once was.
“You was doing your thing. You was winning a lot of Super Bowls. I can’t argue with that,” Samuel said. “You deserved to be the highest-paid then. You created the dynasty in New England and you deserved to be the highest-paid back then. But, now. We’re talking about now. You’re getting paid $20 million a year now as the highest-paid coach, and it’s been three years since Tom Brady has been gone from the New England Patriots, and the New England Patriots are going in a downhill spiral.”
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