Report: Bill Belichick becoming ‘more collaborative’ with staff for NFL draft
One of the biggest knocks on Bill Belichick is regarding his decisions as a general manager.
The 68-year-old is undoubtedly one of the best coaches in NFL history, but his inability to bring in talent in the draft over the past decade has been a hot topic. Even New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft brought this point up while speaking with the media recently.
“I don’t feel we’ve done the greatest job the last few years and I really hope, and I believe — I have seen a different approach this year,” Kraft said. “In the end, it all comes out to what happens on the field and how well people execute. You really don’t know a draft — how good a draft is — for at least two years. And especially in the environment we’re in now where I am not quite sure what our offseason training and learning abilities will be. It’s something we’re working very hard with the union today and I think last year younger players were really disadvantaged because they didn’t have the time to come and learn and be part of it.”
Well, things may be different this year when the Patriots start off the with No. 15 overall pick. According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Belichick is being “more collaborative” this year with his front office. Breer said Belichick isn’t only going to listen to Dave Ziegler and Eliot Wolf, but also some of his top scouts.
Here’s a piece from Breer’s column that tells the story.
Well, in the past, Bill Belichick’s had a very closed-off process and, in his defense, for the most part it’s worked. But it’s also led to personnel people feeling like they were actively cut out where other teams’ people weren’t. In essence, the Patriots’ scouts would do their jobs through the season and then hand off the process to Belichick and the coaches in February, with only a couple guys on the personnel side really consistently involved from that point forward.
It’s very possible the Patriots trade up or select a quarterback with the No. 15 pick and Belichick isn’t known for selecting quarterbacks high in the draft. With the unorthodox free agency splurge and this new tidbit of information, maybe Belichick will try for the team’s future quarterback and switch up the past approach entirely.
