Bill Belichick spills beans on Draft Day jitters for late-picking NFL teams
Bill Belichick was a New England Patriots institution for more than two decades in the role of both head coach and general manager. In his capacity as the latter, he oversaw recruitment in multiple NFL Drafts and knows the process better than most.
And he has a unique insight into how tough it is to consistently pick toward the end of the draft. During his tenure with Tom Brady from 2001 to 2019, the Patriots won six Super Bowls, which meant that they had the 32nd pick in the first round in those instances.
They also made it to the final games nine times in total, finishing runners-up thrice. In those situations, they had the 31st overall pick. They made it to the AFC Championship game 13 times, which means they never picked higher than 29th in more than two-thirds of their years together.
Trying to find good value became tougher as it went along and Bill Belichick highlighted that there was no way to plan because teams ahead of them could pick someone they were keeping tabs on. Appearing on the Pat McAfee show, he said,
"When you're picking at the end of the draft, and I got this question from people in organizations, and so forth a lot. You know, what are we going to do? We're picking 28th, we're picking 32nd. You tell me who's going to be there, and then I can tell you what we're going to do. But you just really don't know, there's so many teams in front of you. It's just impossible to predict."
Bill Belichick proves lower picks better than higher picks if you have a champion quarterback
While Bill Belichick's comments eminently make sense, they could still keep winning because Tom Brady was the one throwing the ball. Players like Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, who became vital cogs in the Patriots dynasty, were selected in the second round and seventh round respectively.
After the GOAT left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cam Newton could not really fill his shoes, Bill Belichick got to draft higher due to a worse record. But picking Mac Jones or anyone else could not help the head coach retain his job as it became painfully clear that without Tom Brady the team was regressing.
Even though they were one of the better defensive teams last season, showing that Bill Belichick retained his touch until the end, he did not have the offensive talent at the quarterback position to score points.