It will be fascinating to see how the Patriots fill the vacuum in the player personnel department
This offseason could not be more essential for the franchise’s future.
During Bill Belichick’s 24 seasons as Patriots coach and caller-of-most-shots, peeks behind the curtain at how the dynasty operated were scarce. Because of that, the ones we did get — usually an entertaining and insightful but message-controlled NFL Films production every few years — tended to stay with us.
Maybe in some cases more than they should have. The two-part “A Football Life” documentary on Belichick, which simultaneously chronicled the frustrating (by Patriots’ standards) 2009 season, came out 13 years ago, in 2011. And yet we still cite anecdotes from it often, particularly Belichick’s stunningly candid declaration to Tom Brady during an ugly loss to the Saints that he can’t get through to some of the players.
Another scene from that particular “A Football Life” has been rattling around in my brain the last few days, after Belichick was fired, Jerod Mayo was promoted to head coach, and a massive power vacuum, at least to outward appearances, remains.
During the Patriots’ 59-0 destruction of the apparently snow-allergic Titans in Week 6 of that 2009 season, NFL Films shot some footage of Robert and Jonathan Kraft from the owners’ box. Now, we’ve always heard that Jonathan Kraft can be very animated while watching the game, but it was fascinating to actually see it.
At one point, he yells, “Look at Randy! He’s wide open!” before Brady hits Randy Moss, who indeed was wide open, for one of Brady’s six touchdown passes that day, three of which went to Moss. Jonathan spotted more open receivers that day than Mac Jones has in two years.
But the clip that sticks with me is Jonathan saying matter-of-factly, “Brady is going to have huge fantasy numbers today.”
The notion that the president of a dynastic professional football team would be thinking about fantasy football when he has such proximity to the real thing — and the real thing was in the midst of delivering an epic throttling — struck me as amusing, and maybe even endearing in a way. (I was waiting for him to declare proudly that he had Brady and Moss in his fantasy lineup as well as the real-life one, but he never did.)
All these years later, I’m trying to resist ascribing too much to that vignette — and not always succeeding.
The vacuum in player personnel needs to be filled, and the Patriots’ supposed current approach doesn’t pass the sniff test. Robert Kraft has said that he intends to empower Mayo and holdover front office staff — including director of player personnel Matt Groh and director of scouting Eliot Wolf — to rebuild the talent base, particularly on offense.
Jonathan Kraft, meanwhile, has kept a curiously low profile since Belichick’s firing. (Fantasy football season is over, so that can’t be sidetracking him.) There have been various reports about the nature of Jonathan Kraft and Belichick’s relationship, but at the very least it’s clear it wasn’t copacetic in the end. Robert Kraft has said Jonathan won’t be involved in the personnel aspect. I believe his absences are intended to give that impression; no one wants to look like they shoved out the greatest coach in NFL history in a power struggle, even if that leans awfully close to the truth.
Like Belichick studying Pete Carroll as the clock ticked down in Super Bowl XLIX, I am going to remain on wait-and-see mode on this. Someone has to fill that void, and considering that the Krafts have emphasized that Belichick made the call on personnel and financial decisions, I’m skeptical that Groh and Wolf, two holdovers who by ownership’s indications didn’t have a lot of clout, will fill it entirely.
This whole situation calls for heavy doses of truth serum all around. It’s a guarantee that as the weeks and months pass and this critical draft pulls closer, Belichick is going to be blamed for every single one of the myriad personnel mistakes the Patriots have made in recent years. Much of it certainly must be his fault, given the power that he held.
But wouldn’t you love to know whom Groh and Wolf recommended … and when Belichick listened and when he did not … and who really wanted Jones and who was lukewarm … and whether everyone was on board with, oh, Tyquan Thornton in the second round two years ago, or Chad Ryland in the fourth round in the last draft … and why Jakobi Meyers was let go so easily … and on and on and on. What were the internal conflicts between Belichick and the personnel and scouting folks?
We’d all like to believe that Groh and/or Wolf made all the right suggestions on draft night, only for Belichick to go his own way on a whim. Ownership would absolutely like us to believe that. But that is way too tidy of a conclusion. I bet there are some major Thornton and Ryland (and Cole Strange and Ronnie Perkins and … ) supporters on the remaining staff, just as there are supporters for Christian Gonzalez and Christian Barmore and Rhamondre Stevenson.
This offseason could not be more essential for the franchise’s future. They have the No. 3 overall pick (sign me up for Mel Kiper Jr.’s projection that they end up with North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye), more than $60 million to spend on the roster (burn that cash!), and decisions to make on new contracts and extensions for current talent (yes, they have some — a lot on defense, actually).
Mayo also has to hire a new staff, perhaps an entirely new one on offense. He’s an extremely impressive person and got through his first press conference as coach without a single snort or awkward silence, which will take some getting used to.
I’ll miss Belichick as Patriots coach. I’m looking forward to seeing what Mayo does. But he has his hands full with new-coach things, and even as he collaborates with Groh and Wolf on how to construct this roster, there’s still an awful lot of clout that has gone unclaimed.
Over time, we’re going to find out exactly who has it. I suspect we already know. All logic suggests the guy who randomly mentioned fantasy football years ago is, for better or worse, about to have a much bigger say in the real thing.
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