"Prisoner of his past success" - NFL analyst states Bill Belichick's achievement has put him in a difficult position
Bill Belichick has not had the easiest of days in New England ever since Tom Brady left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and this year's NFL Draft has led to many observers and analysts asking if he is still up to it. After all, unlike other teams, Bill Belichick is also the de facto general manager for the New England Patriots.
Matt Groh: "Coach (Bill Belichick) is the general manager. Coach is in charge." https://t.co/KgtxfEKwET
He is not getting any younger, and there remains the question of whether he will be there to help the players he is drafting in the long term. Earlier, that never used to be a question, but time is catching up with him.
The #Patriots passed on arguably the best corner in the draft for a guard most had mocked in the third round. Peak Bill Belichick, who turned 70 earlier this month.
This led to a discussion between two analysts, Charles Robinson and Dan Wetzel, on whether Patriots owner Robert Kraft should now take the decision away from Bill Belichick. Wetzel noted,
"But at [the age of] 73, 74, 75, if this draft's a bust and he's not putting people together, it may not end in the way you'd expect for Belichick. And he is a prisoner of his past success."
Bill Belichick must look toward leaving a perpetual legacy with the Patriots
As the analysts mentioned, Bill Belichick's past successes allow him to have a degree of freedom with the team that others do not get. But he did strike out on his own this year in the draft, and if this season ends up the same way as the last, when the Patriots are no closer to winning a playoff game, then cracks will start to appear. As Robinson said,
"...he did some Belichick things this year. We talked about it in earlier shows, that, this draft, he definitely went his own way this year. This is, in some ways, I'm like, man, given what Robert Kraft said, given the fact that there feels like there's a little bit of pressure now in New England, like there's definitely sort of like, I think if there's a repeat next year of what happened this year, which is, hey, some success, but you get throttled in the postseason, there's going to be a little bit of grumbling."
As Wetzel then pointed out, this is going to be compared with what Bill Belichick has achieved before and New England's old record. If they cannot even replace Buffalo, it will lead to Belichick being held against the same standards that he created.
"Like, you know, it's a problem with New England. They won 17, 17 division titles. The season didn't start till the AFC Championship game for a long time. And so to try to get back to that is extremely difficult...''
Wetzel concluded,
"And so, what do you do this offseason? I will say this. He sure as hell didn't panic. So should be, I thought it was a very Belichickian draft where he's kind of going counter to conventional wisdom and just not giving a crap about it. And so that's what works for him. He will be proven again as a genius. If conventional wisdom is right on some of these guys, you know, it's back to the drawing board."